1. As a Hardcopy of Your Running Achievements - Many runners have learned through bitter experience that the computerized, on-line logs while providing powerful calculating applications, do not provide the guarantee of permanence of the records. A crashed server and the subsequent loss of data is a heartbreaker that has broken a good deal of hearts! If not an outright data loss, some have discovered the frustration of "down time" and service interruptions of service by the on-line server makes their on-line log inaccessible.
   Smart runners have learned to keep both the on-line log and to also keep a hardcopy of their training. Of course, many of these services allow you to print the pages, but none of these are as attractive and artful as The Better Running Log. Our log gives you a memorable and attractively bound book of convenient size in which to keep your training data.

2. As a Motivational Tool - it is simply a fact that as we develop a plan, whether very precise with a marathon in mind, or more laid back, when we commit to a course of action we're more likely to follow through.

3. Tracking Shoe Changes - I have learned through actual use, how important it is to keep a record of when you start or discontinue a pair of running shoes, especially if you switch to a different model or brand.
    One year in the days when I didn't watch this change in my routine, I changed from the Nike's I used to run in to a pair of Saucony's. A friend really raved about this new model they had put out, so I tried them. After a couple weeks I began developing pain in the right side of my knee cap which eventually developed into a full-blown case of "runner's knee" (Iliotibial Band Syndrome). Since I failed to note the significance of the change from a shoe I was using to something different, I didn't suspect the cause. The resulting injury sidelined me from running altogether for the better part of a year! Ugh!
    I have since learned that logging the introduction of a change to a new shoe brand and style is very important. Logging this to the date, let's you track how close an injury may have coincided with the change of shoes. That's why The Great Northwest Runner's Training Log puts space for tracking Shoe#1 and Shoe#2 in the daily/weekly journal. Some runners will actually rotate between two pairs of shoes during a training period-- a light racer perhaps and a more cushioned long-distance shoe.

4. As a Record of Your Running Legacy - not everyone is a drawn to this, but a running log will record details of some of your most favortie running experiences. It becomes a record of the year's progress, of Personal Bests when they happen, of pleasant runs and friends who ran with you.

5. As a Way to Prevent Injuries - a running log preserves the pattern of your running routines. By recording your mileage, your shoe mileage, etc. you can prevent injuries by making sure your runs do not exceed the 10% rule (i.e., you never exceed the previous week's total running by more than 10%). By planning roughly the total mileage of your week's running, you can also remember to scale back every third week before increasing the following week's mileage. This is especially critical when you are in marathon training.

6. As a Tool for Analyzing How You did Get Injured - My logs, through the years, have always provided me the confirming data about why my arches began to blow out with plantar fasciitis (usually increasing beyond 10% as I increased miles for longer distances). I remember developing runner's knee, which my log confirmed resulted so closely the the change to a new brand of shoes that I was able to determine the shoe didn't fit my bio-mechanics and caused the injury. Sometimes its more subtle than that. For example, I remember that a particularly long, downhill stretch of a race (2 mile descent) aggravated a lower-back problem as I recorded the onset of pain following only a day or two after the offending course. Armed with this knowledge I knew to avoid down hill stretches for a while until things got better.

7. As a Tool for Reaching Your Goals- Yogi Berra said, "If you aim for nothing in particular, you'll hit it every time!" There is great power in a plan, even if you don't fulfill every aspect of it. A plan gives you something to reach for; however close you come is still more progress than if you are aiming for nothing. This isn't to say that you have to become obsessive about it, but to have some clear goals in mind and to have penciled in the training steps it will require to get there is a great guarantee that you will make progress.

8. As a Tool for Evaluating My Training Tactics - Lacking a record of how you trained for a particular event or race, it becomes very difficult to make any decisions about how you might do it differently or better the next time. Does my body, at my current age, do well with 12 weeks of hill training before moving on to speed intervals? Should I have incorporated more 1 mile repeats, or more 800 meter repeats? Especially when training for a particular race distance, keeping a record of what you did on the way to the actual event, gives you valuable data for making smart decisions the next time around. For instance, I have discovered that I benefit as much from walking my hill recoveries (on the downhill return) as if I jog them back ... and I risk less chance of injury by walking it back down than by jogging it. Knowledge is power!

9. As a Brag Book!!! - Not that I'm all into bragging, or that I'm so smokin' fast that I have a lot to brag about. But, my logs record PR's and memorable races, wonderful running moments and other very important and often humorous bits of information. I can look back at some pretty fine races or review some tough hill training intervals and point to the times I was able to do that 1/3 mile vertical repeat in and over how many actual repeats. I've placed some ribbons between the same page where my record of the race I ribboned in is recorded. The occasional photo gets put in the same place.

10. Read this Article by Cool Running Australia on the importance of keeping a running log

11. Read this Article on How to Use a Running Log by Gallagher

12. Read this Article by Dashboard. com on the importance of keeping a running log

13. Read this Article at EZine on Achieving Your Best With a Running Log by Deborah Prosser

14. Read this Article on Katrina's Lessons in My Running Log Book by Jim Coll

15. Read this Excellent Article by former British Marathon Champion Ron Hill on why he has kept a running log his entire life. Ron Hill on Keeping a Running Logbook

16. Michael Stapenhurst gives some excellent practical advice on how to use a running log effectively in this Dash Board.com article. I recommend this highly for its guidance in what sort of information to record and why.

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