I have kept a training journal since my sophomore year of college and I have found it extremely useful for many reasons.

I strongly believe keeping a training journal is important for any type of athlete. It can help you identify when you are performing your best and help you look back at past workouts or competitions. It can be helpful to look back at times when you were performing at your best to see what you were doing and thinking about. Patterns will start to emerge if you take good notes. It can also me motivating to look back at how far you have come- how your weights and times and marks have improved over time!

Things EVERY training journal should include:

  • GOALS
  • Details about your workouts (sets, reps, rest, weights, time)
  • Notes about how you are feeling/ how your body handled your workout
  • Notes about any technical things you are working on
  • Details about other things in your life that may be causing you decreased/increased recovery

What my training journal looks like:

At the beginning of every season, I record my goals in my training journal so that they are written down on paper somewhere. The goals become more concrete once they are written down and you can’t go back and change them. It is important to sit down and actually think through your goals for the year so you can measure progress and use them as motivation. Mine are just a page flip away when I need a little extra motivation! You should write SMART goals so you can determine if you have met those goals or not.

On a daily basis, my training journal consists of details of the workouts I complete, including times and weights. On these days I also make notes of how I was feeling.. did I have a nagging pain in my foot, were my hamstrings super sore, did the workout seem harder than normal, etc. I also make notes of anything going on in my life that may cause better or worse recovery than normal…. did I sleep really bad the night before or was I super stressed about something. For anyone who needs to keep track of nutrition, hydration, or other behaviors, those notes can easily be incorporated in and it makes it easier to hold yourself accountable for those behaviors you are trying to work on.

For days in practice that I jump, I also keep track of what poles I was on and how many steps I was running from. I also note what I was working on that day and if there were any particular cues that seemed to be helpful that I should remember for the future. For a competition, I track poles and heights, as well as making any notes of weather (if it was super hot/cold or windy). Along with the details, I write a little bit about how I was feeling that day- for jump days and competitions. It helps me identify what may or may not be working in my training.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Sydney

Related