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Running 2.4km in 12 minutes

L

-LJ-

Guest
I have to be able to run 2.4kms in 12 minutes in order to to pass basic training in the Defence Force. I only just got my gym membership last week so am currently going to the gym everyday and doing an hours worth of cardio work to improve my fitness.

At the moment I am doing 2.4kms in around 17 minutes which is really bad (have led a very unfit lifestyle for many years), but I hope to improve upon this and meet this target in 4 weeks from now.

To reach this I have to run 12km/h for 12 minutes or better to reach my goal. Do you think I can achieve my goal in 4 weeks or will it take more time?
 
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If you work hard towards it, you can do it. You need to sustain 12km/hr for the 2.4km to complete it.

Is the run to be done on the road? If so I would do some training doing road running, there is quite a difference between running on a treadmill and running on the road.
 
I am a former ADF and NZDF member, and was sedentary before entry into the ADF, so I have some experience with this.

From 17'00 to 12'00" in 4 weeks will be very difficult to achieve.

However, is this the ADF? The ADF doesn't require a 2.4km run for general entry, it requires 7.5 on the beep test. If you can do a 15'00" 2.4km run then you can get 7.5-8.5 on the beep test without trouble.

I believe if you want direct enlistment to the Commandos, that requires a 2.4km run, with a time considerably lower than 12'00", and pushups, situps and heaves, too. From sedentary unfit to ready for the Commandos requires about 6 months of dedicated training - you might scrape in with less effort, but you'll have a much harder time during your courses.

It's the NZDF that requires a 2.4km run for general entry. In that, you want a regular time well under 12'00" since the training is at Waiouru, 880m above sea level.

The ADF and NZDF both require a 2.4km run under 12'00" by the end of Recruit Course. However, that is 3 weeks (NZ Territorials), 6 weeks (ADF general entry) or 13 weeks (NZ Regulars), and in that time your fitness will improve greatly from the training you're given. Recruit Course will be much better for you if you go in fit, you've got enough hassles already without stumbling along at the back of the platoon gasping like an asthmatic.

I would say that three months is more realistic, and six is ideal. Once we're sure of the timeframe I can suggest a training plan for you.
 
Thank you so much for the insight Kyle. Thank goodness I am not going for the Commandos, I think the training would kill me! HAHA

I am aiming for RAAF Officer which requires 6.5 beep test, 15 pushups and 45 situps for entry.

As you put it, I need to achieve 2.4km run under 12 minutes to pass the recruit course. This is what I am really worried about. I want to go in from the start and be able to meet the 2.4km in 12 minutes.

At the moment I am doing 1 hour of cardio a day. Warm up on the exercise bike for 10 minutes. Then running for 20 minutes in interval training at 6km/h rest speed and 11.5km/h work speed. Then going on the Crosstrainer for 20 minutes. The majority of the time my heart rate is around 160-180. Then I move onto a full body weight training.

After 4 days I am already seeing some improvement in my running, so hopefully if I stick with it everyday I will be ok. I'm 24, still living at home and haven't applied to the ADF yet but am aiming to apply after I get my fitness up.
 
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Where are you at in this country of ours, mate? Perhaps I could help in person. One thing I know how to do is train recruits, well it was Army but the fly boys can't be too different, except wussier with better food :p

Your cardio training is too heavy, 160-180bpm is no longer aerobic - that is, you're not developing your body's ability to draw oxygen through it better. Aim at 130-150 instead, at least until you can hit 2.4km in under 12'00". Yes it's counterintuitive, but going less hard actually builds you up faster fitness-wise.

If you're using a treadmill in a gym, have a look for the button that says "fit test". It asks your weight and age, then when you start gives you a 1'00" warmup, then the tread tilts to 5 degrees and you go for 4'00", based on your heart rate then it figures out your VO2 max - that is, the maximum rate that oxygen can be got through your system by your body.

Then come back, tell me your VO2 max and how many situps, pushups, heaves and bodyweight squats you can do in one go, and I'll write you up a 12 week programme to build you up enough to breeze through the physical training.
 
Great information Kyle.

That is good to know about my heart rate being too high. I guess the logical thing to do is to back off the treadmill speed to lower my heart rate in the 130-150 range. At the moment it normally sits around 160-165 but it has peaked at 180 when I pushed myself to run 13 km/h at the end of my session for 1 minute.

I will definitely try and find out my VO2 max, I'll ask the fitness instructor if the treadmills have that option. I'll also do the sit-ups, pushups, heaves and bodyweight squats tomorrow and post my results. Although I'll probably be a bit embarrassed about the results as I've pretty much been a couch potatoe all my life (not fat but very unfit).

The gym I am a member at is the Sunbury Aquatic Centre, north of Melbourne Airport.

This is my current regime designed by the fitness instructor there. What do you think?

Heart and Lungs
Bike - 10 minutes warm-up / Level 5

Heart and Lungs
Treadmill - 20 minutes interval training / 7 km/h rest 11.5 work speed

Heart and Lungs
Cross Trainer - 20 minutes / Level 5

Chest
B/B Bench Press - 60lb / 3x10

Back
Seated Row - 80lb / 3x10

Legs
Smith Squat - 30kg / 3x10

Shoulders
D/B O/H Press - 15lb / 3x10

Biceps
D/B Bicep Curl - 15lb / 3x10

Triceps
French Press D/B - Single 15lb / 3x10

Abdominals
LF Ab Crunch - 25kg / 3x10

As you can see I'm not using much weight but I'm not very strong at the moment so have a lot of work to do. The good thing is though I am already finding that I should bump the weight higher as its becoming easier to lift.
 
That is a good general fitness and strength routine, LJ, though as I noted the intensity on the cardio stuff is obviously too high for you.

However, if you are training for a specific thing like football, Recruit Course, sprinting or whatever, I think it's best to train as you'll work. Recruit Course won't have treadmills or weights. You'll have roads and the ground to do pushups on.

Treadmills are useful for that interval training, it's hard to do that out on the road. But if you're just jogging 3km or something, out you go and pound the pavement.

Also, after the first 15-20, extra pushups etc aren't about muscular strength, but muscular endurance. So lifting a lot of weights in the gym won't necessarily help that - depends on your style of training, but if it's the traditional "lift heavy, rest, lift heavy, rest" then not much help past 15-20 pushups.

Anyway get back to us on your stats and I can come up with something for you. I'm happy to meet in person, too, if you're more comfortable with that. I hated Recruit Course, if I can make it easier for someone else I'm glad to.
 
Kyle, at recruit course will the exercises mostly be running, push-ups, sit-ups and heaves? The instructor said to push it out to 15 reps in each set if I can to build up my endurance which I am not doing at the moment.
 
If you want to improve your cardio drastically on the 2.4k run i found doing HIIT training every morning for three weeks improved my time by about 3 minutes.
 
I can only speak of Army Recruit Course.

As officer entry, you may go to RMC Duntroon and be mixed with Army, RAAF and RAN, they all train together for 18 months. Or if you're getting a degree with the military, you'll go to ADFA and be basically a uni student for 3-4 years. That's how it was in the past, though it seems nowadays you might end up in Sale with just RAAFies for company, and do it in 16 weeks.

So the physical training will likely be less intense - they simply have longer to train you, much longer than the 6 weeks of Army Recruit Course. I say "likely" because I haven't experienced or instructed it.

In Army, the physical training consists of runs in shorts and t-shirt, marches in webbing (the stuff you carry ammo, water etc on) or webbing, rifle and pack (about 35kg gear in all).

Pushups are given as punishments (most do zillions), physical training sessions will have lots of situps, heaves, other stuff like burpees and jumping jacks. Sometimes you do things like log or shell (old artillery shell filled with cement) carries. Swimming stuff goes in and out of fashion.

There are also activities like an obstacle course. It's here you need the upper body strength (thus the pushups and heaves) for pulling yourself with rifle and webbing over walls, up ropes and so on.

There used to be two tests, the Basic Fitness Test and the Combat Fitness Test. These involved things like - a 5km run in under 25'00", a 15km march with full webbing, rifle and pack in under 2h20'00" which was followed by a test of rifle use (not firing, but safe use and pulling it apart and putting it back together), carrying another solider of about your own size 100 metres, a section (6-12 soldiers) co-operating in carrying one of their guys on a stretcher for 1.5km during the 15km march, and so on.

I don't know if they still do these things, however while the details change the general style doesn't. Being able to run a long time, march a long time carrying a lot of shit, and do zillions of pushups, these things never seem to go out of style for the military.

Here the Sale joint tells us about RAAF OTC activities. It sounds like much the same thing as the Army. Notice they give three levels of fitness testing, obviously expecting you to get fitter during the course. On the final one I think they mixed up a column, so the requirements will be,

FAH - 30 - no I don't know what this is
Pushups - 25
Situps feet assisted - 65
2.4km run - 12'00"
5km walk - 38'00" - this would be with webbing, rifle and perhaps pack.

To say much more we'd need to meet in person, I think.
 
Thanks for your help Kyle. I couldn't find the VO2 max on the treadmill. I will have to ask the fitness instructor next time I am there. I went through the programs and funny enough there was a military test with army, navy, air force. I selected airforce and it just asked me to walk at 3.6kms.....weird so I stopped it.
 
It's called the "Fit Test" on the machines. You'll see several buttons with the programmes, manual, hill climb, random, etc. "Fit Test" is one of them.

3.6kph, well it is the Airforce, what do you expect :p
 
Ah that rings a bell, there was a fit test option. Excellent will be doing it tomorrow.
 
With a 17'00" 2.4km run, I'd guess you're around 27-30 in VO2 max.

How did you go on the pushups, etc? How many in one go?
 
I actually cut my time to 2.4km in 15 minutes and 42 seconds yesterday, so already some improvement.

Tried to do some push-ups just then and got to 5 and stopped as I am stuffed from going to the gym today. Will try tomorrow morning when I am fresh.
 
Try when you first walk in the gym, nice and fresh.

squats
pushups
situps
heaves

and after that, the Fit Test.
 
No mate, I am talking about bodyweight only. Squats, pushups, situps and heaves - just you moving your body up and down, for the fullest range of motion as many times as possible. Count how many.
 
Kyle Aaron said:
No mate, I am talking about bodyweight only. Squats, pushups, situps and heaves - just you moving your body up and down, for the fullest range of motion as many times as possible. Count how many.
Click to expand...
I once tried this, got to 100 squats before I got bored.

Just wondering Kyle - if LJ can do 30kg squats why are you asking him to do air squats?
 
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