Running Logs

A training cycle can be considered a scientific experiment of sorts. If it's your first one, you are figuring out your limitations and testing your fitness in a race. If you have trained through many training cycles, you are usually repeating previous successful cycles with small tweaks here and there based on the outcomes. Maybe your mileage was too high and you got an overuse injury. Maybe you did not put the work in on the track and you shorted yourself with a slower time. Whatever the case may be, this new training cycle is a chance to right any wrongs, and perhaps try something new. It is difficult to know what to change, however, if you do not know for certain what you have done in the past.

A training log is your own personal method of keeping track of what you have done in the past and what you can change. Our brains are remarkable organs and are capable of making great calculations based on previous experience. You can probably look at a week in a log that is an anomaly and explain exactly what happened to make it different (you got sick, you had final exams, work was in the way). A detailed log, however, allows you to not only know what was different (less mileage, more mileage, extra day off) but also allows you to  monitor pace, effort, injury, etc.

Matt Fitzgerald has published a great log called the Runner's Diary. It allows a lot of information to be logged easily every day. Otherwise, there are several online logs that allow similar information to be logged a couple are trainingpeaks.com, flotrack.org, active.com

Know yourself and know what you have done, in order to know what you are capable of doing in the future.

3k-5k:
5 mile easy run + (6 x 150m strides)
Strength Training

5k-10k
6-7 mile easy run + (10 x 100 m strides)
Strength training

10k-21k
6-9 mile easy run with 5 x 1 minute pick ups
Strength Training

21k+
6-12 mile easy run + (3 x 300m Strides)


Strength Training for the day:
A1. Bent over Dumbbell row 4-6 reps per arm x 5; 20 second rest
A2. Push Ups AMRAP; 4 min rest
B. Pull Ups 4 sets of 8-12; 3 min rest
C. Sit ups 4 sets of 25; 90 second rest
D. Lunges; 200 as fast as possible with perfect form

Post weights, reps, times and thoughts to comments