Yeah, I know that means I’m old, 71 at present. I started my logbook at age 23 when I was “just a swimmer”, then expanded it to cover the B and R when I started tri in 1986 at age 31. Have kept it religiously ever since 11/78.
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Not even close, but I used the beginnertriathlete training log until the site went down for 17 years. On that note, I suggest uploading your logs somewhere as back up
Syn, well, that’s a good idea in theory but all of my logbooks are in pen and paper and stored in 3-ring binders. If you think about it, 1978 was way before anyone had a PC with Excel, etc. If my house ever catches on fire, I’ll get my dogs out first and then grab my logbooks. :):)
take photos of each page, and perhaps some AI program can throw them into excel. They also do have services like this, i did this with all my family photos which were prior to computer storage days
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That’s a lot of commitment and consistency!! If I was you, I’d at least consider a fire proof safe.
It’s funny that you started in 1978, as that is the first book that I have from the start of my triathlon journey. I wet to New Zealand with two buddies and we rode around both islands on our bikes to get ready for our first Ironman in Kona. I only kept it going for about a year though, then just got tired of writing things down and didnt start back util Eric’s online log here. Have to dig it up and have a look, kind of remember seeing it about 20 years ago and thinking how little I did as far as mileages. Good on you for keeping with it, must be fun to look back at different periods of your life and see what was going on..
Ummm, that would be about 8000 photos so I think I’ll pass. However, I have 6-month-on-one-page summaries, i.e., right now I’m on # 96 for July-Dec 2026. These summary pages are what I refer to the most. Some day I’ll take them to FedEx Office and have them scanned in on a flash drive.
Monty, your “just got tired of writing things down” is a common refrain among you top pro guys. I remember Tinley saying in his first book that after training all day he was just too damn tired to sit down and write it all down. It is cool though to look back at various periods and see how various modes of training worked out.
In the beginning of my “athletic career”, which was really back in 1968 when I started swimming on a year-round team, it was a lot of commitment but since 1978, swimming every day has just been part of my daily schedule. A day without swimming feels very strange; even when biking and running a lot, I would still work in at least a 30-45 min swim every day.
That’s pretty awesome. Is it notes and thoughts on the sessions or really just the details of what you did?
In the beginning in Nov 1978, it was just the total yards of the swim, total time, and best time of the workout. It stayed that way until 1986 when I started tri training which, in my mind required more details since a hilly 25-mi ride is quite diff from a flat one. From there it just gradually expanded to include sleep, rehydration amounts and types, food intake, sleep, air temp, water temp, etc.
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Mine started in high school track in 1980, however I lost all of that. Restarted in earnest in University around 3rd year where I logged all my time in 30 min time slots (regardless of what I was doing…physics, runs, weights, calculus, French, military duties etc). My classmates used to laugh at me, spending time logging all that shit, but I said, the only way to get good at time management is to know what takes how much time and if you don’t record it, you never really know. That’s before I was in any working world and calendars became a thing in my life.
Maintained paper logs for training from 1988 to 2020 or so and during pandemic peeled back. I had paper log books 2022/23 and then basically stopped between work calendars and only logging of workouts, I have nothing on paper now.
Very interesting Dev!!! I still have 6 months of a logbook of my frosh year of swimming in college, in 1972-73, but stopped after March ‘73. So, not counting your “lost HS track records”, it appears that you have logs of some sort from 1988 to the present??? Since I think I am about 10 yrs older than you, on an age-adjusted basis we are pretty much even!!!
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Rand - Very interesting. JOOC, why do you save the race bibs??? Also, how many races does your archive cover???
Eric…can you post a pic or two of the original log book and perhaps an entry? Would love to see it!
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I don’t know, really? I probably saw someone who had a framed collage of bibs in the background of a Runner’s World photo and I said “that looks cool. I should do that”
A lot of the old ones were generic, non-branded numbers from the timing company (with a little hole in the corner where they’d string them all on a coat-hanger to track your finish place), so I’d write a little note on the back: race name, date, distance, finish time & place, sometimes a note like “it was really warm & muggy” or “met a really cute girl”
I just kept doing it; and I’m sure more than just a couple got tossed/lost over the years
Later (major) races include the race guide, bag-check tags, etc.
Not sure how many I have, exactly, and lately they’re all the ones that I make up for myself for 100/100s and whatnot
J - For some reason, my computer will not let me upload the first 3 pages of logbook, which I had scanned in at FedEx Office. However, I do have the files attached to my email. So, if you want to email me at ericmulk@gmail.com, I will be very happy to send this to you!!!
Reached out to @ericmulk …here are the original pages for all to enjoy! Pretty cool IMHO…and, Eric included this little note: “one thing you’ll note is that even 48 yrs ago I was obsessed with how my swimming compared to running, b/c most of my friends were runners”
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Thanks Jason!!! Just for the record, I think I was off-base on the 400 yd = 1 mile as based on current world records, the ratio is more like 450 yd = 1 mile. Of course, this only applies to a person equally comfortable with swimming and running, and even then only at shorter distances, e.g. 6 mi and under runs.
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