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On March 23, when I recorded my workout in my training log, it marked a milestone—25
years of daily diary entries detailing my fitness adventures. The first entry in 1975? A
four-mile run and 75 push-ups. Since then I’ve accumulated a shelf of diaries ranging
from cheap notebooks to flashy commercial products designed for cycling. Entries run the
gamut from brief notes about mileage to longer missals: flat tires fixed, headwinds battled,
roadside dogs outrun, and weather reports.
Does this mean I’m a hopeless obsessive, compulsively writing down my every drop of
sweat? Nope—I like to keep a training log and don’t begrudge the two or three
daily minutes spent inscribing my adventures. In fact, there are plenty of reasons why you should record
your workouts too, whether you’re just getting started in exercise or are a hardened
vet. Here they are, along with sample entries from the log of my sporting life:
Our faulty memories
Four-hour killer mountain bike ride on Deer Creek Trail at Crested Butte. Mosquitoes,
flies, rain, mud. Also two elk, a deer, and a rainbow. Great ride. For years I’d
remembered that ride as a daylong slog in mud, highlighted by a rainbow so bright it seemed
supernatural. But my diary reminded me it was only four hours, something less than epic. A
training diary also helps keep accurate track of hours spent exercising—easy to
underestimate when you’re having fun and easy to report as too high when things are
going badly.
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Dear Diary: What to Record in the Book of Your Life |
Workout. Make a brief note of what you did (run, ride, aerobics class) and
how long it took. Include mileage, pounds lifted, or other details.
Intensity. How hard was the workout, on a scale of 1 (easy) to 5 (you crawled
out of the gym on your knees).
Evaluation. How did you feel while exercising? If you felt snappy and wanted
to do the same workout again from sheer exuberance, the workout rates 5. If you were
draggy, lethargic, and hating life, rate it 1.
Total stress load. Exercise is only one stress, a good one, in your life.
Also consider job stress, arguments with family members, commuting snarls, and
whether your computer crashed. Give your total stress load a number from 1 (low) to
5 (high).
Sleep. Record total hours of restful sleep.
Weight. Record your weight, before breakfast and after a trip to the bathroom,
once a week.
Weather. A brief note about general conditions: “Warm, humid with light
sprinkles.”
Equipment changes. Are you running in new shoes or trying a new bike seat?
Injuries often follow changes in gear so recording how new stuff works for you helps
you trace the cause if you come up lame. |
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—F.M. |
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Beware of “diary miles”
Rode 5:15 on Cedaredge loop, 95 miles with some good climbs. Broke 400 miles for the
week. Exercising so you can record big numbers in your diary is a sure route to
overtraining and injury. The diary should describe what you did, not goad you to do more.
If you are always trying to beat your previous week’s totals, stop and reconsider your
total training plan.
Long-range planning
Rode 1:15 with four hard sprints on short hills. Once you get in the diary habit,
you can look back at months or years of workouts and analyze what effects they had on your
performance, weight, health, and sense of well-being. Then you can plan future workouts
armed with that knowledge. If you don’t know where you’ve been, it’s hard to
see where you’re going.
Recording results
(1977) Morgul-Bismark road race. Took 7th. Ten-man break most of way. Tried two attacks
but chased down. Cramped in sprint. Darn. For years I remembered that I had been
top-five in that race—until I checked my training log. A training log, honestly filled
out, eliminates fish stories.
Analyzing peaks and valleys
Tired. Snowshoed three hours on Red Mountain Pass but felt terrible—no energy.
If you consistently make entries that sound like a litany of misery and suffering, look
back on what you’ve been doing for the past several months. Inevitably, you’ll
find that your total stress load is too high. Back off until you regain your snap and zest
for exercise.
Injury prevention
Ran four miles on usual loop but felt stabbing pain on outside of knee. Training
logs can help you spot training mistakes that lead to injury. In this case I had been
running the same route on a crowned road several times a week and the slanted pavement had
irritated the iliotibial band on the outside of my knee. My solution: Running on soft, flat
trails.
Personal history
I like to keep a log because it records an important part of each of the days of my life
for reflection and remembrance. In fact, I often consult my log to find out where I was on
a certain day or what motel we stayed in on vacation five years ago. Training logs detail
much more than exercise. But in the final analysis, I need no excuses for keeping one. I
like to browse through the entries I’ve made over the last 25 years, not to uncover
any patterns, but to re-experience the ride, run, or hike sketched out so sparsely on the
page. Four-hour mountain bike ride on Spring Creek Trail with Alan and Bill. Saw three
deer and one elk. Trail was buffed! Felt
great.
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