I made six New Year’s Resolutions for 2010. Now that the year has come to an end I’m doing what I’d guess a lot of ya’ll are doing (or have already done) and reviewing that list. What did I accomplish? Where did I fail? While there were dozens of goals I both set and accomplished, and set and failed, during 2010, I’m just talking here about those special goals set at the beginning of the year.

One in particular I literally halfway did was recording all my workouts for 2010. Not even half really. I made it all the way thru March and then it all fell apart. What went wrong? In review, I believe the spreadsheet I was using was just way over complicated. Thus, I made a new one. It is simple and provides three basic features.

1. Workout Log – The spreadsheet provides the user with a place to log their swim, bike, and run workouts, distance only (keeping it simple), and tallies those distances by month at the top of the log. Did you really kick it in January only to see your mileage reduced by 75% in April? What was your best month? Your slowest?

2. Body Weight & Total Inches – Why? Because in the words of Peter Drucker, “What gets measured gets managed.” I’ve recommitted to racing in an Olympic distance triathlon this year (October 2nd). I’ve already signed up and paid my entrance fee. To be competitive I want to cut down on my body fat and put on about half as many pounds of lean muscle. I’ll never get their by guessing.

3. Time Trial – One of the things my workouts have been missing (besides of course being tracked) are improvement goals. Improvements can only be marked if recorded. Goals are really only goals when they’re written down and time-set. If they aren’t both, they aren’t goals. At best they are wishes. I’m not sure if it was my Mom or Dad who used to say, “If wishes were horses all beggars would ride.” How will I know if I’ve gotten faster in the 400 meter (one quarter mile) swim or how much faster my fastest mile is as compared to last year? Besides a “gut feeling”, I won’t. Problem solved.

Many of you have your own ways of keeping track of your workouts. If you already do this you are in the top percentile. If however you don’t, and would like a copy of the one I’ll be using this year, you are more than welcome to a copy. I’ve put the link to an Excel version below. It should easily convert to Google Docs or Mac Numbers but if you run into issues let me know. Enjoy!

OWENWBROWN_TRAININGLOG_2011.xlsx