MANAGING MEASUREMENTS

 

I remember a reader once saying, “What isn’t measured isn’t managed.” That simple comment has stuck with me over the years. I find that if I don’t pay attention to the numbers on some level, then it gets too easy to let things slack. Before I know it mileage dips, days off increase, motivation wanes. In addition to keeping a log book using pen and paper, I’ve also used Excel spreadsheets to track my training in a number of different ways; weekly mileage and minutes broken out by running, biking and skiing, mileage graphs of different rolling time periods (7-, 31- and 92-days), plus a calendar for the upcoming week that lays out when I’ll have time to exercise (AM, noon, or PM).

I have pen and paper logs going back for probably 25 years. I would track everything from time and distance to who I ran with, in what shoes, and what was the weather – among other things. I found that I never ever referred to these logs, so I stopped doing them a year or two ago. And I got away from filling out the spreadsheet too. The numbers weren’t measured and as a result, they fell. 2009 was the last year I ran over 2,000 miles. Then there was an 11-year stretch where I averaged 1,800 per year (between 1,544 and 1,988). Last year I dropped all the way down to 1,119 – not even 100 miles per month. This year will end about the same. Perhaps if I had kept up the spreadsheet during the last 2 years, I wouldn’t have cut my mileage by one-third. Then again, I wasn’t really training for anything so maybe it doesn’t matter.

Of course, there’s more to training than these numbers. However, I do believe that they have a place in analyzing my training. One caveat is that these are just running numbers. They don’t take into account skiing or biking. Some winters I’ve skied more than others – and lately I’ve been biking more frequently. NOTE: even tracking bike mileage can mean different things depending on which bike I’m riding. I might bike 16+ miles in an hour on my road bike, but only 6-7 miles per hour on my fat bike.

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying that I’ve dusted off the spreadsheet and started using it again to track my training.

Looking back, the last 6 weeks of training have been solid. I averaged 24 MPW of running and 40 MPW of biking, and I’ve lifted twice a week for each of the last 4 weeks.

11/27 – 12/3

Sunday – 14-mile mt. bike ride

Monday – Lifted with Scott (and Jacob as trainer) in the morning and 5-mile run in the evening

Tuesday – day off w/ 8” of new snow

Wednesday – 16 miles on the indoor bike trainer

Thursday – Lifted in the morning, 7 miles at lunch including threshold ladder of 1/2/3/4/4/3/2/1:00 “on” w/ 1:00 “off” in between. Paths still slippery with the new snow, so I did the best I could.

Friday – 6-mile run with Scott, Jerald and Pat

Saturday – 13-mile fat bike ride with Kurt on beautiful trails

Summary: 18 miles of running and 43 miles of biking, and 2 lift. I didn’t get in a long run during this 7-day period, but I’m okay with that. The 2-hour fat bike ride presented itself on Saturday, so I pushed my long run out a day.

Quote of the day;

“Everything should be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.” – Albert Einstein