Not so many years ago our training sessions were written down in a notebook and every day we proceeded to add up the kilometers. The more careful ones wrote down what they had done, the distance covered, the time and even the sensations they had had: a real diary that was carefully kept because it era the database of our athletic life and that could be consulted by going through its pages.
And then came the technology
It was easier for some of us (some of us don't like computers) to start transferring them to a spreadsheet that automatically calculated rhythms, weekly kilometers and other parameters as soon as we entered the basic training data. And nowadays it is rare who does not train with a GPS or who uses any of the many mobile applications that exist and that allow both to program our training and to have access to a large amount of training data: average paces, maximum paces, accumulated elevation gain, average slopes, series and recovery paces, heart rate values (if we also have a heart rate monitor), ... data and more data, graphs, comparisons and almost everything we can imagine.
But in addition to counting the kilometers and calculating the rhythms, we must extract the important, the essential, what really tells us how we are, what form we have or if the training has been better or worse than another in theory equal.
Don't miss a single kilometer
As for the total number of kilometers done, we should not miss a single one, they all count and they all cost. Therefore, if we have done, for example, 3 kms warm up + 12 kms continuous running + 1 km cool down, our training has been 16 kms, not one more and not one less and so it happens with the rest of the sessions so that we do not miss any when it comes to knowing the weekly total, that which we like so much, that we comment with pride on some occasions or that we note with concern when for various reasons we have not been able to take the expected ones.
Obviously this accumulated total reflects the volume that we are putting in, but it is not by itself an indicator of the state of form, it does not have to be true that the more weekly kilometers the better we are since it will depend on the own content of each one of the trainings (controlled, slopes, series, etc...) and of the rhythms that we mark in them.
So it may be the case that we are at the end of a first phase of accumulation within a planning where the volume that we work is high, but at the same time we are still far from the rhythms that we intend for our goal. That is why we should analyze the data separately.
And what about paces?
As far as the paces are concerned, this is where we will be able to draw the most conclusions as long as we separate the fundamentals. To that 3 +12 +1 workout let's put paces to try to explain it:
- 3 kms at 5:30 warm up (plus stretching, running technique and so on, of course) .
- 12 kms of continuous running at an average of 4:30.
- 1 km cool down at 6:00.
If we calculate the total average pace we would get 4:47 min/km. What is this data for? What does it tell us?
Rather little, the information it gives us can be misleading. The important thing is the average pace of the main phase of training, "what we had to do".
The warm-up (not necessary but essential) and the cool-down, although they are parts of the session, should not be mixed when calculating average paces. The data we are interested in is the 4:30 min/km of the continuous race because it is the one we are going to use when programming other workouts and we will even take it into account when deciding our race pace. And we all, absolutely all of us, calculate this race pace leaving aside the warm-up and cool-down on the day of the race.
Didn't we say that we have to count all the kilometers?
Of course, they all add up to the total, but there will be a day when the warm-up will cost us a little more because of having trained the day before, the time of day, the temperature or for any other reason; another day we will be lighter from the first moment and therefore the paces of both warm-ups will be different. What we will need to look at these different data is to assess the need to extend this phase of training in one case and to adjust to the plan in the other in order to arrive at the start of the main part in optimal conditions in both cases.
In a series training such as the classic 10 X 1000 with very gentle recovery (or even walking), what is the point of calculating the average pace? The important thing is how the miles have gone, what has marked the time at the end of each series according to the recovery that we have set. Preparing a marathon the recovery will surely be minimal and preparing a ten thousand longer and with a more agonizing pace, but in both cases we mainly look at the time of each thousand.
A fartlek is quite different, where the improvement is sought with the alternation of rhythms, being important both the fast and slow minutes and the resulting average pace, but we should also leave aside the warm-up and cool-down.
Conclusion
In this way there are athletes who, without forgetting the total number of kilometers they do weekly, give the greatest importance to how many have completed quality (series, fast continuous running, interval, etc.) and their rhythms and thus compare with respect to other weeks of the same preparation or even previous preparations to get an idea of their fitness. And even without failing to note any kilometer they make a parallel count of the kilometers they have completed in the week adding only the main part of each training.
In any case, we don't want to drive you crazy either; don't let any kilometer count and, above all, go out, run and enjoy.
Photo Nike Running
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