July 2011

July was, by my own modest standards, a running month — two runs, 20.4 kilometres, and a grand total of just under two hours of actual movement. Not exactly the stuff of athletics legend, but the average pace of 5:41 per kilometre tells a more encouraging story than June did, and I'll take the two PRs without asking too many questions. The standout session was a Morning Run that clearly clicked in a way that doesn't always happen, and I'll admit there's something to be said for summer mornings that are actually light when you haul yourself out of bed (a luxury that makes the whole thing feel considerably less like a punishment).

So compared to June, which was a slightly schizophrenic mix of a solitary Lunch Ride and a rather laboured 5.8 kilometre run at nearly nine minutes per kilometre, July looks like progress — and honestly, it probably is. The warmer weather clearly helped, both in terms of actually getting out and in terms of not feeling like I was running through treacle. The total active time dropped from 178 minutes to 116, which is the kind of number I'd rather not dwell on too long, but the quality of the running was noticeably better. The question now is whether I can string a few more sessions together in August, or whether I'll find some entirely new reason not to.

Summary generated by Claude