I stand with arms lodged on my
knees, legs about to give out, and still heaving air trying to regain a glimmer
of composure. Moments after the workout has ended I can still feel the lactic
seeping out of my exhausted muscles. My eyelids are heavy, ready to droop and
close for the most satisfying nap. I've just put in a solid day's work of
training-one that has expended every ounce of energy my body had. I know I'll
be better from this workout. In this moment, I am so present; every fiber of my
body is on alert. But a week later I won't remember this; I'll have no idea
what my splits were or even the distance I was running.
One of the biggest questions I
was asked when I was in high school was what my mileage was. And I had no idea.
I couldn't even guess. I had never thought to keep track of it. It's only been
in college that I began to understand the practicality and the value of keeping
a training log.
A training log is exactly what
it sounds like: it's a place to write your runs, lifting sessions, core,
physical therapy, and how all of those things felt. Basically, in its most
simplified form, this log is a way to track exactly what activity you do in a
day. As an example, I write what my run was, whom I did it with, where I did
it, and how I felt. I also jot down extras; like lifting, steeple practice, and
core. Even though I'm a bit of a novice at recording this information I have
found some key benefits:
1. Understanding
burnout:
As a freshman in college, I had
just begun to record my runs. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I was
very aware that I was doing way more miles than I ever had. I
was also running them a lot faster as well. But I felt great! I was the most in
shape I had ever been until that point, and then I wasn't. My legs began to
feel sluggish like I couldn't pick them up. I managed to muscle my way to a
respectable finish at the ACC conference cross country meet, but I truly burnt
out at the Northeast Regional meet. I genuinely don't remember the race, but I
know I fell and passed out at the finish line. Looking back at my training log
I see now that I had increased my mileage and intensity much too quickly. It
caused my legs to basically give up; they couldn't handle the workload I had
tasked them with. Had I used my training log at the time, this burnout could
have been prevented.
2. Mileage:
As stated before, I had no idea
what type of mileage I was doing in high school. But the more college coaches I
spoke to, the more I realized that this number is valuable information for a
number of reasons. This number, the number of miles you run per week, becomes a
basis when going into college. Most coaches will increase this
number gradually and by about 15%. But even before college, knowing this number
will help you understand what makes you feel good. Tracking this allows me to
find my sweet spot in training. It was a process, but after varying my mileage
for some time I now know what makes me feel best during a race week and how
much I should be running in my base phase to gain fitness. This leads me to my
next point as well:
3. Tracking
injury:
Sadly, I was injured for half
the summer-I tore my plantar fascia-and came back to school in a boot. After a
slow progression, I'm now having some of the best workouts I've ever had and
setting up really nicely for the indoor season. But that took time, including
looking back at my old training log to see what went wrong. Because I had
tracked what I was running and how I felt, I was able to see what caused my
injury and when it manifested. This information is so important in order to
prevent future injuries. Now, I track how I feel on every run without fail. I
refuse to be in a boot again and this is one way to control that. And finally,
4. It's
fun!
Keeping a training log is
surprisingly entertaining. I always record the details of every run and it's
nice to be able to look back at those memories. My favorite is likely what I
wrote about our cool down after MVC cross country conference last year. Our
team had dominantly won the title, putting five in front of second place's one,
and we were ecstatic. Our two-mile cool-down consisted of loping through
fields, climbing hay bails, and eventually sprinting to awards. It was an
amazing moment, and I've made sure I'll never forget it.
Honestly, I wish I had kept a
training log in high school as well. I don't remember too much from my time as
a high schooler and I wish that wasn't the case. But it's also especially
important in the winter. Most of us are away from our coaches during winter
break or in the off-season. The training we do right now is incredibly
important though. This is our base for track, and if we want to do well, this
training should be taken seriously. A coach-athlete relationship requires a
healthy dialogue about training, and having recorded what you did over the break
will only make in-season training better. Your coach will listen to you about
how you felt during your runs and what you did. From there, adjustments can be
made and success can be found. So happy winter running and have fun logging
your miles!
