The Training Log

(More blog entries from ryan)

It's gray that matters.

Anyone else out there keep a training log? Mine is fairly informal. It's just another category in the Calendar on my computer. It's the entries in gray. I keep track of what I did, how long it was and general notes about how I felt. Why do I do it? To be honest, I'm not really sure. I'm not really planning on going back to it next year, and I don't have any set training regimen that I'm trying to follow. I have no idea why I do it.

I can say that I do get satisfaction out of looking at a week with a lot of gray. However, I've begun to notice that the more green I have on the calendar, the less gray I see to fit in. Green is for work items. Last week, I had a lot of green, and only one gray. Bummer. Not that green really gets in the way of the gray, but the more green makes it harder to ensure I get to the gray. And I can admit that if I have a lot of green, it makes for a nice excuse to leave out the gray. Man, that hurt to type.

That being said, I'm not going to get any gray today. Not because of the green, but just because I think I need a rest day. I do have gray in the log for the last three days. So I guess that's what the training log is for. To remind me where I am and what I've done. No gray? Time to get on it. Like I said, I don't really have any specific event I'm pointing at, I'm just trying to be in the neighborhood of fit.

Anyone else keep a training log? Why? Or, why not?

- Ryan

Comments

Re: The Training Log
by Sparkplug on Apr 14th 2007, 2:35 pm

As Ryan knows, I'm a list maker, and with that in mind, I've kept a training log for many years... I guess I got into it when I was running track and cross country in college. It always helped to keep a log over the summer to ensure that I got in my training (not that I always did enough, but...). Anyway, the habit has stuck over the years... and it's pretty cool to be able to look at a week or month or year and see how many days have training notes. It all adds up! Last year when I was training for the marathon, there was a purpose... I needed a lot of running sqaures on my calendar! This year, I'm hoping that more squares are taken up with hiking notes, but I'm also hoping to get in enough runs so I can do the whole 15km Black Fly race without falling over :-)