October 2015

So October turned out to be a quieter month than I'd have liked, with 22 activities logged and just over 300 minutes of actual moving — which sounds more impressive than it felt at the time. The mix was heavily weighted towards riding, 19 outings on the Boris Bikes rattling around London, though at 64 minutes total that's basically a rounding error in training terms. The running is where things got more interesting: three runs, nearly four hours on my feet, and 34 kilometres covered at a pace I'll generously describe as "steady" (7:03 per km, since we're being honest). Six personal records from three runs sounds good, although I suspect Strava has a fairly low bar when you've not been out much.

Comparing that to September is instructive, in the slightly uncomfortable way these things usually are. September actually had more total activities — 31 versus 22 — and the Boris Bike commutes were doing a lot more work, 29 rides and nearly 42 kilometres compared to October's rather feeble effort. Which is probably the autumn making its feelings known; dark mornings and the sudden realisation that cycling to meetings in the rain is a lifestyle choice, not a commute. The runs in October were longer and slower than September's, which at least suggests I'm building distance even if I'm sacrificing pace — something I'll tell myself is deliberate until proven otherwise. So going into November, the challenge is keeping the momentum going before the weather and the dark mornings conspire to make the sofa feel like the more sensible option.

Summary generated by Claude