I just did 50 “reverse crunches”. Don’t feel silly, I didn’t know what the hell they were until I saw a little short video about it:
I wouldn’t say reverse crunches are as difficult as regular crunches, however, I have only been able to do 20 or so at a time until now. When I started ‘em up, I got to 20 and just kept going.
This isn’t the only surprising bit of progress I’ve come across lately. Last week during the weekly Maybury Miles ride from Cycle to Fitness, I was able to keep up with the fast guys both on the way out and on the way back. My mind wants to think they were going easy, but that’s not logical. They never go easy if they can help it. I’m usually in the middle group at my fastest. Naturally this was a huge surprise to both myself and those skinny little quick bastards that usually leave me in their dust. :)
A lot of it has to do with my training for Lumberjack. I don’t have a solid plan yet, I’ve just been putting in miles on the bikes and trying to build a solid base. I feel like I’m getting a good amount of positive payback for putting in the time and effort.
The first race of the season is coming up on April 26th. I want to be ready for that race. It’s my first year racing sport and while I don’t have any delusions about winning, I want to hold my own and be happy with the results.
There are a couple of races and rides between the 26th and Lumberjack on the 19th of June, but for the most part I’m trying to keep a steady progression of trail miles. Assuming I can pull off 20 singletrack miles now, and I want to hit at least 80 miles the week before Lumberjack, I need to up my trail mileage capabilities by 10 miles a week. I’ll be going out to Pontiac Lake, where the first race is held on the 26th, to try and pull of three laps (30 miles) this week.
I’m hoping for another surprise progress report from my body. It wasn’t until mid- to late-season last year that I was able to pull off a triple Pontiac. If I can manage that now during my base phase, I’ll be in excellent shape to move forward with my plans for Lumberjack. If not that’s OK, I’m still going to give it my best.