Physical Fitness

Ok, I know that I've been talking about this much less than before, but for now this will be the last rant for some time. This past 2 week excursion for me to do my summer duty included a PT test. The important information to note is that I did pass, although, I was less than excited about the numbers to grant me that pass.

Anyway, for my age and gender I need to do 39 push-ups, 45 sit-ups and complete the 2 mile run in a maximum time of 17:00 minutes. I completed 40 push-ups, 46 sit-ups, and completed the run in 15:43. These performance numbers generated a passing score for me of 195. As usual, my score is just passing and less than 200. I can only recall maybe once or twice in my career (thus far) that I have been able to exceed 200.

For those of you less familiar with the structure of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT or just PT), there are 2 minutes to do as many properly formed push ups as possible and 2 minutes to do as many properly formed sit ups as possible and then a 2-mile run. The minimum requirements vary by age and sex. If you are interested, you can review these charts. Each solider is to be able to score 180 points on their test. Each event must be passed with 60 points or more. If any one test is not scored above 60 and their score is above 180, they still fail.

Although, in my goal of becoming an officer, barely passing the test is not good enough. The schools to accomplish this goal are extremely stringent on the way that they enforce the standards as to what a "good form" push-up or sit-up is. Therefore, I still need to improve my numbers in order to get the commander's approval to pursue this goal. I guess I will need to continue my training and become more aggressive in maintaining my schedule.

As for my run, this was quite a surprise. We took the test on a Wednesday morning and to familiarize myself with the 2-mile run route, I ran on Monday evening. Well, the course is generally flat with a downhill tendency. During my training run, I ran a pitiful 17:35 2-mile. However, as I previously told you, on game day, my time was significantly better. I would like to know how I can drop almost 2 minutes on a 2-mile run in just 2 days? Well, I can't readily explain it to you, however, I think I have an idea.

This idea is something that any athlete may be able to relate with. I think the acquisition of almost 2 minutes in my time was due to "Game Day Pressure". We all like to think that we train ourselves to our fullest potential when we are by ourselves (or at least I do). However, as I have clearly demonstrated to myself, I clearly don't. There are 3 aspects of the PT test that differ from my training routine.

1. The clock doesn't start until the last person is across the start line
2. I tried to keep up with the front of the pack for as long as I could
3. When I fell from the front of the pack, when my supervisor passed me, I found additional pressure to perform better

I think the first two items are self explanatory (I start the clock when I start running; I start at my pace, not the pace of others), but the third one will need some additional info to fully understand the pressure. My supervisor is a CW2 with approximately 10 years on me and I have about 3 or 4 inches on him. Furthermore, I want to become a WO1 and felt that if I can't hang with a CW2 that I may loose his (my supervisor) respect. Therefore, I picked up my pace to match his pace. His pace is notably faster than my training pace but the only thing that I really changed was the length of my stride. With the longer stride, I was able to take better advantage of the downhill sections of the course and subsequently reduce my time yet again.

The most interesting thing (in my opinion) about this run was how I felt when I finished. When I was training at home (hills or not) and my single training run at camp, I was beat down & toast when I crossed the finish line with a recovery that was painful and long. Even by the time I reached the barracks, I was still feeling badly. However, on game day, I walked 2 laps around a cul-de-sac, caught my breath, and was good to go all day. After a review of my watch, I found that my heart rate specs were very similar to those from Monday. Approximately a 180 average heart rate and maxed out a 199. I think game day was around 184 average and 200 max.


Well, I think I'm going to close this rant here. In closing I would like to say that I'm glad that I passed the test on the first go, but I am not pleased with my SU & PU scores. Only time will tell when/if I will be able to improve on those values significantly enough to quell the fears of the people of which I will require a letter of recommendation.

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