Constant as the North Star

I had a friend ask my recently why I bother to log my kms. I answered that I do this for the sake of being consistent. She replied that she simply goes for the run and doesn't worry about.

As a runner, you best friend will be consistency. You need to run on a consistent basis. You need to figure out what your routine will b and stick to it. Building on previous accomplishments. Slowly building on what you've done before.

And this is the answer to my friend's question.

I log my runs because they help me stay consistent. If you don't you're too prone to injury or illness.

Keeping a running log or diary of your milage but also your intensity on this runs and the physical reaction to them. Furthermore, seeing a steady progress will remind you that progress takes time. That is essential to being injury-free.

Plus it is simply fun to see your kms pile up over weeks, months, years.

Runners are logical and rational. We have dreams but those dreams are grounded in solid facts and those facts yank us back to reality when our dreams get too far ahead of us.

Now to return to consistency, again.

You need consistent effort, slowly, over time to improve your running. And a log of those efforts will help you keep constant.

I know how valuable all those numbers and records are to my training. It is too easy to lose track of what you're doing and how you're doing it. I injured myself last year and am only know getting back to a "fighting shape". I am diligent about many things in order to state injury-free and keep a log is one of them.

I use Runtrackr.com as a place to store my routes and my running log. It's online and a fair easy place to store the information. I mostly use it to share my running loops through Madrid, as there is a serious lack of them here. I've created perhaps 30 routes so far. Some long. Some short. Some very long. But they are all open to the public.

Soon I will be receive my Garmin GPS watch and it will open a whole host of new facts and numbers for me. I may also leave Runtrackr.com for Runkeeper.com, which will allow me to import my Garmin info to their website. Self-styled Facebook of fitness.

But however you keep it, keep it. You need to ground yourself in those numbers. It is the easiest way to stay healthy on the long long road towards your running future.

Best of luck.



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