How to make a training log

rom

I don't know if there would be any interest in this but I would be willing to give a little guide on how to make your own training log using google docs (of course). If there is some interest please respond on what you would like to be able to have in such a log. I would document in detail how to create your log, share it, generate graphs and more complex stuff like auto-update the 1000 mile challenge. It is a great tool to be able to compare and see your improvements or not visually and clearly. I would probably start with the most basic things for those who have never used google docs before and would give examples/screenshots of each step. Things like garmin connect are good but you don't have control if you want to put stuff in. There are then sites like fetch but full with ads and still is far from perfect.

Itziger

rom wrote: »

I don't know if there would be any interest in this but I would be willing to give a little guide on how to make your own training log using google docs (of course). If there is some interest please respond on what you would like to be able to have in such a log. I would document in detail how to create your log, share it, generate graphs and more complex stuff like auto-update the 1000 mile challenge. It is a great tool to be able to compare and see your improvements or not visually and clearly. I would probably start with the most basic things for those who have never used google docs before and would give examples/screenshots of each step. Things like garmin connect are good but you don't have control if you want to put stuff in. There are then sites like fetch but full with ads and still is far from perfect.

Would definitely be interested. Want to log the training a bit more seriously AND I want to learn about Google Docs. Win win situation!

PaulieYifter

Will it have lots of graphs?

martyboy48

Fair play to ya rom, deffo interested in this. Once it's not to complicated or time consuming, I this it would be a great visual aid to see how you're doing

rom

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Q8ctLSM4DsOuh_Fo9AH_CJ1HT9nXWWj0pDgWYew5Ufg

sconhome

Rom, having used your previous sheet this season I think this is brilliant. It took me ages to figure out the formula and formatting in Google docs and in 5 mins reading you've explained what took me a week to work out.

Not to jump too far ahead, but would it work to include a drop down selection of multisport activities (listed elsewhere) and how would this work in the reports section for tracking totals?

rom

amphkingwest wrote: »

Not to jump too far ahead, but would it work to include a drop down selection of multisport activities (listed elsewhere) and how would this work in the reports section for tracking totals?

Yes, very simply done. If you have any other idea's I'll add them to the list if they are of benefit to a few people.

Itziger

Rom, I'm getting a 'sparse error' message when I try to put in the Pace calculation in cell E2.

Any info appreciated.

rom

Itziger wrote: »

Rom, I'm getting a 'sparse error' message when I try to put in the Pace calculation in cell E2.

Any info appreciated.

Personally I don't want to go down the route of fixing each persons spreadsheet. So the best protocol for this is Make a copy of the spreadsheet so your original one is intact. Share the copy and make it publicly editable. post this link on here and someone will fix it or look at the error. When someone finds the problem then they will post on the thread what was wrong because it is probably something simple. There is also google docs forums that probably have the answer to the question.

Itziger

rom wrote: »

Personally I don't want to go down the route of fixing each persons spreadsheet. So the best protocol for this is Make a copy of the spreadsheet so your original one is intact. Share the copy and make it publicly editable. post this link on here and someone will fix it or look at the error. When someone finds the problem then they will post on the thread what was wrong because it is probably something simple. There is also google docs forums that probably have the answer to the question.

Fair enough, I'll try one of the above.

rom

Added :
Adding GPS links
Race History
Sharing the document
Revision History

next up Training Plan.

career_move

Hi rom thanks for this....spreadsheets for dummies. Would it be an idea to have a column for the shoes you wore for each run and also one for what your resting heart rate was that morning

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/12/19/use-your-heart-rate-to-measure-overtraining/

rom

career_move wrote: »

Hi rom thanks for this....spreadsheets for dummies. Would it be an idea to have a column for the shoes you wore for each run and also one for what your resting heart rate was that morning

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/12/19/use-your-heart-rate-to-measure-overtraining/

Personally in respect to recovery I think that there are more things than just resting HR that should be considered such as weight and other things. Think of similar to restwise.com and what they do. I put that on the end of the list and shoe mileage which I do in my log also. Just want to write things up leaving the more complex stuff to last and the stuff that will be used by more people first.

rom

PaulieYifter wrote: »

Will it have lots of graphs?

There will be a graph which will show how many graphs are in the doc over time

pconn062

It's slightly disconcerting that I can't understand a word that's being said on this thread!

rom

Added how to run external scripts.

rom

Added Training plan

hot to trot

pconn062 wrote: »

It's slightly disconcerting that I can't understand a word that's being said on this thread!

Ditto

meijin

rom wrote: »

Added Training plan

Do you know that you can also create a sample spreadsheet, share it publicly, post a link and people would be able to make a copy of it and fill it with their data?

[but teaching them how to create their own spreadsheet might have some benefits as well ]

rom

meijin wrote: »

Do you know that you can also create a sample spreadsheet, share it publicly, post a link and people would be able to make a copy of it and fill it with their data?

[but teaching them how to create their own spreadsheet might have some benefits as well ]

It is rather easy to understand now and how things work but when things get more complex maintenance is not possible if people do not know how it works. As some of the future things will be much more complex people can choose to what level of complexity and pick& choose what stats they are interested in regarding this method. Also I am hoping that with feedback people have other idea's that will suggest things that I can add to my own log also. Also just providing the finished spreadsheet will mean that there will be loads of questions how x,y,z works. Hopefully most of those should be answered and the time taken by the interested person as it is for their own benefit.

AK333

Rom, I've set up my sheets and I apologise if this question is a bit 'thick' but are the 3 sheets (as per your example) all linked? So if I put information in the 2013 sheet, does it automatically update the Results sheet? As I'm typing this I think not, but as my expertise in spreadsheets, and running for that matter (I'm a noob) is limited, I just want clarification. thx

rom

AK333 wrote: »

Rom, I've set up my sheets and I apologise if this question is a bit 'thick' but are the 3 sheets (as per your example) all linked? So if I put information in the 2013 sheet, does it automatically update the Results sheet? As I'm typing this I think not, but as my expertise in spreadsheets, and running for that matter (I'm a noob) is limited, I just want clarification. thx

Nope none of the sheets are linked currently. But if you are adding details in from the first of jan say then all those details will be used going forward. In respect to the results sheet then you can add all your results and it will be fine. Its just a format for viewing results. It will become clearer when there is more stats but the basic logging page generates most of the stats.

rom

If you have any suggestions then I would appreciate it.
Ok so the current list of Future topics to add are:

Complex calculation of pace/distance for multisport with dropdown.
Weekly/Monthly/Yearly totals for distance and time
Shoe mileage
Weight/recovery
conditional formating.
publishing to the web.
hiding rows of older data
updating 1000 mile challenge automagically
graphs
updating google calendar with training plan and or training log.
tracking recovery

Brad768

Being a cyclist, I found this very useful..many thanks. Can't wait to put it to good use this year

sconhome

rom wrote: »

If you have any suggestions then I would appreciate it.
Ok so the current list of Future topics to add are:

Complex calculation of pace/distance for multisport with dropdown.
Weekly/Monthly/Yearly totals for distance and time
Shoe mileage
Weight/recovery
conditional formating.
publishing to the web.
hiding rows of older data
updating 1000 mile challenge automagically
graphs
updating google calendar with training plan and or training log.
tracking recovery

In fairness ROM this is trojan work you're doing. Having used your precursor workbook, I can highly recommend this to everyone to help track your training.

Also its a great way to get used to Google docs, much handier to be able to access from any computer too.

rom

It's getting complicated. Monthly and everything else except multisport is not complex.

Weekly hours and mileage added and updating the 1000 mile challenge.

Brad768

Thanks so much for this, I feel so organised
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiDHifeClt4OdFNjbUJYUVEycUdOTGUtazBlVWZrRlE#gid=0

scheister

only got around to looking at it today and well done on putting it together. But i keep it simple enough just recording the basic time distance date per month and feeding it into a overall yearly page. But it depends on the user and what they are looking for out of it

Gavlor

rom wrote: »

I don't know if there would be any interest in this but I would be willing to give a little guide on how to make your own training log using google docs (of course). If there is some interest please respond on what you would like to be able to have in such a log. I would document in detail how to create your log, share it, generate graphs and more complex stuff like auto-update the 1000 mile challenge. It is a great tool to be able to compare and see your improvements or not visually and clearly. I would probably start with the most basic things for those who have never used google docs before and would give examples/screenshots of each step. Things like garmin connect are good but you don't have control if you want to put stuff in. There are then sites like fetch but full with ads and still is far from perfect.

great stuff... thats my friday (and possibly saturday & sunday) night taken care of!

rom

Monthly mileage added.

Next multi-sport/ shoe mileage (which is the same thing)

blockic

Cheers rom for putting the effort into this. Looks great.

rom

shoe mileage / multisport (which is the same thing)
how to do drop downs and conditional formatting
added

In respect to multisport do you guys measure everything in K's

JustAThought

rom wrote: »

shoe mileage / multisport (which is the same thing)
how to do drop downs and conditional formatting
added

In respect to multisport do you guys measure everything in K's

k'a but only because it makes it sem like I've achieved more ! I then translate it into miles & gloat over the K figure!

This is great : my weekend project! Thank you! Really appreciated!

Brewski78

This is brilliant, just what I was looking for, thanks rom!

Any ideas on the best/most efficient way to incorporate 2 different sessions in one day (i.e. a swim and a run) while keeping pace and totals clean?

rom

Brewski78 wrote: »

This is brilliant, just what I was looking for, thanks rom!

Any ideas on the best/most efficient way to incorporate 2 different sessions in one day (i.e. a swim and a run) while keeping pace and totals clean?

What do you mean "clean" ?

Brewski78

Just meant putting a swim and a run on same line would obviously make the pacing useless but would adding a second line with the same date make most sense or a few additional columns on same line. Just in terms of totals on other pages etc, what do you think might work best.

rom

Brewski78 wrote: »

Just meant putting a swim and a run on same line would obviously make the pacing useless but would adding a second line with the same date make most sense or a few additional columns on same line. Just in terms of totals on other pages etc, what do you think might work best.

This is what I would expect you to do. You can have as many lines as you want per day. It might be good to use the Type column like the shoe example and use Swim, Bike, run or whatever in it so when you look back you know what they are.
You should only have one session per line.

Brewski78

Ok thanks, and thanks again for the time and effort that must go into this thread!

rom

Added how to hide cells.

rom

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alh6ofJoLlpTdFBUdmlNY3J6aTRZeExnY0NJYUhBVGc#gid=11

This is another format of training log for 2013. It is the format that I use. All the formula's like weeks shoes etc all will be the same as documented. I didn't want to show this one as it would cause confusion but basically if you do a double entry then it needs to be added after the monday row and before the sunday row. That is because these rows are used as the boundary rows for adding up the totals.

It clearly shows the weekly totals and the overall total which is nice.

BTW to copy this spreadsheet. Download as excel format. Then upload to google doc's and convert to google documents format when uploading.

briN_s

Brad768 wrote: »

Thanks so much for this, I feel so organised
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiDHifeClt4OdFNjbUJYUVEycUdOTGUtazBlVWZrRlE#gid=0

How did you add the weekly totals section? Is there an automatic way to do it, or was it manually done?

rom

briN_s wrote: »

How did you add the weekly totals section? Is there an automatic way to do it, or was it manually done?

Having a month on separate sheets is not the way to go.

Did you look at this format as it is much better.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alh6ofJoLlpTdFBUdmlNY3J6aTRZeExnY0NJYUhBVGc#gid=11

Basically what you do is you make your first week and then write out your 2nd week but get the dates to be worked out from the previous week like =A2+7 for monday in the 2nd week. you do similar for your totals also adding last weeks total and this weeks sum range.

Now you copy and paste week two all the way down and all the dates will be correct for each paste and each week's totals will work as it will be adding the sum range for this week and last weeks overall total.

Then do a copy and paste on col A and paste values only as you don't want the dates to be worked out by formula because if you add a double it will mess everything up otherwise.

briN_s

I think what I am looking for is a hybrid of layouts from that sheet and your sheet, as I plan on tracking totals for two sports all on one sheet for the year. I will apply your copy and paste method once I figure a neat way of totaling the sports separately ( I guess by doctoring your shoe mileage formula!). Thanks for all your effort with setting up the tutorial.

rom

briN_s wrote: »

I think what I am looking for is a hybrid of layouts from that sheet and your sheet, as I plan on tracking totals for two sports all on one sheet for the year. I will apply your copy and paste method once I figure a neat way of totaling the sports separately ( I guess by doctoring your shoe mileage formula!). Thanks for all your effort with setting up the tutorial.

Use the method that I used for different shoes as its the same thing.

Walkedit

rom wrote: »

Use the method that I used for different shoes as its the same thing.

Rom thanks for doing this, good job
I just found thread and had started a simpler Google sheet but this is way better

statss

rom wrote: »

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alh6ofJoLlpTdFBUdmlNY3J6aTRZeExnY0NJYUhBVGc#gid=11

This is another format of training log for 2013. It is the format that I use. All the formula's like weeks shoes etc all will be the same as documented. I didn't want to show this one as it would cause confusion but basically if you do a double entry then it needs to be added after the monday row and before the sunday row. That is because these rows are used as the boundary rows for adding up the totals.

It clearly shows the weekly totals and the overall total which is nice.

BTW to copy this spreadsheet. Download as excel format. Then upload to google doc's and convert to google documents format when uploading.

Hey Rom,

I've been using this version for a while now, it's great. One question, I have added in my own column for "pain" with a rating of 1-10. I'd like any ratings above a certain level, say 7, to stand out with either a different font or the cell highlights. I've been messing around with conditional formatting but don't quite seem to have it. Can you help? Thanks

edit - actually, have it working now, thanks

rob w

Just found this thread, fair play for the effort put in to it rom! Have been fiddling around with my own basic excel spreadsheet but will give this one a go when i get a chance....looks great!

Thanks

paulgalway

Have not used Google spreadsheets before.

Where can I obtain the training log template so that I can download it to excel or even make a copy for my own use.

Does it make sense (for me at least) to use excel or would it be better to start using google docs.


Thanks in advance for the help.

rom

paulgalway wrote: »

Have not used Google spreadsheets before.

Where can I obtain the training log template so that I can download it to excel or even make a copy for my own use.

Does it make sense (for me at least) to use excel or would it be better to start using google docs.


Thanks in advance for the help.

File > Download as > Excel ?

You can then upload it again and convert it to a google doc. At least with google docs you will have it backed up and revisions tracked so if you make a mistake you can roll it back.

Would defo recommend using google docs instead of excel. Just when uploading it select convert to goolge doc.

paulgalway

Rom,

Thanks for the information.

Do you have a link to the blank template so that I could start using it?

Thanks.

rom

paulgalway wrote: »

Rom,

Thanks for the information.

Do you have a link to the blank template so that I could start using it?

Thanks.

Other than this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alh6ofJoLlpTdFBUdmlNY3J6aTRZeExnY0NJYUhBVGc#gid=11

No because of reason below.

The problem with providing a template is if a person does not know how it works then they can't fix or modify it. It is best to start a document from scratch. Also in providing a template people would expect answers anytime they broke anything (not a road I want to go down). Also say I was to provide a template then I would have to document how to integrate any changes into it when people might have changed their original documents (very messy). The document goal is to provide the building blocks to make your own. My training log looks nothing like this for example.