Jeff Galloway agrees with the author and Dr. Lally about stretching. Dr. Anderson was the sole dissenter in this piece and the way the quote was chosen makes him look less knowledgeable than he is.
That article doesn't really do a good job of presenting the arguments "for." Honestly there ARE solid, knowledgeable exercise physiologists and coaches who do recommend stretching BUT if you find one who's
gone into detail on the topic, you'll quickly notice that the stretches they recommend are MUCH more conservative than anything I've ever seen a runner do. It's just a better practice to tell people to stick to a warm up and cool down rather than okay a course of action that has unproven benefit and without further education on their part can easily end in tendonopathy.
I don't fully recall the Phil Wharton piece but if memory serves he was also talking about stretching and massage as a separate activity from the running workout. Strength and flexibility are things a runner absolutely needs if they want to do their best and remain injury free. So yea, stretch, get your yoga on, get a serious sports massage but don't do it with cold or tired/damaged muscles.
