That is a poor way to set height. People tend to reach with their heels set on the pedals. Frankly, I would remove the shoes for this. Your saddle was too high.

A better starting point is center of bottom bracket to crown of saddle should be set to .67 X PBH. PBH is your pubic bone height as taken in stocking feet, standing back to wall, feet set naturally, take a hard cover book and lift it hard into the crotch, mark a line on the wall at the top of the book to wall intersection, measure that value. That is your pubic bone height, PBH. This is a very accurate, universal method of getting a correct starting point saddle height for all people and all bicycles, all of the time.