Keeping track of your runs or other workouts is key for motivating yourself to maintain constant progress. There are literally thousands of ways to hold yourself accountable and probably no two people will share the exact same technique. However, I wanted to show how I manage to make sure I get my required number of workouts throughout the week.
While most of my life is completely digital, I still find paper notes and calendars the most effective for my current day-to-day. The picture above shows my current social and exercise calendar. I am using the Compact Calendar found at davidseah.com. This calendar shows an entire year in one single sheet of paper and has included plenty of blank space for notes. This format is great to show your running progress and to easily cross off dates where you met your exercise goals.
For my regimen, the key is strong aerobic exercise which either takes the form of a mid to long distance jog or an hour or two of ultimate frisbee. On a day that I completed either activity I put an ‘X’ over the date. I try to do one or the other three times a week at the very least. This method helps to encourage me when I’m meeting my weekly goals and motivates me to crank it up if I’m running a little behind schedule.
This calendar is also great at keeping track of other forms of information as well. You can mark your weight each week or the total number of miles you logged on the side of the dates. Also, there is plenty of room for notes or detailed appointments with all the extra white space to the right. After using this particular calendar for almost a year now, it has been super encouraging to look back at months and months of running.
