In answer to a question that came up from the last post, what time do I run? It depends on the day and my class schedule, but I usually run once in the morning to start my day and once in the evening, preferably before dinner. Occasionally that balance gets thrown off, but I make sure to run twice a day except for my long run day, where I do more miles in one run than in my usual two-a-day. Now on to today’s entry:

Keep a Log!

Keeping a training log will help you chart the little improvements along the way and help you see how you are progressing towards your goal. It is good to chart the distance you covered, the time that it took, the weather, the course, and anything else that you think is notable. I prefer to keep a very basic log because otherwise I wouldn’t keep one at all.

The key is to have a running log and to keep it up to date (if my coach reads this, he will laugh because I have been really bad about keeping my log updated recently). What is really neat is being able to look back at years past and to see your progression. Since a healthy lifestyle is something I strongly promote, your log will be a huge motivator for you down the road long after the 2010 Run for Hungry Children has come and gone.

There are some good online running logs if you are interested in keeping your log digitally: flotrack has the one I currently use or athleticore also has a good one as well. Those sites make it easy to enter in much of the information that I mentioned you should include in your log, and you will never lose it or misplace it :)

Question o' the Week: What kind of cross training do you think is beneficial for improvement in distance running? Post has no comments.