October 2026

October turned out to be a busier month than I probably had any right to expect, given that the mornings are now firmly dark and the enthusiasm for pulling on a pair of trainers at 6am is, shall we say, variable. Fifty-one activities across the month, which works out at just over 36 hours of actual moving about — a mix of 12 HIIT sessions, 12 runs, and a frankly eye-watering 27 walks that collectively covered 137 kilometres and climbed over 1,300 metres of elevation. The running held up reasonably well too, 63 kilometres at an average of 5:33 per kilometre, which I'll take, particularly as all of it was done indoors on the treadmill (October in the UK being what it is). The Morning HIIT sessions kept the heart rate ticking along at around 126 beats per minute — not exactly elite athlete territory, but enough to feel like I'd done something useful before breakfast.

So comparing October to September, the picture is actually fairly encouraging, even if I'm suspicious of my own optimism. The overall active time went up by around 344 minutes — nearly six hours more than September — and the walk count jumped from 22 to 27, which is either a sign of genuine dedication or the fact that I've started taking very long detours to avoid going back to my desk. The running pace nudged forward slightly, 5:33 versus 5:38, and the heart rate on the runs crept up to 156 from 146, which probably reflects working a bit harder rather than anything more worrying. Going into November, the challenge will be keeping this momentum going as the weather gets properly grim and the sofa starts making increasingly persuasive arguments.

Summary generated by Claude