assessment

Tonight was the start of the new season. THE Assessment.

Started off with weight and height measurements, then onto body fat caliper measuremeants. I came in @ 25% body fat. So I have LOTS and LOTS of room to loose some poundage :)p

Then it was onto the treadmill. I remembered from last year's bike test that it was gonna start out easy then get hard, VERY hard. It happened just like that. Towards the end I was running 9 mph (or about a 6:44 min/mile) at an incline. I was moving fast and starting to lose composure and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest, so I called it quits. It was enough data anyways. My heart rate peaked at a max of 194, and prolly could have gone higher had I gone longer. I was putting out a max VO2 of 61, which for my age is above average (yay! at least I have one thing that is above average!). If I lose some body fat, that number is going to increase.

So my heart rate zones break down as follows:
Zone 1: 144 -154 BPM or 10:00 - 10:56 min/mile pace
Zone2: 154 - 164 BPM or 9:31- 10:00 min/mile pace
Zone3: 164 - 174 BPM or 8:13 - 9:31 min/mile pace
Zone4: 174 - 184 BPM or 6:40 - 8:13 min/mile pace
Zone5: 184+ BPM or 6:40 or faster min/mile

So this means that my Anaerobic Threshold (AT) is at 174 BPM. That means that if I train at 174 BPM or higher, then I will improve that threshold, meaning I will get faster and be able to hold it for longer. I think, though, that I will train at pace and feel rather than staring at my heart rate. Or, like I did this past summer, if I need to do a recovery run at a slow pace, I will set my alarm to go off I go over a heart rate limit, so force myself not to overdo it.

After the treadmill, I did some raw strength work, starting with benchpresses. I can bench a max of a whopping 107 pounds. WOW! I can however, leg press 447 pounds.

And now for the best part. I can do 20 pushups in 60 seconds and can do 21 situps in 60 seconds. I am a lean, mean, not so great core machine! haha

Sooooo.....doing strength 2X per week is gonna help with that, such as a Kettles and Bells workout and an at home simple strength workout such as pushups, planks, situps, etc. Plus I am going to try to start yoga once per week, starting next week when it starts.

So I am mostly sore right now from doing the freaking pushups and sit ups. ouch!