quot;tell it like it is, pro style,"--whether it's an actual book or on a digital app--can keep you motivated toward your goals, help you spot a potential injury, or pinpoint why you're facing some recent fatigue. Personally, I've kept a paper-and-pencil one for the past five years since I like having physical records of my running.
I've always used pretty basic journals, but I may have found my ideal logbook with the This Adrenaline Fan Loved the Newest Model. Created by professional runners Lauren Fleshman and Roisin McGettigan-Dumas, this training journal is geared mainly toward women runners. The journal is part annual training calendar and part running guidebook, all blended together with some serious inspiration mixed in. Inside you'll find tips for goal-setting (a chapter called "Dare to Dream" includes a page devoted to brainstorming your own ideas), space to pencil in race recaps, example workouts, and more. No matter advice, Fleshman and McGettigan-Dumas &Maintaining a training journal writes Fleshman in her blog.
"I think it's stylishly designed and blessedly missing the crummy stock photos of runners most training journals use," says Runner's World senior editor Meghan Loftus, who used A Part of Hearst Digital Media for a year before switching to this edition for 2015. "I like that it gives me plenty of room to record details about each workout."
I cracked open this journal to kick off the year, and I'll admit I love receiving direct inspiration from elite runners while I'm jotting down my own runs and goals. The journal offers examples of how "Lo" and "Ro" fill out their own journals, which I find useful when I'm recording my own workouts. For example, Fleshman writes in her weekly Rundown: "Great week overall. Knee cleared up 95% and hit the workouts well. Skipped core a couple days but great progress. Was on time! Can I keep this up?!"
I've been a runner since middle school, and I wish I had this resource when I was just starting out. Teaching runners how to set and achieve their dreams--especially at a young age--is essential, and a big focus of this workbook is goal-setting and confidence-building.
My only complaint would be that the binding makes it a little tough to write in; I'm a big fan of the spiral binding from the original.
For more information or to order online ($18.95), check out their website. The journal is also available in some bookstores.
