Hi Kathy,

Do you keep a training diary? I heard that it might be a good idea but I don’t know. Can it really help?

I do keep a daily training diary. Having a training log is a great way to have all your training data at your fingertips so that you can follow your progress, see trends, and document how your body is responding to your daily training. It can even help you redefine your goals through the season.

I keep mine on an excel spreadsheet so that I can find things easily when I need information at a moments notice. It is also easier and faster to get that information to my coach or other interested parties.

You can get really in depth with a training diary, recording everything from your resting heart rate all the way to what you ate that day. What you document will depend on how much time you have and/or how much time you want to give to recording. Obviously, the more you want to record on a daily basis the more time consuming it will be; but it is worth it!

Here are some of the things I document on a daily basis:

Workout – specifically what I did
Duration – in time
Weather – temperature, windy, sunny
What the ride was like - climbing, flats, dirt roads, trails
How I felt – good, bad
General Comments – got a flat tire, severe winds

You can also record things such as your nutrition, power, sleep, fatigue levels, stress, soreness, resting heart rate, weight, race results, workout rating, average heart rate, average power, zones you were in, distance, route, % body fat, weight before and after workouts, any cross training, etc.

As you can see there are tons of things to document if you want to spend time doing it. You will find that as you do, there is a core amount that you need to be recording but the other stuff may help you find trends in your training too. Some things will be more helpful to you than others, and you need to just decide as you go along what factors are really important to you.

Good luck!

Kathy Sherwin
Velo Bella – Kona Elite Cyclocross Team