Something a lot of people don't realize when I talk about my training is just how fully committed I need to be to it to get results. I've been in incredible physical condition in the past, and done things that would make me keel over and die if I tried them now. With this training plan I'm going to take it even further, and I'd imagine that if I meet my goals I'll never be in comparable physical condition again after I enlist.
To give you an idea of what I used to do in Cross Country, we would run an average of 65 to 70 miles a week. That alone is more mileage than most people can even comprehend, having never done it, but the intensity was incredible as well. My best time for a mile run is 4 minutes 45 seconds, and while that is not amazingly fast, for a 17 year old it's pretty god damn fast. My best time for the 400m, unofficially, is 49.9 seconds, run the summer before my junior year on an all weather track. Now, though, I doubt I could run much less than a 6 minute mile, and I'd collapse on the track before I touched 55 seconds in the 400m (I was running sub 55 seconds as a freshman). The longest race I ran was a cross country 9 mile 'run around the lake' in about 55 minutes, without shoes on for the hell of it. That's the hardest thing I think I've done in running so far.
I may never beat my personal best times again, but there's a good reason for that. World class athletes tend to be absolute specialists (I don't intend to say I'm a world class athlete, I'm just using this as an example). World class competitors in events like the decathlon or steeplechase are an exception, but they also can't touch the specialists in the various events they compete in. Specialization is all well and good, but it's not what I'm after. I intend to become very good at a wide variety of physical tasks, and while my natural ability in running might allow me to become excellent at middle distance (I'm too heavy for long distances now, and I have a lot of natural speed), I won't be training to specialize. When I was running my personal records, I was a specialist runner.
In fact, the 'specialist runner' training for six years is giving me problems now. Running allows you to develop an incredibly strong back, but the abs and chest are largely undeveloped unless you put a lot of extra effort into them. The result? I can do 20+ chin ups and 20 dips, but barely thirty pushups. I can probably do more hyperextensions (Laying face down on a bench, upper body hanging off, someone holds your ankles down, and you allow your upper body to bend at the waist and hang down toward the ground. Keeping your back and neck arched, you bring your torso up to horizontal with your legs, working the lower back.) than situps. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get my APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test, based on pushups, situps, and a 2 mile run) scores up.
Running, swimming, trail rucking, road marching, yoga, strength training, and my own conglomeration of martial arts are all a part of my training plan. Those are all critical, in my opinion, in becoming the best potential soldier I can be. If I had the spare money I'd incorporate kayaking, but I can't justify the expense just for another (admittedly fun) way of improving my upper body strength. That's just the physical training portion, by the way. I've also including weapons training, land navigation, and a bunch of other skills or knowledge that I want to learn before I ever get to basic: things like making snares, tying knots, and learning Morse code. Anything I think I might need, I'm going to try to learn.
To give you an example of the physical-only portion of what my typical day will be like once I get to full-steam-ahead, just take a look at this running day (there are rests in there, obviously, but that's the order from morning to night):
2½ Mile Morning Run
Strength Training & Yoga
45min to 1hr Swim, Moderate
7½ Mile Training
30min Bag Work
Strength Training
Yoga (Before Sleep)
Basically, I try to include every element of my training into each day with the exception of rucking or road marching, and I simply vary the amount of each depending on what I'm concentrating on that particular day. Also, this is a very rough idea, and I just sketched it out recently. I'm sure I'll shuffle stuff around once I have a feel for what it's like to actually DO it, because that always happens, but I know nothing will be cut out.
I'm aware that many of you might think it's foolish to teach myself a bunch of stuff that they're going to teach me anyway, and for free, but given what I'm trying to accomplish I think it's better to have as few obstacles in my way when I get there so I can concentrate on the psychological and physical challenges more easily. Also, this is not a chore for me. I'm interested in all of the stuff I'm doing and I would learn it anyway. I'm not buying anything I wouldn't buy anyway, either, with the possible exception of a CAR-15 should I choose to buy one. Sure, they're neat, but what the hell use have I for a wussy little 223 poodleshooter? I guess I'll just get a new upper in 6.8 SPC or 10mm when I'm done with the 223. Or 30 Carbine, using M1 mags... now that would be sweet.
So far, physically, I'm limiting myself to running and strength training, mostly because I don't have 90% of the gear I'm going to have to buy. I've increased my running endurance immensely (from 1 mile a day to 10), but I've barely improved my pushups and situps. Blah.