If you’re going to learn from your training then one of the most important things you can do is record all your training in some kind of log or journal. If you work with a coach it’s a good idea because it will help you and your coach monitor your training and fatigue levels and assess the impact the training program is having on you. If you don’t have a coach and set your own program, I’d suggest it is even more important to log your training as it will help you recognize things that are successful in helping you improve and things which are not, and it should be able to help you ensure you are cycling your training properly in order to achieve maximum results.
I have recorded all of my training in some form or other since January 1979. It’s allowed me to look back from season to season and that has allowed me to refine my training plan. I have always taken the philosophy that if you are trying to be the best in the world at something you should leave no stone unturned. Spending a few minutes to reflect on your day’s training and then no more than a minute to record some details based on that reflection seems a small investment in time and energy if it can help you better understand what you’re doing in training and the effect it is having.
There are many different ways to approach this, and the key is finding the one that works best for you both in terms of convenience and meaningful detail. Some of the new GPS/Heart rate monitors include online software that will record your training for you. Both Garmin Connect and Polar Flow do this, and Polar’s even allows you to record your own notes for each workout. However if you are doing strength training in the gym like you should be you’ll find it difficult to use these programs to log that, so you’ll have to have some type of ancillary log as well. Basically it all comes down to the level of detail you wish to record. Some people are really meticulous, recording every set of every weight workout in addition to detailed information about all their paddles and other cardiovascular work. I tended to be much more brief in my notes, recording the workout and objective and a couple of brief notes based on workout details and how the workout went. The point is to find a system that works for you.
A useful approach to take is to consider the training load each day. For cardiovascular workouts like paddling, running, swimming, cycling and cross-country skiing the training load can be estimated by considering the intensity and the duration of the day’s training session(s), with the intensity measure derived from either heart rate or perceived exertion. For strength training the idea is the same,only in this case intensity is measured as the percentage of your one rep max (1RM) and volume can be measured in “tonnage” (total weight lifted). You can then use these variables to sort of figure out a perceived exertion value for the entire training session.
The value of considering the training load in this fashion is that it allows you to estimate the day’s “Training Impulse” which is equal to the perceived exertion multiplied by the minutes of training. This allows you, if you’re interested, to graph your training each day. You can do it pretty easily on your computer if you’re handy with Excel or you can just do it the old fashioned way with graph paper by just plotting the training impulse on the Y-axis vs. the date on the X-axis.
At this point, if you’re not familiar with the idea of a periodized training plan, I’d suggest you go back and read my blog post from November 16, 2012 “Training for SUP Part4 – Structure of a Periodized Year Plan”. In a periodized year plan the idea is to cycle your training into chunks of increasing training loads followed by periods of lighter loading which you use to consolidate gains and prepare for the next training cycle. Generally this results in cycles of step-like build up of training load lasting two to three weeks, punctuated by periods of easier training usually lasting for up to a week. Getting back to your training log, if you’re taking the time to graph your training impulse each day, over a three to four week period you’ll get to see how well you’re actually cycling your training as the step-like nature which I mentioned above should become readily apparent (see the blue lines on fig. 1).
While it’s great to record the quantitative information like training impulse, what about the qualitative, subjective impressions you have of how the training is affecting you? Hooper and MacKinnon (1995) suggest using seven questions to monitor factors like stress, fatigue, quality of sleep,muscle quality/soreness, attitude towards training, irritability and impression of rest and overall health. Each of these factors have been proven useful in identifying over-reaching and over-training in athletes and, although they can be affected by anything going on in our lives, often fluctuate as a result of the effects of the training program.
Hooper and MacKinnon suggest using a 7-point rating scale for each of the following questions, where a score of 1 is good and a 7 is bad (tired, over-stressed, irritable, poor quality sleep, etc.):
- How do I feel? (1- great…………………7-fatigued)
- How stressed do I feel? (1-none…………………7-stressed)
- Am I sleeping well? (1-yes…………………..7-no)
- Are my muscles sore? (1-no……………………7-very sore)
- Am I enjoying training? (1-love it……………………7-no)
- Am I irritable? (1-no………………………7-yes)
- Do I feel healthy and well rested? (1-yes……………………….7-no)
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| Figure 1. |
Figure 1 is a graph generated by one of the sports scientists working with the Canadian Canoe-Kayak Team. It shows pretty clearly the relationship between the quantitative recording of your training (training impulse) in blue and the qualitative assessment of your training (sum of Hooper/MacKinnon questions) in green. If your training is cycled properly and you are responding appropriately the two should mirror each other with the qualitative (green) lagging slightly behind the quantitative (blue) as there is a slight lag in your body’s response to the training impulse.
The value of showing this graphically is that
it allows you to pretty readily see the following:
- Whether your training is properly cycled
- Whether you are responding appropriately to your training impulse.
If either the training impulse or the Hooper/MacKinnon sum graph looks significantly different than shown it can quickly clue you in to problems with your training program or can help you identify issues like over-reaching in training before it becomes a full blown problem of over-training.
Whether you choose a really detailed approach to monitoring your training through some type of training log or prefer a much simpler approach, this week’s Tip of the Week is that you find some way of monitoring your training that works for you. At the very least you’ll enjoy looking back on it at the end of the season and it will help you realize all the great work you’ve done on your fitness. However if you are a serious racer, the records you keep will also contain a treasure trove of information about the training you did, its effectiveness, what worked and what didn’t. It can provide you with lots of valuable feedback on how to structure your training in the future to get maximal benefit from it while avoiding any mistakes that may have had a negative impact on your performance in the past. Give it a try.
