Posted: 9/28/2010 7:19:48 PM EDT
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I've never failed a APFT test, but I've come close, especially with the run (situps are close too, pushups are easy). The last two years I passed the run by about ten seconds. Way too close for comfort. I have another test coming up in a little over 3 weeks and I'm preparing for it.
What's the best way to build up stamina and get a better time? Long, sustained runs, or sprints and rests (A.K.A. 60-120s)? And if it's sprints and rests that's better for building up stamina, should I wait for my heart to slow down to resting speed before I sprint again, or just whenever I'm able to sprint again? |
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Treadmill.
Know what your required pace is, so fucking run it. You have to teach your body to run fast. Lose weight, increase mileage will help your overall fitness. but, ultimately, you are going to have to do some intervals and the tread is the best place to get that pace down. |
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Quoted:
Treadmill. Know what your required pace is, so fucking run it. You have to teach your body to run fast. Lose weight, increase mileage will help your overall fitness. but, ultimately, you are going to have to do some intervals and the tread is the best place to get that pace down. I know the passing pace. Right now I"m not worried about the time, I just want to increase my stamina in the most effective way. Where I am now, I should be able to pass the run, but I'm not completely sure. |
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sprints. No rest. You have to sprint 'till you fall on the ground. and then do it again. Make sure you are breathing deep and slow- fight your body to do it. You're working for lung capacity here. And drink lots of water when you're doing this. Before an APFT I eat nothing for dinner the night before and drink large amounts of water. Then, for the morning of the run, I drink some water about an hour and a half before the run, and don't drink any more. That way my stomach is completely empty, but my body is washed out and hydrated. |
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Running cross country we would do runs where you would sprint for about 100 yards and then go back to jogging you did this about once a mile so you would have time to recover. I do not know how the test works but if there are other people out there when you pass them speed up and keep it up for a but to create some space between you and him then try and catch the next person I think 3 weeks is not enough time to improve drastically but if you are on the bubble it might help. |
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sprints. No rest. You have to sprint 'till you fall on the ground. and then do it again. Make sure you are breathing deep and slow- fight your body to do it. You're working for lung capacity here. And drink lots of water when you're doing this. Before an APFT I eat nothing for dinner the night before and drink large amounts of water. Then, for the morning of the run, I drink some water about an hour and a half before the run, and don't drink any more. That way my stomach is completely empty, but my body is washed out and hydrated. I feel like I always run better with a little food in me, about 2-3hrs before I run, ymmv. (literally  )
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Quoted:
Running cross country we would do runs where you would sprint for about 100 yards and then go back to jogging you did this about once a mile so you would have time to recover. I do not know how the test works but if there are other people out there when you pass them speed up and keep it up for a but to create some space between you and him then try and catch the next person I think 3 weeks is not enough time to improve drastically but if you are on the bubble it might help. If I can just knock 30 seconds off I'll feel pretty good about the test. A minute would be great. I have a 1/5th mile road section measured out (I used my car, going around in circles a few times to get a more accurate reading, and it should be pretty close to 1/5th of a mile), and I can run it in under 1:40 and keep up that pace for 2 miles I'm 28, so my 60 points is 17:00. At the rate I can run two miles right now, I SHOULD be able to pass with about 20 seconds to spare. Still too close, though. My best time, back in BCT, was 15:20. |
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Quoted: I've never failed a APFT test, but I've come close, especially with the run (situps are close too, pushups are easy). The last two years I passed the run by about ten seconds. Way too close for comfort. I have another test coming up in a little over 3 weeks and I'm preparing for it. What's the best way to build up stamina and get a better time? Long, sustained runs, or sprints and rests (A.K.A. 60-120s)? And if it's sprints and rests that's better for building up stamina, should I wait for my heart to slow down to resting speed before I sprint again, or just whenever I'm able to sprint again? Do Sprints 110 walk 20 sprint 110 walk 20 4xs around the track your time will improve |
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DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY OF THE ADVICE GIVEN THUS FAR!!! 1. Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. If your current shoes are worn or you estimate you've put more than 300 miles on them, get new ones. Don't be cheap, get a good pair that fit and have someone that knows about it help you...so go to a dedicated running shoe store. 2. Check your running style. If you're a heavy heel striker, work on increasing your turnover and landing on the forefoot. 3. Running program: Intervals, long slow distance, tempo, and sprints. Intervals: Intermediate length (half mile to mile) repeats run as close to race pace as possible. Long Slow Distance: longer slower run. Like 11-12 min/mi. Tempo: Race pace for the time you want. Don't worry about the distance, worry about the consistent speed. Sprints: short burst of maximum speed (400m). Mon: Intervals Tue: LSD Thur: Temp Fri: Sprints Sat/Sun: Like 1-2 mi jog. Steadily increase distance by about 10% each week. 4. Push yourself. 5. Listen to your body. Some days are going to be better than others. On those good days, really push it. On the bad days, listen to your body and ease off. 6. Minor weight training: Go to gym and so some light leg lifts to increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance. 7. Cross train: Ride a bike, swim, do the elliptical, find a buddy that has Insanity or P90X, etc 8. PM me for any questions. |
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Quoted: Running cross country we would do runs where you would sprint for about 100 yards and then go back to jogging you did this about once a mile so you would have time to recover. I do not know how the test works but if there are other people out there when you pass them speed up and keep it up for a but to create some space between you and him then try and catch the next person I think 3 weeks is not enough time to improve drastically but if you are on the bubble it might help. Fartlek, also very effective. |
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The only time I ever really ran for time was in the Army. I never had a problem running, and never really worked hard at it but I always did well on my APFT.
At Ft. Bragg my unit ran about 4.5 miles five days a week, we ran at 6.75-7 minutes per mile, which isn't all that fast. we pretty much always ran in formation at PT, I can count on one hand the number of times we ran individually outside of a PT test. While we didn't run super fast in formation, it wasn't a terrible pace either, it was plenty fast enough to pass the two mile. We had several guys who never fell out of formation, yet on the PT test would either fail or just make it. IIRC the maximum time for the 17-21 age group was 14:54, which means that anybody who was able to keep the pace of our company runs (that we did five days a week), should easily be able to run around 13 flat, or 13:30 at the worst, but they would still fail or barely make it. Myself, I realized that all I had to do was do what I did five days a week to pass, and if I wanted to excel I could lengthen my stride a little. Lengthening my stride was easy, my natural stride was a little longer than what we ran in formation, I am only 5'9", so it isn't like I was a long legged giant. The slightly longer stride, brought my time down, and knowing that I was only running two miles instead of four plus, I would increase my pace a little. Using a longer stride, and slightly increased pace made a big difference. I never trained at anything faster than 6:30 per mile, but on the PT test I had no problem running 11:50-11:55, and once an 11:33. I was probably a bit of a natural runner, but on the other hand I smoked a pack and a half a day, my entire diet was high calorie and deepfried. ETA: as for diet, I always tried to eat a good dinner with lots of complex carbs the night before, pasta or something like that. I never pigged out, just a good healthy dinner, and of course drank as much water as I could. The morning of the run I would try to not smoke too much, and not drink anything for an hour or so before, but certainly would want to drink something when I woke up. Shoes may be important, if you are just barely making it on a 17 minute standard I don't know how important. Myself, I wore expensive Nike running shoes that I didn't use for anything else, and would replace them with a new pair as soon as they started feeling at all worn out. I don't know how important the shoes were, but they were $80 a pair fifteen years ago and I always felt it was money well spent. Breathing, yes, slow deep breaths, not short ragged breaths. I had a friend who was one hell of a runner, he would hyperventilate himself before running, I think he was crazy and doing more harm than good but he swore by it, and he ran 10:30 regularly. I should also mention that I ran well in the Army, but I went into the Army within a year of high school graduation and ran Cross Country in high school, and rode a skateboard for 6-12 hours a day depending on the time of the year. I rode my bike a lot too, I went to high school in Germany, and a 25 mile ride on a GT BMX bike with only one gear wasn't unusual. Cardio is important, if you can pass your PT test you will probably be fast enough so that the zombies will eat the other guy. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Running cross country we would do runs where you would sprint for about 100 yards and then go back to jogging you did this about once a mile so you would have time to recover. I do not know how the test works but if there are other people out there when you pass them speed up and keep it up for a but to create some space between you and him then try and catch the next person I think 3 weeks is not enough time to improve drastically but if you are on the bubble it might help. If I can just knock 30 seconds off I'll feel pretty good about the test. A minute would be great. At the rate I can run two miles right now, I SHOULD be able to pass with a half a minute to spare on a good day. Still too close, though. To be honest 2 miles is not all that far. What time do you need to run it in? I would eat the night before we always did I see no reason to starve and you will need the available calories. If you have the pace you need to finish on time just do the passing/speed up thing and you will do fine. At the end 1/2 mile you should also speed up so you are totally out of energy when you cross the finish line. |
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Quoted: I've never failed a APFT test, but I've come close, especially with the run (situps are close too, pushups are easy). The last two years I passed the run by about ten seconds. Way too close for comfort. I have another test coming up in a little over 3 weeks and I'm preparing for it. What's the best way to build up stamina and get a better time? Long, sustained runs, or sprints and rests (A.K.A. 60-120s)? And if it's sprints and rests that's better for building up stamina, should I wait for my heart to slow down to resting speed before I sprint again, or just whenever I'm able to sprint again? A mixed schedule of longer (3 miles base) runs, and interval training runs. Tilt the mix more towards intervals as the PT test gets closer. Also, I don't know how your local testers are for pushup form, but here they're really getting crazy with it. I know guys who score high 80s, low 90s and fail due to the pushups supposedly not being deep enough. ETA: misread the OP as AFPT, whereas he wrote APFT. Sorry, thought you were taking the AF PT test. |
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Quoted: Treadmill. Know what your required pace is, so fucking run it. You have to teach your body to run fast. Lose weight, increase mileage will help your overall fitness. but, ultimately, you are going to have to do some intervals and the tread is the best place to get that pace down. For some people, treadmill is fine. Me, it tears my knees up something fierce, whereas I run 5 mile courses 4-5 times a week, no issues. |
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I don't do any ANY running other than warrior runs.
I do P90X, so im working out 6 days a week. The main cardio is plyo X, which is brutal but it keeps my hear rate up. That paired with a good diet allows me to pull off the AF PFA 1.5 mi in close to 9 min. Before I did P90X, I was still working out all the time but my run times were 10:30 plus. Running three plus times a week would run me into the ground. Good nutrition with two days a week of intense cardio will get you far. But if you're not giving it all on those two days a week, just surviving the workout, you're wasting your time. For abs. Ab ripper X, 3 times a week will give you more than enough to max. I'm not some PT hot shot, I've failed PFAs before and was 1 sit up from getting kicked out of the military. With proper nutrition and the right schedule (P90X) ive been able to turn my whole career around and max PFAs. |
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I don't do any ANY running other than warrior runs. I do P90X, so im working out 6 days a week. The main cardio is plyo X, which is brutal but it keeps my hear rate up. That paired with a good diet allows me to pull off the AF PFA 1.5 mi in close to 9 min. Before I did P90X, I was still working out all the time but my run times were 10:30 plus. Running three plus times a week would run me into the ground. Good nutrition with two days a week of intense cardio will get you far. But if you're not giving it all on those two days a week, just surviving the workout, you're wasting your time. For abs. Ab ripper X, 3 times a week will give you more than enough to max. I'm not some PT hot shot, I've failed PFAs before and was 1 sit up from getting kicked out of the military. With proper nutrition and the right schedule (P90X) ive been able to turn my whole career around and max PFAs. There's a guy in my unit who can run 2 miles in under 11 minutes. And he smokes (I don't know how much, but I've seen him smoke). I ran 1/5th of a mile at the pace necessary to make that time (about 1:06), and it completely exhausted me. Heck, there was an old sergeant of about 60 that I worked with before I went to BCT who could run the 2 miles in 12 minutes, and could do flutter kicks better than the 50 twenty-somethings he led on PT. Man, I wish I could run like that. Then again, there are about 15 guys in my unit who, since last year's APFT test, have taken a test every month and still haven't passed. Only a few have genuine reasons for not passing (for example, my squad sergeant who has had thyroid and other cancers, has gone through chemo and a lot of surgery, and is a bit overweight due to the removal of his thyroids. Great guy, though, and his first concern is how the soldiers under him are doing. A real leader.) |
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Quoted: The odd thing about running is that it seems to be largely affected by your mind. If you can settle that down you will do fine. One of my best races I thought I was running slow so I decided that I had to pass something like 10 people. I passed them and figured I needed to pass a few more and then a few after that. When I finished I had set a personal record that race. If you can keep your mind focused on something other than how you feel and concentrate on breathing you can really improve your time. As a FYI my best 5k time was just under 17 min not an olimpic athlete but I had ACL reconstruction the year before. The only time I ever really ran for time was in the Army. I never had a problem running, and never really worked hard at it but I always did well on my APFT. At Ft. Bragg my unit ran about 4.5 miles five days a week, we ran at 6.75-7 minutes per mile, which isn't all that fast. we pretty much always ran in formation at PT, I can count on one hand the number of times we ran individually outside of a PT test. While we didn't run super fast in formation, it wasn't a terrible pace either, it was plenty fast enough to pass the two mile. We had several guys who never fell out of formation, yet on the PT test would either fail or just make it. IIRC the maximum time for the 17-21 age group was 14:54, which means that anybody who was able to keep the pace of our company runs (that we did five days a week), should easily be able to run around 13 flat, or 13:30 at the worst, but they would still fail or barely make it. Myself, I realized that all I had to do was do what I did five days a week to pass, and if I wanted to excel I could lengthen my stride a little. Lengthening my stride was easy, my natural stride was a little longer than what we ran in formation, I am only 5'9", so it isn't like I was a long legged giant. The slightly longer stride, brought my time down, and knowing that I was only running two miles instead of four plus, I would increase my pace a little. Using a longer stride, and slightly increased pace made a big difference. I never trained at anything faster than 6:30 per mile, but on the PT test I had no problem running 11:50-11:55, and once an 11:33. I was probably a bit of a natural runner, but on the other hand I smoked a pack and a half a day, my entire diet was high calorie and deepfried. |
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Get some decent books on running... There is a science to it.
Functionally, what I prefer is to eat a light high carb meal the night before and hydrate well. Eat a real Power Bar about 1.5 hours before the run and drink about 12 ounces of water. Run the run in segments...as in, focus on the short run and do a series of short runs. My 2 mile route has 4 legs and I run each as an individual race, pusing myself hard on each individual leg. I find that it is difficult to maintain a full pace if I treat 2 miles as one long sprint. YMMV. |
| I'm not much of a distance pro only trained 100 and 200 in HS but it sounds like you're slacking. Basically, when I decided to get in shape after 10 yrs in cubicle and beer bongs, I put HRM on and got faster, in other words covered more distance, so long as I kept `155 BPM..... didnt take long either. About 2 weeks of running every day. After 2 mo while never fast per se I had very good times. |
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Oh, one more thing that's been working for me lately. Get a heart rate monitor. I have a wristwatch type that links to a chest strap, and I check my heart rate every quarter mile. It helps me to see if maybe I ought to push just a little more, and I've steadily been dropping the time on my five mile runs. Also, be aware that the max heart rate that's derived from your age, which is usually used to set up a target heart rate is JUST AN ESTIMATE, and may need tweaking. The base exercise physiologist advised me to bump up my target heart rate zone by 10 to 15 beats per minute, based on how I felt while running those distances and the heart rates I was getting. |
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60/120's
Sprint for 60 seconds, then transition to a quick jog for 120 seconds. Keep doing this for 20-30 min every other day around a track. The days your not running work on your core. Alot of ab excersizes and obliques will build that up. Think pyramids. Run everyday just set easy days and hard days You need to switch the focus every other day to give your muscles a rest to keep from injury. |
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Quoted: Get some decent books on running... There is a science to it. Functionally, what I prefer is to eat a light high carb meal the night before and hydrate well. Eat a real Power Bar about 1.5 hours before the run and drink about 12 ounces of water. Run the run in segments...as in, focus on the short run and do a series of short runs. My 2 mile route has 4 legs and I run each as an individual race, pusing myself hard on each individual leg. I find that it is difficult to maintain a full pace if I treat 2 miles as one long sprint. YMMV. In line with this, while a lot of guys here prefer a straight out and back course, or the 3/4 mile NCO Academy track for their PT tests over the base "oval" track due to the boredom of running in circles, I find that I can pace myself much better on the oval, as I can check my time every half lap. On a 1.5 mile run, if you only have 1/4 mile markers to check your pace at, you get only five "check" times to correct your pace. Checking every half lap gives me 11 check times to make corrections. I just carry a stopwatch in my left hand as I run. |
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There's a guy in my unit who can run 2 miles in under 11 minutes. And he smokes (I don't know how much, but I've seen him smoke). I ran 1/5th of a mile at the pace necessary to make that time (about 1:06), and it completely exhausted me. Man, I wish I could run like that. Theres a Cadet that can completely smoke me on the run, 1.5 in 8 min and change. Some people are just born to run. Most of it is eating right though. I’ve found that it gives me more mental fortitude to push myself when I’m running. Ive been told I smile when I run. Not eating the night before will empty your gas tank, not a good idea, and so is eating a bunch of crap before a run. There’s hardly any sugar in my diet, when I eat a banana before I work out it metabolizes so fast Im just a machine. Proper nutrition helps you push yourself, and the more you push yourself the better you will be. I’ve lost count at the amount of times I’ve chewed out AF Cadet hot shots who show up to PT just to get it over with. I don’t give a damn if they can lap 90% of the corps, If they’re not pushing their limits. |
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Get some decent books on running... There is a science to it. - Doctor Jack Daniels' the author to look for. Functionally, what I prefer is to eat a light high carb meal the night before and hydrate well. Eat a real Power Bar about 1.5 hours before the run and drink about 12 ounces of water. Run the run in segments...as in, focus on the short run and do a series of short runs. My 2 mile route has 4 legs and I run each as an individual race, pusing myself hard on each individual leg. I find that it is difficult to maintain a full pace if I treat 2 miles as one long sprint. YMMV. |
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Oh, one more thing that's been working for me lately. Get a heart rate monitor. I have a wristwatch type that links to a chest strap, and I check my heart rate every quarter mile. It helps me to see if maybe I ought to push just a little more, and I've steadily been dropping the time on my five mile runs. Also, be aware that the max heart rate that's derived from your age, which is usually used to set up a target heart rate is JUST AN ESTIMATE, and may need tweaking. The base exercise physiologist advised me to bump up my target heart rate zone by 10 to 15 beats per minute, based on how I felt while running those distances and the heart rates I was getting. HRM are the best. Some people have a tendency to over and under do it. HRM solves that problem. I've always stayed in zone 4 for 45min -1hr since day 1 - I'm sure there are better ways but I feel its just right...not too hard not too easy. What's funny is after boozing night before I only get 3.2 miles max while normal is 4.4-4.6. HRM tells you what's safe. |