12 Week Training: How to do your Time Trial

Ready…Set…Let’s Go! Time to do your time trial. This is an important fist step in your workout plan. In order to get the most out of your training we need to know where to begin. Your time trial will give us an idea of where your running fitness is now so we can give you the right paces for your easy runs and workouts.

But before you start, let’s go over how you should do your trial and some tips to get the most out of your effort.

What it is:

You will be running as far as you can in 20min…it’s that simple.

How to do it:

Make sure you have your GPS device (watch or phone) synched up. You’ll do your warm up first, 15 min at what feels like an easy pace. During the warm up you can add in some 10-15 sec surges every minute or so to feel the change of pace and get your bigger muscles ready to work. I’d start these about half way through, completing about 3-5 total.

Once you finish your warm up it’s time to GO! Make sure you LAP your GPS device, if you don’t then we can’t see what you did for your time trial because it’ll be mixed in with your slower warm up.

Start slower, build up every 5 min:

Don’t go all out in the first mile, especially if this is your first one. Hold back your effort by 10 percent, after the first 5 min evaluate how you’re feeling and decided whether you can go a little faster or if this is fast enough. Then do the same for the next 5 min. In the final 5 min (15 min mark) JUST GO! You’ll probably feel like you’ve got some juice left in the tank and we want to get it all out.

After you finish:

Lap your watch at exactly 20 min. Again make sure to LAP your GPS. Then go into your 15 min cool down. If you need, take a short break to catch your breath before you go.

Tips:

Time Trials are stressful, no matter how many you do, but the more you do the easier it is to put together a good routine. It doesn’t matter if you run the entire time or execute a run/walk strategy. Time trials can help you to put together pacing strategies and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

First, pick a good place to run; find a track or flat 2-4 mile stretch of road or trail that’s light on people and auto traffic. Try and do your time trials at the same place every time so you have a consistent data set. If

Do it at the same time and in good weather…if you need to change days that’s ok.

Hydrate the night before and morning of, also eat a good snack made up of mainly simple carbs (banana, toast, muffin) that will digest easily about 2-3 hours before your time trial. If you’re doing it later in the day eat as you normally would, just keep to that 2-3 hour buffer so you don’t have food in your stomach during your run. Also…if you drink coffee, still drink it…just plan to have it no more or less than an hour before your trial.

After your first one or if you’ve done a time trial before, try adding in some running drills between your warm up and trial. Drills are a great way to increase your running elasticity and efficiency. It can be as simple as doing 10-15 meters of high knee’s, butt kicks, and cariocas. They may feel like they’re wasting your energy, but a moment of drilling can make a big difference in feeling springier and faster during your hard 20 min.

Lastly, whatever happens…happen’s. If you don’t run as far as you think it’s not a failure, it’s a starting point. You’re going to get faster and go further after over the next few weeks. Take some notes on your time trial so you can compare it to your next one. Remember it’s not a week over week or month over month progress - running is a long con and season over season or year over year is your best comparison!

So have some fun, good luck, and get it DONE!

Coach D