Big River Racing TeamBig River Racing TeamBig River Racing TeamBig River Racing Team
  • About the Team
    • About the Team
    • Meet the Team
      • Men
      • Women
    • Joining the Team
    • Team Store
    • Big River Racing Team News
  • Schedules
    • Calendar
    • Training Schedule
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us

Workout Write-Up: Time Trial

    Home Racing Team News Workout Write-Up: Time Trial
    NextPrevious

    Workout Write-Up: Time Trial

    By bigriverracing | Racing Team News | Comments are Closed | 8 December, 2015 | 2

    This week’s workout come from racing and coaching veteran Jason Holroyd. Checkout his take on the Time Trial.

    Workout
    Time Trial

    Type
    Race simulation/test effort

    Details
    This is usually about half to two thirds the distance of your goal race. If you have a marathon coming up you might do twelve to fifteen miles. If you have a 5k coming up you might do two miles. The goal is to do the same pace for the time trial as your goal race. Ideally you would do it on a course that is representative of what you encounter on race day. So if your goal race is hilly do it on a hilly course, flat on a flat course.

    When is a good time to do this workout?
    5k and shorter distances, I like to do a time trial at the beginning of a training cycle and then toward the end of the cycle approximately one to two weeks from the goal race. The long distances like the marathon I prefer only to do it once about three to four weeks out to allow time to recover from the longer effort.

    Why do you like this workout?
    I like the workout because it gives you a gauge to your fitness level at that point in time. This gauge will allow you for the shorter distances to know what appropriate paces to do your in your training cycle. For a marathon it tells you before time if your goal is realistic or if you need to adjust that goal. This knowledge gives you confidence you are prepared to meet your goal.

    Favorite location for this workout: 
    As I stated earlier it really depends on the goal race conditions. But one I love to use for a flat 5k is a two mile loop around the golf course in Forest Park. One of the athletes I coach calls it affectionately the “torture loop”.
    2mileloop

    Additional comments:
    I have noticed the shorter the distance the more accurate the time trial is as a gauge. In college I remember doing a 600 meter time trial the week before our conference meet and then hitting precisely that pace in the 800 meter race the next week. I have also done a fifteen mile time trial leading up to marathon and not being able to hit the pace in the marathon. I have a couple of theories on this. First being more dialed in by racing more frequently at the shorter distances. You can race an 800 quite a few times throughout the season. The marathon you only race one a season usually. Second (without going overly into detail) you start to have a lot of different physiological reactions going on in the latter stages of the marathon like burning through your carbohydrate stores and using more fat as fuel. So with that being said be conservative with that info gained from a longer time trial headed into a marathon. You will at least know if you can’t hit that pace for twelve to fifteen miles it might be time to rethink the goal. This can go a long way to helping have a great race.
    Holyroyd_Jason

    Holroyd, pacing, Time Trial, Workout Write-up

    bigriverracing

    More posts by bigriverracing

    Related Post

    • Mike Flynn Wins Age Group @ Nippy Niner

      By Mike Flynn | Comments are Closed

      Big River UCity Store Manager, Mike Flynn, places 1st in the Male 35-39 age group at the Nippy Niner 9 Mile run at Spanish Lake County Park. The Big River Racing Team is not justRead more

    • Marcus Walton Places 2nd at NHL All Star 5K

      By Mike Flynn | Comments are Closed

      Congratulations to Big River Racing’s Marcus Walton on placing 2nd at the NHL All Star 5K this morning in downtown St. Louis. Way to go Marcus, and Let’s Go Blues!Read more

    • December 2018 Wrap Up

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      The Big River Racing Team raced into December to finish off the year in mild but at times cold weather seeing temps as low as 25 or so degrees at start times.  Despite this, theRead more

    • Marathon Monday

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      Marathon Monday, the 3rd Monday in April has become my favorite day of the year. Nothing comes close, not my birthday, not Easter, nor Christmas. The atmosphere in Boston on Patriot’s Day is unmatched. No matterRead more

    • Missing: Fitness!!! Call if Found

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      Uh-oh! Fitness!!! Fitness!!! Come back!!! Where did you disappear to??? Fitness!!! “Excuse me sir, have you seen my fitness? I’m agonizing over my lost friend and the suffering is nearly unbearable.” “Can you help meRead more

    NextPrevious

    Recent Posts

    • Frostbite Fun & Winter Wins
    • November Recap
    • October Recap
    • Women Finish 1-2-3 at Spewak Cross Country Race
    • MO’ Cowbell & September Recap

    Archives

    • February 2023
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • June 2020
    • March 2020
    • January 2020
    • January 2019
    • April 2017
    • May 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014

    Recent Posts

    • Frostbite Fun & Winter Wins

      Big River Racing Team members have racked up some strong performances the

      16 February, 2023
    • November Recap

      Big River Racing athletes continued to impress in November! On November 5,

      30 November, 2022
    • October Recap

      After strong performances in September and the beginning of October, the Big

      2 November, 2022
    Big River Racing

    Big River Racing is about running in its purest form. We encompass racing and pushing one’s limits, accepting anyone who shares our passion for running. The team is a dedicated group of like-minded individuals who train, race and socialize with the goal of improving the St. Louis running community through advocacy, openness and volunteerism. The team exists to support runners from post-collegiate athletes to those relatively new to the sport and anyone in between.
    Copyright © 2022 Big River Racing Team
    • About the Team
      • About the Team
      • Meet the Team
        • Men
        • Women
      • Joining the Team
      • Team Store
      • Big River Racing Team News
    • Schedules
      • Calendar
      • Training Schedule
    • Sponsors
    • Contact Us
    Big River Racing Team
    Manage Cookie Consent
    To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}