If you are keeping a log, awesome!! You probably already some benefits of doing so. If you aren’t keeping a running log, now is the time to start! It may seem menial and useless but it is exactly the opposite! It only takes 5 minutes a day, you can do it online, your phone, tablet, computer, or in a notebook. And the benefits are numerous!
- Logs can act as a real motivator. To really make this work, total up your weekly mileage. Total it up for the week and compare week to week to watch your improvement grow. Or, use it to adjust your running. If you are stagnant at a certain amount, use it to challenge yourself to do more or change things up like intensity. If you miss a couple of days running, that means a couple of days of actually writing ‘I did nothing’. It should be motivating to want to write down that you did something instead.
- It can reveal a lot about your training and your body. Always write down everything physical you do. If you just can’t get your times down, look back at your training and see where you start to plateau, then analyze it to see if you need to back off or change things up. It can also indicate what may have caused an injury you received and you can use that information to avoid making the same mistakes. I even write down my walks with my daughters and yoga. If I feel bad one day it may be because I did too much the day before like a 2 mile hike with the girls, a run and yoga. It is a good way to gauge what your body is handling and whether you need to back off something or push a little more.
- It is a real journal. For those who really don’t like journaling or writing in diaries (like me) this is a way to do that without it seeming like a diary. I always write what I did in terms of physical exercise and I will usually include how I felt running, the weather, the run. Sometimes I will include something from my life randomly. I have no idea what I might use these for, just as any diary, but I still have my logs from high school and college!
Don’t feel like you have to buy a specific training diary or use a specific one from a website. I use those $1 composition books and that’s it. I try to fit an entire week on two facing pages, so I can see a week at a glance. I’ve tried websites/apps like Runkeeper but they don’t work for me.
Just give it a try, you may find it addicting!
I read many years ago about a woman who began writing her runs in a log starting on a New Years Day to use the log as a motivator to make sure she ran every day for one year. She actually did that and more by running (at the time) every day for several years!
Day 1: Introduction – You are here 🙂
Day 2: Start Small, Build Slow
Day 3: It Doesn’t Have To Be Boring
Day 4: Stitches
Day 5: Keep a Diary
Day 6: Dangerous Thoughts
Day 7: Week 1 Done – Some Suggestions
Day 8: Treadmill Training – Baby it’s cold (or raining) outside
Day 9: A Motivational Quote for You
Day 10: Distractions
Day 11: Partner Up!
Day 12: Another Motivational Quote to Ponder
Day 13: A Word on Dehydration and Motivation
Day 14: Week 2 Flew! Check in
Day 15: Mornings
Day 16: Visual Motivators
Day 17: Knees
Day 18: Another Motivational Quote
Day 19: Don’t Forget
Day 20: The Coach
Day 21: Week 3 – Almost There!
Day 22: Give Yourself a Break
Day 23: Lower Legs and Feet
Day 24: Control
Day 25: Another Motivational Quote
Day 26: Keeping a Log?
Day 27: Test Yourself
Also, if you want more motivation, you might want to follow my Pin Board ‘Run’!