Measure What Matters Most
Build a dashboard that actually reflects your goals
Most athletes don’t quit because they stop caring. They quit because they stop knowing what’s working.
You’re putting in effort—but the feedback loop’s broken. You’re staring at pace charts and heart rate zones, but they don’t answer the real question: Am I getting better at the thing I care about?
That’s where data can either help or hijack your training.
We’ve been sold the idea that tracking more equals training smarter. But without context, all you’ve got is a pile of numbers and a rising sense of doubt. You lose trust in your progress—not because you’re off track, but because your system never showed you where the track actually was.
This isn’t about throwing out the metrics. It’s about choosing the right ones.
Metrics that reflect your goals. That keep you honest. That still make sense when life gets messy and plans go sideways.
Because if you can’t answer the question “what’s improving?” without checking five apps and guessing—then your system isn’t helping.
Let’s fix that.
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” — William Bruce Cameron
Track What Fuels You
Most people track what’s easy to measure—not what actually supports them.
They obsess over paces, miles, calorie burn, VO₂ max. But then skip over sleep and stress. They ignore how their body feels after a run—or how often they’re forcing workouts they should’ve skipped.
They log everything their watch spits out, but can’t say if they’re actually recovering. Or whether they’re stuck. Or whether they’re quietly sliding toward burnout.
The best metrics aren’t just about output. They help you answer better questions:
Is my training working for me right now?
Where am I thriving, and where am I pushing too hard?
What’s helping me stay consistent—even when things get messy?
A good metric guides decisions. A bad one just makes you feel behind.
That doesn’t mean ditching the watch. It means building your system around metrics that fuel progress—not pressure it.
Pick signals that actually help you train smarter.
Sleep quality might tell you more than your pace chart.
Mid-run energy might matter more than your final time.
Faster recovery after an easier session might be the signal worth tracking.
Feeling better when you fuel early might be the pattern that matters most.
If a metric doesn’t guide decisions or reinforce effort—it’s just clutter.
Track what helps. Drop what doesn’t.
Separate Data From Ego
Some metrics feel helpful—right up until they start messing with your head.
You get a low sleep score and suddenly your whole day feels off. You track steps obsessively, even though walking laps around your living room doesn’t move you closer to your goals. You skip a great workout because your watch says you’re “not ready,” even though your body felt fine.
That’s when the data stops being a tool and starts becoming a trap.
Lazy metrics creep in because they’re easy to track. Steps and calories. Readiness scores. A color-coded “recovery” label.
They give you something to track, but usually don’t offer anything you can act on. You start adjusting to hit the number, instead of using the number to adjust what actually matters.
And some metrics backfire completely.
You stress over your HRV score—and end up sleeping worse because of it. You wake up anxious about whether your “recovery” is good enough to justify training. You start reacting to numbers instead of responding to your body.
Now the data isn’t helping. It’s leading.
That’s not feedback. That’s friction.
If a number adds stress, guilt, or hesitation—it’s probably not useful. Even if it’s accurate. Even if it came from a lab.
A good system reduces pressure. It builds trust and helps you make better calls when things don’t go to plan.
If yours isn’t doing that, it’s time to build a new one.
Build Your Progress Dashboard
You don’t need a fancy app. You need a system that shows you what’s actually working.
Start with this question: What kind of progress do I care about in this season?
Then build your dashboard around that. Keep it simple—just 3 to 5 things max. Enough to give you feedback, not overwhelm.
Include a mix of:
Effort and input (what you’re doing)
Response and recovery (how your body reacts)
Feel and function (how training fits into your life)
It could be:
Weekly runs completed (not miles—just consistency)
Average sleep hours or wakeups
A 1–5 energy or mood rating post-run
Nutrition habits: fuel before workouts, or hydration cues
A “felt strong” or “felt drained” checkbox after each session
You don’t need perfect precision. You need patterns. The kind that show up when you zoom out over a week or two—not in the hour after a single bad workout.
Track in a way that makes reflection easy. Whiteboard. Notes app. Google Sheet. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that it helps you see what’s building—even when performance isn’t obvious.
And if something stops being useful? Drop it.
Dashboards aren’t static. They evolve with your goals, your schedule, and your energy. Just like your training should.
A training log full of numbers isn’t proof of progress.
Real progress shows up in how you feel, how you move, and how you recover. It shows up in confidence—not just charts. In clarity—not just stats.
The best dashboard doesn’t track everything. It tracks what matters, and gives you the right feedback when things go sideways.
So what’s one metric you could stop tracking—and what would you replace it with that actually supports your goals right now?