This Running Journal is messing up my Zen

Over the years I'm sure you've heard me talk about how I kept track of my runs. I've used a regular wall calendar for a few years, then I graduated to an actual running log from Runner's World, and then on to the fabulous running journal from Gone For A Run that I just can not say enough about. I love this journal SO much that I wrote about it several times. This journal has everything you need to keep track of training runs, races, PR's, goals, future races, you name it, it's got it. I like it so much that I wrote in depth reviews about it here and here.

I started with my official Runner's World training log when I started training for my first half marathon and then just continued with it throughout the training of my first full marathon.

I moved to the Gone For a Run running journal when I started official training for the 2016 WDW marathon.

Neither the training log nor the journal are filled up, yet I was gifted with another running journal for Christmas. It is The Complete Runner's Day -By-Day Log 2016 Calendar.

I thought about

Things you should be tracking about your runs

Earlier this year ( back in January) I wrote about a running journal. I bragged about how great this journal was and how I couldn't wait to start documenting my runs.  The Journal was from Gone For  A Run. We even gave one of them away during our runner meet-up at WDW.

Well it turns out that after the wdw marathon 2015 I hadn't done any training runs so therefore, I hadn't  even used that journal!

I started my "official" training for next year's marathon in August ( I know I started a month too late, but I wanted to wait until I was confident that my legs/knees were strong enough).  Anyway, when I started running again is when I decided to use the journal.

The first thing I did was fill out the goals page in the front of the book. I wrote all my goals for the WDW Marathon. Yes, I did an A, B, and C goal ( I just didn't call it that at the time).

Next, I turned to the back of the book and wrote down all the races that I've completed and filled out my finish time for the ones that I could remember.

Then it was time to start filling out the data for my runs.  I use my Garmin on my runs so I just easily transfer all the stats from my watch to the journal. These are the things I am able to track in the journal. There are a few items I don't consistently track.

 Date

Time of day

Weather

Weight ( this option is on the page but I don't use it)

Route

Distance

Type of Run ( This is where I write which intervals I did)

Time (that is took for the run)

Pace

HR  and HR Rest ( I don't use these either)

a 1 to 5 scale to choose how I felt about the run.

Calories burned ( I don't track this either)

Shoes I wore  ( I like to know which shoes I wore on each run just in case I start to feel some pain. Also, I just realized that it was a good way to keep track of how many miles I put on each pair)

Any Additional Notes about the run (I usually fill this section out with more info about how I felt)

 I Have to say I absolutely LOVE this journal. I figured documenting each thing about my run would help me take pause when an injury starts lurking or if I am consistently having bad runs I can look back and see what all the commonalities might be.

I figured this is truly the best way for me to keep track of all my runs. I know that I can always use Garmin Connect to get some of this info but I like the fact that the journal lets me write in other things about the run too.  Do you track all your runs digitally or do you write them down somewhere? -M

We are linking up with TOTR where the theme is about "tracking devices".

Get a Running Journal

Happy Friday folks!

We hope everyone had a fun or relaxing New Year's. Ours was a little bit of both. Now that it is 2015, it's time to look at what lays ahead for the new year. Last year on New Years Eve I took down my calendar and tallied up all my miles for the year. I was quite impressed and I told myself that would be my New Years Eve tradition each year.

I had a training journal in 2014 so that is how I logged most of my miles ( the ones I remembered to log anyway).  Logging my progress was very important for me this past year because I was injured A LOT. The journal I used allowed me to not only keep track of my distance, but also where I ran, what shoes I wore, the weather conditions and how I felt during the run. At first I thought it may be a little too much as it felt like I was writing in a diary, but looking back now, I am glad that I recorded all that data.

The great folks at Gone For A Run are making sure I can continue to log my miles for 2015. They sent me one of their new Running Journals.

1.  They come in a multitude of fun designs and you can even make yours customized.

 Another fun thing is that the cover clips on and off so you can use the cover again once you fill up this journal and move it to the next one you get.

3. I'm loving the pages in this journal. It has a place for everything you would want to keep track of.

As an added bonus there is an inspirational quote on each page.

4. This section of the journal allows you to tally up your miles for the week or month.

5. These next parts of the journal are my favorite and something I have not seen in other running journals. Not only can you keep track of your training runs, but there is a section to keep track of the races you've run. 

I know I keep track of all my race times (somewhere), but it is now nice to have them all in one place.

I love this page that allows you to keep track of PR's. Just be sure to write in pencil on this page...lol
Below it lets you keep a list of your bucket list races.

This page is actually genius. It lets you keep track of all the races you've registered for!

Last but not least is a notes section.

So what do you think? A great way to start off the new year don't ya think?  If you want more information go to Gone For A Run.

How do you keep track of your runs or workouts?

We were provided free Running Journals courtesy of Gone For A Run.  If you are a fan of Gone For A Run products please be sure to meet up with us in WDW for the marathon meet up next week.  There will be some GFAR prizes given away.