Forums >General Running>New member, Army Physical Fitness Test
I joined the Army six years ago. I am 6'2" and weighed 153 pounds until I was twenty-five, but ten years later, I decided that I wanted muscles, so I currently maintain 200 lbs. I used to be able to not run for six months and then do a mile in six and a half minutes. I was Active Duty for three years and I have been in the Arizona National Guard for a couple of more. I have tried to run regularly, with mixed consistency, but I am usually pretty good the last few months before a PT test, I will run a few times a week, but quickly stop making progress. I have passed every PT test, running two miles in 18:42 or less, but I usually only run that fast once on my own in six months.
Thinking that maybe the heat and\or humidity were causing me difficulty, I joined a gym. I hate running on a treadmill, but it is nice to have the music.
I read that an incline of about 2.5° is equivalent to real running. The first day I ran two miles at 6.8 MPH, barely fast enough, and then I increased the incline to 1°, and have been struggling horribly. Twice, I have run one mile, and then walked half a mile before running the second mile.
On Saturday, I used a "fitness test" on the treadmill. It was the VO2 sub-max and it said that it would terminate the test once I maintained 150 BPM for sixty seconds, which is about 81% of my "max" heart rate of 185. I usually maintain about 165-170 while running, my last few runs I quickly reached 185 BPM and could not maintain that very long.
My PT test is in three weeks. I should do okay, I just wish that I felt my effort produced results.
I will start reading around on here, but I appreciate any advice that you guys can share. Thank you for reading. Please take care.
Well, it didn't take you long to come over here. Welcome.
I last ran a 5K about 2 or 3 years ago. All of my training was at 10 to 11 minutes per mile. I started out too fast and ran the first two miles in 13:30. Not bad for a 60 year old.
I joined the Army six years ago. I am 6'2" and weighed 153 pounds until I was twenty-five, but ten years later, I decided that I wanted muscles, so I currently maintain 200 lbs. I used to be able to not run for six months and then do a mile in six and a half minutes. I was Active Duty for three years and I have been in the Arizona National Guard for a couple of more. I have tried to run regularly, with mixed consistency, but I am usually pretty good the last few months before a PT test, I will run a few times a week, but quickly stop making progress. I have passed every PT test, running two miles in 18:42 or less, but I usually only run that fast once on my own in six months. Thinking that maybe the heat and\or humidity were causing me difficulty, I joined a gym. I hate running on a treadmill, but it is nice to have the music. I read that an incline of about 2.5° is equivalent to real running. The first day I ran two miles at 6.8 MPH, barely fast enough, and then I increased the incline to 1°, and have been struggling horribly. Twice, I have run one mile, and then walked half a mile before running the second mile. On Saturday, I used a "fitness test" on the treadmill. It was the VO2 sub-max and it said that it would terminate the test once I maintained 150 BPM for sixty seconds, which is about 81% of my "max" heart rate of 185. I usually maintain about 165-170 while running, my last few runs I quickly reached 185 BPM and could not maintain that very long. My PT test is in three weeks. I should do okay, I just wish that I felt my effort produced results. I will start reading around on here, but I appreciate any advice that you guys can share. Thank you for reading. Please take care.
I'll try and address 3 topics:
1) It's probably a product of both ageing, your body-weight gain and your lack of consistency in running. I would not worry about any of the 3-things I mentioned, except your lack of consistency. I recommend running more, but then again I'm biased.
2) Most people when they start running see improvement in the beginning and then that stops; in other words, they plateau. That's normal, it just means your body has gotten use to the effort and it doesn't want to expend more energy to improve. You must force your body to improve; hence, that's why we have things like speedwork, tempo runs...
3) I don't use treadmills much, but I think I had a similar issue with a treadmill terminating the test, because it thought I was in danger. If your test was anything like mine, I had to input certain vital info, like age, weight, sex... And from that the machine figures you max H/R and if you get near that it shuts off.
However, if you want to train close to your max HR (whatever it really is), you must train for that; the better cardio condition you're in the longer you can run at max H/R or even near your threshold, but that takes a lot of practice and not just simple running, but the running that causes you to go into those zones. However, it's best to establish a very good running base before you get into threshold training.
Just do some more normal running and you should be just fine for your upcoming PRT, but if you want to greatly improve on your time in subsequent PRTs, you gotta run some more.
Good luck on your PT test!
If all you need is two miles @ 9 mm, looks like you have that already. If you want to be sure, run single miles or half-miles @ 8 mm, building up to where you can do 2 or 3 miles in a row. Then, you'll breeze through 2 miles in 18 mins.
Unless, your test is going to be on a hill, you're just making things unnecessarily hard on yourself by raising the treadmill elevation. It's true that running outside is a little harder due to environmental factors but my experience has been that the burst of adrenaline you'll get when you're under the gun will more than make up for it.
Ron
I was in the Army for six years and ran the 2 mile in high school track. For me, the best prep was intervals but you have to be careful about high intensity runs if you don't have a good base of consistent running for a few months. As we age, consistency becomes that much more important not only for improving performance but also for injury prevention so after this next APFT, don't drop off - keep running 2-3 times a week at least. If you want to try to improve in the spring, consider doing a few 5Ks to keep your training honest.
For me the highest yield for training for the 2 mile is interval training - nothing improves my time faster. Consider the following:
4-8 x 400m intervals with full recovery in-between.
2-4 x 800m intervals with full recovery
For base building, make sure you increase your mileage slowly and pay attention to anything in your body that just doesn't feel right
Core training for strength training will complement your run-training and may offer some injury protection as well.
Godspeed!
Feeling the growl again
1) An incline of 2.5 degrees is in excess of "normal running". 1 degree at most. Depending on treadmill calibration. Due to treadmills typically having less airflow than running outdoors and leading to more over-heating, one may make the argument that in many cases no incline is equivalent. For many reasons there really is no equivalent. Apples to oranges.
2) Yes, intervals will give you the quickest bang-for-the-buck, for a few weeks. Train any longer than 4-6 weeks and focusing on volume/aerobic capacity will start to dominate.
3) You put on a lot of weight...even if lean...and that will slow you down unless you condition to carry that weight. So you need time running a decent volume if you want to run the same speed at a heavier weight. Given your profession, doing this may make more sense than losing the weight.
4) If your HR is 165-170 while you are running "usually", you are likely doing most of your running too hard. If you are finding yourself winded early in runs, this is why. SLOW DOWN and focus on getting the distance in. If you are hitting 185 bpm in your runs you are basically racing all-out; this is not conducive to training to get faster. I run 70-odd mpw lately and my HR probably tops 160 maybe 12-15 of those miles.
There is not a lot you can change in 3 weeks. But looking long-term, consider the above.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills