Hi guys, I'm currently going through the process of joining the british parachute regiment, the required fitness levels are high to say the least! They require you to run 1.5 miles in under 9:18. I'm currently doing mine in 10:02! At the moment I don't really have any structor to my training regime, so I'm asking anybody with the experience to help me out if possible by maybe planning a structured training plan for me if possible. Also whilst trying to run a quick 1.5mile run in under 9:18 I still need to be able to run a 6-7 mile run also. Any help or advice would be brilliant. Thanks in advance kris
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Focus on general fitness and getting the miles in for now if you have the luxury of time. Closer to the time add in some speed work. Are you a regular runner? I'm guessing not, apologies if wrong, but throwing in lots of speed work if you're not ready will risk injury.
The recruit team generally give you a training programme - this used to be reasonably good. Failing that, there are still training plans on the Army website. They will give you the all round fitness you will need - don't just focus on the run, it is one aspect of the assessment.
Look also at circuits - you will do lots of this in PT. Don't start trying tab on your own - they will build you up to this. Concentrate on good base fitness - basic doesn't just require you to run, it requires you to impress in PT, to cope physically in the field when doing section attacks etc and to push hard when you've had no sleep for days. A good standard of fitness will help with this.
I would look at some fartlek running for now - if you're not used to speed work introduce it gradually. Fartlek is about short bursts of speed "thrown in" during a normal run. Say, I'm going to run fast as if can to that next tree. Do that once or twice a week for 4 weeks, see how you get on. If you're injury free, start structured intervals - 400m fast with 2 mins rest. Do this 4 or 5 times. Going forward, add more intervals, make them longer, decrease the rest - play about with it.
You also want to work in your endurance so start at a distance that's around what you've been doing - 6 if you can but no worries if you need to start less. Add a mile a week to build up. Don't try and race this, take it steady and focus on increasing distance.
Do an easy run once a week as well. Short distance (around 5k) and nice and steady.
Later on I would suggest thinking about alternating a hill and a tempo session. Hills wise don't push too much. Warm up steadily then do 3 or 4 repetitions, fast up a hill that takes a few minutes, steady back down. Then jog steadily home. Tempo is more advanced for what you need now but will involve bursts at a fast speed that you can maintain over time so slower than your intervals. Suggest starting with 5 or 10 mins bursts with a couple of minutes steady in between. Build this up till you're happy with 40 mins plus.
Always warm up, cool down and stretch - you need to be as tip top as you can be. Listen to your body at all times. Don't let your plans for the future push you too far into injury but equally if it's too easy, add a little more at a time till it's challenging. Keep up your gym and circuit work - too many people get hung up on the run and forget that there's a lot more to army fitness.
Hey mate, interested to see how you are getting on. Have the fartlek sessions helped? Have you managed to improve your times?
Hope you are making good progress.