LONDON, Ontario — On Friday August 13, runners from Coach John Ferguson’s group, JF Running, came together in Springbank Park and participated in their second time trial of the season. The heavy rain had just passed through, and left a clear but humid evening for this 10km event.

I had the chance to chat before the race with technical coordinator and avid runner, Bruce Lamb, and Coach John himself, to find out exactly what a time trial is, and what the preparations are for an event like this.

Q: John, what is a time trial and how does it fit into your running program?
A: “It’s just a test really. These runners are following my program, depending on what race they are getting ready for, and each week we do speed work, tempo runs, and a long run. Once a month, we try to hold a time trial which allows each person to have a time goal for what they would like to complete that distance in. How they finish this trial indicates to them whether they are on track to reaching that long-term race goal or not, and they can fine-tune their training from there.”

Q: Bruce, tell me a bit about what goes into setting up an event like this?
A: “John and I came out this past Monday night to measure out the course. I have a special counter on my bicycle that counts the distance—pretty much right to the centimetre. We marked out the course as 5km out and 5km back. John just returned from putting the signage out for each km marker. In the meantime, I’ve been setting up here.

“We have a finish line booth, an arch across the start/finish line, and a timing system. Each of the bibs has got a chip on it, and so as people take off through the start line it sets off the timer and as they come back through, it gives them a very accurate time. Plus, we have the music going and the timing clock ready to go, and we also have a backup camera that is going. Every half second it takes a shot and it allows us to see people as they come across the finish line, and if something fails in the timing system we can always go back to the visual.”

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