Upcoming Physical Training Schedule

Okay, so remember how one of my miracles, which I intend to accomplish by the close of the calendar year 2005, is to pass the Navy SEAL PFT? Well, I'm going to check my progress on Friday morning by running myself through the SEAL PFT itself. Here's what the test entails (bottom of page):

500 yard swim (ten minute rest)

two minutes of pushups (two minute rest)

two minutes of situps (two minute rest)

pullups (ten minute rest)

1.5 mile run in boots and utility trousers

Here are the required times and counts:

12.5 minutes for the 500 yard swim

42 pushups

50 situps

6 pullups

11.5 minutes for the 1.5 mile run

Here's what I'm expecting out of myself:

500 yard swim: Pass - I tested myself Thursday in the pool, and completed the 500 yard swim with about fifty seconds grace, not swimming extremely hard, and using breast stroke about half the time.

Pushups: Fail - I may meet the forty-two pushup minimum, but I'm struggling to finish my sets at this point, though I am finishing the sets. If I meet the minimum requirement, I'll be happy.

Situps: Pass - When I was in the best shape of my life, I once did 135 situps in two minutes. I couldn't do it again right now, but my situps are by far the easiest part of my workout, and I'll be able to hit fifty without any trouble.

Pullups: Fail - I'll be happy if I can do two pullups. I'm still doing machine-assisted pullups and negatives (starting at the top and fighting your way down to a dead hang). These are the least important part of my workout program, and if I can do more than one, I'll be happy.

1.5 mile run: Fail - I'm not even running continuously for more than six minutes at this point, so I honestly won't be surprised if I take twenty minutes to run this distance. The best I ever did it in the Spring of 2001 was 14:04, and that was without any of the preceding elements having been tested. The whole program is in the interest of increasing my running speed, so if I do so much as run the entire distance, I'll be happy with the results.

I'll keep you all posted. The intervening program, Monday through Thursday, will be running and calisthenics on Monday and Wednesday, and a swim workout on Tuesday and Thursday (mainly so that I have a low intensity, non-muscle workout the day before the test). We'll see how I do.

G'night, folks.

UPDATE: One more thing. In addition to meeting the minimum SEAL PFT standards, or rather, exceeding them, I'd love to be able to meet the requirements of the Royal Marines Commando Course. Go have a look; I'd post the individual items here, but there are a number of requirements that are specific to locations in England, which I'll almost certainly never have the opportunity to attempt. Even so, I'd like to be in the kind of physical condition that would allow me to carry out those kind of tasks.