For the past two years we have been showcasing equipment that has the potential to make you race stronger and recover faster. Today we are introducing our newest series of articles – Geek Guidance. This series will features guest editors’ contributions for training tips, as well as more valuable information to help improve and fine tune your most important piece of equipment – you! We’d love to receive your feedback on our newest series, so let us know what you think.

MEFIS (Mood, Energy, Focus, Intensity and Satisfaction)

By Tommy Allore, Director of Triathlon at Club Med Academies USA

Most of us track our workouts, but just how much are you getting out of it? Do you really remember much about that 6-mile run you did earlier this month? Probably not. The truth is, when it comes to tracking your training progress, most of us are only logging the basics.

Enter MEFIS (Mood, Energy, Focus, Intensity and Satisfaction), a simple program to maximize your training and monitor your workouts quickly and effectively. By grading each of these five areas on a 10-point scale for all of your workouts, you will have the ability to track trends in your training and more accurately predict injury, illness, breakthroughs and burnout. And when accompanied by a brief note, MEFIS will also aid in workout recollection. For example, let’s take a look at two athletes who completed the same workout.

Jill logs her workout online and writes:

2500yd Swim, 45:00, Masters Program, Felt good.

—————————————————–

Matt uses the MEFIS format and writes:

2500yd Swim, 45:00, Masters Program.

M8 E7 F9 I9 S9

Force focused workout (a lot of paddles). Felt good. Legs were a little heavy from last night’s run.

While both training logs took mere minutes to complete, Matt’s entry painted a much clearer picture of how he felt about the workout. His mood (“M”) was an 8 out of 10, while his energy (“E”) was a 7 out of 10, and so on. Also, Matt included a brief description of the workout to help him remember it in the future. Imagine if you looked back at your training log three weeks from now and saw both of these entries. Which would be more memorable?

As you become consistent with logging your workouts using MEFIS, you will learn how to track the trends. If you record a score of 5 or less on any the areas, be sure to mention why in your notes and see what you can do to prevent this in the future. Over time, you’ll also notice which workouts bring you more joy and satisfaction. Not every workout can be “fun,” but the workouts that you look forward to will typically yield the best results.

I encourage you to try the MEFIS system for two weeks. This method of monitoring your workouts will help you become more in tune with your body and better understand what works for you.

Tommy Allore is the Director of Triathlon at Club Med Academies. A USA Triathlon L1 Certified Coach, Tommy is a certified personal trainer (CPT) by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and is a 6-time triathlon champion, Ironman Finisher and USAT All-American. He can be contacted at tommyallore@yahoo.com