Thursday, July 03, 2008

Day 90 Fit Test



Even though I'm not finished with my program I thought I should run through a quick fit test to see how things are progressing. I didn't try and peak for it--I'll write about how to do that later. All I did was skip a workout.

Pull-ups

Day 1: 15
Day 90: 31

I did these quickly and quit when I had to rest. I allowed myself to swing for momentum but didn't kip. I didn't come close to locking out at the bottom. My shoulder is bad and years of doing full extention pull-ups (and perhaps climbing) are probably the reason. You should never fully extend a pull-up and it stress all the connective tissue in the shoulder. I could have "rested" and done more. Popular with some, and hard, but I didn't want to strain that much on a bad wing. Plus, I saw a small climber girl in a pull-up contest who could only do 1 pull-up at a time but could fully rest hanging. They had to put a time limit on her. After 20 minutes she'd only done about 20 pull-ups but she could have stayed on forever. Does that count?

Vertical jump

Day 1: 18"
Day 90: 21"

This didn't seem too good but my legs felt like lead as I've been riding a lot. I think my first two jumps were less than 18. Then I loosened up a little. I'll try this rested after the next round.

Push-ups

Day 1: 30
Day 90: 75

At 60 I started taking short breaks in the up position. I stopped at 75 because this, again, seemed like I could go on for a long time and it didn't seem smart on my shoulder.

Wall Squat

Day 1: 2:30
Day 90: 3:45

These hurt from second one as my legs were sore. However, I was able to breathe properly and recover. I could have gone longer but quit because I was going to ride. I was amazed when I passed minute one. More amazed when I found I could shift the tension and recover in a squat position. While I quit prior to failing my legs were a tad wobbly. Actually, they hurt like hell.

Toe touch/reach

Day 1: +4
Day 90: +9

Yoga, man.

Curls

Day 1: 15 reps at 30lb
Day 90: 30 reps at 30lb

Could have done more but was starting to swing a bit and didn't want to lose form, especially since swinging curls put stress on the shoulder.

In and Outs

Day 1: 45
Day 90: 125

Quit because I was bored. Since I could rest at both the up and extended position this could have gone on for some time.

Next, I put some Recovery Formula in my water bottles and headed out to Emigration to best my 36 minute time. My legs felt heavy and I never had any explosiveness but rode 31 and change (Blackberry time, since I don't ride with a computer). This was disappointing because I'd ridden an unofficial 28 minutes with a group two weeks back. But that was with a group, which is different since a lot of Emigration isn't too steep, and I felt good that day. But mainly my legs were cooked. They'll be better when I take a recovery week. I've been riding hard almost every day. Not doing wall squats to warm-up might help, too.

Then I came home and had my wife snap a "Lance" photo. I think for this to work properly I need to clip in and pedal, and maybe turn the sprinklers on. But this is probably as close to an after photo as I'll submit to.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice photo. you clean that seat?

Reedster said...

You ever seen a grown man naked? You ever been to a Turkish prison?

That seems like pretty good improvement. I haven't done much in the last month, so my fit test would probably be different. My elbow has been bothering me for about that long and a 2-week break from pull-ups has done nothing to help it get better. Hmm. I'll probably be on the bike tomorrow, so we'll have to see how that goes.

~R

Anonymous said...

jesus...

Anonymous said...

conflict...i threw up in my mouth a little but am also strangely aroused. regardless, nice work and stop that!

marc

p.s. did your seat feel a little lower than normal when you snapped that?

Raison d'Art said...

when did you get the cervelo?
interesting to hear you don't ride with a computer. i ditched mine a couple months ago and at least for now am quite happy with it off.
bruce

Steve Edwards said...

I knew I'd catch a lot of crap for this, but who better a role model than the Mellow Johnny himself?

Hmm, don't answer that.

Bruce, my Roubaix frame cracked and Specialized didn't have anything in stock in my size. The local shop, on my word that I'd race with their master's team, made this swap for me. They're quite good, so now I get to train harder.

AlfaSunshine said...

OOOh la la

TheThinker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.