Is it just me who never warms up or cools down?

And has never suffered for it as far as I know in all my years of running. I will add a disclaimer to that, I do run a bit before a race, but that's just nervous energy and to get my head in the right place. Training runs, never.

For my first marathon I used to skip the 1 mile w/c called for in the Garmin schedules from RW, thinking that I didn't "believe" in w/c. Like many first marathoners I was over 4 hours, and 20 mins behind what I trained for.

In hindsight I realised I had dropped a lot of mileage by omitting say 2 miles x 4 sessions a week. Since then I always run them, whether or not I believe in what they are for. Having said that, I now believe there is a real warm-up effect and I make sure I do them especially before tempo and interval sessions. For recovery and long run sessions I make sure I run them to be in the total mileage for the day.

I found it helped to walk the first 300m or so when I was doing longer runs in marathon training but that's about all.

i never used to aswell KK, but swear by them now  

i use the last mile of a hard training session as a slow plod/cool down. a LSR i never do anything for that as its slow enougth!

races? i warm up a little, which is wrong as some may post sooner. im sure i read somewhere about Stevie.G warming up more and saw the benefits in the race much sooner.

i dont generally do warm ups, but after a lon run, and a shower, i often go for a walk to the store about half a mile away for a milkshake or something, just to walk, helps my legs from stiffening up after, 

No, you're not alone.

As my Dad used to say 'Warm ups are for wimps ......'

But he also has a view on the UK's immigration policy that even the Daily Mail editors would baulk at ......... so you can probably take his advice with a pinch of salt.

If I'm doing a speed session, or tempo, then yes.

LSRs no, but if my target is (say) ten miles, and ten miles comes up quarter of a mile from home, then I'll walk the extra bit (as long as I don't start to get cold).

Races, not usually, although ir probably wouldn't be a bad idea!

I start slow on all training runs - maybe the first half mile, but that's not scientific. Invariably I also tend to run at hard pace for the last half mile of a training run as to me that mirrors a race finish (so the opposite of a cool down). For any race I always have a warm up and stretch for antything up to 30 minutes. I can't say I've been injury free, but then I can't say this is the cause either - more likely it's being an old f*** who works in an office!

Never for a slow run, but for an interval or quicker training session then it's a mile or two, some stretches and some strides to warm up and a mile or two afterwards. For a race, probably not for a marathon but for a 5k or 10k, then I might do the same as a quicker paced training session, run for 10 minutes, stretches and strides.

Same here kk, haven't even got round to stretching, oops, might start ot though now I'm in my advanced years 

I never really used to until a month or so ago. I find i get a better stretch once my muscles have warmed up, especially in my calf.

A friend of mine demostrated trying to stretch a bit of blue-tac when its cold and then after you've rubbed in your hands a little bit. Seemed to make sense

I normally do a short walk (5 minutes) for a warm up, and the same to cool down. If I'm doing a 5K or 10K race then I might do a short, gentle jog before the start, or I might not bother.

I don't stretch either, although maybe I should...

SyM.es wrote (see)

Same here kk, haven't even got round to stretching, oops, might start ot though now I'm in my advanced years 

I never stretch, which is bad I know!

Jason Wintin wrote (see)

i never used to aswell KK, but swear by them now  

i use the last mile of a hard training session as a slow plod/cool down. a LSR i never do anything for that as its slow enougth!

races? i warm up a little, which is wrong as some may post sooner. im sure i read somewhere about Stevie.G warming up more and saw the benefits in the race much sooner.

What type of benefits can you remember?

Jason Wintin wrote (see)

races? i warm up a little, which is wrong as some may post sooner. im sure i read somewhere about Stevie.G warming up more and saw the benefits in the race much sooner.

No warm up = first mile or so feels like utter hell.

Proper good progressive warm up = you can smash off in the first mile feeling good straight away.

Simple as that.

And that's from someone who certainly tried it the no warm up way, not wanting to "reduce the energy I had available"

These days I couldn't imagine performing to optimum level in a race without a thorough warm up. Same with reps and tempo.

Stevie G's advice is always worth listening to, and nb what he says about "progressive" warm ups, which i take to mean working up slowly to a burst at something like target race pace.

I always like to warm up and cool down. Usually start with a light jog for a few minutes then do some dynamic stretches. Then at the end of running I'll have a cool down jog then walk for the final section finishing with stretches at the end. I'd found stretching after runs really helps get rid of muslce aches and pains, holding them for at least 20 seconds proved a real help.