Foldable Bikes Party: How keeping a diary can help you improve your performance

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

How keeping a diary can help you improve your performance

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Professional athletes are enthusiastic diary writers, and use them to record every detail of their training and racing. Everything from miles ridden to heart rates achieved to cereals eaten for breakfast is recorded. Once written down, this information can be used by the athlete, their coach and their sports scientist to see what they've done right, where they've messed up and, most importantly, to plan their next steps. It'll work for you, too.

A study of the training diaries of elite US marathoners who qualified for the 2004 Olympic trials showed that although their mileage, number of sessions per week and use of resistance training varied, all carried out between two thirds and three quarters of their weekly training at below race pace.

This mirrors data from other endurance sports such as skiing, rowing, running, swimming and cycling, and shows that consistent, race pace training doesn't equal success. So, if your race results and training times aren't what you're expecting check back to see if you've been going at it too hard.

As well as quantitative data, the qualitative data contained in your training diary is a wealth of information. The notes and stats you keep will allow you to unearth vital clues that will explain many a performance mystery. Did a strong ride coincide with a period when you were feeling particularly happy? Has everyday life ever stopped you from training or competing well and how can you prevent it happening again? If tests are good but races aren't then its time to look at your ability to focus, battle nerves and push yourself to the limit.

Use of retrospective analysis helps you to discover what works and what doesn't. Many teams and sports federations are now looking at professional athletes and their career development. Studies over a season or during the build up to a record performance give lessons on how to prepare. It's a valuable insight into what the perfect recipe for success should contain.

Monitoring of elite level riders usually stays in the filing cabinets of teams or national squads, though some data does emerge on monitoring of elite level riders, which shows that plenty of miles are logged before attempting to "get fast" and that at least two thirds of preparation needs to be endurance and technique based riding. If your diary shows too much speed work or not enough miles logged in the winter, perhaps you could follow the experts and get more in tune with what is known to be a highly effective training regime.