October 2013

So October was a quiet one, if I'm honest. Four runs, just over 198 minutes of actual moving, and 30.5 kilometres covered at an average pace of 6:29 per kilometre — which is, let's say, a comfortable rather than impressive clip. The cycling disappeared entirely, which given the state of October mornings in the UK is perhaps less surprising than it should be. That said, I did pick up four personal records somewhere in those runs, which either means I'm getting faster or (more likely) my previous benchmarks were so bad that almost anything would be an improvement.

Compared to September, the drop-off is pretty stark. Last month I was racking up eight activities across both bike and run — nearly 500 minutes, 99 kilometres of riding alone, and 22 PRs on the cycling side — so October feels a little like the wheels came off (quite literally, as the bike hasn't moved). The shorter days and that particular grey dampness that arrives in autumn and just refuses to leave probably accounts for most of it. So the running has held up, just about, which is something to be grateful for. The honest takeaway is that if I want November to look any better, I probably need to stop treating the alarm going off in the dark as a suggestion rather than an instruction.

Summary generated by Claude