All About Training Logs

All About Training Logs

Keeping a training log is essential for a runner of any experience level. It is a great place to record you workouts, experiences, and other notes. But, if you want to use them the most effectively, you must know a few things about them.

Why Keep a Training Log?

If you don’t already use a training log, you probably are asking this question. Here are some reasons:

  • They can be used as motivation to keep on running
  • You can track where your injuries first start
  • You can see your prior workouts
  • They can remind you of your pacing
  • They show you how your fitness level is improving
  • You can watch as your mileage grows
  • You can record your times for races, tracking your personal records

What Can I Use as a Training Log?

The easiest and most accessible thing to use for your training log is a simple notebook. Of course, this may not be the most organized way. For more organization, you can use calenders for your training logs.

Probably the most useful training logs, however, can be found online. The benefit of these is that you can easily calculate your paces, your weekly, monthly, and yearly mileage, the amount of miles you’ve run in certain shoes, and so on. Online training logs are probably the best choice if you have daily access to the internet. Here is a list of some great online training logs (most of which are free).

What Should I Put Into a Training Log?

Of course, the main information you should put into your training log is the distance you run. Other things that you should include are:

  • Any sort of discomfort that might be an injury
  • The time it took to run it
  • What time of day you ran
  • What you ate before running and when
  • Where you ran

This may seem like a lot of information, but most of the time, it is necessary to put. Of course, there is nothing wrong with just writing down how much you ran.