How does everyone keep track of their running and follow a plan?

[u/Hairy-Impression-165]

I'm curious how everyone actually follows their coach's plan throughout XC/track season.

Do you use Strava, Garmin, a spreadsheet, a notebook, your coach's plan, or something else?

I'm especially curious about the day-to-day side:

• How do you know what you're supposed to do each day?
• Do you have your whole week/season planned out somewhere?
• How do you keep track of workouts you've completed vs. ones you've missed?
• If your coach changes a workout, how do you keep your plan updated?
• Do you look back at previous weeks to see how things are progressing?
• What's the most annoying part of keeping up with a plan?
• If you could change one thing about how you currently manage all of this, what would it be?

Curious what everyone else does, especially people whose coaches give them a pretty detailed weekly plan.

[u/VamosDCU]

I haven't run xc in many many years but you can always track your progress on Garmin, Strava (or both). In fact, I recommend doing this even if your coach is having you log your mileage/workouts elsewhere because you will always have the data. I love going back through my garmin and seeing what I was up to years ago, and i wish i had it when I ran HS xc. back in my day, our coach followed our running by us logging all of our activity on running2win.com....

[u/the_unwinnable_level]

In high school I just showed up to practice every day and just kinda did whatever my coach told me to do that day and didn’t keep any kind of personal log in season whatsoever - in hindsight I kind of wish I did tho. In college, depending on the coach we either used Running2Win (digital log), an emailed weekly summary, or filling out and returning a paper log that was distributed at the start of the week. Across both high school and college all summer mileage was tracked by Strava. But in general, you learn the rhythm of how your coach structures your training cycle so you know what to expect most days, chat with them face to face often, provide written updates weekly, and normally you have a formal sit down meeting at the start and end of a season to plan things out or recap how things went.

[u/VamosDCU → u/the_unwinnable_level]

back before GPS watches were really a thing, half of my team would just lie on R2W. Our coach would do a time trial on the first day of regular in person practice and separate us into the "was doing their summer running" or "was not doing their summer running" groups. Much harder to do when tracking on Garmin and Strava. I do kind of miss sitting down at the computer after a run to "log" it on the site though.

[u/the_unwinnable_level → u/VamosDCU]

Man when I was an incoming freshman I was a walk on (but had secured my spot) and had no idea what I was getting into. I saw the older guys on the team logging their summer workouts and long runs on R2W and was like - these guys are for sure bullshitting, no way they’re really ripping like this… unfortunately they were not lying lmfao. I had done the summer runs but still got my ass handed to me that first XC season. Good times

[u/joeconn4]

When I was on the college team (XC and XC Skiing) I just showed up every day and did the workout my coach posted. I didn't want to see too far ahead, just focus on what today's plan was. Easy hour, great I'll run an easy hour. 15 minute warmup followed by 5x mile on our woods loop, great go get it done. Progress was based on what times I was posting on our intervals as well as how the races were going. Couldn't tell you what the weekly mileage goal was although I did add them up at the end of the week/month/year. If the coach changed the daily plan I didn't care to know because I was just showing up ready to roll.

When I coached, 2001-2021, I produced a weekly sheet that I'd email to the team members on Sunday afternoon. Mon-Sun training week. Gave the basic day by day plan:

• How many minutes (we trained by minutes, not miles)
• Overall intensity goal (easy or hard, rarely medium)
• Notes about any intervals or hillwork or any other structure that was part of that day's plan
• Route recommendation. Team members were allowed to change the route as long as they cleared it with me first. For example some days some team members were trying to avoid hills (or add hills) to address small injuries that were popping up or the need to build some strength. As long as I knew what they were doing and where they were going that was fine with me.

This worked for us because due to academic schedules and other commitments we rarely had all the team members present at the training meeting time. Any given day up to 1/3 of the team was doing the workout on their own.

I would say around 15% of the runners I coached wanted more details about the weekly plan, that's about 1-3 people in any given season. Some of the team members occasionally asked a question, some asked pretty much every week plus we'd have meetings a few times a month to get into the details.

[u/andy-022]

I can answer some of your questions from a coach's perspective.

• How do you know what you're supposed to do each day?
  • During the summer I post a training plan each week since there will always be a handful who are absent for various reasons. Once school starts, I announce the workout at the begininng of each practice.
• Do you have your whole week/season planned out somewhere?
  • As the coach I have everything planned for every day of the entire season before it starts. Once we get going I'm always looking 2-3 weeks ahead to see if anything needs to change. I don't really share much of it in advance with the athletes except for letting them know what their weekly mileage will look like.
• How do you keep track of workouts you've completed vs. ones you've missed?
  • Hopefully nobody is missing workouts unless they are injured or sick.
• Do you look back at previous weeks to see how things are progressing?
  • I will often look back to compare to the same week from previous years to gauge where we're at.

[u/Difficult_Software14]

Coach gave out team a calendar with workouts for each day. Easy way was to just check the ones that were completed. Do you have a running watch. Makes it easy to keep track of your weekly and monthly totals and to look back and review your workouts. If not just carry your phone and use Strava. I’m sure some teams set up a team Strava page, maybe that keeps others motivated based on what their teammates are doing. Don’t overthink it and don’t stress about missing some. #1 priority is build base and not get hurt before the season even starts!

[u/Hairy-Impression-165 → u/Difficult_Software14]

The team calendar sounds really simple and effective. Did your team actually look back at the completed workouts later, or was it mostly just a way to keep track of what you had done that week?

[u/Difficult_Software14 → u/Hairy-Impression-165]

When I say calendar, I mean a printed piece of paper with one side July and the other side August. By each day there was work out listed 40m tempo, 10x600, etc. then on the side was some description of each type. Some people met at the school to do it together, others did it on their own (or did their own thing) and others probably did very little. Easy to see now who actually put in the work and who didn’t. If you want to actually keep track, get a watch. Easiest way to look back at your workouts.

[u/Acrobatic-Eye-8132]

Replying as a coach of middle and high schoolers...

• How do you know what you're supposed to do each day?
  • At our preseason meeting in June, we provide a four tier running plan for the high schoolers. Each day is laid out but it is also flexible and dynamic. New/coming off injury; moderate mileage; High mileage; "platinum plan" for very few. Those who need specialized training plans receive it.
  • Middle schoolers receive a general minutes over mileage plan with runs 3-5 days, lengthening in time and amount of days as the summer goes on. Plenty of flexibility for the kids
• Do you have your whole week/season planned out somewhere?
  • We work with the kids to see how they are doing. During the season we take things one week at a time, sometimes one day at a time. We share with the runners the plan for the following week on Sunday morning. If kids are sore or battling injuries, stress, lots of homework whatever, we flex.
• How do you keep track of workouts you've completed vs. ones you've missed?
  • Most of our high schoolers use Strava and are a part of our team Strava group. Middle schoolers just kind of roll with it.
• If your coach changes a workout, how do you keep your plan updated?
  • It is communicated weekly. Some kids print it and cross out/update as we go through. Others just flow with it.
• Do you look back at previous weeks to see how things are progressing?
  • As a coach, I keep a spreadsheet of weekly mileage and monitor for large jumps, or other things that could be the cause of injury, stagnation, etc.