Measuring your progress is important. Collecting the right information allows you to understand what's working, how it's working, and what's not working. We do it in our jobs, we do it in our bank accounts, and we should do it with our training. Data in sports, as in measuring any performance, is important. With so much information available to us, it's far too easy to get lost in it. For me it's about measuring the right things. This keeps the data points manageable. This blog for example is a way of measuring my journey. A diary of what works and doesn't. So that said here are the key things I measure that give a really good picture of how well it's going and where I need to prioritise my attention next.
General Measures
1. How am I feeling? You can journal this daily if you like (I use this blog to do it weekly). It's important to check if you are flat, tired, hurting, feeling blue, feeling fresh, happy, etc. etc. When you change diet, or push the limits it can have significant impacts on mood, energy, injury etc.
Your body talks to you, you just need to listen more often!
2. Weigh in. I weigh in weekly. Your weight can dramatically change in the space of a day based on weather, what you've eaten, how much water you drink (or not drink), etc so a weekly measure is a good marker. It is a truth in long distance running that weight makes a difference. Face up to it, measure it and you'll see if what you are doing is working.
Don't obsess over it though. As you train you will add muscle which is heavier than fat by volume so while you are getting leaner you may find that you are adding a little more muscle and could be a reason why the needle hasn't moved, despite clothes feeling looser.
3. Time & Distance. These two form the key measure of progress. How fast are you going and how far are you going. Most modern sports tracking watches are excellent here but if money is an issue then there are some great apps (strava, etc) for your smart phone. Most major phone brands have some basic exercise and gps tracking capability as standard, but there are plenty of paid and free apps that do the job.
4. Food & Drink. Measuring what you put into yourself, especially when starting out is important. Snacks, drink, alcohol, treats, meat etc. You can journal it, or get a free calorie counter app. Either way you need to understand where you are starting from. Diet is a simple (not easy, though) thing to change that has a direct impact on your results. When you record it (as well as the other measures just mentioned) you can see patterns emerge. Am I faster if I don't drink beer the night before? Am I weighing less if I cut carbs back for two weeks? Am I finding I'm too tired and unmotivated if I cut portion sizes and frequency of eating too much? Food plays such a big part in energy, weight, performance, etc, and not all calories are equal in their effect (good or bad) as every body can react differently. Track it and you might find a few surprises.
And now for the more technical measures...
The previous points are the key general ones, however, for the info-lovers among us there are some key technical data measures I find especially helpful
5. Calories burned. I stopped counting calories after a number of weeks as my diet became fairly predictable, but calories burned I measure via my Suunto 9 Sports Watch . I get to see how many calories I typically use in a day based on my age, height, weight and doing a sedentary job (around 2600 cals per day on non training days). I also know my Basal Metabolic Rate (calories needed simply to function while resting. Approx 1900). This gives me an indicator that allows me to adjust food intake if i want to target my body fat stores better. Tracking calories burned in exercise specifically based on my intensity (heart rate measure, next up), duration, type of exercise (trail running burns more than treadmill running for instance) is helpful. When I'm on a fasted long-run, I know that a 10k run which burns about 2000 calories for me is all coming from my body fat stores (if I stay in my MAF heart rate zone). This has been very helpful and motivating for me to actually see!
6. Heart Rate. If you want to fat adapt and following the Maffetone Method (MAF - Maximum Aerobic Function), then you need to measure your heart rate. It will tell you how hard you are working, if you are in the right training zone (typically Zone 2 for most of my training 125-135 bpm or 180 minus age) for building you aerobic efficiency, which is what you need to run really really far? A decent watch is best for this, but there are some good HR Monitor straps with bluetooth which you can hook up to your phone which is the lower cost option.
7. Speed/Pace. When following the Maffetone Method, you should be measuring your average speed as well. This allows you to track progress over time. I perform a MAF Test (see this post about MAF Tests earlier in the blog) to get a precise measure of progress. But if you want to understand how you are getting faster simply measure your average pace over a fixed distance (e.g. 5k) while keeping your heart rate strictly below 180bpm minus your age.
As an example, in my first week of training I was moving at an average pace of 6km/h while keeping my heart rate at an average of 132bpm over 10km. By the time I had my final training week prior to my challenge, I was able to run at 8.8km/h at the same heart rate on the very same treadmills at the same heart rate.... almost 50% faster!! Granted, that was under perfect conditions but those were that statistics.
8. VO2 Max. For this you need a device that measures this. It's not essential you do, but gives you a real marker for overall fitness. My watch does measure this and it's helpful to see. I post about VO2 Max in greater detail earlier in this blog if you want to learn more.
Here is an example of one of my watch's app readouts. It covers all the key data points, but there are plenty of additional points it covers on other pages to track and measure. If you invest in a good sports watch, then look for one that gives good data and accurate measures. This even tells me how long I should wait as a minimum before doing that exact session again (recovery time). It's been very helpful. To measure all of the above as well as additional data points such as:
Cadence
Time spent in heart rate zones
Ascent (height, speed, time)
Descent (height speed, time)
Steps
EPOC (an exercise measure for Intensity)
I'd certainly recommend my Suunto 9 watch for this if you are willing to invest in one. That said, the core measures are easy enough. Just make sure you do and you'll have something to hold yourself better accountable to. Thanks for reading...
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