July 2021

So July was a quieter month than it might look on paper — 22 activities, just under 984 minutes of moving about, which sounds respectable until you realise June clocked 42 activities and over 2,000 minutes. The bulk of July's effort came from running: 12 sessions, 93.9 kilometres, and a pace that crept out to 5:26 per kilometre on average, which I'm choosing to blame on the heat rather than anything else. The highlight, if you can call it that, was racking up 32 personal records across the month — a number that sounds impressive right up until you remember that Strava will hand you a PR for running a segment slightly less slowly than you did in January. There was also a single FiiT Workout in there, 25 minutes of indoor effort, which I'm counting as cross-training and absolutely not as evidence that I couldn't face going outside.

So compared to June, the drop-off is fairly stark — fewer activities, less time, fewer kilometres on the walks in particular (39.8km in July against 119.1km in June, which is a remarkable cliff edge). June had a proper mix going on: swimming, weight training, multiple cardio sessions, a level of variety that made me look almost organised. July, by contrast, was essentially running and walking, with one workout thrown in for appearances. Part of me suspects that the long summer evenings, which in theory should make everything easier, somehow conspire to produce exactly this kind of comfortable drift. The slightly encouraging news is that the running volume held up reasonably well, and 86 achievements suggests Strava at least thinks I'm trying. Going forward, I probably need to rebuild some of that cross-training habit before I convince myself that running alone is a complete fitness strategy — which, history suggests, never ends particularly well.

Summary generated by Claude