A Peek Inside (Part 12)
Hello loyal readers,
I believe we are coming to the end of the Peek Inside posts. I have a couple more ideas to finish out the series, and I don't want to end on 13. As my friend Chris and I say, "We do not believe in luck, but we are superstitious," and 13 isn't a good number.
I am a big believe in organization, and I can become a bit OCD on how it's done. There was a point where recording practices, and training took at least two hours - we will see those seasons - until I realized that I was simply creating work for the sake of creating work. That being said, I find it cathartic to be this organized and while I have backed off a bit for the sake of personal sanity, I still am meticulous in how I record.
I've been considering starting a bullet journal. I am lost without the calendar in my cell phone - seriously, if something isn't in there, it doesn't exist - but I've been thinking that a bullet journal would be a good way to quickly look at an entire month rather than scrolling through pages and dates.
So with this in mind, let's take a peek inside my training journals, and their evolution. Now, we won't dive into them because they are a bit messy - odd for someone who loves to organize - but we'll talk about them, why I kept them the way I did, and what changed over time.
Pacific Rowing Club
This is the first journal in my coaching career, and it's less a journal and more a catch all. The board gave us binders to begin the season with organizers, and I began to stuff various papers and notes into them. Sadly, I didn't record the daily training. I was too naive to understand how important daily recordings were at the time. While the journal is a timeline, it's less about the day-to-day, and focuses more on the evolution of the season.
Inside this journal are regatta notes and lineups, some test results, various articles ranging from nutrition, warmups, and other ideas from US Rowing and the head coach, and meeting notes.
Why this worked:
Everything in a single place. I was able to quickly flip open the book and find what I needed. Despite it being my first attempt, I did manage to keep things decently labeled.
Why it needed to change:
While everything in the journal is important, as I said, this isn't a training journal. Most of the meeting notes, or handouts from the board and articles could be stored elsewhere.
University of Puget Sound
While at first glance this journal appears to be a bit of step back from the PRC journal, this was in actuality the first evolution, and something that you'll see going forward.
This journal was an actual journal with monthly calendars, and then a week by week breakdown. What this allowed me to do was track the workouts, and practices, as well as the regattas. By having the weekly breakdown, I could look at each practice and how they could impact the following practices, and track the training cycles.
I built the training around a four week cycle with the fourth week of each month being focused on recovery and what I termed, "LSD" or Long Slow Distance. I also was able to track how each cycle impacted the next and was able to gradually increase the training intensity as we approached the important regattas.
Why it worked:
Tracking was cake. It was extremely helpful to have each day as a quick reference. I could also see the regattas as they came up and move practices around if I needed to. I'm a visual person so having all of those dates in front of me made the training easy.
Why it needed to change:
Too small. The calendar was good, but as you can see, the workouts are stuffed into the front cover. It was too easy to misplace workouts.
LOCR: 2009 - 2010
Back to the three ring binder, and better organization. My time at LOCR was a bit of an outlier in terms of the programs I'd been at prior and would coach at later.
For starters, it was a small program, under 50 juniors across the board. It was also a program focused on small boats with the goal to gradually build up to the eights. The board was hands off, which was good, but I also rarely interacted with the board which wasn't ideal at times. The program was also undergoing an evolution from a rowing program based more on getting people involved in rowing - juniors, middle school, masters, rec. - to a competitive program with the rec. and middle school programs mixed in. And finally, I didn't have a director to report to, and the varsity men's coach was hands off, something that I greatly appreciated, but it also meant that I was flying solo.
I kept the calendar idea from the previous journal. I printed two copies: One at the front for the entire season, and then individual pages that I would slip into each segment of the season: Fall, Winter, Spring. I also kept the articles, regatta notes, and other misc. information in the back so I could reference it if needed, but it was contained so it wouldn't interfere with the day-to-day operations.
Why it worked:
Organization was spot on. Everything was contained where I needed it.
Why it needed to change:
First, the binder was too small. I've never liked large binders, and I had the idea of keeping three per season - I opted to keep only one. Oddly it was the smaller details that forced some changes, namely needing a three-hole punch. I didn't like that the pages didn't always line up, and the binder itself struggled to hold up over the season.
LOCR: 2010 - 2011
This remains one of my favorite coaching seasons, but also was the beginning of things going overboard when it came to the journal. As you can see, I have a binder, but I've also employed two Mead journals with graph paper.
The binder has grown to 2.5 inches rather than the 1.5 inches which gives me more space. I kept the organization the same as the previous year because it worked well.
The biggest change came in keeping the Mead journals. After going through the fall season without them, I picked one up on a whim. The motivation was to have something to keep notes in without bringing the binder out into the launch, or even to practice. The main binder would keep the entire breakdown of the season, while the Mead journals would run as backup. I would record each practice in the journal, as well as notes from practice, and then I would transfer those notes into the binder.
I viewed this as a backup system where the journal was expendable, and as a way to keep the binder a bit more intact throughout the year. The problem was that copying everything over was time consuming. Literally each page in the Mead journal would be hand copied over into the binder along with a detailed practice breakdown on the back of each page. The Mead journals also became fat as I taped in charts, and test results.
Why it worked:
It was easier to keep things fresh. Rather than having to remember my thoughts after a practice and hope I could get them onto paper, the journals allowed me to stop the launch and jot things down quickly. This also saved the binder because the journal could be tossed around or stepped on without ruining it.
Why it needed to change:
Data overload. But this wouldn't change until a couple of seasons later.
Willamette: 2011 - 2012
Back to the basics: A single three ring binder. What began to change this year was that the binder was used less, as I decided that while I wanted to continue the system above, hand copying the notes was too tedious and so I switched to a laptop.
The binder continued the trends set above where the entire season was broken down into segments. I would print off two copies of the workout for the day. One copy would be used for the actual practice, and the other copy would be put into the binder. Notes would be jotted down on the single piece of practice paper, and then I would type up and print off the notes and stick them to the back of each page.
This ran the risk of the practice notes become wet and ruined, but I would usually keep a large ziplock gallon bag on my clipboard so I could quickly jot them down and then seal them back up. This improved when I bought a metal clipboard with a flip lid.
Why it worked:
Simplicity.
Why it needed to change:
By not keeping my Mead journals, it made it more difficult to keep track of the notes and the thoughts from a workout.
Willamette: 2012 - 2013
This is the peak of the journaling, coaching binder system, and also the fall of it.
This year, based on lessons I'd learned the year prior, I opted for a 3.5 inch binder, a stand alone calendar, and two Mead journals for fall and spring. And then just because, a third Mead for quick notes.
The less said about this system the better. It was overkill because in addition to what you see here, I was still typing out the workouts and then the reviews on the laptop and printing them out.
If you assumed that I also kept folders of each season on my laptop, and turned those folders into electronic copies of the physical binders, you would be correct. Data overload.
Why it worked:
I don't know that it did. There were so many papers and folders that the system was simply too large to continue as it was.
Why it needed to change:
Too cumbersome. It took too many hours to make sure each journal had copies, that the binder had copies, and then decide if the Mead journal that was dedicated to keeping general notes - staff meetings, department meetings, individual meetings, etc. - needed to be added into the binder.
Oregon State University: 2014 - to present
We are skipping a few jobs here, and I will detail them out in order below.
- OSU Women: 2014 - 2015
- University of Oregon: Spring 2016
- US Men's JNT HP Camp: Summer 2016
- WSU: 2017 - 2018
Why skip them? Because they are similar to what you see on the left.
At this point, I realized that the journaling system that I'd developed was too cumbersome to continue. First, it was difficult to find space to keep all the binders, and notebooks. Second, if I didn't stay on top of them, it was too easy to fall well behind, and then it was difficult to catch up. Third, the motivation to put that much work into the system had waned significantly. Journaling was important, but it needed to be something feasible. And lastly, carrying around everything I needed in order to run the journals took up too much space in a single backpack.
I decided that I would drop the binder, and simply save the copies of the workouts on my laptop. This made detailing out everything much easier. I type faster than I write - most people do - and so it was much quicker to bring up the laptop and jot down the review of each practice.
Most of the programs you see above would send out an entire training plan for the season - fall, winter, spring - in an email so downloading it was easier than printing out several copies, and I could then simply jot down the workout in the Mead journal. By having the workout on the laptop, I could afford to carrying the journal with me.
In 2016, I decided I would change once more and move to a smaller journal. The Mead journal went back to keeping notes from meetings, while the smaller journal would be what I carried with me on the daily. The laptop would no longer be focused on practices and instead be the catch all for everything else: articles, test results, scores, etc. I would also write up a practice review each day and stick them into a fall, winter or spring folder.
Why it works:
Simplicity and ease. This is a system that makes tracking workouts, data, and other items easy and straightforward. There isn't a bulk of extra workout copies and binders hanging around - I haven't bought a three ring binder since 2012 - and carrying everything to a workout is relatively easy.
Why it needs to change:
Currently, I have no plans to change this filing system. Having two journals, the coaching journal, and the notebook, plus the laptop is streamlined, and easy to remember. The journal has evolved to become less full sentences and more short handed notes, or just random thoughts. It might sound lazy, but I decided that at a certain point, not every practice needed a detailed breakdown. Instead, I began to keep track of important things that happened:
- Weather/water conditions.
- Lineups and changes.
- Test observations.
- Ideas or practice changes.
Quite frankly, experience had taught me that while details are important, some details matter more than others, and not everything needed to be recorded. Each season you'd end up with files stuffed full of information, but if you didn't do anything with it, then it became useless. It was simply information to have information. My notes become more detailed when we are working on something specific like a technical change/tech week, or when we're building out lineups for races, but in the in between are simply noting what happened.
Conclusion:
Most of the changes you see in the journals comes from experience and necessity. It's also easy to see the march of time as I track my journals. Technology, PDFs, etc. become more prevalent as we get closer to the current date, and while email and office existed well before I began coaching, the use has skyrocketed. This has made keeping track of a season a much easier process and has saved me time and money. And as I mentioned above, experience comes into play as well. You start to know what you need and what is simply a filler.
I might breakdown one of my earlier journals in detail in a post so you can see how those evolved, but we'll save that for another time.
Stay safe out there.
I believe we are coming to the end of the Peek Inside posts. I have a couple more ideas to finish out the series, and I don't want to end on 13. As my friend Chris and I say, "We do not believe in luck, but we are superstitious," and 13 isn't a good number.
I am a big believe in organization, and I can become a bit OCD on how it's done. There was a point where recording practices, and training took at least two hours - we will see those seasons - until I realized that I was simply creating work for the sake of creating work. That being said, I find it cathartic to be this organized and while I have backed off a bit for the sake of personal sanity, I still am meticulous in how I record.
I've been considering starting a bullet journal. I am lost without the calendar in my cell phone - seriously, if something isn't in there, it doesn't exist - but I've been thinking that a bullet journal would be a good way to quickly look at an entire month rather than scrolling through pages and dates.
So with this in mind, let's take a peek inside my training journals, and their evolution. Now, we won't dive into them because they are a bit messy - odd for someone who loves to organize - but we'll talk about them, why I kept them the way I did, and what changed over time.
Pacific Rowing Club
Inside this journal are regatta notes and lineups, some test results, various articles ranging from nutrition, warmups, and other ideas from US Rowing and the head coach, and meeting notes.
Why this worked:
Everything in a single place. I was able to quickly flip open the book and find what I needed. Despite it being my first attempt, I did manage to keep things decently labeled.
Why it needed to change:
While everything in the journal is important, as I said, this isn't a training journal. Most of the meeting notes, or handouts from the board and articles could be stored elsewhere.
University of Puget Sound
This journal was an actual journal with monthly calendars, and then a week by week breakdown. What this allowed me to do was track the workouts, and practices, as well as the regattas. By having the weekly breakdown, I could look at each practice and how they could impact the following practices, and track the training cycles.
I built the training around a four week cycle with the fourth week of each month being focused on recovery and what I termed, "LSD" or Long Slow Distance. I also was able to track how each cycle impacted the next and was able to gradually increase the training intensity as we approached the important regattas.
Why it worked:
Tracking was cake. It was extremely helpful to have each day as a quick reference. I could also see the regattas as they came up and move practices around if I needed to. I'm a visual person so having all of those dates in front of me made the training easy.
Why it needed to change:
Too small. The calendar was good, but as you can see, the workouts are stuffed into the front cover. It was too easy to misplace workouts.
LOCR: 2009 - 2010
For starters, it was a small program, under 50 juniors across the board. It was also a program focused on small boats with the goal to gradually build up to the eights. The board was hands off, which was good, but I also rarely interacted with the board which wasn't ideal at times. The program was also undergoing an evolution from a rowing program based more on getting people involved in rowing - juniors, middle school, masters, rec. - to a competitive program with the rec. and middle school programs mixed in. And finally, I didn't have a director to report to, and the varsity men's coach was hands off, something that I greatly appreciated, but it also meant that I was flying solo.
I kept the calendar idea from the previous journal. I printed two copies: One at the front for the entire season, and then individual pages that I would slip into each segment of the season: Fall, Winter, Spring. I also kept the articles, regatta notes, and other misc. information in the back so I could reference it if needed, but it was contained so it wouldn't interfere with the day-to-day operations.
Why it worked:
Organization was spot on. Everything was contained where I needed it.
Why it needed to change:
First, the binder was too small. I've never liked large binders, and I had the idea of keeping three per season - I opted to keep only one. Oddly it was the smaller details that forced some changes, namely needing a three-hole punch. I didn't like that the pages didn't always line up, and the binder itself struggled to hold up over the season.
LOCR: 2010 - 2011
The binder has grown to 2.5 inches rather than the 1.5 inches which gives me more space. I kept the organization the same as the previous year because it worked well.
The biggest change came in keeping the Mead journals. After going through the fall season without them, I picked one up on a whim. The motivation was to have something to keep notes in without bringing the binder out into the launch, or even to practice. The main binder would keep the entire breakdown of the season, while the Mead journals would run as backup. I would record each practice in the journal, as well as notes from practice, and then I would transfer those notes into the binder.
I viewed this as a backup system where the journal was expendable, and as a way to keep the binder a bit more intact throughout the year. The problem was that copying everything over was time consuming. Literally each page in the Mead journal would be hand copied over into the binder along with a detailed practice breakdown on the back of each page. The Mead journals also became fat as I taped in charts, and test results.
Why it worked:
It was easier to keep things fresh. Rather than having to remember my thoughts after a practice and hope I could get them onto paper, the journals allowed me to stop the launch and jot things down quickly. This also saved the binder because the journal could be tossed around or stepped on without ruining it.
Why it needed to change:
Data overload. But this wouldn't change until a couple of seasons later.
Willamette: 2011 - 2012
The binder continued the trends set above where the entire season was broken down into segments. I would print off two copies of the workout for the day. One copy would be used for the actual practice, and the other copy would be put into the binder. Notes would be jotted down on the single piece of practice paper, and then I would type up and print off the notes and stick them to the back of each page.
This ran the risk of the practice notes become wet and ruined, but I would usually keep a large ziplock gallon bag on my clipboard so I could quickly jot them down and then seal them back up. This improved when I bought a metal clipboard with a flip lid.
Why it worked:
Simplicity.
Why it needed to change:
By not keeping my Mead journals, it made it more difficult to keep track of the notes and the thoughts from a workout.
Willamette: 2012 - 2013
This year, based on lessons I'd learned the year prior, I opted for a 3.5 inch binder, a stand alone calendar, and two Mead journals for fall and spring. And then just because, a third Mead for quick notes.
The less said about this system the better. It was overkill because in addition to what you see here, I was still typing out the workouts and then the reviews on the laptop and printing them out.
If you assumed that I also kept folders of each season on my laptop, and turned those folders into electronic copies of the physical binders, you would be correct. Data overload.
Why it worked:
I don't know that it did. There were so many papers and folders that the system was simply too large to continue as it was.
Why it needed to change:
Too cumbersome. It took too many hours to make sure each journal had copies, that the binder had copies, and then decide if the Mead journal that was dedicated to keeping general notes - staff meetings, department meetings, individual meetings, etc. - needed to be added into the binder.
Oregon State University: 2014 - to present
- OSU Women: 2014 - 2015
- University of Oregon: Spring 2016
- US Men's JNT HP Camp: Summer 2016
- WSU: 2017 - 2018
Why skip them? Because they are similar to what you see on the left.
At this point, I realized that the journaling system that I'd developed was too cumbersome to continue. First, it was difficult to find space to keep all the binders, and notebooks. Second, if I didn't stay on top of them, it was too easy to fall well behind, and then it was difficult to catch up. Third, the motivation to put that much work into the system had waned significantly. Journaling was important, but it needed to be something feasible. And lastly, carrying around everything I needed in order to run the journals took up too much space in a single backpack.
I decided that I would drop the binder, and simply save the copies of the workouts on my laptop. This made detailing out everything much easier. I type faster than I write - most people do - and so it was much quicker to bring up the laptop and jot down the review of each practice.
Most of the programs you see above would send out an entire training plan for the season - fall, winter, spring - in an email so downloading it was easier than printing out several copies, and I could then simply jot down the workout in the Mead journal. By having the workout on the laptop, I could afford to carrying the journal with me.
In 2016, I decided I would change once more and move to a smaller journal. The Mead journal went back to keeping notes from meetings, while the smaller journal would be what I carried with me on the daily. The laptop would no longer be focused on practices and instead be the catch all for everything else: articles, test results, scores, etc. I would also write up a practice review each day and stick them into a fall, winter or spring folder.
Why it works:
Simplicity and ease. This is a system that makes tracking workouts, data, and other items easy and straightforward. There isn't a bulk of extra workout copies and binders hanging around - I haven't bought a three ring binder since 2012 - and carrying everything to a workout is relatively easy.
Why it needs to change:
Currently, I have no plans to change this filing system. Having two journals, the coaching journal, and the notebook, plus the laptop is streamlined, and easy to remember. The journal has evolved to become less full sentences and more short handed notes, or just random thoughts. It might sound lazy, but I decided that at a certain point, not every practice needed a detailed breakdown. Instead, I began to keep track of important things that happened:
- Weather/water conditions.
- Lineups and changes.
- Test observations.
- Ideas or practice changes.
Quite frankly, experience had taught me that while details are important, some details matter more than others, and not everything needed to be recorded. Each season you'd end up with files stuffed full of information, but if you didn't do anything with it, then it became useless. It was simply information to have information. My notes become more detailed when we are working on something specific like a technical change/tech week, or when we're building out lineups for races, but in the in between are simply noting what happened.
Conclusion:
Most of the changes you see in the journals comes from experience and necessity. It's also easy to see the march of time as I track my journals. Technology, PDFs, etc. become more prevalent as we get closer to the current date, and while email and office existed well before I began coaching, the use has skyrocketed. This has made keeping track of a season a much easier process and has saved me time and money. And as I mentioned above, experience comes into play as well. You start to know what you need and what is simply a filler.
I might breakdown one of my earlier journals in detail in a post so you can see how those evolved, but we'll save that for another time.
Stay safe out there.
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