Keeping a Running Log
A running log not only records your progress, it can be a motivator, an injury log and a constant source of information and memories.
Pick a big enough book – most people start out by writing down only their mileage but soon start to add other information: the weather conditions, the shoes they wore, how they felt, who they saw etc. The more you can record, the more useful your log will be when you come to refine your training.
I start each year by flipping through the pages at random, marking them ‘have a day off’ or ‘try a new route’ or ‘try hurdles’ or ‘buy a running treat for yourself’ or ‘today is eat banoffee pie day!’. When I come across these scattered through the year it’s an incentive to myself to remember that training is not just today’s run but a year long effort. It also inspires me to try something new or go back to something I haven’t done for a while and stops me feeling that my training is in a rut. You can also use your log as a count down to races, marking the days back from race day so that you are confident you have a tailored training programme.
When you have a few months under your belt you can start looking back and seeing trends – you might find you run better early in the morning, or that you always perform less well after eating a cooked breakfast, for example.
Log each twinge, niggle, ache and blister and you’ll have a constant health report that tells you how long it takes you to recover from any problem, what techniques you used to overcome it and how well they worked.
Armed with a runner’s log you will understand your running better and improve it year on year.
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