Welcome to the first episode of Race Ready, the podcast for Nordic skiing and biathlon coaches, athletes, and performance-minded endurance nerds. In this premiere, Olympic XC Skier Andy Newell and U.S. Biathlon coach Brian Halligan dive into the essential—but often overlooked—tool in high-performance sport: the training log.

We break down how training data, from volume and intensity to subjective feel and recovery markers, becomes a powerful resource when used correctly. Whether you're coaching juniors, racing on the World Cup, or training for your next big goal, we explore how detailed record-keeping can shape better decision-making, planning, and evaluation.

Topics include:

• Why May 1 is the “Nordic New Year” and how to start fresh
• How biathlon and XC skiing approach logging and periodization
• The pros and cons of platforms like Strava, TrainingPeaks, and old-school Excel sheets
• What data actually matters—and what doesn’t
• Using logs to optimize peaking, avoid stagnation, and review past seasons
• Recovery markers: HRV, morning heart rate, subjective scores, and why they matter
• Funny and insightful stories from our racing and coaching careers

Whether you’re coaching a team, self-coaching your season, or just looking to get more intentional with your training, this episode will give you a foundation for how to make the most of your training log—and how to use it to get Race Ready.