At the end of the year I could list my achievements and my failures for 2007, but I am more interested in learning from you. Specifically what logbooks do you use to track training? I have seen a few blogs with distance widgets that update from another site and there are so many others out there. I think we can all learn from the praise you give your system.
In the past, I have created my own computer spreadsheets, used calendars, day planners, bought workout logs, created my own workout journals in spiral notebooks. I still have them all so I can see workouts I did back twenty years ago. Sometimes I can't figure out my own handwriting for specific exercises but distances and times, sets, reps, weight, body fat, injuries, they're all there. These are the ultimate in ease and use. Just write down free hand everything you want in the style you want.
For the last few years I have been using Polar software on my pc and online with TrainingPeaks.com and enjoyed it. I think anyone who is looking for a comprehensive site for tracking exercise and nutrition would benefit from TP. It is highly customizable and they also cater to several different types of training, (running, cycling, triathlon, etc). The nutrition system in tedious but top notch. It costs about $10 a month.
That being said TP is a bit too much for me now and I am 'downgrading', not necessarily for price but for information, I don't use the nutrition side anymore and don't use half the inputs. The Polar software is for downloading my watches only. Right now I have a two week pass with WorkoutLog.com which could be just the thing for me but I am not sold on anything yet. I may just go back to spiral notebooks because I am not sure how to export all my TP workouts to save them and don't want to run into that in the future. Though I will admit several months ago I began pasting my daily workouts to MS Paint and saving in a folder in My Doc's. Its an extra 10-15 minutes of work a week but probably less than 20% of all my information on the site, not including nutrition I have added. But the nutrition is not as important to me.
If you tell me what system you use and enjoy I will certainly give them all a look. I think many of us would benefit from seeing what is so great about your training log. (If you see your program already listed, still jump in. Duplicates would only reinforce the effectiveness of the system.)
In the past, I have created my own computer spreadsheets, used calendars, day planners, bought workout logs, created my own workout journals in spiral notebooks. I still have them all so I can see workouts I did back twenty years ago. Sometimes I can't figure out my own handwriting for specific exercises but distances and times, sets, reps, weight, body fat, injuries, they're all there. These are the ultimate in ease and use. Just write down free hand everything you want in the style you want.
For the last few years I have been using Polar software on my pc and online with TrainingPeaks.com and enjoyed it. I think anyone who is looking for a comprehensive site for tracking exercise and nutrition would benefit from TP. It is highly customizable and they also cater to several different types of training, (running, cycling, triathlon, etc). The nutrition system in tedious but top notch. It costs about $10 a month.
That being said TP is a bit too much for me now and I am 'downgrading', not necessarily for price but for information, I don't use the nutrition side anymore and don't use half the inputs. The Polar software is for downloading my watches only. Right now I have a two week pass with WorkoutLog.com which could be just the thing for me but I am not sold on anything yet. I may just go back to spiral notebooks because I am not sure how to export all my TP workouts to save them and don't want to run into that in the future. Though I will admit several months ago I began pasting my daily workouts to MS Paint and saving in a folder in My Doc's. Its an extra 10-15 minutes of work a week but probably less than 20% of all my information on the site, not including nutrition I have added. But the nutrition is not as important to me.
If you tell me what system you use and enjoy I will certainly give them all a look. I think many of us would benefit from seeing what is so great about your training log. (If you see your program already listed, still jump in. Duplicates would only reinforce the effectiveness of the system.)
14 comments:
A notebook and a pencil.... :-)
Low-tech all the way to IM CDA (it's my statement knowing that one doesn't need all the bells and whistles to do well in an Ironman-plus it's a good excuse to not have to learn about Garmins, PowerTaps, HR ranges and spreadsheets...) Heh heh!
Having tried notebooks (since 1988), spreadsheets (since 1998) and TP since 2004.
Even though my use of TP waxes and wanes, I stick with it since I've yet to find anything that comes close.
I use BreakingTheTape.com at the moment - and love it :) I also use TP, but purely because someone gave me a 12 month subscription :)
you are correct on that Bill. TP is very thorough.
I may just go back to the stubby pencil too. Using a hardcover diary.
I suffer from being stuck in both the high tech and low tech worlds. I use online software and calenders but still carry memo pads for notes. I have a blog but love putting pen to paper.
I use BreakingtheTape and my regular Garmin software (training center) for bike and run and I also upload to motion based. Motionbased can do some correction on the Garmin data.
Mostly I eyeball the results, though. Nothing fancy. I just like to see the cumulative distance and the pace. I could try to analyze every workoug for efficiency and effectivness but in the end we have good days and we have bad days and mostly we just need to go the distance without getting sick, right?
I have used Beginnertriathlete.com for about a new year, but for the past 5 or 6 months I've also been using bimactive.com. I started using bimactive because I can easily upload my garmin data into it and it spits out a graph, map, weather conditions that day, etc from GPS info. It's not as comprehensive as BT or TP, but I really like it so far. I've always wanted to try TP, but I'm just too cheap to hand them $10/month.
Small world! I know one of the guys behind workoutlog.
I started off with Excel in 2005, switched to Beginner Triathlete in 2006 and have been with them ever since. Don't know if I'll ever switch because of my history on those web pages, but I have been pretty negligient as of late in recording anything at all.
I use BeginnerTriathlete.com. It seems to have everything I need and I have a few friends who use it too. Just wish I could dl my garmin info into it. Plus I have become addicted to the calender which changes color when you workout that day. I am trying to keep a streak of tan days.
I use TP, since I've got going on 3 years of history AND I've got a never-ending free basic package - how I got that, I'll never know. I like TP's graphs, but I'm sure there are free progams out there that are just as good.
I started logging my workouts on Buckeye Outdoors (http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com) since they have a blog sidebar function for races and workouts that I kinda like. but Buckeye isn't very good for planning your week, unless I just haven't figured it out very well. Buckeye also suffers from being kinda slow at times, and it likes to kick me off of Explorer sometimes too. But...it's got good visuals, and it's social.
I also use http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com It does everything I need it to do, its free, and you can import your training plan for the weeks/months if you want or just type in your plan for the month and have it email you your scheduled workouts on a day to day or weekly basis. You can also map out routes with it to save or just reference. I have never had a problem of being kicked off it (yet) but it is kinda slow.
Commodore,
I am very bad at keepign track of my workouts. For the past two years, I've used spreadsheet, paper and TP. Right now i am using buckeye (http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com/) b/c it is easy to set up and i can have it to view it from my blog.
We shall see how long that will last. I am thinking the need to store my data.
i) Do I use them for review?
ii) The time it takes to input them
I tracked my diet 2-3 months in 2005 and haven't done so. I do want to track it again. Just once in a while to see how healthy I am eating.
I try not to spend too much time to analyze my data. Rather spend that time to train (well at least that's the plan :) )
I just looked at and tried using Beginner Triathlete's log...unless you opt for one of the paid packages, you cannot plan your workouts...only log one's that are done. That's probably a consistent feature, and just lucky for me I'm in TP for free.
One more vote for breakingthetape.
It's very easy to use and links directly to my blog.
Good luck and happy new years
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