Iron Pol

For many, the new year is all about resolutions and promised change.  For endurance athletes, the new year is all about continuing down a path, with minor course corrections based on the year's plans.  It is also time to start new training logs.

As a true egghead, my training logs are always digital.  I keep logs for a wellness program at work.  I keep another log documenting my lifetime run mileage.  I have my personal training log for daily workouts.  And I have on-line logs for use on this blog.  The new year represents a fresh start on all of them.

While I do track numbers from year to year, January gives me the opportunity to look at THIS year with a clean slate.  I don't have trend lines for gremlins to grab onto.  Any weight gain from the end of the year is now an opportunity to make positive "gains" on the new log.  And goals missed in the previous year provide motivation for progress in the current year.

One thing is certain, training logs are vital.  When considering process improvement, there is a saying, "What gets tracked gets fixed."  It means that the simple act of documenting statistics will lead to positive gains.  Add a plan of action to the mix, and improvement becomes much more likely.

If you are currently in "wing-it" mode, consider starting a training log.  Once you get into the rhythm of documenting workouts, think about planning sessions in advance.  If there is a workout in writing, it is far more likely it will be completed properly.  And when we get to see those workouts we shorted, there is more accountability.  That encourages us to complete our workouts as planned.

It's the new year.  Start fresh, train right, and get ready for the best race season ever.

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