New FLOGs

RE: New FLOGs

Rykno — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:07:04 GMT

I use the FLOG to track my GTD. It's very similar to my other on-line log. But one thing that has been bothering me is the progress towards your goal. my goal for 2010 was to reach 500,000m (roughly 312miles) But the indicater has shown that I have reached my goal 100% ever since I passed the daily goal pace. So instead of saying: "Congratulations! you have achieved your GTD goal for the year" maybe it should say something like, keep up the good work, you are on track to meet or exceed your GTD goal. next year my goal will be the 500mile (800km) which is roughly 16,650 a week. if I swim extra now the first week in jan it won't feel right that it shows I have reached my goal for 2011 in just one week only because I am on track. also i think there is something wrong with the your goal pace. it says my goal pace as of today is 257 my current pace is 309 after todays workout. with only 3 days left in the year one would think my goal pace as of today should be closer to 310 since I swim less than 1 mile a day.

RE: New FLOGs

kgernert — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:22:40 GMT

To access the FLOG, you need to sign into your "My USMS" account. Once signed in, it's on the front page under "Available USMS Member Online Services". Personally, I love using the FLOG and, crazy as it sounds, it helps me get to the pool on those days I don't feel like going. After all, who wants to have a blank day....

RE: New FLOGs

rundumb — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:54:33 GMT

how do you get to the FLOG page on the USMS website??

RE: New FLOGs

MartyD43 — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:19:20 GMT

Thanks to swimshark. Typical newbie mistake. I think I stared right at the delete section and didn't understand it. Much better now.

RE: New FLOGs

swimshark — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:34:08 GMT

Just started using FLOG. My Masters Team coaches suggested it several times. Most of the time they are right about everything - so much cumulative experience. But I was skeptical. I didn't get the impression it was something new. It's not totally new but, it works for me - way more helpful than I thought. This is clumsy, but my new system is: one online log for counting calories, FLOG to track training, and a daybook for combining workout log with other important dates - like doctor visits and planning ahead for travel, etc. Only overlap among them is the "official" weekly weigh in on Monday AM. Together they somehow seem to help my motivation and discipline better than any one of them alone and better than other combinations I've tried (and that's a bunch, including cycling logs, home made notebooks, and several tries at making spreadsheets). NEWBIE QUESTION: I accidentally entered Monday's weight 3 times. Is there a way to erase the duplicates? Looks too cluttered this way. Thanks. Click on the actual workout and then you can delete it.

RE: New FLOGs

MartyD43 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:19:44 GMT

RE: New FLOGs

Elaine Krugman — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:30:04 GMT

I started using the FLOG soon after joining USMS, in February, and I love it! Thanks, Jim, for all your hard work!:applaud: What works for me is using a dive slate (www.scuba.com) to keep track of everything. The night before my swim, I write down the workout I hope to get done before the Noodlers arrive and kick me out of the pool. In between sets, I write down my splits, times, and HR, before I move on to the next thing. When I get home, I refer to my dive slate when I enter my workout into my FLOG. This is an easy way to keep track of your workout without having to remember everything, so I highly recommend it! :banana:

RE: New FLOGs

kellys — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:10:56 GMT

Bicycling.com has a training log very similar to the FLOG. It goes into a little more detail for swim workouts including: time of day, quality of workout, effort, your weight, heart rate, & temperature (if you swim outside). I like this a little more than the FLOG because I do triathlons as well. I do use the FLOG though for the GTD event.

RE: New FLOGs

smontanaro — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:29:49 GMT

Sorry to be anal here, but hey, I'm sort of used to testing software... A few more bits of feedback on the FLOGs: The switch to week view should switch to the current week not the first week of the current month (but see below for an interesting side effect...) If I switch to week view it takes me to the week which contains the first day of the month. If I then switch back to month view it takes me to the month in which the first day of that week resides. That's an interesting way to page back month-by-month. ;) (Until you hit a month where the 1st falls on a Sunday I suppose.) If I enter a workout I think it should give me the opportunity to enter another workout instead of returning me to the calendar view. When I'm done I can click a link to return to the overview. Mary's spreadsheet is still awesome - it's nice to be able to customize it. It also has those comparative charts. I hope the USMS folks keep it as an option.

RE: New FLOGs

smontanaro — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:20:55 GMT

Started using the FLOG a week or so ago. Nice to have multiple sports to choose from. Given that it offers yards and meters shouldn't it also offer kilometers as well as miles?

RE: New FLOGs

Former Member — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:28:19 GMT

Ilike the new FLOGS SYSTEM. THEY are easy to keep track of what ever excerise yuo do . Since I am Lazy. I say KUDOS to the new FLOGS SYSTEMS. DOM in AZ.:bed:

RE: New FLOGs

tjrpatt — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:10:28 GMT

Chris, good idea. I've toyed around with doing this myself, but with the additional attention needed, I've never gotten around to making it happen. I'm already having trouble trying to remember what I just did last night in the pool. I try to write down on a notepad or get what I did onto my flog or blog within several hours after my workout. If I don't do that, I get into big trouble remembering.

RE: New FLOGs

Bobinator — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:07:35 GMT

I like the flog and I'm using it. I am really glad it makes information retrieval easier for the gtd people; I love that program, the numbers continue growing and the work behind it must too! I have not been able to get the comment area to work. I don't know what else I could do to make it work. Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong?

RE: New FLOGs

Chris Stevenson — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:39:38 GMT

After having used the FLOG for a few weeks, I do like them a lot. And you can't beat the name! However (and I hope Jim is listening), I do have one suggestion to make it a better training journal. Right now you can enter total time and total yards for a swim practice, and these things get added up in various ways (eg by week, month, year). I wish that one could partition up the swimming yards in meaningful ways (and what is considered meaningful may indeed depend on the individual). For myself, for example, I would like to track (in order of importance to me): -- yards of "quality" work -- yards of kicking -- yards of strokes vs freestyle Others might be interested in other ways of partitioning. During report generation, I also would like these things calculated as subtotals and also as fractions of the total yardage (eg, "In July 2009, 11% of total yardage was quality, 35% was stroke, 25% was kicking"). Since the individual is responsible for manually entering his/her total yardage and time, these things could just be additional fields and their labels could be user-defined. Making it look pretty would probably be the most challenging aspect. As a minor matter, calculating average time/distance per workout would be a nice addition to reports. But I would have to say that interfacing the FLOG to the BLOG (which I know is in the works) is probably a higher priority for me.

RE: New FLOGs

Doug Adamavich — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:53:51 GMT

I REALLY dig the FLOG, it is a great tool that any swimmer can use! Tools like this add value to membership and are not just for competitive swimmers. Kudos to the team that developed the FLOG! My only suggestion for improvement may be a logging tool for health statistics. Lets say you do some tests and want to track the results. This could include: Weight Resting heart rate Lean body mass Blood pressure etc. Over time, you could enter your numbers to see how your training is impacting your health. Maybe some of our medical professionals and/or trainers could come up with a list of useful metrics that could be included in a future iteration. Great stuff!

RE: New FLOGs

Muppet — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:25:49 GMT

I would like to track (in order of importance to me): -- yards of "quality" work -- yards of kicking -- yards of strokes vs freestyle Chris, good idea. I've toyed around with doing this myself, but with the additional attention needed, I've never gotten around to making it happen. I'm already having trouble trying to remember what I just did last night in the pool.

RE: New FLOGs

swoomer — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:22:07 GMT

And while we're asking for pie in the sky, I'd like to include heart rate stats as well. I wear a monitor and can tell exactly what kind of workout I've had by looking at HR results. I am recording this in the comments, but it would be useful to have it in one place so I can look for trends and indicators.

RE: New FLOGs

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:06:42 GMT

I'm pathetic when it comes to logging my personal swim workouts - or any of my training. But I do love to train. I am in awe of our bloggers. So for now, I like the simplicity of the new FLOG. My challenge is to keep it going... Most of all, I appreciate the ease it will give our GO THE DISTANCE staff! (Mary & co.) Also the opportunity to encourage non-competitive USMS swimmers to get involved in a program so suitable and created for them.

RE: New FLOGs

orca1946 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:39:19 GMT

I do not like paper work, my flogs are mentally done.

RE: New FLOGs

tjrpatt — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:53:40 GMT

Like Kristi and Floyd, I have been Flogging for two months now. It has been a great tool. I like that I can seperate swims if I happen to do doubles. Plus, the calendar has been really useful to track all kinds of workouts with the calendar. I feel like I accomplished something when I see a monthly calendar pretty filled up.

RE: New FLOGs

Former Member — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:38:20 GMT

Thanks for the feedback, Jim. I'm glad to see, but not surprised, that you are still developiing the system. I'll continue to monitor the progress. When the development has gotten to the point that I'd like to get in my archived files, I'll email you for some suggestions on how to proceed. Marcia Anziano has also suggested to me a way to deal with the Go The Distance data for the moment.

RE: New FLOGs

KEWebb18 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:55:07 GMT

I am undecided on using this tool, since I like to comment on each set, or part of set. That is one reason why I like using the blog for my workouts-everything is there in one place. I would appreciate continual information and feedback from users before I commit.

RE: New FLOGs

Former Member — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:04:22 GMT

Mel, if you want to keep the complex fitness log that you're already keeping, then go right ahead. It only takes a couple of clicks to record your yardage in your flog so that it can go to Go the Distance Thanks, Kristi. That's what was suggested to me by another member of the Fitness Committee. Fundamentally, I like the single log approach and would like to migrate over to the USMS site when the upgrades Jim mentioned are actually implemented. What worries me about doing some partial use of the 2009 log for my GTD swims is, when the new additions are available and I want to import my spreadsheet data, whether I then have to go back and remove all the GTD swim data by hand or will I be able to use a one-button 'clear all' function to sanitize the 2009 flog before inputting from my spreadsheet. If the answer to that is yes, then it will indeed be easy to input my GTD data (for example, as a single entry for the last day of the month) and not worry about its effect on future data from my more general spreadsheet. If the answer is no, then that might be more work than I want.

RE: New FLOGs

Former Member — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:07:50 GMT

Two great things happened with the Flogs. I like the email that USMS sends out letting us know what is going on. I don't have a team to swim with and a lot of times I have no idea what is going on in USMS unless it is posted here. Thanks for the Email. I have been using a note card to keep track of my GTD miles and Mary has been posting the yardage up for me each month. The Flogs are a much better approach. It allows me to post up while I remember what I swam and it allows me to see how few days I actually get to swim. I am sure with time it will get better as incremental improvements are made. I will let the real swimmers make the suggestions. Thank you very much for sharing this tool with me.

RE: New FLOGs

poolraat — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:54:36 GMT

Like Kristi, I've been using the flog for about 2 months now. And I do the same; post to my blog then copy and paste to the flog.