I love the convenience of the log here, but think I'm going to also go back to my daily planner too. When I had my planner, I was able to look at the week and pencil in my workouts. Being here online, its easy to just avoid looking at all the empty spaces in the paper log when and if I skip a run. Just a thought. Does that make sense? I'm taking the advice of MJ and I believe someone else that mentioned going back to a planner.
Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Before RA, I wrote down every workout (regardless of the type) I did on my calendar at work. For weight lifting sessions, I write down specific sets, reps, weights etc in a separate log.
I did two spreadsheets for my marathon training, and will likely do that again. I liked having my training cycle printed out so I could see what was on the horizon, and what was completed.
I do not enter anything other than runs here, but I do still write brief info about my runs on my calendar. So yes, I have about a dozen or so calendars with all sorts of workout info on them. And will always write them on my calendar, no matter how far technology advances.
I have a spreadsheet, or rather an Excel workbook with about 18 spreadsheets in it. I keep track of pretty much everything: miles, pace, kcals burned, shoes, weight, calories, routes run. It has lots of graphs with pretty colors. I also have printed out a paper calendar to write down my miles since I like the act of putting pen to paper.
What I have is probably too much for you (and most people) but part of the fun for me is designing more stuff for it.
I spend an important part of my life now in front of a computer, typing emails, etc... Whenever I reach for my paper log, I find that tactile connection with my own writing, my past workouts, even just my past, when I had to use a pen for writing things other than just cheques. I miss writing letters with pen and paper. I'm old-school, I guess. Or I should simply say: I'm old.
But yes, what you're saying makes complete sense to me, Hilary. :-)
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Chief Unicorn Officer
Paper all day, of course! For me, penciling it in helps hold me accountable--if I'm looking at my run on my written planner, it's staring me in the face BEFORE hand. Post-run I use an app called Running Log for my iPhone which is very basic, it just adds up my weekly and monthly mileage which helps me track those extra .2's and stuff on a run. I tried the log here for a few days but didn't care for it. Psychologically treating the daily run as a pre-planned event has been helpful for me.
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Team TJ
I don't use the log here, nothing against it...I just don't. I keep an excel spreadsheet with all of my running info logged in it and I also use Garmin Connect.
Running for TJ because he can't.
Beer-and-waffle Powered
Speadsheet. No paper log will ever make me all those nice graphs or calculate stuff for me.
In the words of my late-coach : Just hang in there, relax... and at the end of a race anyone you see.....just pass them
Fear is a Liar
Paper.
I'm so vegetarian I don't even eat animal crackers!
I really like the log here, super easy.
Are we there, yet?
I use both the log here and an Excel workbook. I also have my workouts on Garmin but I rarely use that.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Perhaps I overdo it...... I have a spreadsheet in Excel with my overall plan and I track what I actually ran vs. what I had in my plan there. I also use the log here. And, I make calendar appointments on my phone which tell me how much I am thinking I should run each day. When I get up, I see the appointment and know what's on tap. And, since it's in my calendar on my phone, I can look at the schedule and make a decision when someone asks me to do something on a particular day (take my nephew to school, work late, etc.).
But The Smile That I Sent Out Returned With You.
i usually scribble out a plan when I have time, and rethink it during church. I dont know how many bulletins I have worked up some sort of training plan with.
I then enter my final plan into my phone calender and have it set as a reminder with a little alarm and everything so that it dings and says run 6 miles or whatever.
My miles are also logged onto my runkeeper phone app and I have started keeping info here on RA also. I think with the calender on here that sends me emails, I will get away from putting my run plan into my phone.
I do a bad job of taking notes about runs, but its not that big of a deal to me.
”Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
Tomas
I use kind of a summary calendar. That is just one page from my web site. I have the last several years of data in this form. Even though they are not underlined as links, the distance entries are links to my RunningAhead entry for each run and the pace entries are links to my GarminConnect entries for each run. It kind of gives me a year-at-a-glance view which I like, as well as highlighting races that I've entered, or for which I am registered, or am considering.
(The pinkish/purplish entries are my scheduled vacation days off. Funny how they tend to cluster around running.)
Each cycle I type up a plan into Excel and then import it into Outlook. My outlook is sync'd to my phone, so I have it right there. I have reminders that popup on workout days.
For logging workouts, I've used Runkeeper since the beginning. At first it was with my phone as a gps, then I got a garmin and sync that. I log to DailyMile too, but I think I'm going to drop that soon. Technology overload.
Since I'm an engineer and new to running (less than a year) I'm completely electronic for my log. I started with Excel spreadsheets to keep track of runs (time + distance + shoes) but once I got my Garmin I started uploading to Garmin-Connect to be able to plot things out (I still upload to Garmin but rarely use it)
When the great spam-a-lot exodus of 2012 occurred I found this log and I have to say I'm only using RA right now for EVERYTHING. It makes keeping track of mileage on shoes & runs easy and if you dig around a bit you'll see that you can create your own training plan on a calendar here and even download the *.ICS file to import into Google or Outlook or whatever calendar you use most often. The other nice thing about this is that I can link it to my phone and basically access my log/schedule anywhere ... I don't have to rely on memory or paper copy.
You can also make copies of a training plan to re-use with a new starting date. For instance, I'm currently doing Pfitz 18/70 to get ready for a race at the end of April. I will most likely also use that same plan to prepare for my fall goal race and can just copy it with a new starting date to match that October race.
Eric has done a fabulous job of making this place fully customizable and if you're electronically inclined there's not much you can't do here.
Train smart ... race smarter.