Learning New Things

This past week I was at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin for the Army's Pre Command Course (even though I took command in June). I was not exactly looking forward to a week of death by powerpoint, but the change of scenery and getting out of the office for a week was nice.

The class overall was very professionally run and with the exception of a couple of blocks of instruction it turned out to be an informative week. I was not able to get in the work outs that I had wanted to due to the length of the class day and/or the rainy weather. After you have been in the military for a few years, you typically learn more from your classmates than you do from the course of instruction. This week was no exception.

The Saturday prior to departure, I took the Army Physical Fitness Test and I was rather disappointed in my run. I did 70 pushups and 70 situps (I could have done more, but I wanted to save something for the run and I was WAY over the minimun). My two mile run was 15:18 which worked out to be a 7:39 mile. I was really hoping to run the two miles in about 14 minutes. However, that did not work out.

This past weekend I was able to get in two different runs. My running partner and I did about 4.5 miles both yesterday morning and again today. Tomorrow it is back in the pool and then Wednesday we are shooting for the hill work out. I am glad to be back and getting my ass back in gear. I will try to catch up with my reading and comments through out the week.

Off to the Mid West

I am off tomorrow morning for La Crosse, WI. I have a week long commanders' course at beautiful Fort McCoy. I hope to get in some runs and I will keep you posted.

Army PT Test (Sort of a triathlon)

This was a Battle Assembly (Drill) weekend at my Army Reserve Unit. This morning we had what I have started calling the PT Test Triathlon, because is composed of three events. You have see how many pushups you can do in 2 minutes, how many situps in 2 minutes, and then a two mile run. Back in my younger and lighter days I would do about 80 pushups and situps and run the two miles in 13:30 or so. Even with doing triathlons I am no longer a fast runner.

I have not been in the gym since Feb and haven't really done any pushups or worked my core like I should. I have just been swimming, biking and running. So I figured I would I would do 50 push ups and then 50 situps, and then just get up after each event. Which is exactly what I did.

The thing about the reserves, in comparsion to active duty, is how slow everyone is on the run. Most people don't do enough to stay in very good shape. I figured I would I could run about a 7:30 mm and still place high in our unit. I was able to run a 7:29 mile (which is damn fast for me) and i finshed 4th out of 60+ people. So all in all I have happy. Now just to work on my speed and get my 10K time down to 8 m/m.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

And to all the Kona competitors--Good luck and Great job!!