Big Day Today

Today is a big day - it's when I'm supposed to go and enrol for an A level in biology, and possibly a chemistry AS as well. I say "supposed to" because I'm slightly nervous that they might now not like the idea of me doing the AS and A2 in one year in parallel, in spite of having agreed it, and if they say no then it blows a big hole in my plans! Must confess to being a bit nervous about it myself. I could do a one year A level (at least then everything would be done in sequence, although at double speed), but that would mean going into my old work five days a week for 80 minutes a throw - with the best part of two hours travelling. An option, but not a good one

Saturday was a "hangover day", apart from a trip up to town for a coffee with ChrisMouse, which was great :o) All a bit spontaneous, but I had a good time. Sunday I meant to do a big bike ride, but didn't! Weight was horribly up Saturday - it still seems to fluctuate wildly when I have a drink! Anyway - here's the training.

Sunday
One mile swam!

Monday
Met up with KatyShakes from the RW forums for a run. It was great to have someone to chat to, and at base training pace we seemed to be a really good match. I ballsed up the Garmin and lost two kilometres odd as I didn't start it at one point, but it was just over ten miles. I won't give the HR figures as there's a gap, but most of the run was done below 140, although I didn't bother with walk breaks if there was a hill or similar as I wanted to do a continuous run. It did drift up towards the end, but I think I speeded up.

I would have liked to do Pilates and Body Pump, my usual Monday evening activities, but as it was bank holiday and the gym shut early, I contended myself with an upper body weights session and some abs stuff, followed by a swim (half mile - the pool was crowded).

The weight is still way up!

Tuesday
Big bike ride planned, but not sure as the quads are a bit heavy. However, my weight has dropped to....

89.8kgs

Yay - finally I get below 90kgs, and after a wild upward fluctuattion to four pounds heavier. All rather odd - guess I just have to keep exercising and eating sensibly and wait for my weight to catch up!

More Haste, Less Speed-os

Decided to swim a mile on Friday afternoon before heading off to the social. I broke it up into three lots of thirty lengths, with sauna breaks inbetween, which is always a good thing, although I will have to overcome the boredom thing and build up to not doing them! I'm still not quite sure exactly how long the pool is, but even at the most conservative estimate, it's still a mile.

I also focused on breathing on my right hand side, which is my weaker one, and I think it is coming together a bit better. The balance is still a little off, and sometimes I feel like I "topple" back into the water, but I'm progressing and better than I was a while back. i can now do five strokes without breathing a lot easier.

I decided in the middle to see how fast I could do 100m now. I hadn't tried this since I became sure the pool wasn't 20m long, and to be honest I'm not sure exactly where the 100m point comes, but I swam six lengths, which even if it's a 17m pool (and I'm pretty sure it's longer), that's 2m further than 100. If it's 18m long then it's way over! Anyway - the time was 1:44.46, so knock at least a few seconds off for being over distance.

The other thing to factor in was that my elastic on the trunks wasn't tied properly, and seeing as how I was going for speed, I pushed off hard from the pool wall, which meant that my trunks slipped half way down my bum, and I had to pull them back up again on the fly! I'm sure this probably cost me a few seconds as well!

I'm probably going to the Rainbow this week, so I'll do another 100m time trial in a pool where I know the length, and see if I can beat my old times. Personally I reckon I should do!

Then it was off to the social, which was great fun, and fab to meet the peeps who came up from the far reaches of the country :o)

Impromptu Steeplechase!

Today I'm rather disappointed - I had hoped to see the weight start with an "8" today, but it remained obstinately abouve 90kgs. I don't quite feel as bloated now, so hopefully that "clear out" will help get the weight down. Not so sure though as I shall be boozing at the social!!

Anyway - today I started off with a run over the usual six mile Nonsuch Park route. I had intended to let myself run a bit freer, and hit 150 if I needed to, but I was feeling good so just stuck with sub-140, and was glad I did. That's the best time yet, and three good ones in a row!

Look! Only three of the 1km laps are at over ten min/mile pace (okay - mixed units, but I sorta like it!), and one of those is only a couple of seconds over! Now dig back and look at the figures from only about ten days ago - I'm several minutes quicker! Why the sudden improvement I wonder? I must do some sort of comparison for the second half of the run, because that's where I think I'm getting more into fat burning, and it will be interesting to factor out the improvements on the first three miles. I can tell just by looking at the splits though that I've made significant improvements recently. Let's hope it continues!

Got to decide what to do with the rest of the day, bearing in mind tomorrow's likely to be a rest day as I'll be hungover after the social! I'm tempted to go mad and do a bike and swim, but I don't want to fall asleep when I should be socialising! I'll decide after lunch.

Hopefully by this time next week I'll have crashed through the 90kgs barrier and be below 14 stone as well - I still feel like I'm owed at least 1kg weight loss given the healthy eating I've been doing and the exercise I've done the past fortnight!

Oh yep - the impromptu steeplechase! Some lovely considerate (ahem!) dog walker was walking on the roadway through Nonsuch Park with her large dog on an extendable lead, that she proceeded to let out to about fifteen metres so the lead was right acorss the road and the path that ran alongside it (where I was running). FFS! I had to hurdle it or make a major detour, and she didn't even apologise - grrrrr!

Two Stone!

Wow!

Well - didn't quite drop below 90kgs, by the skin of my teeth - suspect it will be soon though as I've had a really bloaty feeling in my tum the last few days, like I have quite a lot to come out. I don't think it's just air either, but I won't go into any more details!

So - two whole stone gone, and still some to lose (just by looking!). I doubt if I'll stop at my original target of 13 stone 5. I don't exactly need to get rid of every spare bit of flab, but I'm exercising well and everything right now, so I think it'll go over time. I feel a heck of a lot better than I did three months ago!

OOO Hang On :oD

In spite of the bike ride yesterday, which had left my legs feeling a bit leaden (not too bad though), I decided to venture a run today, without any intention of wellying it. I decided to do the Nonsuch six mile route, which is getting very familiar, but is about the flattest thing I could find. Even so, there are a few short climbs in it.

Anyway - I started out okay, but the first slight hill raised the HR to above 140, which is unusual these days. "Oh dear", I thought, "this isn't going to be a good run". The pattern continued along Mulgrave Road, and although I reached the end in dead on eight minutes (so not bad), it didn't feel great, and I drifted over 140 several times in places that I have been known to get away with it.

It was an odd run - the first half was worse than usual, but after a couple of miles, it didn't seem quite so bad, and I noticed that the splits which had on some occasions drifted out to six mins/km plus by now were still well in the fives.

I reached the turnaround point in what I think was record time at 140bpm (9:18min/mile) and then on the return journey found that the HR was staying lower than usual. I've no idea why this happened though! I was pleased nonetheless - that's two days on the trot I've had a decent run :o)

Anyway - the HR did go up on the hills, much as expected I guess, but I managed to make it home with the watch showing under 59 minutes, which is the first time I've done that at this HR. All in all, good news!

Oh - by the way - swam a mile last night at the gym, and the weight has dropped back to 90.3kgs today. I still feeel like I'm owed - it was at that point a week ago and I only had one large meal and have done an awful lot of exercise since!

Body Pump tonight at the gym, and a quick swim afterwards, but no time for too much as there's only half an hour and I have to get changed!

On the achievement front, I managed to change the inner tube (including getting the wheel on and off) in just over ten minutes today. I'm told that actually that's quite "leisurely" for some people, but give me time! I did want to make sure I checked properly for something nasty left in the tyre that might cause a re-puncture. I managed to snap the valve off though - which won't mean the tyre deflates but will probably mean I won't be able to pump it up any more as it defaltes, so I'm going to get another practice in a couple of weeks, even if I don't puncture again before then!

How Lane Mad ;o)

Today I decided to go out on the bike. The reasons behind this werew twofold. One - I'm training for a triathlon, and two - I wanted to see if I could climb the first nasty hill in London to Brighton when there weren't a load of people getting in the way. The hill's in Coulsdon, only about five miles from me (hadn't realised it was that near), and is in a road called "How Lane", hence the title of this post. be grateful - the alternative pun was "How Lane..has this been going on?". By Ace, for those who don't remember, with lead singer Paul Carrack, who was in Mike and the Mechanics. But enough pop anoraking!

The third purpose (nearly forgot) was to see if the new battery in the Garmin made any difference. it failed spectacularly before the end of my road, so my conclusion is a hesitant "no". Then again, it did seem to pick up the HR for more of the ride than usual, even though there were plenty of times it dropped it. Oddly, the figures show something all the way through, so who knows. I've upgraded the software, so we'll see what happens when I run tomorrow!

Anyway - the ride! Here's the route I took:

It starts with quite a climb up to Banstead, and is then followed by a nice downhill (on narrow roads) to Coulsdon, and then that beast of a climb. I wasn't helped by the fact that two cars turned into How Lane just ahead of me, and proceeded to bollox up their gears on the first corner, thus slowing me down too. I kept going though (no clips on the shoes until I know I can do the hill, as that would be worrying), and then pushed on. My HR quickly hit 178bpm, and the hill just kept on coming. Every time I thought it was over, I went round a slight bend to see more hill stretching ahead of me! The speed dropped to 6mph, and my cadence was about 75, but I left off dropping down a gear until as late as I could manage it as my legs felt not too lacticky. In the end I only had to drop down once after the initial drop to the smallest ring at the front, and in the end had two gears to spare. There came a point where the slope got less, even though it was still a hill, and although there was another couple of hundred yards like this, I knew I'd beaten it!

The next bit is downhill, so I relaxed and enjoyed it, and then there's what seemed like a slight uphill that felt easy, but oddly enough on the return journey (I missed my turning!), I realised just how steep it was. Compared to How Lane though it was peanuts!

I then turned down White Lane, which was a narrow, twisty, not terribly even road, and I scared myself as I had to swing wide on a couple of bends, and if there had been a car coming the other way, it could have got messy! This wended its way onwards, and eventually I came out on the A217. This is a nasty bit oof the ride, and one I'd ideally like to cut out. Still - I climbed the hill (small ring again), and then turned off to come down skirting Epsom Downs. There's a wonderful Hill down here, that was my top speed hill until London to Brighton. Today I decided to welly it, and spite of having to stop 200 yards after the start due to red lights, I still maxxed out at 42.3mph. I think I touched 42.4 on London to Brighton, so not quite a top speed. All done without cycling shoes though. The best thing is that this is good quality, not too bendy road, so unless a wheel buckles it's safe. Must go back and see if I can top 45mph!

After that I'd decided to do 28 miles rather than just 20 as originally planned, as tht's a quarter Ironman distance. My bike computer says 28 miles, even though the data from the Garmin is a smidge short. In the end I looped all over the place to make up the distance, plus I got hopelessly lost trying to get through Stoneleigh! I even got another puncture just two hundrd yards from home! I'm hoping that this is just rotten luck (at least it wasn't far to push, and I did have kit to fix it this time had it happened further away), rather than any problem with my tyre fixing technique. I haven't looked at it yet - will do it after a swim at the gym!

Anyway - here's the heart rate figures - slightly disappointed that the average isn't lower - the hills will put it up, so I guess most of the time it's probably below 130.

Weight has dropped, but only to 91kgs. I've decided to try to pretend I never lost that kilogram, but I can't help but feel I've done the work to get down to 90kgs already, and don't fully understand it - I did have a big lunch Sunday, but that was my only blow out, and it wasn't *that* huge. I've done a lot of exercise too, so I feel like I'm owed!

Monday

The plan for today was to do a run, then in the evening head down the gym for Pilates followed by Body Pump, and then a swim as a warm down. The first two bits went okay, but Body Pump was booked (I was first reserve but didn't get a phone call), and there was an aqua-aerobics class going on so I really CBA to hang around for an hour and then swim. Shame really, it makes for a good day. Still - I have run and I have done Pilates, so all things considered not bad. I might do some weights at home.

Here's the stats for the run - and for some reason today it was one of my best!

So - that's a slowest kilometre of 10:45, and everything else was considerably faster :o). I'd like to get so that this was a normal run or a bad run though, rather than just an occasional good "blip".

Not entirely sure why, but there's much less drift than usual. I did have a day like this a month or so ago, but runs like this are sporadic rather than part of a trend towards faster times, which is rather annoying. Hopefully it'll come, and as my knee was fine and my back was fine, it's time to move up to longer runs as well - building in some eight and ten milers. Must confess I was tempted today, but was bloomin' hungry by the time I got home!

I also managed to post my GSC10 off for replacement as it doesn't seem to work, get some new inner tubes (couldn't resist a puncture repair kit either - and I have successfully fixed the tyre that blew the other day. Rather dispiriting to find a CO2 thingy in Halfords for half the price I paid in Cycle Surgery, and the degreaser for about £4 cheaper than what I paid. Still - it's done now.

I also rang Garmin regarding the Forerunner not picking up the HRM when I was on the bike, and they suggested it was the battery. I didn't have the life expectancy figures to hand, but five or six months seems a tad short, but they assured me it wasn't. I've since found the figure of "three years" on their website, so I don't know what that was about! Having said that, to my non-expert mind it does seem plausible as it would make the signal weaker, and I'd bought a replacement by then, so I'll try that tomorrow. If I do have to ring them again (i.e. it doesn't fix it) then I'll challenge the "three month battery life" figure! I'd rather it did work tbh though - I'd much rather have things working than have to kleep faffing :o)

Grrrrr...

Well - last time I posted I was knocking on the door of dropping to below 90kgs, not far off fourteen stone, and also getting my BMI in the 20-25 range for the first time in ages. I was hopeful!

Since then, I've swum twice (decent amounts too), plus had a very good day's trainign Friday. I got up, cycled to Surbiton (about seven or eight miles), ran seven miles with GymFreak (great to have company when running), and then pootled along behind on the bike while she ran a bit more. Then back on the bike to head home. Okay - I got a puncture half way, but it was the best part of two hours' worth of decent exercise. I haven't been stuffing my face either.

However - the weight has been creeping back on, and today stands at 91.4kgs. That's nearly three pounds on what it was last time! Okay - I did have rather a big lunch yesterday - a massive cod in batter, but it seriously wasn't that many calories, even with the chips! I'm going to put it down to water retention or something (why now - all of a sudden?). Perhaps I'm eating different stuff (have had more bread), and I have been a bit constipated lately, so I'm hoping that this is just a blip and the underlying body weight is actually dropping.

It does seem a bit of a trend - even my seven day moving average has gone up, which hasn't happened before in the three months or so that I've been trying to lose weight.

Still - I'm keeping going - running, Pilates and Body Pump today, so all the exercise combined with getting over this temporary hump will hopefully see me under 90kgs by the end of the week :oD

Wednesday

Okay - it's Thursday now, but this is what I did yesterday okay??

Woke up with a sore right hamstring. To be honest it had been nagging the whole of the previous day, but I so wanted to do a run to prove to myself that the knee was still okay that I ralgexed it to within an inch of its life, took some ibuprofen, and went out anyway. Not sure how much of it was necessary! It nagged a little, but certainly didn't get any worse, so I'm going to put it down to possibly being a little out of alignment Monday (stiff back causing odd posture), and then compounding that with body pump Monday evening. I'm hoping I now just need to rest it and it'll be fine, because the knee was no problem whatsoever!

Anyway - the run - it wasn't bad, and to be honest if it hadn't been for the right hammy I'd have run further. I've been intending to run longer for a while, but have had niggles, which hopefully are sorting out now.

The first half wasn't as fast as some, but then again, the second half was one of my faster ones. I think it was actually the second fastest time I've done at 140bpm, and yet the first half was a fair bit slower than that one, so the second half was relatively good. Some of the first mile it was very tricky to get the heart rate up! I still must do this route in reverse to see how it feels as I do think the way I'm running it now the return journey is a smidge uphill.

Oh - and I decided to wear my 2100s for the run - they don't seem to leave my ankles so sore - not quite sure what's going on there. The kayano sserved me well for FLM, maybe now I'm a couple of stone lighter (nearly!), maybe they're too "strong" for me. The 2100s certainly felt good yesterday :o)

Then in the evening it was Body Pump again - I really do love this class! I followed that with a short swim to loosen up, and chilled in the sauna. Nice!

Thursday - and in spite of all that exercise I seem to have gained the best part of a pound, so I haven't gone below 90kgs yet, in spite of thinking there wasa good chance of it. Don't quite understand why I haven't, certainly feel like it must be just around the corner - I'm exercising plenty and not over-eating.

A level results day - going to be odd going back into work, seeing everyone, and knowing I'm not a part of it any more, although in many ways I still feel as if I am - at least until I see how the students do! Even next year, half od my students will still be there, so I think I'm going to feel some attachment to the place for quite some time to come.

Busy Monday

Wow - that was a busy day! I even got up late, but spent a lot of the day exercising (or sleeping to recover!!).

Started the day (well okay - just before lunch) with a run along the Nonsuch Park route. I'm happy to report that the knee barely twinged at all, which has left me feeling a lot more confident. The second half still suffered with the HR shooting up, and seemed particularly bad - I would be running at around 138, then a wee hill would send it up to 141, so I started walking, but the HR continued going up - even as high as 148 and on one occasion 150! What gives??

Anyway - the main aim was to test the knee, and it did seem a lot better. I must start on the physio exercises though - need to do some clams and stuff. I'm still slightly worried that my right shoulder was tensing up and got quite sore - not done that for a few months until just recently.

Next up was Pilates - and a new instructor, who seemed equally excellent. I have grown to be such as huge fan of Pilates, and it's also given me a much better awareness of how my body can be out of alignment or posture can be "off".

Then - onto Body Pump, and another new instructor to me, but an excellent one. Really enjoyed the class, and to make it even better, who should wander in but Toni, who I know from my old gym. I hadn't seen her for months, but we always used to do Body Pump classes toegether and it was great to catch up! Right shoulder did seem to be working a bit harder than usual, but no real problems and I had agreat work out.

Then into the pool for a swim (and plenty of sauna!) - I only did quarter of a mile as by this point I needed some food!

Tuesday morning - and I'm a tad sore all over, and the knee is nigglign a weeny bit. I have lost about another half a pound - was hoping to get below 90kgs today, but it can't be long coming!

Running Again

Last night I ran again - only a six miler, but to give the knee a try out. Not quite sure what the make of the results. Here's the figures, although in many ways I'm not too bothered by them - although it does beg the question - why the slow down from that 59 minute time the other day?



It was very windy - not pleasant to run in, but the knee seemed fine at first. I was aware at various points on the run that the knee was twingeing slightly, which is annoying as I'd hoped it was fixed from Wednesday's chiro session. Still - it was nagging before that, so perhaps the underlying injury wasn't fully healed. I concentrated on good form, and the problems eased off - even if the breathing wasn't great. The right shoulder was really tight though - my back has bee bugging me the last few days.

Next day - and I woke up to it nagging slightly, although now it's eased off. Not really sure what to make of it. I've had three months of comparatively good runing, but the problem is still there, even if in a much reduced form. I'm tempted to try some physio, but I could really do without spending the money. Then again - to be able to exercise trouble free, without having to worry about niggles and stuff, would mean an awful lot to me. I think for the moment I may just concentrate on core stability and posture. Feeling kinda down about it tbh - it's been going on for eighteen months now, and while much better than it was, it still isn't right!

One Hundred and something :oD

Not trained the last few days, first of all because of the knee twinges, and secondly because I was told to rest after chiro, and my back has been twanging quite badly. It's normally sore for a day or two after, but this time it seemed particularly bad. It's considerably better today though (48 hours after), so I might try a run tonight, or if not then tomorrow. Does mean I won't make it to BPTT though. :o(

Seriously hope the knee is okay now - at least for a few months - I've so enjoyed getting back into more serious training that I just don't want to have to stop. I'd be gutted if I do have to!

Been doing some studying, although not enough - I'm not filled with as much energy as I'd hoped what with the crap that is work out of the way, in many ways I seem to be missing the structure. That - and I'm worried about spending money on doing anything! In many ways that's unrealistic, i have loads of savings, and I'm sure I could get work at fairly short notice, so I ought really to enjoy myself more.

In spite of all the lack of exercise (been doig a lot of foruming and watching telly), I have now dropped to under two hundred pounds. Only just - it's not lie it's one thirty or anything, but one ninety-nine point something sounds better than 200. Next target is 90kgs (currently 90.7) and then fourteen stone :oD

Weekly Catch Up

Hmmm - Pix has a point - it's a week since my last entry. Does this mean I haven't been training?

Not at all - I've just had a lot on my mind. This week, pretty much everything seems to be going wrong that can go wrong.

1) My dentist has gone private, and I've started to get a toothache so need to sort something fairly quickly
2) My washing machine wouldn't empty
3) My Garmin cadence sensor has gone tits up - the magnet has fallen off, an alternative doesn't seem to trigger it, and the battery seems fecked after just one ride!
4) My scooter had a problem with the rear wheel, and neede a new part that had to be ordered
5) I mucked up the date for my chiropractor appointment

Plus a couple of other things that I've forgotten now. needless to say, I'm getting these problems sorted one by one, but I feel like I've been wading through concrete this week.

Oh yes - plus my knee, which gave me so much hassle last year and earlier this year, has started to twinge again. I'm hoping that all I need is my back snapped back into place and a bit of rest, but I could have done with remembering that my appointment was last Friday!

Anyway - down to training, which has been a bit intermittent due to the knee.

Thursday
Pilates (really enjoyable) and a bike ride to Surbiton and back to see Gym Freak, plus a very enjoyable afternoon

Friday
Pushed the scooter to the bike shop (three miles) and a swim (3/4 mile)

Saturday
Rest day - decided not to risk the knee at Bushy Park TT

Sunday
6 mile run - have the stats - not as good as the last one but I did run before any brekkie. Came in at just under 62 minutes but a good first half. Then up to see the London Tri and booze with the pirates. Four pints consumed - oops!!

Monday
Glad not to have gained weight! Swum a mile, did Pilates and then Body Pump.

Tuesday
Was hoping to run after the chiro, but had my dates wrong. Decided to rest rather than risk the knee

Wednesday
Rescheduled chiro appointment - hopefully a run later, but if not a swim, and I should fit Body Pump in.

Weight Loss

I've now lost 25 pounds - that's two full boxes (ten reams) of A4 photocopier/printer paper at 80gsm, if you want a comparison. Try lifting that - it's a lot to lug around! I'm now less than a pound from going sub 200 pounds again for the first time in ages :oD

Mixed Fortunes

Started the day realy sluggishly, but with the cooler weather that's less of an issue. No need to get out at 5am or risk getting frazzled in 30 degree temperatures - well, not 30 degrees centigrade anyway!

Got out for a run about 11:30, and it went really well. I did the Nonsuh 6 mile route (measured in kilometres for the sake of splits), and was going so well that I didn't do the planned 10k but thought I'd do the basic 6 to compare. I was going for a sub 140bpm run, and it worked surprisingly well.





As you can see, the first half is fast but the HR kept low, but in the second half it drifts up. Not quite as much as on previous runs though, so perhaps things are getting better, or maybe it's just that it isn't so hot. Who knows? The knee didn't play up either, which was a merciful relief.

In the afternoon I went for a swim, about a kilometre - although I'm now suspecting that the pool may be 18m instead of 20m, by measuring the tiles and counting them. Still - it's not that exact, so I could be wrong, but I don't think it's quite twenty. In many ways that makes more sense given my times - it would add an extra 10m to my 100m time, so make it more like 1:40 than 1:33 or so. I can live with that! I'll try some time trials in the 25m Rainbow pool when I get the chance.

I had planned to do body pump in the evening, and was really looking forward to it, but the fan belt (or something) seems to have gone on my scooter, as shortly after I left home the bike kept whirring but lost all forward motion. It's due for a service so it's annoying that it happened now when in a couple of days tit would have been replaced anyway! Now I have to wheel it over the the shop. I'll try to get them to combine the service with fixing the fan belt if I can. Hope it is that and not anything more expensive.

Under 14 and a half Stone :oD

Wow - well after plateauing for a bit, the weight's coming off again, and this morning I hit 92kgs, so that's just under fourteen and a half stone. Fab stuff, but still a fair way to go. I haven't really decided how much more, I'll just keep going until it feels right. Probably something just over thirteen stone. Just over another kilogram and I'll drop below two hundred pounds for the first time in ages as well :oD

Yesterday I went out on the bike for the first time since London to Brighton, and used my clips as well. It did feel odd, and I'm not convinced it's good for my knee, which has been aching a bit since Sunday. Not sure quite what set it off, as it's been fine for months, but let's hope it doesn't go all crap again like last year and the start of this, as that was a serious pain in the bum and I deffo don't want to go back to square one on it!

All in all it wasn't a bad ride - the HRM kept losing the HR signal, and I faffed a lot with that, although the figures seem to have recorded okay. My main problem is on hills, where the HR seems to climb rapidly, even when I drop into a really low gear! The inside of my quads was getting a bit sore. I'm not convinced the bike does a lot for my posture, must have a word with the chiro about it.

Anyway - here's the figures - most of the miles come out with a HR below 140, which is good, but there were definitely points where it went higher. Average speed was fifteen point something mph, which given I was in traffic for the first few miles, and faffing with the HRM, isn't bad. Plus the Garmin doesn't stop for junctions, so in reality I was a bit quicker.