The older I get and the more miles are on the legs, the more WU/CD activities there are. These days I'm doing a series of static stretches and dynamic stretches before every run. Takes about 5-10 min in total to get through all the routines. Post run is a series of static stretches and foam rolling that take me about 10-15 min to get through. Everything added over time after each successive injury. The most comprehensive and well designed research study I read concluded that when it comes to pre-run and post-run stretching do whatever you're currently doing as long as it's working. Those who changed from "no stretching to a new stretching routine", and those who changed from "normal stretching routine to no stretching" were more likely to develop an injury than those that kept not stretching or kept stretching. So in essence, don't make any changes to your stretching routine if it's working.
It's been a while since I've looked into the research around WU/CD running. But this is what I include in my instructions since I did the research on it several years ago (I believe the bulk came from Steve Magness book "Science of Running":
The warm-ups are key for anything faster than "long run" pace which includes HM Tempo, Daniels T, and Tempo. Essentially, there are two main pathways for the body to use oxygen to produce energy. The aerobic pathway is mostly used in slower running. The closer you get to the point where it becomes harder to breathe (Ventilatory Threshold) the more you use the anaerobic pathway. The aerobic pathway is more efficient and faster at creating energy, whereas the body uses anaerobic when the aerobic can't keep up (because you're going too fast).
The most interesting part between the aerobic and anaerobic pathway is that even though the aerobic is used mostly during slow running it takes about 6 minutes of running before it can be used. This means for the first 6 minutes we're stuck with the slow, inefficient anaerobic pathway. So if you don't do a warm-up, and you're running faster than "long run" pace you push the anaerobic pathway too hard. This creates a deficit in energy within the first 6 minutes that becomes harder to overcome. As this deficit starts to catch up with you in later miles, it causes our running form to suffer. When we get closer to your first race we'll talk about a detailed warm-up routine done prior to the race which is extra important in races. So for you, the EA, EB, and Long Run paces can all be started without doing any type of slow jog warm-up.
So from the above you can see why warming up before a race is vitally important. The length of the race dictates the length of the warm-up. A planned "A" level 5k effort should have 20-30 min of easy running with strides. Whereas a marathon could be a simple 5-6 min easy run. For races, a WU can occur as much as 60 min prior to the start of the race and it's still seen as useful by the body.
Cool-downs are good to help everything reset from a hard run/race. It's mostly used for injury prevention purposes. And there is a detriment to too long of a cool down.
). After I run I do my PT stretches and/or foam roll.
