-old battle with quantity amongst those in the know. So why not try something a bit different to inject some heat into your winter training schedule – the time trial.The first thing to understand about the time trial is that it’s not a race, or doesn’t have

these on the track, and you should try to run them at a slightly slower pace than suggested for the mile sessions.Time TrialsIt is a good idea to test yourself occasionally over a set distance. You may have a 10K coming up and want to run a hard 5K without having

specific goal. The first thing that you will need to know is your current level of performance. Doing a 5K or 10K time trial should be your next step. Once you have assessed the results of this, you can work on putting together a 12-week schedule, after

until your heart rate has dropped to a certain level (you'll have to use trial and error to find this level). Though your recovery times will probably increase through the session, it should ensure that the quality of your efforts remains high

You need more than one-off snapshots of your fitness levels to assess your progress properly. Races and time trials are reasonable guides to how things are developing, but they vary too much to be really useful. Races also rely on maximal effort

the oxygen and maintain the workload. As a result, your fitness improves.According to the French researchers, vVO2max can be estimated as the speed a runner can maintain for an all-out six-minute time trial. Therefore, to determine your vVO2max, go to a 400m

‘won’t’ as can’t. Back in the 1950s, my mother caused a scandal when she ran away with a sausage salesman from Penge. They met at a ballroom dancing class and rumba’d round the world for a year before settling in Mauritania. By this time, she

for the Olympics, for example, must peak for an arduous trials process, then ramp up their performance again to place well at the Games themselves. When you keep returning to the well like this, how can you make sure the bucket doesn't come up empty? A

, devastating mountain climbs, and muscle-crunching time trials - while the marathon is just one. A marathon runner simply has to get his skinny aerobic backside to the finish line as fast as possible. If he encounters hills along the way, that doesn't much

station to stationMy train to work stops at several stations on the way, so I get off at one and run to the next. That means different distances and terrain, depending on where I get off. You could even turn it into a time trial, and try and reach a