3 ways a training journal can help you become a better triathlete

You have a weekly training schedule, but when a day is done, do you just leave it in the past and never look back at it? If so, you might want to reconsider and start examining your past workouts. You don’t have to do a deep-dive into your previous training, but taking notes on different sessions, how you feel, and how you’ve performed in your daily workouts is a great way to help your mental game as a triathlete. Not sure how this could be the case? Here are three ways keeping a training journal could benefit you.

A pre-race reminder

As you approach a big race, you might feel nervous, under-prepared, like you’re not up to the challenge, or all of the above. This is where a training journal can come in handy. It’s one thing to tell yourself that you’ve put in the work in the build to this race, but it’s another to go through your workouts and look at how much you’ve trained.

You can remind yourself of the workouts when you pushed through pain and past perceived limits, take a look back on sessions when you felt great, and get the bigger picture of just how hard you’ve worked to get to the start line of your race. This might not fix all of your pre-race nerves, but it should convince you that you belong on that start list and you have what it takes to make it to the finish line.

You’ve been in ruts before

When you’re in a training rut, it can feel like you’ll never get back to normal. In moments like these, flipping through your training journal is the best move, as you can look back at previous training ruts. Read about how you were feeling in those times and what you were thinking. Odds are that you had the same thoughts and feelings back then as you do now. Then, move forward in your training log and read how you got out of that rut. The same escape from that rut might not work this time around (but it very well could), but it will at least serve as a reminder that all ruts come to an end at some point.

Workouts that click

Every now and then, you do a workout that just clicks for you. For whatever reason, that exact combination of repeats feels great, and it allows you to experience a flow state. When this happens for you, write it down. You don’t want to forget what workouts work best for you. Keeping a training journal will help you remember exactly what you did so you can recreate those experiences down the road.