I think most individuals warm-up because everyone else does and believe that it improves performance. It is likely impossible to find a competitive athlete that does not warm-up today. The shocking thing is – despite how common warm-up is prior to competition, there is very little scientific evidence to support its use. -Is Your Pre-Race Warm-Up More Harm Than Good?
MY COMMENT: I remember years ago in college jogging for 30 minutes followed by a series of strides before a 6 mile race! Clearly I wasn't doing myself much good and in fact probably raced slower as a result.
This particular study uses a 30 second cycling sprint as a performance test- not very similar to a distance race, however as coauthor Elias Tomaris explains "our study has demonstrated that it is possible to do too much warm-up for a sprint event. The connection between our study and longer distance events is unclear."
My suggestion is to experiment with varying length and intensity of warm-up prior to hard interval workouts and less important races and try getting a feel for how your body reacts. My gut tells me you don't need to be doing more than 800 meters of jogging followed by a few short 50 meter strides at race pace until you feel comfortable.
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