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In the post on Five-Pace Training, you learned how to construct a program based on your goal race distance. And in the post on Choosing Workouts, you read the guidelines on how to select workouts of an appropriate level and progress them appropriately within your program.
Sometimes, however, you need a higher-level stimulus for both body and mind to determine your current fitness accurately. There are two such workouts for this: Race Prediction workouts and Time Trials.
Race Prediction Workouts
Within each of the workout lists for the different paces, I included Race Prediction workouts. Below is a list of the different Paces and associated workouts that may be part of your Five-Pace Training Program. Compiling at the workout lists is still a work in progress – forgive me for the ones that are not ready yet.
- 400m-Pace workouts – No race prediction workouts
- 800m-Pace workouts
- 1500m/Mile-Pace workouts
- 3000m-Pace workouts
- 5km-Pace workouts
- 10km-Pace workouts
- Threshold Pace workouts – No race prediction workouts
- 21.1km-Pace workouts
- Marathon-Pace or 2.5hr-Pace workouts
Race Prediction workouts are not intended to be repeated week after week like the other workouts in the lists. Race Prediction workouts stress your body almost as much as a race itself. You’ll need more time to recover than a typical workout. And this can disrupt your overall program design.
A good time for a Race Prediction workout is about 10-14 days out from a scheduled high-priority race. It takes about that long for your body to absorb the fitness gains from the training. After the Race Prediction workout, take a few extra recovery days. Then decrease any planned workout by two or three levels leading into the race.
But you don’t need to have an upcoming race to complete a Race Prediction workout. Nor do you need to stick to on your target pace for Race Prediction workouts. Complete a few training cycles to build your fitness and confidence at the paces. Then challenge your speed or endurance by doing a Race Prediciton workout for one of your support paces. Take a few extra days off after the workout.
Time Trials
There are also Time Trials in which you complete the full race distance for a specific pace which may be your target race pace or one of your support paces.
Before a Time Trial, formulate a race plan for the first half to three-quarters of the distance. Give yourself specific pace targets. See how well you can execute the plan and how well you can finish the race. You may choose a progressive approach every 1km or 400m at a faster speed. Or you may force yourself to surge periodically to simulate pace variations common in track races.
Then, see how precisely you can execute your race plan. Are you able to meet your targets? By removing all rest periods, you’ll find out if your speed or your endurance is up to par or lacking.
Plus, you’ll gain valuable insights on what you do well and what needs improvement. Time Trials tend to invoke more mental and physical stress than even very challenging workouts. You’ll learn firsthand if you can perform when it counts. Often it takes several attempts to get it right.
Use the scientific process and four questions explained in the Choosing Workouts post to assess your performance. Think about what will do differently next time and write it down. And make sure you re-read your notes the day of your next Time Trial or Race!
Race as a Time Trial
A classic Time Trial workout is a scheduled race that is not high-priority. A race you entered as a stepping stone to a future race. Don’t bother doing a Race Prediction workout beforehand this lower priority race. Stick to your regular training. And then use the race itself as a Time Trial.
Workout as Time Trial
But, you don’t need to sign up for an official race to do a Time Trial. You can add them in here and there. In Road to the Top, Joe Vigil included a Multi-Tier Training schedule which included a Time Trial at the end of every two-week cycle! I don’t suggest this level of frequency, especially for master’s athletes. Coach Vigil worked mostly with High School, College and Elite athletes. But don’t be shy to swap a workout for a Time Trial and see what happens.
If you are not in a race environment, sticking to Time Trials at distances shorter than your target event is usually a good idea – especially if you are doing them alone.
If you want to do a Time Trial at race pace or an endurance support pace not in a race setting, decrease the length to roughly three-quarters the full race distance. For example, if your race pace is 5km and you want to do a Time Trial at your 10km endurance support pace to challenge your stamina, aim to hold 10k pace for 7.5k or 4.5 miles. Three-quarter distance is enough volume to obtain all the intended benefits in a race-distance or over-distance Time Trial.