CFA mile time question

S

sa_applicant2023

USNA 2023
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
102
Hello,
I have a situation pertaining to my mile time for the USAFA CFA. As of now, my mile time is about 7:30 and I need to get it lower in order to make sure I get to standard. The problem is that I have about two months to get myself into a sub 7 minute mile, since my file completion deadline is in the beginning of November.

Is there anyone that has been in this situation before? What type of practice have you done?

If I get myself to around a 6:50 or so, is that too high?

Here are my practice stats for the other events in case you were wondering...

Pushups: Maxed at 75 reps
Pullups: ~12 reps
Situps: working on it, core is not too strong
Basketball throw: meets average (~65-70 feet)
Shuttle Run: working on it, ~10.5

Thank you
 
sa_applicant2023 said:
Hello,
I have a situation pertaining to my mile time for the USAFA CFA. As of now, my mile time is about 7:30 and I need to get it lower in order to make sure I get to standard. The problem is that I have about two months to get myself into a sub 7 minute mile, since my file completion deadline is in the beginning of November.

Is there anyone that has been in this situation before? What type of practice have you done?

If I get myself to around a 6:50 or so, is that too high?

Here are my practice stats for the other events in case you were wondering...

Pushups: Maxed at 75 reps
Pullups: ~12 reps
Situps: working on it, core is not too strong
Basketball throw: meets average (~65-70 feet)
Shuttle Run: working on it, ~10.5

Thank you
Click to expand...

http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/serviceacademycfa.htm


Be sure you regularly practice the full CFA as you will be tested on it. It’s designed for cumulative exhaustion, and it tests for stamina and over all fitness.
 
8 weeks is a lot of training if you take it seriously. Bad weather = indoor track or treadmill, situps / crunches can be done anywhere.
Get an over-the-doorframe pullup bar and use it at home every day.
 
You can get from 7:30 to sub 7:00 in eight weeks. Will require speed work; do a search on fartleks, interval training, hill work. Many articles and workout plans available online. All are important components, and you’ll need to do these at 6:30 pace or better to see improvement. But it can be done. Best wishes to you.
 
USAFA maybe asking you to do over with time 7:30 because they expect you to add 30 seconds to your mile run in high altitude. This is what they told my DS last summer when he was at the Seminar. Expect all timed PT to be harder. So they said to add 30 seconds to your mile run. You cannot be at the border of 8 minutes at low sea level. 7:30 is also no good. If you’re a male, get it down to no more than 7 minutes for the Air Force CFA if they will ask you to do over. They asked my DS to do over with his first 7:03 mile run. Altitude hurts! It’s even hard to breath indoor walking around certain sections of their on campus buildings. Oxygen is a precious life support at USAFA. You really appreciate ground zero after coming back. Some people take 3 months and some 3 years to acclimate to the altitude. This is another factor you may want to consider when considering USAFA. You have to be physically better fit to enjoy the life at USAFA.
 
MidwestDad said:
Get an over-the-doorframe pullup bar and use it at home every day.
Click to expand...

Is overuse ever a concern? I see you wrote the term “every day”, so I’m just curious if that is an exaggeration? I always read to put a pull-up bar in a neutral room and do a couple reps when walking either in or out. However when does the back rest? Similar to the fact that I wouldn’t go to the gym everyday and bench press. Right?
 
It should probably say several times each day. Yes, you need to take some time off once in a while. There are plenty of online programs that can get you ready with pullups. There is also cross-training... DS used to run 2 miles to the local climbing wall, climb for an hour to work on those back muscles, and run 2 miles home while he was prepping for the Marine PFT. It sure helped him.
 
CrewDad said:
USAFA maybe asking you to do over with time 7:30 because they expect you to add 30 seconds to your mile run in high altitude. This is what they told my DS last summer when he was at the Seminar. Expect all timed PT to be harder. So they said to add 30 seconds to your mile run. You cannot be at the border of 8 minutes at low sea level. 7:30 is also no good. If you’re a male, get it down to no more than 7 minutes for the Air Force CFA if they will ask you to do over. They asked my DS to do over with his first 7:03 mile run. Altitude hurts! It’s even hard to breath indoor walking around certain sections of their on campus buildings. Oxygen is a precious life support at USAFA. You really appreciate ground zero after coming back. Some people take 3 months and some 3 years to acclimate to the altitude. This is another factor you may want to consider when considering USAFA. You have to be physically better fit to enjoy the life at USAFA.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind me asking, what was your DS's new mile time after they told him to retake it?
 
@sa_applicant2023, it’s up to CrewDad to decide whether to answer your question. But please take this advice to heart: Stop worrying about what others did and focus solely on what you can do. The path to offer of appointment is long and winding. Some candidates will be ahead of you in the process or credentials, some behind. The more you fixate on others, the more miserable or complacent — depending on the circumstance — you’ll become.
 
sa_applicant2023 said:
Hello,
I have a situation pertaining to my mile time for the USAFA CFA. As of now, my mile time is about 7:30 and I need to get it lower in order to make sure I get to standard. The problem is that I have about two months to get myself into a sub 7 minute mile, since my file completion deadline is in the beginning of November.

Is there anyone that has been in this situation before? What type of practice have you done?

If I get myself to around a 6:50 or so, is that too high?

Here are my practice stats for the other events in case you were wondering...

Pushups: Maxed at 75 reps
Pullups: ~12 reps
Situps: working on it, core is not too strong
Basketball throw: meets average (~65-70 feet)
Shuttle Run: working on it, ~10.5

Thank you
Click to expand...
Requiring you to improve quite a bit on a 7:30 should not be much of an issue. Generations of mids at USNA had to pass a mile run
with better than a 6:30 every semester. And a 6:30 down to a 6:10 was a "D" and this was EVERYONE, even the biggest football player.
While USNA is not at USAFA's altitude, there is the humidity and high temperatures of a Chesapeake Bay summer to contend with.

If you put a reasonable amount of work in, you should be able to get down under 7:00 without much trouble.
 
CrewDad said:
USAFA maybe asking you to do over with time 7:30 because they expect you to add 30 seconds to your mile run in high altitude. This is what they told my DS last summer when he was at the Seminar. Expect all timed PT to be harder. So they said to add 30 seconds to your mile run. You cannot be at the border of 8 minutes at low sea level. 7:30 is also no good. If you’re a male, get it down to no more than 7 minutes for the Air Force CFA if they will ask you to do over. They asked my DS to do over with his first 7:03 mile run. Altitude hurts! It’s even hard to breath indoor walking around certain sections of their on campus buildings. Oxygen is a precious life support at USAFA. You really appreciate ground zero after coming back. Some people take 3 months and some 3 years to acclimate to the altitude. This is another factor you may want to consider when considering USAFA. You have to be physically better fit to enjoy the life at USAFA.
Click to expand...

@CrewDad Did USAFA tell your son that it was specifically because of his mile run that they wanted him to retake the CFA?
 
This was last year Aug 2017. They did not say. So we checked with his ALO and he did not know either. The ALO thought his CFA was fine as is so he checked.

Basketball Throw 66 ft
Pull Ups 18
Shuttle Run 8.3 sec
Sit Ups 91
Push Ups 88
Mile Run 7:03

He came back and simply said let's do it again and try to beat the first CFA. My hunch is the mile run. It was 7:03. A year before in Dec 2016, he ran 6:25 minutes. He submitted his CFA among other complete package requested by USAFA to compete for a Merit Scholarship for the Summer Seminar. I think they wanted to see it under 7 minutes and wanted him to perform like a year before. So he did his CFA again and got higher sub scores and the same/similar Mile run. I agree with one of the posters comments that because he was competitive, they wanted to give him another chance to improve his CFA score. I'm sure they gave the same option to other competitive candidates.
 
Last edited:
Thoughts on submitting? My son is all over the place on these 6 events.
Basketball: 60
Shuttle: 9.0
Sit-ups: 95
Push-ups: 75
Pull-ups: 18
Mile: 5:08
Is it worth it to try and improve the two events below average and risk not maxing the others?
 
GreenGate1 said:
Thoughts on submitting? My son is all over the place on these 6 events.
Basketball: 60
Shuttle: 9.0
Sit-ups: 95
Push-ups: 75
Pull-ups: 18
Mile: 5:08
Is it worth it to try and improve the two events below average and risk not maxing the others?
Click to expand...

DS...USAFA class of 2021 Had a 59ft BB throw, 9.2 shuttle, 95 situps, 75 pushups, 11 pull ups and a 5:53 mile.

He is happily in his second year and had an LOA in Aug to USMA and Oct to USAFA.

His brother is applying this cycle, 63ft, 9.0, 95, 75, 14 and 5:59. He has a LOA to USNA already.

I think your son is fine :)
 
GreenGate1 said:
Thoughts on submitting? My son is all over the place on these 6 events.
Basketball: 60
Shuttle: 9.0
Sit-ups: 95
Push-ups: 75
Pull-ups: 18
Mile: 5:08
Is it worth it to try and improve the two events below average and risk not maxing the others?
Click to expand...

Yah that’s a nice competitive CFA Score! Go for it. Important once’s are the mile run, push ups, and sit-ups. This is what you’ll be tested and need to pass Plebe Summer and each semester. Pull ups are there to assess your upper body strength. USNA had 96% pass this summer. 4% who may include the injured will get an F until they pass this fall. But they must all pass to stay at the Academy.
 
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