Having recently (eight weeks) sarted working pretty hard to get ready for Laguna Phuket and Ironman New Zealand I wanted to find out who is meticulous about keeping a training log, how they do it and what purpose it serves for them. To start off the discussion: I use the Steven’s Creek Software “The Athlete’s Diary” which is a siple little program that I find works very well. The charts have been particularly useful when watching my ramp-up of milege and time. What are you guys doing? Ideas? What do you learn from your log?
I’d like to know too. I’m looking for something that I can use on my computer or Palm to track my progress this winter. Do you know if “The Athlete’s Diary” has a Palm version? What all can you input on it?
I used to keep meticulous training logs but don’t bother writing anything down anymore. I found that I rarely went back to them for inspiration or ideas since I’ve been training so long that I know what types of workouts seem to work best for me at key times in my training cycles. I am also your stereotypical obsessive-compulsive nut and when I start writing stuff down it becomes a challenge for me … you know … I better have a new mileage pb on the bike this week, etc. and once I had a streak going with no zero days in my log book from October 1st until mid-may that included a day with a 5k run that I had to sneak in after being awake with my wife all night waiting the birth of our first child (after she was born and my wife was resting I went home ran 5k then went back to the hospital … no 0 in the log book …yippee!)… stupid of me … definitely! Now I’m a relaxed training nut who never writes anything down and I’ll get to see how my relatively unstructured approach works on November 8th in Panama City.
“The Athlete’s Diary” has a Palm version which is ecellent (IMHO). My one comment is that it is supposed to “sync” with my desktop version and I haven’t figured out how to enable that function yet.
Call me old-fashioned. I use the spiral-bound paper Runner’s World training log. It just has a blank space for each day, and a section at the end of each week for recording daily weight and resting HR. No blanks for HR zone times, intensity, intervals, reps, blah blah blah. I make creative use of the space to write down what’s important to me for each workout (distance, time, pace/avg speed, overall impression, and sometimes notes on an interesting swim or track workout) and to add up weekly and monthly totals. I like writing it down instead of typing it in. (And I do database application development for a living – not exactly a Luddite!)
I do refer back to it. It’s nice to look back over the season to figure out what does and doesn’t work, what may have led to an injury or setback, and what patterns lead to success. I think it’s absolutely imperative to track mileage/time buildup if you’re training for a long event like a marathon or half or full IM. I honestly don’t know how anyone can not log their training.
I use TrainingBible.com. Works pretty well. I also have the Timex BodyLink Data Recorder, and I can upload that data to the web site in a snap.
It is also pretty good at helping you piece together and manage your training plan and workout schedule. Costs $$, though…
I use the Polar Precision SW that came with my S710i. Great software!
Ahh, I don’r measn to be stupid, but is that the little triangular thing that is supposed to be sold with the Ironman Performance Monitor? I have the Performance Monitor, love the thing, but haven’t been able to get the little trianglar download gadget from Timex yet. We’ve had it on order for a while. I really like the Timex Performance Monitor GPS Speed+Distance Unit with the heart rate monitor. Works great!
Yup, that’s the thing. I picked it up at Roadrunner Sports. I think they have an exclusive right now or something, since they are the ONLY place that has them in stock.
You will really like it when you get it. You don’t actually need the performance monitor, it works by itself, reading directly from the HRM and the GPS.
Tom- Let me advocate for the low-tech or no-tech version. I have progressed over the years from keeping a log and a training plan to doing completely without either. Of course this doesn’t mean that I don’t have a plan, just that I keep a rough outline in my head. I know where my goal races are during the season and structure periodization around those. This season I have really focused on key workouts. These weren’t scheduled per se, but I could just feel when I needed (or wasn’t ready for) one. The biggest benefit in my opinion is the ability to listen to your body. With a log and a set training plan, I think many people are more likely to ignore what their body is telling them in order to get a specific workout in or make sure this week’s mileage was higher than last week’s.
Along the lines of listening to your body, I have been considering doing away with all electronics next season- no cyclocomputer, no wristwatch. My training would be almost entirely based on how my body feels during any given workout. If I feel good, I go longer or harder or both. If I feel bad, it is time to cut it short and head home. Sounds good in theory, but if I do it, I’ll miss the sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing those triple digit rides on the cyclocomputer.
Chris
Tom,
Like everything else in this world. It’s and individual thing. One of my great revelations in life has been that I am a visual learner. That means, I need to see and write things in order to process them. Some people can just listen to things and remember and understand them. I cannot. If you give me directions, and I don’t write them down, I will forget them. If I write them down, chances are I won’t have to look at the paper to get where I am going.
My point is this: If you are a visual learner, a sight learner, having something written that you can look at will help you. This sounds like you based on your comment regarding the charts and graphs. If you are an aural learner, meaning that you can listen and and retain information, you might be able to get away with not keeping anything written down and just going by what’s in your head.
Craig
No doubt I’m a visual learner. The graphs in my traiing log give me some sense of tangible accomplishment and show me its “OK” to take an easy week after eight weeks of ramping up mileage and time. while I know what I’ve done, your’re right- seeing it seems to validate it. That is where I get the value from a training log. It is also useful as a historical record. When I recently wanted to get my swimming back to where it was in the mid-80s I went back to a training log from 1985 and looked at my swim workouts. After eight weeks of duplicating them I am not quite as fast as I was when I was 24 years old but I am a lot faster than I was eight weeks ago.
I’m like Ariel–I use a log that I made myself so I could add whatever columns I wanted. Then, had it printed out and copied and spiral bound. I like to look back and compare routes/times and like someone else said, being a visual learner, having it in front of me is good.
We are eerily alike, clm – I’m currently in the process of creating my own version of the paper log, which I am planning to have spiral-bound, for next year. The RW log I use doesn’t have quite enough space for the cumulative numbers and all the triathlon logs have too much wasted space (uh, does anyone really need spaces for three workouts per day, every day?).
I started biking about six years ago, and added running a year later. I can show you a written record of every mile and or/hour. It’s just something I do, and will neither sell nor defend it. I use spiral bound desk calendars, nothing tricky. As far as a real use for this obsession, there seem to be two.
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When something goes wrong, it’s useful to look at the preceding days or weeks for clues. Also, if this year’s mountain century is more brutal than last year’s I compare the training leading up to the two events.
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I’m wrapping up a marathon training regimen written for me last year by a coach. I can compare each work-out to last year’s, look for hints, traps, patterns, etc. I have expanded beyond the low tech just a bit by making graphs charting the times and heart rates of the mile repeats for both years that are sort of fun. Yeah - I’m visually inclined as well.
Maybe I’m a little strange, or too close to turning 50. I can tell you that I have no plans for getting any more meticulous. There are such things as too much information, paralysis by analysis, torturing the numbers until they talk…
I use an excel spreadsheet. I list what I am supposed to do and what I actually did for the day and actual time spent training. It automatically adds up time for the week and then goes to chart so I visually see how my weeks are ramped up. I also have a section for notes and events. Since I travel and work some nights and weekends I use it mostly for scheduling to make sure i get in my key workouts. Dont make many notes about workouts, I may list why i missed a workout if I went shorter or longer than planned.
I use runners log in my palm. It keeps me honest and consistent. The program is $ 10 .Works for me.
I use a plain wall-hung calendar, with the inch x inch spaces per day. I have a stack of them that I can refer back to. Write in this daily. I also keep a marble notebook where I write in more detail the specifics of races/LT, VO2 tests/important or complicated workouts.
I write in short the workout type, place, km, training partner, rHR, weight, I note sick days, bad days or fabulous days. Ie, “Boathouse w/Dad, 6miles, @150HR; deadlegs”
Learn from the log: what I did in past years at the same time in the season, did it work? or how to improve if it didnt. Also keep a quick check on probability of overdoing it…which is why I like the one-month-on-one-page overview. Its a good low key way to keep track of things, and you can keep the same system when training/racing away from your computer.
z
ironcoach.com is free-
pretty cool, you log daily information, weight, morning HR, fatigue, stress, sleep. You can enter nutrition and notes if you want. Then you add your workouts and all that information. You can put as little os as much info in as you want. Then there is the wekkly monthly and yearly charts. You can enter your races in and all the times. You can also import the information into excel as well.
It is pretty cool for free!!
Tom - I ran across this one yesterday: “Tri Geek Spreadsheet” @ http://members.tripod.com/mprevost/ . As far as I can tell it is a hopped up Excel spreadsheet that is free, though donations to the Lance Armstrong Foundation are recommended. I haven’t used it yet but it looks like it has lots of stuff (i.e calculators, predictors, etc…), maybe too much? Personally speaking, I used a bare bones Excel spreadsheet this year that didn’t have the detail that I would like to have. I am getting to the age where I have to write everything down or I will forget what I have (or haven’t) done.