A Guide to Post Workout Comments

​“Post Activity Comments and Enter a new comment.”  It is a section in every single TrainingPeaks workout.  It is a highly underappreciated tool for the athlete and the coach.  Most of the time both people are concerned about the numbers and the pretty graphs in the “analyze” section.  Leaving the comments blank and just looking at the objective data only gives you 70% of the picture.  Imagine completing a workout in the rain while just coming off of a little head cold.  You then complete that same workout in a couple of weeks and go back to compare your results.  You open it up and see that you have improved a ton!  But you didn’t fill out the post workout comments so you didn’t remember that you had been sick and it was raining that day.  You just see that your data is higher which means you are doing something right, correct?  As we all know, this isn’t always the case.  Comparing workouts without context of emotional, physical, and environmental data reduces the quality of the objective data.

So what should you write in that comment section?  In the end it is up to you.  I will provide some easy guidelines for you to follow.  You can adapt these to fit your style.  Just fill in those comments!  If you are a coach, challenge your athletes to fill in those blocks.

The one minute comments: Start small.  If you are really rushed, tired, or just don’t feel like writing any comments do this:

1. Emotional state after workout: One or two words that describe how you feel after working out.
   1. Happy, sad, disappointed, proud...
2. RPE of workout: 6 being the easiest and 20 being impossible
   1. Level of 6-20
3. Level of Enjoyment: Did you enjoy the workout? 5 is the lowest and 10 is the most enjoyable workout ever.
   1. Level 5-10
4. Aches, Pains, Sniffles?
5. Weather
   1. ​Rain, sun, hot.

The in-depth comments: If you have some additional motivation or time to write follow these guidelines:

1. Emotional:
   1. Emotional state prior to workout: Compare this to how you feel now.  Did it improve your mood?
      • Anxious, calm, excited, powerful…
   2. What was one thing you were proud of or thought went well?
   3. What is one lesson learned?
   4. Level of Enjoyment
      • 5-10 (5 being lowest enjoyment and 10 being most enjoyable)
   5. What is your emotional state after the workout?
2. Physical:
   1. Rate of Perceived Effort:  Rate how hard you felt the workout was irrelevant to prescribed zones.
      • Scale: 6-20
   2. Aches, pains, sniffles: Anything pop up on the pain or injury radar?
   3. Equipment used: Shoes, bike, helmet, water bottles, paddles, buoy, etc…
3. Environment:
   1. Comments on the course/route you used
      • Smooth pavement, rolling hills, mixed gravel, singletrack trail
   2. Weather
      • Sunny, Rainy, Hot, Cold, Moderate, Humid, Windy….