So I am concerned with my mile run time on the Army PFT. I ran the mile in 8 minutes and 8 seconds. I also got 71 push-ups in a minutes and 56 sit-ups. I am not out of shape, I am just not the fastest runner. I have received a varsity letter every year so far for my high schools swim team and this year I am the captain. So basically I am just concerned if my mile run time was good enough? Any help would be appreciated.
I am firm believer that mental fitness plays a huge part in the running portion (and all other portions of the APFT). If you go into the APFT telling yourself that you can do it, and you KNOW you can do it, then you will do good. Of course, this does not mean that you don't have to train for the APFT.
I have a pretty good run time for my age, but my Push-Ups and Sit-Ups are so so. It really does not matter at my rank as it is just a "go/no go" on my Evaluation anyway. As long as I get a passing score, I am golden.
Anyway, I enjoy running so this is what I do.
- Alternate short and long runs, adding in sprints to help build up your endurance and capability to have those little bursts of speed you will need. Make sure you run more than the required two miles so when you do run the 2 miles, it seems like nothing.
- hit a treadmill, set it to your desired speed and run. Find the pace you need to maintain to accomplish your goal. Think of some silly phrase that you can say over and over again to keep the timing of your pace. I have found that this and focusing on the heels of any runner in front of me helps take my mind off the pain and helps me to keep up with them.
- I just graduated the Master Resiliency Trainers Course and we had a class on mental fitness. If you don't believe mental fitness has a huge part in being successful, check out this video on youtube from Muhammad Ali. He ONLY talks about good about what he is going to do, He focuses on winning. This is a classic video and well worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5_8af3TiY
The Army APFT will be changing and as far as I am aware, everyone in the Army has transitioned to the new Army PRT (Physical Readiness Training) Program and has moved away from the old Army PFT (Physical Fitness Program). You may want to get familiar with it since it is what has replaced the old push-ups, sit-ups, run style PT.
You can download the new TC (There is no longer an FM for PT) here.
http://www.armyprt.com/downloads/tc-3-2220-army-physical-readiness-training.shtml
Or just check out what the new PRT is all about by checking out the pages.
I heard the new Test won't be out until the end of 2011, but that is just rumors right now.
for example...
today we did not start out with "stretching" like we used to. We started out with the preparation drills, ran a run where we had to keep a certain pace for our ability group, then worked on some "core" exercises before transitioning to recovery drills. (
prep and recovery drills are listed here)
If you have any questions, you can shoot me a message and I will try to help out.
Oh, and hanging out on a running forum never hurts either. They can provide a lot of "seasoned runner" support. Hopes something I typed helps you. Hooah!