moving to an old school pen and paper running journal - best examples?

don't log your training. Your training is logged within you legs.

I like using an Excel spreadsheet to track my running, and I think some of the things I do for that could work for a pen and paper log. Generally I list out workouts and weekly mileage goals ahead of time- I have one color-coded column on the left indicating what phase of the training plan the week corresponds to (base phase, taper, recovery, etc.) For workouts, I like to use different font colors to indicate mile pace repeats, 5K pace intervals, or tempo runs. You could easily do this with colored pens, or different highlighters- color is good for seeing at a glance how often different types of workouts go in different phases. Races get written in and highlighted in a different color, I also draw a border around days where I'm traveling, since that means different routes, different schedule, and sometimes moving workouts around.

I also run the same routes a lot- I like having a few go-to 5/6/7 mile loops, and a couple 10-13 mile routes, so I made up little two letter abbreviations for the most common ones to make it easy to compare performance over time. You could also draw little symbols like on a weather map- snowflake, sun, raindrop- if there were conditions that might mean your run was tougher or easier than usual.

My original spreadsheet had four columns:

- Date

- Time

- Distance

- Route name

I then had simple weekly, monthly, annual totals.

That's all I'd suggest you start with and then expand as you find yourself wanting to log more.

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Since then I added:

- Time in Zone 1-2

- Aerobic efficiency number (heart-rate times pace)

- Shoes worn

- Total mileage / time for each pair of shoes

Then a couple of separate spreadsheets for tracking splits on Interval sessions and Tempo runs and Long runs.

***

It's a bit more intensive to keep these things than upload them to a website but if the internet is down you can't upload. If the website ditches the data it's lost forever.

Flipside is you could lose all this if your house burns down or PC breaks depending on what backups you keep.

-compete running journal

- 2 sisters running journal

- just search running log on amazon/bookstore of your choice

- $.99 composition book

-excel

I just use Strava. I don’t log my training to over-analyze little things, I use it so i could look back at why I got injured or why I’m fatigued.

Written ones are nice, but you can’t right out a heart rate and elevation graph

Nice one @epicTCK, I guess I could abandon stats altogether. I think I'm too much of a pedant for that though!

Thanks @Jimmy James, seems like you've got a system down pat!

I'm lucky enough to have a handful of loops/previously GPS-measured loops/out and back courses in the town I live in, including

- a hilly 5.5 km dirt trail loop along a river

- a 10 mile loop on dirt/sandy trails through bushland in the town "common" (lots of sand as it's across a series of ancient lake beds)

- a 400-ish metre grass cricket/Australian Rules football oval for workouts/sessions

My plan is to do something similar and rotate through these depending on the need/session, I really don't need the GPS watch anymore for this stuff, probably just using a stopwatch and paying attention to the feel of the run will give me a lot more benefit.

Nice one Uhhh, some really good ideas in here.

The shoe replacement tracking is a good one actually, as I do find that handy in Strava (although I tend to push my shoes out to about 1000km 'cos I'm a bit of a cheapskate!)

Write a description of the run.

Effort

Weather

Pace

Details of reps

It’s not just about mileage

Just buy a calendar and write on it.

Thanks indoorszn,

Yeah I really don't use strava for a lot of week-to-week analysis - more for the social stuff and ticking off my weekly mileage. Good point about the elevation and HR stuff if I go offline. I do have a pretty good idea of elevation from my regular loops. I'm not sold on the value of HR unless you're super scientific and use a strap (which I'm not, even though I've got a Polar watch with wrist based HR, which is meant to be one of the better options, I don't think I'd want to rely on that data though), my sense is it's better to rely on feel and perceived effort for the average social runner (which I am!)

Started my running log in 1977, will be finishing 43 years in about two weeks. I've always used green or buff Engineering paper, one sheet for first half of month, one sheet for second half. I line it off with two lines per day, and have four columns lined off on each sheet. Use felt tip pens that don't fade (mostly Flair). For races, I note the short details on the date, then just use a sheet of loose leaf paper for race details. More loose leaf paper for shoes purchased over the years, another page for PR's (sadly none since 1991). Then put five years of the daily pages in a loose leaf binder. A smaller ring binder that just records daily mileage and totals. Sounds complicated but it's really nothing, much easier than inputting into a spreadsheet or database. Every few months, I scan my pages into the computer and do a backup on that, just in case.

One of the things that I've noticed over the years is that when I look at my handwriting in my logs, I can get a sense of how things were going then by the handwriting itself. Can't get that same feeling in a spreadsheet. I guess there is some emotion of something in the writing, who knows.

I've got nothing against Strava or any of the other online services, but if they decide to shut down or something, there is a good chance that all your logs will go with them. I learned that lesson when Geocities shut down. Don't be dependent (if possible) on trusting someone else to safeguard your info.

Very cool ideas @Kvothe thanks!

The compete and 2 sisters journal both look great (nice gift idea to do a personalised 2 sisters journal, I'll bookmark that!)

Thanks @star, yeah I think the act of reflecting on the effort and the conditions etc. is one of the strengths of going for a more traditional journal approach. I guess in theory you can write all that stuff in a Strava description, but I think something gets lost in that (and I'm probably likely to be less honest given others will read it on Strava!)

where's your imagination @Davie! ;-)

I'm on my 42nd running diary this year, even though it's now just a walking diary. Haven't been able to run for a little more than a year now. I have 42 Runner's World Training Diaries with every workout, race result and split for 42 years. I didn't get my first diary until I had been running for three years. Came up just short of 60,000 miles before being forced to quit. Left knee and hip. Every once in a while I'll check my splits from a certain race. I also have all the race results they use to send after a race. That was before they became so readily available on the computer. I remember waiting over 6 months for the results booklet from the '79 San Francisco Marathon. Now the results are on-line before you get home from a race. Amazing!

Fabulous response, thanks @bowbridge!

I would love to see a scan/photo of your log for some inspiration (I bet others would be interested as well)

You make a great point about the value of re-reading a paper journal and picking up some of the emotions/memories from a period from some handwriting analysis - there's no way you can get that rich experience from a computer screen!

This brings up another thing actually, I've got kids and my eldest is a promising runner. I really like the idea of having something to give to my kids when I hang up the shoes - not suggesting there's anything special about my running but it's more that a physical journal is an actual artefact that has some value and personality to it.

Congratulations on keeping that practice going for 43 years - very impressive feat! I was born in 1977, hard to imagine the dedication and discipline to keep it going that long.

Thanks @old guy 74

I bet those 70's Runners World Journals are collectors items now!

I'm sure you get a lot of enjoyment out of flipping through them from time to time.

Fascinating that the wait used to be so long for marathon results, that was the golden period to be running in America though for sure.

I was curious to see who won the 1974 SF marathon but an initial google search didn't yield anything - was that the first running of it?

No. A spreadsheet is far easier than what you describe. And searchable. Do a backup once in a while and you'll never lose it. Personally, I backup my log every month and every 3 months I pull a backup drive from my safe deposit box for offsite backup. Then it goes back into the safe deposit box. I use my log as a running journal as well, nothing detailed just notes on weather, how the legs felt blah blah blah.