Aggresive Race Warm-Up

I read an interesting article on Runner's World yesterday that summarizes a British study that suggests that an aggressive warm-up can improve race performance.

They had highly trained middle-distance runners do 800-meter time trials on two occasions. Before both they first jogged for 10 minutes, then did a routine of mobility drills. Before one time trial then then did two 50-meter striders. Before the other time trial, however, they did two 50-meter striders, and then 200 meters at race pace.

 On average, the runners completed their 800-meter time trial 1.2 seconds faster  when their warm-up included the hard 200.
Maybe I should put more effort in warming up and less effort into posing for pictures


I found this interesting because as I went back over my race results for the past 6 months, I noticed that my average run pace in my triathalons is actually better than my straight running races. This seems counter intuitive,  I should be exhausted by the run portion of the tri and run slower. But it seems like instead, I am primed and ready to go.

Eating coffee cake doesn't count as a warm-up??
Since I don't consider myself a "racer" I don't really ever do an extensive warm-up at races. If I am really motivated, I'll jog around a little. But it sounds like maybe I need to invest more time and effort in my warm-up.

Do you warm-up before races? What do you do?

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