CFA mile time

[williamsrn]

My mile time for the CFA currently sucks. All of my other CFA events are above the average. I believe that I really do have a chance of getting appointed other than the fact that my mile time ranges between 9:00 and 9:30 (I'm a girl). I'm working hard to get it better, but what are the worst mile times that you guys know of that still passed or the mile times that caused the CFA to fail. Thanks for any help.

 

[falconchic88]

The good thing about running is that you can see rapid improvement if you keep at it. You still have plenty of time to improve that time! Keeping working hard and you can get to and above the average scores.

My daughter, now at USNA, had a pretty slow mile time the first time she took the CFA, but she retook it in September of her senior year and brought it up to 8:12, which still isn't great, and she was going to try to take it one more time, but she was appointed in October with that time. (She did max both the sit-ups and push-ups)

 

[ameisen_zug]

I have a friend who said she passed with a 9:30. She has stellar grades though (35 ACT, Valedictorian, Girls State, 6 Varsity Letters, etc) Last year I passed with an 8:49 and averaged everything else, ultimately didn't get appointed. I went back and asked and it was mostly because of my CFA/sports.

I just took my practice CFA today, maxed Sit Ups, 42 Push Ups, 11.0 Shuttle, 35 Basketball, and got an 8:06 Run. Right now I am regularly running 7:40. I'm still improving and working to get it down to 7:00. Beleive me, I never thought I would see sub 8 minute numbers either, however, being denied admission and having time to think about it has made my attitude more about doing my absolute best than passing. I dropped about 30-40 seconds this summer alone. Just think what you can do in 7 months

You have about 7 months to get your run time down. Here is some encouragement and tips from a fellow girl and someone who struggled with the CFA:

What really helped me was running distances. I started doing about 5-6k once or twice a week this summer, one 6-10k every other week, 2 timed miles every week, and LOTS of biking (30 minutes to an hour at least twice a week if not more) It really helped me stay away from injuries. I had gotten injured during track the previous season, so I wanted to recover and hit the ground running. I know others probably think I'm not running enough distance, however, everyone is different, and you need to find what pushes you to the limit.

I also started doing pushups, pullups, situps daily. My usual workout consisted of doing diamond pushups until I couldn't any more, 1 minute rest, regular pushups until I couldn't anymore, rest, and then wide pushups until I couldn't any more. Then I would do as many sit ups as I could, then as many pushups, alternating about 3x (usually the last set would be on my knees) At the beginning of the summer I could do about 15 on a good day, now i can do 50 regularly.

Don't underestimate the importance of a rest day either. I usually took one about every 4-5 days. RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Good Luck

 

[williamsrn]

Thanks! Both of your replies were very helpful. I've only been running a single mile at a time so I'll be adding more distance. And good luck in you're reapplication process.

 

[MemberLG]

Thanks! Both of your replies were very helpful. I've only been running a single mile at a time so I'll be adding more distance. And good luck in you're reapplication process.

Recommend adding a workout before you start running. Simply doing push up, sit ups, and etc will slow your run time. There is a saying int Army, train like you will fight. So train for CFA by doing CFA. I am old, but I have been scoring 270 plus my AFPT last five years by doing practice APFT twice a week about 4 months before taking my actual test.

 

[EPH13]

Some food for thought: for the first 42 days of your West Point career, the only thing that can make you really stand out, for better or for worse, is your physical performance. During CBT, I had squadmates who excelled at knowledge memorization, or being "squared away," but that'll just seem trivial in the eyes of your peers. On the other hand, one of my squadmates attempted to fall out on almost every formation run we had to do, and since we aren't allowed to have any fallouts, we had to pull this cadet to wherever we were going. This cadet once fell out on our way down a hill. In addition, of the four ruckmarches we performed, this cadet fell out and rode along in the medic's truck on all but one, and this cadet went on profile for over a week after the one this cadet did not fall out on.

I will probably never forget this cadet's CBT performance because the cadet's deficiencies caused my squadmates and I additional physical pain in a time of difficulty. I simply cannot give the same amount of admiration and trust to this cadet as I do the rest of my classmates, as I know that this cadet's CBT experience was not as difficult as the rest of ours was.

Bottom line, up front: if you come into R Day running a 9:30 mile, the hills on garrison will tear you (and, consequently, your squadmates) apart, and your squadmates will resent you for it. So as you end your high school career, think on what sort of impression you want to leave on the first people you call peers here at West Point. As an officer, you'll have to lead from the front; it's best to get a good start now rather than struggle here when it counts toward your military and physical grade and as well as some very important and potentially lifelong relationships.