John, I was just kidding about getting my revenge! I am always happy if someone in our team is faster!
Regarding the 30 min, the strategy is not much different than for a 10K. To break 8000m, one could start at 1:53.5 and increase the pace by 0.5 sec every six minutes: 1:53.5, 1:53.0, 1:52.5, 1:52, 1:51.5.
I find it somewhat depressing to look at the remaining time on the display during a 30 or 60 min time trial. What I find helpful is to look at the projected distance instead (as well as pace and SR). I try to keep those projected distances constant during each interval; this is much more precise than simply looking at the pace, which is displayed in whole numbers.
Here is a little table that shows the resulting projected distance as the pace increases:
pace ----- time spent at that pace ---- projected
1:53.5 ----------- 6:00 ------------------- 7929 m
1:53.0 ----------- 6:00 ------------------- 7958 m
1:52.5 ----------- 6:00 ------------------- 7979 m
1:52.0 ----------- 6:00 ------------------- 7993 m
1:51.5 ----------- 6:00 ------------------- 8000 m
As you can see in the table, 8000m will only appear on the display in the last 6 minutes. It is important to avoid prematurely increasing the pace just because you desperately want to see 8000 m on the screen!