My Training Journal

Can I just take a moment to profess my love for journals?  I have a whole row lined up on my bookshelf at home, having kept a journal from ages 10 through 22 or so.  When I started blogging my first year teaching, there just wasn't time anymore to keep up with a journal AND a blog, so I abandoned pen and paper journals for awhile.  The summer after my first *stressful* year in the classroom during which pretty much everything in my life (including exercise) outside of teaching was on the back burner, I decided to try the Couch to 5K running plan and discovered a new love for running.  (Read more about my "Running Journey" here.)  I knew almost instantly that this newfound love was the real deal and decided to start keeping a training journal.  The first workout I recorded was from week 4 of Couch to 5K.  Here's a picture of the journal I started back in June 2010:

 

 That summer I read The Courage to Start by John Bingham, a book that was a HUGE part of my falling in love with running and creating my own identity as a runner.  When I read about Bingham's journey from couch-potato-smoker to ("penguin" slow) marathon runner, I was completely inspired and realized for the first time that walk breaks were a-okay and did not make me less than a runner!  I wrote the title quote from that book on the first page of my journal, and it truly sums up the journey to become a runner that I captured in its pages.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start.  For the past two years, I've recorded my workouts, thoughts about training (and injury after injury), and motivational quotes in this journal.

It captured my very first 5K in 2010...

My first half-marathon in 2011...

And most recently my first tri...

It's pretty amazing to look back through this journal and remember that just two years ago I felt like an imposter calling myself a "runner" and was shaking with nerves just lining up at my first 5K.  What a journey it's been!  After this week, though, my training journal will be FULL.  Crazy!  Since recording my training on paper has become so special to me, I decided to put some extra TLC into making my next training log even more special than the first.  Being a child of two children of the 60s, Mod Podge has always been my absolute favorite craft supply.  I would mod podge every piece of furniture in my house if I thought it would be socially acceptable.  

I spent an evening paging through copies of Runner's World magazine and cutting out just the right pictures and words, then meticulously arranging them on the notebook I had bought and covering them with layer after layer of mod podge.  I absolutely love love love the finished product: 

Front cover

Back cover

Love love love this quote from Marc Parent's column, "The Newbie Chronicals"

Inside cover

 Like in my first training journal, I decorated the first page with a few quotes and mantras that sum up my thoughts on running from where I stand right now.  Special thanks to Julia for sharing the verse in the middle.  Love it so much. :)  I know so many runners use their blogs to record their mileage, or daily mile, or other smartphone apps, but I think I will always keep a training journal.  There is just something so special about being able to flip back through the pages and see how far I've come, and look forward at the blank pages and think about how many amazing running adventures I still have waiting for me...


Do you keep a training journal?