Why Is Logging Post-Workout Comments Important and What Should You Include?

Leaving post-workout comments in your training log may feel unnecessary when your training device auto-uploads your workout directly into TrainingPeaks. Isn’t the data from your training device enough for you and your coach to work with?

Although your training device data is crucial, it only tells part of your training story. Data from your workout device outlines the plot and supplies important details and facts. But your post-workout comments help set the scene, establish the context, and provide personal details that bring the full training story to life.

The purpose of leaving post-workout comments in your training log is to provide additional details about how you performed and how you responded to the workout. Post-workout comments provide qualitative feedback in addition to the quantitative feedback from your training device — both are important to provide a full picture of your training for your coach and your future self.

What to Put in Your Post-Workout Comments

Post-workout comments don’t need to be long, but they should touch on key elements of how the workout unfolded for you. You can do this in a few sentences or bullet points.

In your post-workout comments, you’re effectively trying to answer this overarching question:

How did your workout go — and what internal and/or external factors influenced it?

Below are some specific elements to consider as you answer this question.

Physical/Mental State

Physical: How did you feel physically before, during, and after the workout?
Mental: How did you feel mentally and/or emotionally?
Sleep: How much and/or how well did you sleep the night(s) before the workout?

Nutrition/Hydration

Before Workout: What did you eat and drink before the workout, and when?
During Workout: What, if anything, did you consume during the workout?
After Workout: What did you eat and drink post-workout for recovery?

Environmental Conditions

Weather: What were the weather conditions during the workout?
Terrain: What route did you use and what were the route conditions?

For example, below are post-workout comments left by a runner who finished a workout of lactate threshold intervals on the track. The athlete jots down a few sentences that address several specific elements of the workout.

Example #1
Felt mentally ready for the intervals after a restful 7-hour sleep and a breakfast of toast, peanut butter, and banana 90-minutes before starting. Ideal weather with cool 60°F overcast skies at the track. Energy remained high throughout. Legs started to fatigue on the last few intervals, but I was able to keep hitting the target times.

Here’s another example left by a runner who did an interval workout. This athlete uses bullet points to convey several internal and external factors that impacted their workout experience.

Example #2

Felt physically and mentally tired going into the workout due to inconsistent sleep this week because of working late.
Didn’t eat anything before the morning workout, but had a good meal of pizza and salad last night.
Overcast, damp weather in the 40s°F with mud on the trails.
A few seconds off target times on the first 4 intervals due to muddy trails, then started falling off the pace on 5-6.
Felt like I needed a nap afterwards. Ready for some rest.

Another important element to include in your post-workout comments, if applicable, is to note if you made any deviations from or adaptations to the prescribed workout. This applies to athletes working from a training schedule created by a coach. When your coach examines the workout data, they assume you followed the workout plan. But, sometimes things come up that derail that plan. Letting your coach know what happened will help them make sense of the data.

Workout Deviations/Adaptations

Extenuating Circumstances: What, if any, challenges or circumstances did you encounter that prevented you from completing the prescribed workout?
Modifications/Adaptations: What, if any, modifications or changes did you make to the workout?

For example, a runner went into a threshold workout with the aim of running a series of cruise intervals near their lactate threshold heart rate. But, the runner struggled over the first three intervals to get their heart rate into the appropriate training zone while their perceived exertion was much higher than expected. The runner realized they weren’t recovered enough to complete the workout, so they turned it into a recovery run. This is important information to communicate to the coach, which they do in the post-workout comments seen below.

Example #3
Felt physically and mentally tired going into the workout due to inconsistent sleep this week because of working late nights. Didn’t eat anything before the morning workout. I wasn’t able to elevate my heart rate into the comfortably hard threshold zone over the first three intervals, but my perceived exertion felt more like I was in the uncomfortably hard zone. So I nixed the remaining intervals and warmed down for an easy 15 minutes. I think I need more recovery.

How to Record Your Positive Takeaways

A final element that I like to include in post-workout comments is what I call “positive takeaways.” This is particularly relevant to key workouts or higher intensity workouts. You don’t need to do this for every workout, but aim to do it for one or more key workouts each week. Or, you could do a summary post at the end of each week to capture that week’s positive takeaways.

Recording positive takeaways is an opportunity to reflect on what went well in a workout or the past week of training. Even if you struggled through a challenging workout, the idea is to pull out something positive that you can take away from the experience. Positive takeaways might include a new milestone you achieved, a challenge you overcame to complete a workout, or how you effectively implemented your performance standards despite encountering obstacles.

Collecting and recording your positive takeaways in your training log allows you to look back on them during the more difficult weeks and before your goal race. These positive takeaways will help you rekindle trust in your training and abilities. For more background on how to apply these positive takeaways, see “Race Day Readiness” and “Practical Application: Prepare for Race Day” in the “Guide to Goal Setting & Mental Skills Training.”

Positive Takeaways

What is something positive that you can take away from the workout?
Did you achieve a new milestone or overcome a challenge?
How did you implement your performance standards despite encountering obstacles?

For example, in the post-workout comments below, a runner records as a positive takeaway how they finished the prescribed set of intervals despite feeling mentally tired after a long day of work. Notice how they explicitly labeled the positive takeaway separately from their main post-workout comments; this makes it easier to go back and review later as they prepare for their race.

Example #4
Went to the track after a mentally draining day of work, but otherwise felt physically fine thanks to a good lunch of salad with salmon earlier in the day and adequate hydration throughout the afternoon. I consistently hit my target times on the threshold intervals, plus did an extra one without falling off the pace. Felt a bit physically depleted at the end of the workout, but mentally more refreshed than at the beginning. Ate a good dinner and will get to bed early tonight for recovery.

Positive Takeaway. Despite going into the workout mentally fatigued from a taxing day at work, I was able to work through the mental fatigue and consistently hit my target times on the prescribed intervals plus an additional one.

Guidelines for Writing Post-Workout Comments

The bottom line is that post-workout comments can be just as vital as uploading the workout files from your training device. Post-workout comments allow you to communicate with your coach and future self about the nature of a given workout, providing qualitative data that help you and your coach more effectively interpret the quantitative data in the workout file.

Leaving post-workout comments for at least the key workouts each week allows your coach to develop a more personalized and effective training plan for you. You only need a few sentences or bullet points to communicate how a workout went, and what internal and/or external factors influenced it. But that information can be a vital part of the collaborative journey you take with your coach toward your goals.

Below is a summary of the prompts to consider as you write post-workout comments in your training log. Aim to capture the key factors relevant to your workout experience in a few sentences or bullet points to help set the scene, establish the context, and provide the personal details that bring your full training story to life.