Recording training: the advantages of keeping a training diary

At about the same time I bought a Performance Record book, advertised in Athletics Weekly, to summarise my racing results. What started as a necessary part of my training as an ambitious runner has now become an heir100m. It is a document which reveals not only the runner's physiological progress but also his social and psychological development. For me it is a trip down memory lane, but it also a mine of information about what happens to a runner over 40 years.

My first diary was a plain exercise book into which I ruled the following columns: Date, Type of Training, Details, Reaction, Going, Weather. I recorded the total mileage for the week and the month, which enabled me to compare the distances run in February of one year with February of another, as well as the year-on-year mileages.

I see that in my first year at university I ran 2008 miles, thus averaging less than 40 miles a week. This gave me best performances at the age of 21 of around 1.58 for 800m, 4.18 for a mile and 14.41 for 5000m. In the 1958/59 season, which was the year of my degree finals, I only ran 1677 miles (an average of 32 miles a week), on which I ran times of 1.54 (800m), 4.10 (mile) and 13.53 (5000m). In the most successful of these early years, when I ran a sub-four-minute mile, finished second in the national cross-country over nine miles, won the European championships 5000 metres and broke the British record for three miles (13.12), I ran a total of 2145 miles (an average of 41 miles a week).

Look for the pattern
The first thing that a diary gives you is a picture of quantity and consistency. Forty miles a week can consist of 10 four-mile runs or four 10-milers. The latter is evidence of more endurance but the former gives you a better training base on which to build something more effective. How many days of training do the 2000 miles represent? Did the runner run every week of the year or did he have a break at certain times? Were there certain times of year when he ran better or worse than others? This gives you a personal picture of the runner's health as well as his determination.

If the diary showed two months of high mileage, followed by a low period due to injury, there is the suggestion that he was over-training or over-racing at the time. This is where you look at the training and racing details to see if you can detect a pattern. If high mileages or very intense training are followed by injuries and illness, the message is clear.

One Saturday in May 1964, according to my diary, I won the Inter-counties three miles quite comfortably in 13.23. I was undisputed British number one and had already qualified for the Olympic team. Over the following weekend I ran 20 x 440 yards on grass on the Friday and went to a party. The next day I ran three miles, including 3 x 880y fast, in the morning, and 16 x 440 in the afternoon.

On Sunday I ran another interval session in the morning, 8 x 880 yards, and then took part in a relay in the afternoon, which involved running 7 x 300 metres flat out. On Monday I did 8 x 1200 yards on grass, followed by speedwork on Tuesday and 15 x 440 yards on Wednesday, the last four averaging 61 seconds. In six days I had done eight interval or speed sessions - and the hard sessions in the evening were done after a busy day's work. On the Saturday I won the mile and the three miles at the Devon championships, and three days later I went down with measles. I was not to recover fully for many months, long after the applause for the Tokyo Olympics had died away.

Thirty years later my training diary shows me exactly what I did wrong, and the reason I have indulged in so much personal detail is to show how useful it can be - even if it is too late, I can prevent others from making the same mistake.

Add in weight and resting pulse
If I ask one of my athletes to keep a diary now, I ask them to record two more things, their weight and resting pulse. These two simple parameters, plus the 'Reaction' column, tell me whether the athlete is over-training. After a really hard training session or a race, I expect to read 'hard work' or 'tough but worthwhile' in the reaction column, and I would expect to find that the resting pulse is three or four beats higher the following morning. After an easy day the pulse would be back to normal and after a really long run it might even be lower than normal, but if it stays above normal for three days, and the reaction column reads 'still tired', 'hard work' or 'very tiring', then I know the athlete is over-training.

The weight column tells us more, as long as the weighing is done regularly on accurate scales at the same time of day. Once or twice a week is often enough, and the best time to weigh yourself is just before going training because a lot of weight can be lost as sweat, giving a misleading figure. I would expect the summer weight to be a few pounds less than the winter weight, but once the athlete has matured, say by age 23, there should be no increase unless he is definitely trying to build up bulk.

An increase in weight is almost certain to result in a poorer performance in endurance events, but a drop in weight doesn't necessarily bring about an improvement. The athlete may have reduced his percentage of fat by increasing his training load, or he may have combined over-training and under-eating to such an extent that he is starting to break down muscle tissue. In hot climates one would expect the weight to drop at first and then to stabilise. After a long hard run the weight is bound to drop, and it should be brought back to normal before the next big effort.

The silent coach
In the first instance, using a diary acts just as a motivator - you are forced to go out training in order to look your diary in the face. After a few months the diary acts as a silent coach. You only have to look at it to find out whether you have been keeping to your schedule, whether you are running as many days a week as you intended or how much time you have lost through interruptions.When you come to the end of a year, the diary proves really useful. Try it. Look at a year's record of training and answer the following questions:
1. On how many days in the year did you train or compete?2. How many days were lost due to illness or injury? 3. Do you think you would benefit by doing more training?

4. Do you think that you would benefit by doing less training?

5. During which periods were you training hardest? 6. During which periods were you doing the least training?

7. During which periods were you competing most successfully?

8. Can you see any relationship between the answers to 5, 6 and 7?

After this, you need to analyse things in a more subtle way. The pattern one would expect to see is that hard training is followed by successful performance, but only at an interval of two to four weeks. It takes that time for the training to take effect. If you distinguish between high-intensity training and low-intensity training, as well as recording the volume done in each week, you can see which type of training produces the best results.

The problem is that no year is ever exactly the same. You are inevitably going to go through different phases, whatever type of training you do. Regular training will bring rapid improvement at first, followed by slower improvement over two or three years. You will then reach a plateau, which can only be surpassed by a change in training regime, and eventually you start to decline as age affects your performance.

As I started training at the age of 19, it was only in the eighth year that I reached my peak over a mile and in the twelfth year that I reached my peak over six miles. In my main event, the three miles/5000m, I continued to improve up to the age of 25 and then stayed on a plateau. The 13.13 was actually set just after my 32nd birthday. Now that athletics is fully professional and there is every incentive to remain at the top, we see that the 'plateau of performance' can be maintained up to the mid-thirties at least.

When you are young, your diary is a sign of your progress. When you are older, your diary is an invaluable guide and motivator, and when you are old, it is, at the least, a nostalgic read. I can assure you that it will amply repay the trouble you take with it.

Bruce Tulloh