The importance of a good warm-up
It may not seem necessary of important but warm-ups do play a role in your sessions and races. They prepare the body for the session or race you are going to do, they add flexibility as well as even enforcing correct form and stability!
Preparing the body:
The main reason of doing a warm up is to prepare the body for the work the session entails. I don''t think a long run or an easy run requires too much of a warm up as you aren't going very fast and don't need to be loosened out. If you just hopped out of your car but on your gear and begin the session I guarantee you the session will be slower.
Also a warm up should be relevantly difficult to get the heart pumping. Then once the session begins you won't be hit with this "first wind" or sudden spike in heart rate that occurs from a dramatic increase in heart rate. A good warm up will cancel this out and should make you feel good for the entire session
Injury prevention:
As said previously if you just hop out of your car and begin the workout your workout won't be as good, but also you have a very good chance of getting injured. My old P.E teacher used to tell us that our muscles were like cheese! If you try to twist and turn them cold they will snap, but if you twist and turn them when they are warm it will be much easier and nothing will break.
After a warm up jog you should preform multiple stretches targeting all the main muscles in your legs. Make sure they are loose and limber for the session to come. When you feel they are good do a few 60m strides at 90% effort. If these feel comfortable then you should be ready for the session.
Adding flexibility:
Warm ups are a great way to improve the flexibility of your muscles. You should really be putting effort into the stretches to improve your flexibility. This increase in range of motion can improve your form and reduce injury's!
Developing form:
Warm-ups are the perfect time to integrate form drills to develop the form. Exercises such as A-skip, B-skip, butt kicks, high knees and high knee karaoke help enforce proper running technique which can then apply to better running economy and can make you more efficient.