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Believe Training Journal: A Review, or Shameless Plug?

Trolling through Pinterest one day, I came across a pin recommended for me:  "13 Running Books You Should Be Reading Right Now".  I pinned it to my Run Junkie board to read later.  I listen to a lot of audiobooks in the car on my dreadful commute to/from work, so while I don't feel like I have the time to sit down and read, if I can find any of them on audio, I'd put it on the wish list to download from the library.

*This post has been updated with affiliate links from Amazon.com.

 When I actually had time to look through the article, I came across the Believe Training Journal. I used to love writing in my journal when I was a kid!  It wasn't a training journal back then - I wasn't athletic at all, it was just a bunch of angsty pre-teen stuff or details on whoever I had a crush on at the time.  Still, I know I could use some new tools, tricks, motivation, etc. to give my training a boost.  The summer has been super rough on my running.  Plus, my good friend (who also runs!) had a birthday coming up, so I ordered two!

The Amazon order just showed up last Friday, and I've only read through the first 20 pages, but so far I am really liking this.  I think it's just what I needed at just the right time.  So far, I have all of my races listed on the annual calendar.  I've started putting in the training runs I have this week.  I'm getting ready to chart out my goals, which for me includes running a sub-2 hour half marathon in January and a full marathon with said friend in February.  It'll be her first full!

Fast forward...  So I had to wait to post this until I gave my friend her birthday present.  :)  As I continue this post, I am now on my third week of the journal.  I can't say I'm doing anything drastically different than I would normally do - I keep track of all my mileage and training plans in a spreadsheet anyway (I am a dork by nature and trade).  But I'm also able to write out my goals, what worked for me during the week (and what didn't), and build excitement for races that I have coming up.  I actually look forward to writing in it every night, even if it is only a couple of lines.  It's at least encouraged me to try new things just so I have something worth writing down.

I'll be able to give a heartier review as the season goes on, but so far I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to give their training a little refresh.  How cool is it going to be when I run my 2 hour half and look back through my journal to see everything I've accomplished?!

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