Why do you need to maintain a running journal?
You can ask anyone and they will be able to tell you what a journal is. A running journal however is where you put down all of the details of every run that you take. You will then be able to compare your current runs with runs that you have done previously. It's pretty much a graph that will tell you where you started and where you are at now.
You don't have to follow any specific format when you are doing a journal. You can go online and download quite a few different templates of journals that can help you maintain your notes very easily. If there is anything that you think may be helpful to you in your running training such as track workouts or interval training or technique that you need to improve on, then you should jot that down too. Make sure to be detailed enough that you can understand your notes at a later date.
Make the journal personal
Your journal is only for you and nobody else has access to it, much like a diary. You can therefore even enter in intangibles like your emotions during specific stages of the run and how your body felt. Even if this may sound a little odd, it is all information that will help you find a pattern to your running, and hopefully tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.
It is a well known fact that emotions play an important part in physical performance, and if you felt a little down one day and still managed to hit your target time and/distance you should jot down what exactly you did on that day to help you. Who knows when it may come in handy, but unless you have the information with you, you will never be able to refresh your memory at a later date.
Fartleks
In Swedish, this word translates to "speed play." If you have been running for any amount of time, then you know how exhilarating a fast run can be. True, you won't be able to keep that up for very long, but having a few "speed bursts" is a good to add to your training if you want to increase your speeds. If you just jog along slowly it can get pretty boring. Running fartleks will break things up and invigorate you. Runners have alot to gain by adding speed bursts to their training.
Record your speed bursts
You need to record the exact amount of time you spent running farleks. This could be a range of 15 seconds or it might go as long as a couple of minutes. Also record your recovery time and pace. Using this information will give you a starting point to improve upon.
Review at least one time a month
Once a month you should go back over your journal and do a review. This will not only help you see where you have made progress, but it will also help you find out if you are hitting any bottlenecks. You will be able to see what kind of an impact warming up and speed bursts will have on your run.
If you split your runs into segments and note the time between laps, then you can run an analysis which will allow you to find if you are performing better in one area than in another. You should also note if you ran without a warm up and got injured or felt bad. This will help you remember what may happen without warming up.
You can ask anyone and they will be able to tell you what a journal is. A running journal however is where you put down all of the details of every run that you take. You will then be able to compare your current runs with runs that you have done previously. It's pretty much a graph that will tell you where you started and where you are at now.
You don't have to follow any specific format when you are doing a journal. You can go online and download quite a few different templates of journals that can help you maintain your notes very easily. If there is anything that you think may be helpful to you in your running training such as track workouts or interval training or technique that you need to improve on, then you should jot that down too. Make sure to be detailed enough that you can understand your notes at a later date.
Make the journal personal
Your journal is only for you and nobody else has access to it, much like a diary. You can therefore even enter in intangibles like your emotions during specific stages of the run and how your body felt. Even if this may sound a little odd, it is all information that will help you find a pattern to your running, and hopefully tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are.
It is a well known fact that emotions play an important part in physical performance, and if you felt a little down one day and still managed to hit your target time and/distance you should jot down what exactly you did on that day to help you. Who knows when it may come in handy, but unless you have the information with you, you will never be able to refresh your memory at a later date.
Fartleks
In Swedish, this word translates to "speed play." If you have been running for any amount of time, then you know how exhilarating a fast run can be. True, you won't be able to keep that up for very long, but having a few "speed bursts" is a good to add to your training if you want to increase your speeds. If you just jog along slowly it can get pretty boring. Running fartleks will break things up and invigorate you. Runners have alot to gain by adding speed bursts to their training.
Record your speed bursts
You need to record the exact amount of time you spent running farleks. This could be a range of 15 seconds or it might go as long as a couple of minutes. Also record your recovery time and pace. Using this information will give you a starting point to improve upon.
Review at least one time a month
Once a month you should go back over your journal and do a review. This will not only help you see where you have made progress, but it will also help you find out if you are hitting any bottlenecks. You will be able to see what kind of an impact warming up and speed bursts will have on your run.
If you split your runs into segments and note the time between laps, then you can run an analysis which will allow you to find if you are performing better in one area than in another. You should also note if you ran without a warm up and got injured or felt bad. This will help you remember what may happen without warming up.
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