diff --git a/Bench.cpp b/Bench.cpp
index 80a38f4..5e8bf87 100644
--- a/Bench.cpp
+++ b/Bench.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ void monotonicallyIncreasing() {
   ankerl::nanobench::Bench bench;
   Facade facade{kWindow + 1};
 
-  bench.minEpochIterations(kWindow * 10);
+  bench.minEpochIterations(kWindow * 20);
 
   bench.warmup(kWindow).run("monotonically increasing", [&] {
     const int64_t remove = __builtin_bswap64(facade.getVersion() - kWindow);
@@ -106,4 +106,4 @@ void bulkFirstGeq() {
 int main() {
   monotonicallyIncreasing();
   bulkFirstGeq();
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f11c14d..4601b11 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,28 +22,29 @@ feature | weaselab | fdb |
 # benchmarks
 
 ## weaselab
+
 |               ns/op |                op/s |    err% |     total | benchmark
 |--------------------:|--------------------:|--------:|----------:|:----------
-|            1,538.88 |          649,824.01 |    2.7% |      0.22 | `monotonically increasing`
-|                1.25 |      798,888,023.37 |    0.0% |      0.01 | `*iter`
-|               32.10 |       31,153,434.23 |    0.7% |      0.01 | `++iter`
-|               31.08 |       32,178,831.30 |    0.3% |      0.01 | `--iter`
-|              139.19 |        7,184,433.93 |    2.2% |      0.02 | `begin`
-|              176.43 |        5,667,847.59 |    0.3% |      0.02 | `begin (firstGeq)`
-|               54.56 |       18,329,336.92 |    0.4% |      0.01 | `end`
-|              159.37 |        6,274,892.80 |    0.1% |      0.10 | `bulkFirstGeq`
-|              153.55 |        6,512,408.74 |    0.1% |      0.09 | `bulkFirstGeq (latest version)`
+|            1,225.88 |          815,738.46 |    0.7% |      0.31 | `monotonically increasing`
+|                1.27 |      785,633,468.91 |    0.2% |      0.01 | `*iter`
+|               29.18 |       34,265,322.00 |    0.4% |      0.01 | `++iter`
+|               30.55 |       32,729,535.46 |    0.6% |      0.01 | `--iter`
+|              155.38 |        6,435,768.30 |    0.4% |      0.04 | `begin`
+|              181.88 |        5,498,125.78 |    0.5% |      0.04 | `begin (firstGeq)`
+|               46.29 |       21,603,059.16 |    0.3% |      0.01 | `end`
+|              169.68 |        5,893,481.63 |    0.1% |      0.10 | `bulkFirstGeq`
+|              162.61 |        6,149,704.63 |    0.1% |      0.10 | `bulkFirstGeq (latest version)`
 
 ## fdb
 
 |               ns/op |                op/s |    err% |     total | benchmark
 |--------------------:|--------------------:|--------:|----------:|:----------
-|            2,236.83 |          447,061.26 |    1.0% |      0.29 | `monotonically increasing`
-|                2.11 |      473,370,596.42 |    0.9% |      0.01 | `*iter`
-|               12.07 |       82,858,977.78 |    1.2% |      0.01 | `++iter`
-|                8.54 |      117,158,071.80 |    0.9% |      0.01 | `--iter`
-|               94.26 |       10,608,588.66 |    1.1% |      0.01 | `begin`
-|              159.01 |        6,288,940.61 |    0.4% |      0.02 | `begin (firstGeq)`
-|               73.47 |       13,610,276.41 |    0.9% |      0.01 | `end`
-|              422.53 |        2,366,723.10 |    0.1% |      0.25 | `bulkFirstGeq`
-|              365.13 |        2,738,758.86 |    0.1% |      0.22 | `bulkFirstGeq (latest version)`
+|            2,237.52 |          446,923.66 |    0.6% |      0.56 | `monotonically increasing`
+|                2.07 |      484,208,685.89 |    0.6% |      0.01 | `*iter`
+|                9.91 |      100,926,329.70 |    0.5% |      0.01 | `++iter`
+|               11.36 |       88,023,104.91 |    0.3% |      0.01 | `--iter`
+|               87.70 |       11,402,839.76 |    0.2% |      0.02 | `begin`
+|              110.58 |        9,043,264.46 |    0.2% |      0.03 | `begin (firstGeq)`
+|               67.30 |       14,859,247.22 |    0.3% |      0.02 | `end`
+|              411.72 |        2,428,853.18 |    0.1% |      0.25 | `bulkFirstGeq`
+|              350.54 |        2,852,725.55 |    0.1% |      0.21 | `bulkFirstGeq (latest version)`
diff --git a/VersionedMap.cpp b/VersionedMap.cpp
index 387b462..3bd04af 100644
--- a/VersionedMap.cpp
+++ b/VersionedMap.cpp
@@ -801,7 +801,19 @@ struct __attribute__((__visibility__("hidden"))) VersionedMap::Impl {
 
   void printInOrderHelper(int64_t version, uint32_t node, int depth);
 
+  int accumulatedFuel = 0;
+
   void scanAndRemoveOldEntries(int fuel) {
+    accumulatedFuel += fuel;
+#ifdef NDEBUG
+    // This is here for performance reasons, since we want to amortize the cost
+    // of searching for continueKey. In tests, we want to exercise the rest of
+    // the code often.
+    if (accumulatedFuel < 500) {
+      return;
+    }
+#endif
+
     // Get a finger to the first entry > continueKey, or the last entry if
     // continueKey is the empty string
     if (latestRoot == 0) {
@@ -838,7 +850,7 @@ struct __attribute__((__visibility__("hidden"))) VersionedMap::Impl {
 
     // Phew. Ok now we have a finger to the next entry to consider removing, and
     // the range version terminated at this entry.
-    for (; fuel > 0; --fuel) {
+    for (; accumulatedFuel > 0; --accumulatedFuel) {
       const auto &n = mm.base[finger.backNode()];
       if (rangeVersion < 0 && std::max(n.entry->pointVersion,
                                        n.entry->rangeVersion) < oldestVersion) {