"How do you keep track of your workout and training activities?"

Do you record your workout activity?

What do you use for your training log?
A software program/tool:
My own customized software application (e.g. your own Excel spreadsheet, or database application)
A specialized log book (e.g. VeloNews Training Diary)
A plain pen & paper notebook
A simple pen/paper record (e.g. stuff written on napkins and envelopes that you then keep in a folder)

Other than the obvious things (such as date, distances biked & ran, and/or the time spent at it), what else do you routinely record in this log?
Intensity (e.g. HR data, average pace splits, RPE measure)
Weather/Temperature conditions
Route/Course Information: where you ran/biked, etc.
Other people you worked out with
Number of hours slept (I mean the night before -- not during the workout!)
What you ate/drank
Other information you regularly record:

When do you look back through your training log?
Regularly - to review past days/weeks/months during the season
Only after a good/poor race/workout to figure out why
When I need something to read on the toilet
At the end of the season to review the year
Usually don't

Has there ever been anything in your logs that you were surprised to learn? or other comments you'd like to add...

Your Name or Email (always optional)


If you would still like to respond, fill out the form and press the Submit button.

The answer . . .

Summary:
The record on whether or not you logged your workouts showed that "Always" and "Sometimes" made up all but one of the responses. A single tally went to "No, but I remember [the workouts]".

What you use for your log was evenly split between a specialized log book, and plain pen and paper notebooks. There was one person using customized software, (but if you count myself, that would be at least two). No one used off-the-shelf software for logging workouts.

Intensity, Weather, and Route information were all equally popular at being logged. "Other people [on the workout]" was more popular than recording the number of hours slept, and no one recorded what they ate/drank. I was surprised at this because I thought this could be key, given the need to experiment with gels/fluids to find what works best. It's a new addition to my log.

Notable write-in information was "time of day", and "how I feel", "how much time I spend a week on each sport". Interestingly enough, lots of write-in comments hinted at elements of overtraining: ("I shouldn't have gone so hard on that last work out. I feel or I shouldn't have worked out at all"; "...lets me know when it might be time for a day off"; "I train too much or I don't train enough!");

Training logs were reviewed regularly, in the context of race performance, at the end of the season, and on the toilet.

"Prize" for coolest use of training logs goes to the anonymous respondent that has logs letting him/her trace back 10 years and compare times for 400 meter intervals. Let's hope we can all keep training at a high level for another decade.

Thanks to Rich, Joe, Bob, and the several anonymous folks that logged responses and comments.