Excel “Training OS” Structure (Workbook Architecture)

1) START_HERE (Control Panel)

Purpose: One place to set the plan and keep the athlete oriented.

Inputs

Marathon date (end of April)
Ironman date (Sept 27)
Current weekly hours (run/bike/swim/strength)
Injury flags (knees/ankles/hips/shoulder, etc.)
HR zones or pace zones (optional)
“Max weekly increase” guardrail (e.g., 8–12%)
Deload cadence (every 4th week)

Outputs

Current phase label (Marathon / Transition / Base / Build / Peak)
This week’s targets by sport
Red/yellow/green readiness indicator

2) PLAN_CALENDAR (The actual periodized schedule)

Purpose: A row-per-day plan with phase logic and auto-rollups.

Columns

Date, Week #, Phase, Day type (Run/Bike/Swim/Strength/Rest/Brick)
Session title
Planned duration
Planned distance (if applicable)
Planned intensity (Z1–Z5 or Easy/Tempo/MP/Intervals)
Key notes (fueling practice, drills, cadence, terrain)
“Mandatory?” flag (key session vs optional)

Why this matters: it becomes a clean export to app later.

3) ACTUALS_LOG (Daily training journal)

Purpose: What she actually did + how it felt.

Columns

Date
Sport
Actual duration
Actual distance
Avg HR (optional)
Pace / power / cadence (optional)
RPE 1–10
Sleep hours
Soreness 1–10
Injury pain 0–10 (by body part dropdown)
Notes (weather, stress, nutrition, etc.)

4) VARIANCE + COMPLIANCE (Auto scoring)

Purpose: The accountability engine.

Metrics

Planned vs Actual (duration & distance)
Weekly compliance % by sport
Key sessions completed % (this is the big one)
Acute:Chronic load proxy (optional)
“Overreach” warnings:
- too much intensity this week
- too much run volume increase
- too many hard days in a row

5) DASHBOARDS (the fun part)

Purpose: High-level view + decision signals.

Dashboard tiles

Weekly hours: Plan vs Actual
Discipline split (bike/run/swim/strength)
Long session counts (long run, long ride, long swim)
Intensity distribution (easy vs moderate vs hard)
Readiness index (sleep + soreness + pain + RPE trend)
“Next 7 days” key sessions + checklist

Charts

Weekly total volume trend
Run volume trend (and deload dips)
Bike long ride progression
Brick frequency over time
Pain score trend (by body part)

6) CHECKLISTS (Execution + prevention)

This is where disciplined people love the system.

Daily checklist

Warm-up done
Mobility done
Fuel/hydration planned
Post-session recovery (protein, stretch, etc.)
Sleep target

Key session checklist

Marathon long run checklist (fueling timing, gels/hr, sodium)
Long ride checklist (cal/hr, bottles/hr, cadence targets)
Brick checklist (transition time, first mile discipline)
Swim technique checklist (drills, stroke count, breathing)

Race readiness checklist

Gear
Nutrition plan
Pacing plan
Travel/logistics
Taper rules

7) NUTRITION + FUELING LOG (Ironman-critical)

Columns

Session type (long run / long ride / brick)
Planned calories per hour
Actual calories per hour
Sodium per hour
Fluid oz/hr
GI tolerance score (0–5)
Notes on what worked

This becomes your “no surprises on race day” layer.

Data Model (So It Converts Cleanly Into a Web App)

If you treat the Excel workbook as a prototype database, your web app becomes straightforward.

Core entities

Athlete
TrainingPlan
TrainingBlock (phase)
Week
Session (planned)
SessionLog (actual)
Metrics (computed)
Checklist + ChecklistCompletion
NutritionLog
InjuryLog

Key principle:
Your PLAN_CALENDAR sheet becomes the Sessions table, and ACTUALS_LOG becomes the SessionLogs table.

Web App Vision (Cross-channel system)

MVP (fastest useful version)

Calendar view (plan + completed)
Log a workout in <30 seconds
Auto dashboards (compliance, volume, long sessions)
Checklists (daily + long ride/run + brick)
Export (CSV / PDF summary)

Brad Merritt