Tracking Your Workouts
Reasons to keep track of your running
Do you keep track of the workouts you do?
And not just your running workouts, but the easy days and the shitty ones.
The tough ones and the ones that didn’t happen.
The cross training days and the strength workouts too!
Every workout you do leads you to becoming the better athlete you’re meant to be.
Whether you’re an avid runner or someone who just dabbles, keeping track of your training is an essential skill to master as you go on your fitness journey.
Why Track Your Training
Keeping a training diary is beneficial for so many reasons!
Here’s a quick list of bullet points for those too lazy to read the whole post, then I’ll dig into a few of them which I feel are the most important.
Finding trends in your training (the good and the bad)
Knowing when you’re close to a personal best
Seeing what you were doing when [you felt great, you felt like crap, you got injured]
Feeling confident in the training you’ve done
Tracking metrics and data that matter to you [sleep, mileage, shoes, weight, gear]
Helping you remember routes, races, elevation gains, personal bests, personal worsts)
When I was heading into my sub-5 1-mile attempt this year, I looked back at my old training logs to see what I did that helped me run a good time. That helped dictate the type of training I did this time around.
Knowing how I felt after certain workouts or long runs helps me train for future runs. I can prepare for upcoming runs by looking back at recovery times (time spent after intervals) to see how I should run a current workout.
How To Track YOUR Training
How you track your training is up to you.
Some of you might prefer just using Garmin or Strava to track everything. Kudos to you, but I don’t track every single thing I do with my watch, so it doesn’t cover everything.
Some of you might use paper and pencil and that’s great too. When I started running in HS, our coach asked us to fill in training logs weekly. I got used to doing it from day one and now I have 8+ years of training (4 at Cherokee, 4 at Villanova) I can look back at.
It’s humbling to remember where I started and then also 😳 to look back and remember doing 6 x 1 mile on grass, averaging 5:01 with 1-minute rest after each in college.
But I can do that because I have those logs to look back at.
The last major group of training-trackers is probably using some form of online entry. Since I started TrainwithMarc, back in 2011, I use a custom Google Sheet that I make for each of my runners. I can tell you exactly how many miles I’ve run since Jan 2011.
13,727.59 miles. It sounds like a lot, but trust me, it isn’t.
That doesn’t include swimming, biking, elliptical, etc. Just my running mileage.
I know this data because I track it.
Whatever style of training log you use, stick with it! It will provide valuable data for you in the coming months and years.
You won’t regret it.
Are you ready for a training plan? Send me a message and we can get started.
Imagine crossing that finish line with a new personal best, the exhilaration pulsing through your veins as you realize your hard work has paid off. That's not just a dream—it's within your reach, and I'm here to help you make it a reality.
You've already experienced the value of my free content, and now it's time to take your training to the next level. With personalized coaching tailored to your unique goals, strengths, and areas for improvement, you'll unlock the full potential of your athleticism.
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