Time trials are an important part of our training structure as they allow you (and us!) to monitor your progress over certain training periods to ensure you continue to develop and improve. It’s not just about the time, as conditions can vary over the period of time that we conduct our time trials, however, how you perform and how you recover are strong indications of how you are progressing.
Over the winter months and leading into the main race season, particularly for Sprint, Olympic and Half Ironman racing we concentrate on technique, strength and endurance. Time trials give you an indication of how your strength training is progressing and you should expect to see consistency over time or some improvement. For some of you there will be major gains, for others there will be some minor improvements, and for others you may even go a little slower. You cannot expect to PB every time you time trial, however, you should expect to be around a similar time that you have recorded previously.
Remember, these phases of our training are all about building your expertise, strength, endurance and technique, to get you to the start line where you really do want to swim, bike or run your PB. It’s no good being a star on the training track and then leaving it all behind come race day!
