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goals. “If, for example, you’re having a tough time getting up off the couch, try picking up your training log and flipping through the pages summarizing all your hard work. Then look at the next blank page—the one that can’t be filled in until after that day’s training session. Most of the time, this will be enough to get you lacing up your shoes.”
    Keeping a Logbook
    Many fitness enthusiasts and athletes have daily training records that date back 10 years or more. These records allow athletes to see the big picture and the patterns that emerge only over time. In a nutshell, your logbook will enable you to analyze the effect of your distance-running training, monitor progress, keep track of any aches and pains, help you to stay motivated, and act as a resource in the event of any injury or illness.
    Consider jotting down notes about your diet in your training log. Having a record of food intake can help you identify problem times, moods, or stresses that affect your eating. And you’ll be able to see how all of these things affect your training.
    RUNNER PROFILE
    Rod
    Rod, 37, is a family doctor, husband, and father to a new baby boy. He’s done numerous marathons and half marathons over the years, and for the most part he has always trained on his own. “I do find any run over 2 hours to be a little bit long on my own, and I would definitely welcome having a friend along to keep me company and as a motivator. But for the most part I see running as one of the only times in my day that I get to be on my own. For me, running can be very meditative. It’s time for me to listen to my breathing and be silent.”
    RUNNER PROFILE
    Robin
    Robin, 35, is a product manager for a large on-line gambling company. He is also an elite runner. Originally from the East, he made the decision to leave his job with a large accounting firm and moved to the West Coast, where the climate was more conducive to training. Working part-time at a running store, Robin decided to give himself two years to focus on running to see what results he could produce. He had always been a middle-distance runner, with a personal best of 31:30 over 10 kilometers. In looking for a new challenge, he set his sights on a half marathon, 21 kilometers.
    Today, years after his half-marathon debut, Robin flips through his old training logs to explain what went wrong. “In preparing for the half marathon, I see now that I didn’t take the time to put the jam on top of the peanut butter. I was young, impatient, and I did too much quality and quantity (faster interval work and extremely long runs) alongside poor nutrition. I also didn’t give myself enough time to increase the distance of my long run and ignored fatigue and signs of illness. On race day, I had nothing in the tank by mile 10, and instead of dropping out, I forced myself to finish the race. Two weeks after the half marathon, I became extremely sick. I wasn’t the same for a couple of years afterward.”
    Robin was diligent in recording the details of his training: he logged the date, route, effort, type of workout, sickness, injury, and total distance, as well as weekly and monthly distance totals. Logbooks are great motivators, because at the end of the day you have to answer to your book; if you haven’t run, you have to record a zero. But, as Robin points out, “They can be a double-edged sword. Logbooks police you to stay honest with your training, but it can easily become a competition between you and your book—always a challenge to see how many more miles you can record this week compared with last week. And they can also discourage cross training and rest days in order to meet your mileage goals.”
    It’s like most things in life: if you keep your logbook in perspective, it can motivate and provide good historical value. If it weren’t for Robin’s logbook, he would have had a much more difficult time analyzing what went wrong in his training so that he could learn from his