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What is a timetrial?
📈 Repeating the exact same physical workout and measuring the result.
Why practice a timetrial?
🏃♂️ Define progress & training effectiveness.
🏃♂️ Dictate future training stimulus.
🏃♂️ Show possible physical (and mental) dysfunction (e.g. looming illness & or injury).
🏃♂️ Direct the immediate training commitment (e.g. maintain current stimulus, push harder or shelve all training).
🏃♂️ Motivate further training or race confidence.
How to practice a timetrial!
⏱️ Calculate & know your DTI – your training (and TT) intensity ceiling.
⏱️ Design a 'running' course or practice on a treadmill - which, while boring, provides a perfect control.
Course design:
⏱️ Choose a flattish and uninterrupted course with an even and similar surface.
🌏 Google Earth is a great tool when considering and measuring up courses.
⏱️ The distance is irrelevant.
⏱️ Your course should have you finishing the first attempt between 40-60 minutes at your DTi.
⏱️ Define the exact start & finishing markers.
⏱️ Setting your watch to police your DTi via an alarm is helpful.
⏱️ Ideally, warm up super easily for 2-5 minutes.
⏱️ Testing with a (chest strap) heart rate monitor is best.
⏱️ Start your stopwatch and race the course - again - up to your DTi ceiling only.
DO NOT EXCEED YOUR DTi!
⏱️ Focus on your most efficient form, controlling your breathing & relaxing your mind.
⏱️ Stop your stopwatch on finishing.
Then what?
📲 Link up with Brad Pamp – 0412 487 034.
📲 Send your result to Brad Pamp. e.g. TW1 @ 51.34.
📲 Forward each result, e.g. TW2 @ 50.45 and so on.
📲 Further, and ideally, if you track your training & racing progress via a Garmin watch (linked below), please consider connecting with Brad Pamp via the Find Friends link (search: Brad Pamp).
This allows us to follow each other's progress.
Finally, once we are friends, follow the following prompts;
👉 home screen>
👉 more (bottom right)>
👉 settings>
👉 profile & privacy>
👉 turn; profile, activities, steps, badges to "my connections".
This will allow us to see each other's progress.
Reading your result.
💓 With matching supplementary training and maintenance of good lifestyle health, your TT result will typically lower over time.
💓 However, a week-to-week result may vary.
💓 The changing temperature (heat), wind strength, lifestyle stress, a 'functional' niggle, or looming illness can disrupt the expected result.
💓 This is OK.
💓 A 3.5% (time) improvement over six weeks is a great result.
💓 A 3.5% return or better shows developing aerobic capacity, technical improvements, respiratory strength, and a healthy mindset.
💓 A 3.5 % improvement will allow for harder exercise, even raising your DTI (usually 7-12 beats), certain that you can withstand and absorb this more demanding effort.
The table below shows Brad Pamp's progressive TT result in 2023.
TIME TRIAL
HR CEILING – DTI (141bpm)
TIME
TT1 – 6.3.23
141
48.45
TT2 – 13.3.23
141
48.31
TT3 – 20.3.23
141
48.29
TT4 – 27.3.23
141
48.07
TT5 – 3.4.23
141
48.08
TT6 – 10.4.23
141
47.54
TT7 – 17.4.23
141
47.41
TT8 – 24.4.23
141
47.33
Brad Pamp prescribes variations of time-trials regularly.
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A word on interval training.
I’ll often prescribe interval training.
E.g. map out a uninteruppted 1km course.
⌚ Run 8 x 1km repeats with a 30-second STOP rest.
⌚ This means run 1km, rest for 30 seconds, and then start your next rep.
⌚ While you can manually start & stop your watch, noting your splits, most smartwatches offer programmable intervals. The upload of this session will clearly list your splits.
⌚ Intervals can be set for both distance and time.
⌚ I recommend searching on YouTube
: Lap intervals …and the make & model of your watch – see below.