🙂
I’m currently engaged in a challenge.
Well, that’s what “they” are calling it. I’m calling it more of a “thing I’ll think about in the wee tiny gaps in the mad colour-coded schedule that is my life right now”.
The objective of the challenge is to get the highest score on the U.S. Marine Corp Physical Fitness Test (PFT).
Stupid Sevaan is being crazy dedicated to this. And reading his daily blog entries on his ‘training’ is making me feel bad inside. So I figured I’d at least write one post giving a sort of benchmark for how much (slash if) I progress over the month.
(Even though the challenge started 6 days ago. Whateves. My calendar rules all. And this is the first opening in my week. I… I don’t even think it would approve of me writing this one post… Shhh… it’ll hear you….)
In spite of my sometime-protestations I am, in fact, a girl. So the minimum score for me is: 15 seconds on a flexed arm hang, 44 crunches and a 30 minute 3-mile run.
A perfect score is: 70 seconds on the flexed arm hang, 100 crunches, and a 21 minute three mile run.
This could be problematic.
At present, these are my stats:
Flexed arm hang: unknown (but suspect extreme suck)
Crunches: 50ish
Run: ?
Out of 3 categories, I’m confident I can ‘pass’ crunches. Despite a layer of flub that comes and goes, I do have pretty solid abs. If I put in a bit of extra effort there, I think I can bump up my score.
Running is.. tricky. Poor old bum knees don’t like it when I run. I’ve only recently worked up to being able to “run” comfortably on the treadmill. Set at 0.0 incline, I can go at 5.6 for about 20 minutes, and that’s what I usually do as a warm up. It works out to be about 10:20 minutes per mile.
Today I did a couple of spurts of 6.5, which shaved off about 10 seconds. I also moved it to 1.0 incline, since that better replicates running outside. Which gave me 2 miles at 20:20.
What I’m thinking is that, for me, this challenge will be less about getting a one time high score, than about trying to retrain myself to a slow-and-steady attitude to progress.
I’m a bit insane about pushing myself. So I tend to train above my actual fitness level. Because I like the pain. But after many years and a few injuries, I’m realizing that I’m addicted to the wrong kind of pain. The right kind of pain is the kind that’s /juuuust/ outside of your comfort zone. Not the kind where you hurl at the base of a tree. But instead the kind of bearable pain enables you to take a teensy step up to the next half-level of fitness.
To that I say boo. I boo you incremental progress. BOOOOO.
But since I am trying to make my peace with you, that will be my final “boo” (for one month).
BOOOOOOOO!
(okay, that was the last one for really.)