Benchmarks.

The first portion of the training season is officially over and I am now into the meat of the training year. The early months of the training year, May and June, were a bit hectic but so far July has been excellent.

There were so many things going on during May that I really was unable to put forth the effort that I expect from myself in training. June was better in that I did manage to accomplish all of the training that I had laid out for myself, though I was still trying to tie up loose ends from projects that started in May. The month was solid but it did not feel focused. That lack of focus left me wondering where I was in regards to my fitness. I knew I had been putting in the hours but was unsure if any real gains were made.

Once I realized that the only thing missing from my training was a bit more direction and focus, I did everything in my power to cut out the peripherals and put my head down. I tied up projects, planned out the next months of preparation so I knew exactly where I was headed and got after it.

I felt like I needed to test myself a bit to find out where I was, especially compared to last year. The tough thing about having one excellent training season is that the next season after it feels like a bust until you get back to a level that you have attained before. I needed to know how I stacked up.

The Spring is always focused heavily on strength for me. Having a good strength base is crucial to having good finishing speed and finishing speed is something I pride myself on. Last season I made some huge strength and power gains in my lower body and I was hoping to achieve similar results this year in my upper body without gaining any additional body mass.

Last season I was very happy about being able to do 4 sets of 15 pull-ups in the late fall. Having that bench mark in mind, we decided to find out if I could accomplish the same thing only two months into the training year...

Turned out, it wasn't even that hard. After 4 sets, we decided to set another benchmark to compare with in the future - total number of sets of 15. I kept cranking them out, only resting enough between sets to do a set of another exercise... I ended with seven sets. The only reason I stopped was because I ripped a callus clean off my left hand and the nickel sized hole was starting to bleed quite a bit... Nonetheless, we were pretty happy about 105 pull-ups in a single workout.

Two days later, we wanted to see what I could put out in a single max set. The most I've ever done is 26 and that was a looong time ago. I think I weighed about 125 lbs back then... 35 was the magic number. 35 pullups. After that I did another 3 sets of 20... And that was just one exercise. The others have been going similarly well.

With strength gains aplenty, I really needed to test my fitness a bit. Most nordic skiers rely on uphill running tests, as rollerski speeds vary a bit too much between pairs and over different temperatures. My history with running is not good. In college I was unable to run for two years after a growth spurt left my IT bands playing catchup with my femurs. The past two years i have been battling what i thought was a neuroma but now know is an arthritic joint... So I rely on uphill road biking.

I hit up a popular hill climb in town that I have done a few times in the past. I know what a good time for me is and with so many excellent bikers in Park City, I know what a good time is, period. I managed 20 seconds slower than my all time best. About 35 seconds off of the best time posted this year by one of the best climbers in Utah. I'll take it.

So with three weeks left in July, I am very happy to have not focused until now. I feel fresh and ready to tackle the next 5 months before the season starts...

Here are some numbers from my training year so far:
Most pullups in a workout: 105
Most pullups in a single set: 35

Toughest squat workout so far: 2x30, 165lbs
Workout on plan I'm not looking forward to: 1x50, 165lbs

Longest workout so far: 7.5 hours (road bike)
Miles covered: 125, altitude gain of ~8000 feet.

Longest runs: 4hrs 50min, 5 hours 20min (it should be noted that my mom ran with me for that 5:20 and continued on for 6 hours in training for a 50k).

Longest rollerski: 5 hours on several occasions

Number of times I've questioned why I didn't choose Alpine skiing: 47

Holes of golf played in July: 27
Holes of golf played in past 5 years: 36
Last time I played golf: 3 years ago
Best score 18 holes: 100
# of birdies: 1
# of quadruple bogeys: 1

Training hours in last period of 4 weeks: 82hrs
Training hours in next period of 4 weeks: more than that!
Largest 4 week period on this seasons' training plan: 90hrs

Largest training week so far: 26 hrs