July 2016

So July turned out to be a reasonably busy month by my standards — 40 activities in total, which sounds impressive until you realise that works out at just under 13 hours of actual moving across the whole month. The split was an even 20 rides and 20 runs, covering 94.5km on the bike and 55.5km on foot, which at least suggests some kind of balance even if neither discipline is setting the world on fire. The running was a mix of Lunch Runs and Morning Runs (7 of them on the treadmill, because apparently I needed the air conditioning more than the scenery), averaging a fairly leisurely 7:46 per kilometre — a pace that is, let's say, comfortable. Heart rate sitting at 144 on the runs and 139 on the bike suggests I was working hard enough to feel it without actually doing anything that dramatic.

So compared to June, the headline numbers look almost identical on the cycling side — 20 rides, roughly 297 minutes, 93km — which is either remarkably consistent training or just what happens when you do the same Evening Ride on autopilot for a month. The real change in July was adding the running back in, more than doubling the total time active from 297 minutes to 729, which at least means the legs are being asked to do something useful with the longer summer evenings. Whether that translates into anything meaningful going into August probably depends on whether I can keep the momentum going or find some new excuse to skip the lunchtime sessions.

Summary generated by Claude