2 Year workout journal
 

Motivation can be difficult. There's another thread that mentioned setting short term goals. The rider mentioned riding to each neighboring state during the year as an intermediate goal. That doesn't have to be your goal. It's just an example.

A couple of things have helped me. Every year I start a new log in a spreadsheet. Running weekly sums gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Of course there are good weeks and slower weeks. Don't beat yourself up about the slower weeks. Just keep going.

Something else that has helped me that last couple of years is blogging about some of my better rides. Nothing fancy just a photo blog in the bloggers subforum here. But it kept me motivated to get out each week. It also motivated me to look for new rides every once in a while.

One answer is to like the grind. This may not be true for everyone but many world class athletes do feel that way. In the world of tennis, by the time they reach world class level where training begins around age 7 or so to age 25, they have been at it, almost on a daily basis for many years. Maintaining that effort is only possible if in some way it is rewarding. Recently I watched a dressage video for the world championship, (I like horses). The owner and rider said during an interview winning was mostly to to the horse which liked the training and moreover, liked performing and being the center of attention.

I watched a video of a ballerina recently that highlighted how she trains and what she eats. She eats plenty but also logs every calorie and trains daily. It is interesting that she stretches at every opportunity and rolls out sore muscles just as a cyclist would. The only way t o maintain such a high level of disipline is passion.

I've always been active and always had physical activity hobbies. Pumping iron, running, racquetball, softball traveling tourney team, football, volleyball leagues, always something.

So discovering cycling 23 years ago has been fun and it allows me to stay active. I have done as much as 7300 miles in a year, few 5,000+, many 4,000+ over the last 23 years.

So at 55, I don't need something to keep me focused. I need something to keep me entertained physically and healthy! :D

But one thing that does keep my doing the mileage is having 7 bikes. If you don't ride them, they sit there and make you feel guilty staring at you! :p

that's better than slapping some clam on a hook & leaving it out there for 1/2 an hr while you sit & drink beer :thumb:

It's funny that I think a daily log is indispensable for gym workouts but I've never done one for cycling. I just started one for running, this week. Keeping it all mentally works OK from week to week but I miss the bigger picture doing it that way.

IMO, the main tools for keeping it focused are routine and habit. Procrastination is the enemy.

Speaking of logging rides, is there a bike logging app folks like? A riding diary?

I like a plain old excel.
Suburban Cyclists Unlimited (SCU) has a decent one to download if all you want to track is mileage.
There are others floating around that take more stats like speed, climbing, etc.

I also upload to RWGPS when I ride with my garmin, but that's more of an entertainment.
It's good, but I don't trust websites to always be there.
I used to use one called activebody for multiple activities and health tracking, and they shut down.
6 years of data lost, although they gave a fair amount of notice so I had a chance to print out stuff.

Strangely never thought of Excel. I use it for any odd thought that crosses my mind, but not that? Downloaded the SCU 2019 spreadsheet, so thanks for the tip.

In the pre-smartphone days, even pre-Palm Pilot days, I had a little (hardbound paper) pocket calendar and would just jot down the mileage on the bottom of that day's page, then add it up once a week, month and so on. I guess I used to do that on the Palm Pilot, but those are long gone, as are any iPhone calendar entries from the last time I was riding.

I looked in the AppStore, but the ones I see want to use the GPS while you're riding, and I just don't want to do that. If I have my phone in my saddle bag, will it do anything except suck the battery down?

I don't use the app. I use a garmin and upload later at my desktop. But I do know folks who use their phones for this.

Cyclemeter is a good app for folks who don't care for the social media/data sharing aspect of Strava. Cyclemeter is private by default -- you have to choose to share any data with Strava or other apps/sites.

You can also set all Strava data to private. It's still a useful app even if you don't care to share data or compare with other cyclists. Very handy for comparing our own performance against efforts on the same segments and routes.

I'm fairy meticulous about logging all my rides and walks to Strava, but I don't share all of them publicly or with friends/contacts. Helps me track my overall fitness. I'm just now beginning to get back to my level of fitness pre-injury and illness last spring.

If I tracked everything more meticulously I'd get discouraged by the apparent lack of progress. For awhile I kept a health journal, including headaches, etc. (I've had chronic, severe headaches since childhood, never found a neurologist who knew for certain what causes them). It gets depressing to track all that stuff too meticulously. I'd rather remember the good days. And the memorable bad days aren't as bad in my memory as they seemed when fresh. When I have revisited my health journals it's startling because I don't remember having been that miserable. But at the time I was. If I don't write it down the unpleasant details fade. Maybe it's for the best.

Most stuff I do is a more casual approach. Lots of stretching and physical therapy at home (still recovering from a shoulder injury last spring, still haven't completely recovered from thyroid surgery in November). I stretch at least two or three times a day, especially the upper body, neck, back, shoulders. I'll stretch the legs on days after hard workout bike rides, sometimes more often if I think about it.

I don't track what I eat, I'm just fairly careful about what I buy. Once in awhile I'll binge a bit -- a chocolate malt at Braum's, a donut, etc. But I don't keep that stuff at home so it's easier to avoid overeating junk carbs and sugar.

If I just keep moving, keep breathing and eat reasonably healthy, I'm ahead of most of my family. They tended to become sedentary with age, moving less and less, eventually doing almost nothing. The joints seized, the muscles atrophied, the lungs became congested, the heart failed, they became obese. I understand why. It takes more effort to keep moving as we age. We wake up achy and tired every day. Seems easier to not move. But I know I'll feel better if I do move around and get the blood pumping.

My Fitness Journals
 

Food Journal:

• https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary

Walking/Cycling/Stairs/Other Exercise Journal:

• https://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/
• Strava
• My own Excel spreadsheet

Cycling Journal:

• My own Excel spreadsheet

I've kept the Cycling Journal since April 29, 1990.

I've been on MyFitnessPal and created my own Excel spreadsheet for a variety of exercises since February 2015.

I joined Strava in December 2016.


I'm a data person ... I like collecting data.


Just in case anyone is interested ... these are my total cycling distances since April 29, 1990.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5b73a97e5d.jpg