Skip to main content

My training logging for IMUK

Like all triathletes and semi-serious fitness types, I like to record my sessions and for my recent IMUK I made a big effort to plan and record my sessions against my plan.  This is for me was doubly motivational

  • on a rainy morning, the fact that there's a big fat zero in the "actual" column might - just - get you out for the session
  • on the start line, you can only remember all the work you've done that got you to that point if you bothered to write it down

I am going to blog separately my overall approach to Ironman training (it's not going to cause a revolution in methods), but I wanted to document here how I recorded it, in case others find the level of detail and overall approach useful.

For planning and retrospective analysis, I created a spreadsheet with

  1. a main sheet for the whole training time (1 row per week, with single columns for targets for swim, bike and run for the week
  2. separate sheets for each 4 week "iteration" (next post will explain how these work) with daily targets and actuals.  You can pin these up on your kitchen noticeboard to keep your loved ones aware of the madness that awaits

The spreadsheet is great : flexible, easy to crunch the numbers etc : but what I worked out in advance was that unless I had an easy way to record each session, I'd probably forget.  And I wasn't going to take my laptop to the pool.

So, of course, the answer was an app which took very little time to update and was always available : so that's the phone.  I am an Android user, and after a bit of research the application I chose was Tri Hard from foofvalve.  As they say:

Key Features:
* Track your training progress
* Add/Edit training sessions via dashboard interface
* Graph training volume/distance over time
* Widget - set a countdown timer for your next event. View your weekly summary
* Swipe through your weekly training entries
* Export training data into CSV format
* View Grand Totals from all of your training sessions

It's a very simple application, allowing you to record basic details (time, distances, average HR) of sessions for Swim, Bike or Run,  and of course allowing multi-sport days.  I never used the CSV export, but as I was easily able to update the spreadsheet from the app once or twice a week, that didn't really matter.   Weekly totals on each week page are a great way to see how your efforts are building up, but on the negative side, I did find the graphical reporting less than useful, and the application didn't seem to handle cross-year boundaries very well. But, in summary,  it's a very simple app, which did all I needed it to do.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brighton Marathon 2013...a blast

I was lucky enough to be able to run the Brighton Marathon today : I did this in memory of my father-in-law (full story here ).   I;ve not run a marathon since London in (I think) 1992 : the ADT era, when the finish was on Lambeth Bridge, not the Mall, and we all ran in plus-fours.  Joking about the last bit.  I ran about 3:30 on that day in 1992, at the age of 29, and with a lot more single-sport dedication to running.  Now I am 50, I was thinking it would be interesting to see how I could run a single event marathon. Brighton is a young (4 runnings) but big race : 9000 competitors.  The route starts from Preston Park, does a shimmy or two around the town centre, then sends you first east, then west along the sea front. Finish is just past the pier. Conditions were good : the overnight rain cleared up, there as  a bit of light white cloud to keep the sun away, and some breeze but not a wind.   I had a few 20 mile/3 hour runs in my recent...
3 comments
Read more

Ironman UK 2012 - the race day!

The big day begins So. It's 02:45. I get out of bed, jump into my tri suit and calf guards, and head off to the bathroom to stare at my bleary face and apply my tattoo. Hold on, is it left arm or right? It's right. After a minute or so I have “1234” going down my right arm. I pop on a T and some Ron Hill legs, grab my car key, and white swim bag with wetsuit, bodyglide, and goggles, and head off to breakfast. The only people eating at this time are, of course, IM athletes, so I sit and chat to a nice guy called Michael (all the way from Copenhagen) about the day to come and stick a plate of porridge down my throat. He's got previous experience : Challenge Copenhagen. That looks like a franchise to watch. Sitting in the restaurant, looking out of the window into a still-very-dark Bolton night, finishing the race seems a long way away. We wish each other luck, and I go down to the car park, find my car and drive the 15 minutes to the Reebock Stadium where...
2 comments
Read more

Next event : Ballbuster!

My next event is the February Ballbuster Duathlon .  I've never done a duathlon before, but I like a challenge and this is a biggie.   An 8 mile run, 24 mile bike, and then another 8 miles of running to close it out.   The key thing about this very popular race is that each of the 5 8-mile laps includes a climb of Box Hill in Surrey. Box Hill has a bit of an iconic status as a "challenge" but it's basically a pussycat in road cycling hill terms.  There are far more aggressive, far longer climbs in the North Downs (looking at you, Ranmore), and even I've been able to climb it out of the saddle, in 42x16 on my single speed - and I'm no monsta. The stats don't lie : the road is a steady climb of 120 metres (390 ft) over 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) but won't have you hallucinating. What it does have is fabulous views on the way up, a couple of "pretend we're on Alp d'Huez for a moment" hairpins, and a decent tea and cake stop at the top...
2 comments
Read more