Write it Down!!!

Yo yo, kids? How you all doing out there? . . . . . Glad to hear to it.

So, how does one gain fitness? More importantly how does one measure fitness? Just as important, how does one know what helped gain fitness? Do you remember the last 3 workouts you did? I know mine. How about the last ten workouts? I couldn't answer that question.

Why do I keep asking questions?

I'll get to the point which should be obvious by now. The only way you know how you gain fitness is to write down every workout you do. You should write down some very basic information and follow up with the details that are deemed necesssary. I imagine the outline for a workout diary would be the following:

Workout: (what you did, cycling, swimming, 12oz. Curlz)
Duration: (how long)
Length: (if measurable by distance, the distance covered)
Effort: ( how hard did you try. Using a 1 through 5 scale is usually a good scale.)

I also would add Notes. How you felt during the ride? What the weather was like? What you were wearing and whether you overheated? Heartrate, if you are wearing a monitor.

You would think this would be a simple thing to do, but I can't remember the last time I kept a workout diary. I didn't even keep one when I was training for my Ironman. Well, thats all about to change. I am committing myself to keeping a training diary for this season. This way I'll know what workouts help me gain fitness and what workouts lead me to an optimal fitness. Perhaps I will write down what beer I had after the race? I'll think I'll note that too!!!