Training Logs

The log isn't simply a record, but rather it is a planning, training, and evaluation tool.There are a few free logging tools and also some you can pay for as you go (e.g. Training Peaks). However none met my exact needs so I developed my own system within Google-Docs to very quickly record my workouts from anywhere, on any platform, and have metrics collated in Summary worksheets which allow me to track training time etc, plus any other metrics that I deem important (e.g. race nutrition, shoe mileage, RHR, average pace etc). Why is this approach better than, say, Training Peaks?

• • We own our data, not a third party that might later change their terms of service

  • Ability to collaborate with friend or coaches for no additional fees

  • Very simple and fast data entry, very low overhead

  • Very simple configurable shoe wear tracker

  • Google not deemed likely to sell out or go out of business any time soon

  • Very innovative periodization plan generator

  • Much cheaper

  • Lots more

This method makes recording of information a breeze, just one click from anywhere, including smartphones, and eliminates the need for backup. Managing any log needs to be trivial.

My personal 2011 log is shared at this link, but is also embedded at the bottom of this page. All worksheets are viewable (normally this occupies the full browser):

Some features of this log format are:

• • Integrated automatic periodization planner populates the year-plan and monthly worksheets based upon your user-configurable periodization pattern for up to three 'A' races. 

  • Optionally Record details of all workouts very simply, very little clicking is involved, the goal was to reduce the overhead of entering information.

  • Shoe mileage tracker automatically logs the distance run on each pair of shoes, simply select the shoe number from a pull down menu after logging each run. Logs up to 15 pairs of shoes and there are configurable color coded thresholds so you immediately know how far each shoe has done without having to go to the "Shoes" worksheet.

  • Year planner allows easy at-a-glance planning of periodization and goal setting etc.

  • Use of Google-Docs ensures fast secure access from anywhere with automatic backup and full change-history with undo capabilities. Plus you own your data, unlike on most proprietary logs/planners - with Google Docs you can be confident that the data will always remain available, not some company that you give money to until they go out of business.

  • Configurable for Metric or English units, or a mixture of both.

  • Pace automatically calculated if you record both the distance and the time for a run or bike.

  • Works on iPhone, Android, anything with a browser, as shown in the picture. (Works best with the google-docs app).

  • Training zones for bike and run automatically calculated and placed on each worksheet, based on you Lactate Threshold HR.

  • 3 user-configurable columns added - track optional items like body weight, calories, ski time, golf score or whatever the heck you wish. These are graphed and sum or average data for each week and month is calculated.

  • URLs to race results or workouts (eg on connect.garmin or mapmyrun) can be inserted in the url column, they are then clickable.

  • Accurate weekly and monthly time tracking - if you record a workout distance but not a time, the time is estimated based on user-configurable averages in order to determine weekly and monthly training time.

  • Configure which columns you wish to have appear on the monthly worksheets, anything not of use to you can easily be removed from the Settings worksheet.

  • A summary of all of your races this year is generated when you click on "Training Log Menu" -> "Generate Race Summary", a new sheet then contains all events from the monthly worksheets where the first word of the workout notes is "Race".

Features for coaches include:

There are many features of particular use to coaches looking to more easily collaborate with athletes, or looking to easily generate and evaluate plans. For more information see the "For Coaches" page LINK HERE.