SHSSC

Why is a running journal important?

You can ask anyone and they will be able to tell you what a journal is. A running journal however is where you put down all of the details of every run that you take. You will then be able to compare your current runs with runs that you have done previously. It's pretty much a graph that will tell you where you started and where you are at now.

There is no specific format for you to follow, although, if you want to, you can go online and download a number of journals that make maintaining notes very easy. All you need is a small diary in which you can enter in the distance covered and the time. If there was anything that you feel you need to remember at a later date, like a mistake that you made, or a thought on how you can improve, jot that down too. As long as you can understand what you have written you can even use shorthand.

Make it a personal journal

A journal is much like a diary since it is going to be for your private use. You can even put information in there about your emotions during certain stages of your run and how your body was feeling. This might sound a little bit weird but all of this information is going to help you find your running pattern and will hopefully show your strong points and your weaknesses.

It is true that emotions play an important part in your physical performance. If you were feeling down one day and still were able to hit your target time as well as your distance you need to jot that down and say exactly what you did and how you were able to overcome. You never know when this might come in handy, and if you don't have the information, then you won't be able to refresh your memory at a later date.

Fartlek

This is not an English word, rather it is a Swedish one which literally translates to "speed play". If you are a runner you know that however much you jog along, it is when you run at full blast that you actually get that exhilarating feeling. Of course you cannot keep it up for long, but incorporating a few "speed bursts" is a good idea if only as a "pick me up". Just jogging along slowly will become very monotonous and running a Fartlek tends to break it up and invigorate you. If done properly, you will actually gain more out of running speed bursts than what you lose in terms of energy spent.

Note down your speed bursts

Make sure that you jot down the exact duration of your fartlek. It can range anywhere between 15 seconds to more than a couple of minutes. Then note down how long it took you to recover and what your recovery pace was. By noting the duration of your speed bursts and your recovery times you can figure out the optimal duration for your fartlek to give you the best time. This also gives you a starting point to improve upon.

Review your running journal once a month

Once a month you should go back over your journal and do a review. This will not only help you see where you have made progress, but it will also help you find out if you are hitting any bottlenecks. You will be able to see what kind of an impact warming up and speed bursts will have on your run.

If you split your runs into segments and note the time between laps, then you can run an analysis which will allow you to find if you are performing better in one area than in another. You should also note if you ran without a warm up and got injured or felt bad. This will help you remember what may happen without warming up.