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PACE6.40

Your definitive guide to running 1.5miles in 10 minutes

Copyright 2013 www.armyfitnesstest.co.uk

7/28/2019 Pace 6.40

2/21 2013 www.armyfitnesstest.co.uk - All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer

While a lot of focus throughout Pace 6.40 is placed on pushing yourself to reach

new strengths and set new boundaries, it is also extremely important to ensure

that you do this safely and in the correct way so that your body adapts properly.

All Information in this eBook which is produced for www.armyfitnesstest.co.ukis

provided for both educational and resource purposes. It is your sole responsibility

to consult a physician or a qualified fitness professional before performing

exercises provided by www.armyfitnesstest.co.uk. You are solely responsible for

the way information offered by us is perceived and utilised and you do so at your

own risk.

In no way willArmy Fitness Test or any persons associated withArmy Fitness

Test be held responsible for any injuries or problems that may occur due to the

use of the website or eBook.Army Fitness Test will not be held responsible for

the conduct of any companies and websites recommended on this website.

This eBook may not be reproduced or distributed or resold without the sole

permission of the creator.

2013 armyfitnesstest.co.uk - All Rights Reserved.

Last Updated: 02/19/2013 15:56:39

7/28/2019 Pace 6.40


1.5 Mile Test

The Run is famous throughout the world and used in many of the toughest

military training and selection camps. The 1.5 mile distance may not seem very far

however the required time in which you will have to run the course means that

you will be pushing your body close to full capacity the whole time.

This is why it is so important to train for this critical selection test if you want to

progress and become a Soldier. You must be fit, you must strong, you must be

ready.

We have gathered resources and compared expert advice from all over the world

to produce this definitive guide. The British Army has used the 1.5 mile run as part

of Selection for thousands of applicants. It separates those who are capable of

being a soldier and have the physical competence to serve their country from the

people who just dont want it enough. Make sure you are in the right group.

Our fantastic guide: Pace 6.40, gives you the strategic plan and a full 8 week

training schedule to prepare you for running 1.5 miles in 10 minutes. We are

confident that if you follow this guide and train with consistency you will

complete the required run and pass this part of the Army Selection process.

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The 3 Keys To Success

In order to reach your goal of 10 minutes for the 1.5 mile run, you will need to

focus on the 3 keys to success: Endurance, Speed & Attitude. All are vital

elements for being successful in this challenge and our guide Pace 6.40 will give

you the essential details of how to get to the required level of fitness.

Endurance

Before you can work on increasing your speed of the run, you first need to ensure

you have enough gas in the tank to get you to the finish line. Building your level

of endurance so that you have the required stamina to complete the run is vital.

The most effective way to do this is by completing longer distances at a slower

pace than you will run when it comes to the final test. This will increase your lung

capacity, build muscle and prepare your body for the timed 1.5 mile run.

Success

Attitude

Speed

Endurance

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Speed

Be under no illusion that to run 1.5 miles in 10 minutes is easy, even for an

experienced runner this is a time that will push you to the limit. You need to

maintain a pace of 6 minutes 40 Seconds per mile in order to finish on target. Thismeans a constant speed on 9mph (14.4kph).

The way to increase your speed is interval training. This will consist of sprinting

over short distances followed by an equal distance of recovery and then repeating

this for a set number of times or until you cannot run anymore. This will help to

get you used to running at a faster pace and prepare your body for functioning

better during your test.

Attitude

Being mentally prepared and motivated to train and succeed can be the

difference between winning and losing. You need to push yourself to keep to your

training schedule and set targets that will mark the improvement you are making.

Depending on your current fitness level, you may not feel much improvement is

needed and this in itself can be counterproductive. No matter how quick you can

currently run 1.5 miles, there is room to improve and this should be your overall

focus. If you are able to run the distance in 10 minutes fantastic. If you are able

to run it even quicker BETTER.

Joining The Army will hold many challenges that will push you to the edge of what

you currently believe is humanly possible. Some are tough, gruelling physical tests

while others are psychological and will push the boundaries of your mentalstrength. You need to make sure you are dedicated and willing to take on these

challenges and then tackle them head on. The Army will not recruit half-hearted

or undedicated Soldiers and the Selection process is in place to wean these

people out.

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Avoiding Injury

To be able to progress and to improve your current level of fitness, it is extremely

important that you approach every workout and exercise in the correct way. You

need to ensure you perform a full warm up and stretch before starting anytraining session.

Exercising without a proper warm up can cause serious injury to your body and

could result in you not being able to complete this fitness plan and in more

serious circumstances not being able to take part in your Initial Army Training.

Begin with a light and gentle jog for 5-10 mins. This safely and slowly raises yourheart rate and warms your muscles by increasing the blood flow to them.

The next important part to any warm up is to stretch.

Recent studies have suggested that staticstretches (where you hold a stretch

position for 10 15 seconds) are not beneficial pre exercise. Research is now

showing that this type of stretch does not activate or waken the muscle in

preparation for sport but instead could have the opposite effect and relax the

muscle to a point of rest. With this in mind static stretches are still recommendedas part of a warm down.

The alternative and our recommendation, is to perform dynamicstretches that

mimic the action of the movements that will be performed during the main

exercise.

The next pages offer a guide to follow before each training session.

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Dynamic Stretching Exercises

Arm Swings

Purpose: Dynamically stretch the shoulders, trapezius, triceps.

Stand tall, feet somewhat wider than shoulder-width apart, knees unlocked.

Keep your back straight at all times.

Overhead/Down and back - Swing both arms forward at the same time to an

overhead position and then forward again, down, and backwards. Repeat 6 to 10

times.

Side/Front Crossover - Swing both arms out to your side at the same time and

then cross them in front of your chest. Repeat 6 to 10 times

Side Bends

Purpose: Dynamically stretch the obliques (external and internal)

Stand tall with a straight-up posture, feet somewhat wider than shoulder-width

apart, knees unlocked, and your hands resting on your hips.

Lift your torso up and away from your hips and bend smoothly over to one side,

then the other, avoiding the propensity to lean either forwards or backwards.

Repeat the whole sequence sixteen times in a slow smooth movement. Bending

to the side you breathe out, and in as you veer back to the centre

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Hip circles and twists

Purpose: Dynamically stretch the obliques (external and internal), waist area

Circular movement - Place your hands on your hips and spread your feet wider

than your shoulders. Start making circles with your hips in a clockwise direction.

Continue 10 to 12 times. Then repeat in a counter clockwise direction.

Twisting movement - Arms extend out to your sides, twist your upper-body and

hips to the left, and shifting most of your weight on to the left foot. Then twist

your upper-body to the right while shifting most of your weight to the right foot.

Continue 10 to 12 times.

Ankle flips

Purpose: Dynamically flexing the ankles

Walking up on toes keeping the knees and feet straight in a jogging motion.

Continuously moving forward and pushing off through the feet. Walk for 10

meters.

Walking High Knees

Purpose: Dynamically flexing the hips and shoulders, and stretch the glutes, quads,

lower back and shoulders.

Take an overly high step, driving your knee as high as possible, at the same time

push up on the toes of your opposite foot.

Use a correct arm swing of 90 angle at the elbows, hands swing up to throat

level and back beyond rear pocket.

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Running High Knees

Purpose: Dynamically stretching the glutes, quads, low back and shoulders.

Apply proper running form with your elbows at an 90 angle and driving your

hands up to throat level and back beyond rear pocket.

Stay on the balls of your feet, driving your knees up and down as high and quick

as possible. Repeat 20 kicks within 10 meters.

Running Butt Kicks

Purpose: Dynamically stretching the quadriceps and hip flexors. Warming the knee

joint.

Begin running by flexing your knee and bringing your heel all the way to your

buttocks.

Keep a slight forward lean throughout the drill, staying on the balls of your feet.

Repeat 20 kicks within 10 meters.

Half Squat

Purpose: Dynamically flexing the knees and hip region. Dynamically stretching the

gluteus maximus (buttocks).

Stand tall with straight posture, feet wider than shoulders and the knees

unlocked. Hold your hands out in front of you for balance.

Next bend your knees until your thighs are parallel with the ground.

Keep your back straight throughout the movement, and looking straight ahead.

Make sure that your knees and toes always point in the same direction. Your

knees should not advance beyond your toes.

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Once at your lowest point, straighten your legs by pushing off on your heels to

return to your starting position.

Repeat the exercise 10 to 15 times with a flowing, controlled rhythm. Try to

breathe in as you descend, and breathe out as you come up.

Lunges

Purpose: Dynamically stretch the glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves.

Stand with straight posture and both feet together.

Step forward roughly 1 to 1 meter. Bending the front knee slowly while

lowering into lunge position.

The front thigh should be parallel with the ground and the lower leg vertical.

Your torso should stay straight up and looking forward. The front knee should not

advance beyond your toes.

Veer back to the starting position.

Repeat with the other leg. Do 10 to 15 repetitions on each leg.

Walking Lunge

Purpose: To stretch the glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves.

Similar to "Lunges", but instead of veering back to the starting position, you

should pull the rear leg through going forward in a continuous movement.

Step forward with a long stride, landing on the heel of your front foot and

extending onto the toes of your back foot.

Complete the cycle by pulling your trail leg through and returning to an upright

position.

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Ankle Bounce

Purpose: Dynamically stretching the glutes, quads, and hamstrings, and flexing

the ankles

Double leg bounce - Slightly leaning forward with your hands on the wall or any

stable object, shift your weight to your toes. Raise and lower both heels rapidly

(bounce).

With every bounce, lift your heels one to two inches from the ground. Try to

maintain ground contact with the ball of your feet.

Do about 20 to 30 repetitions continuously.

Single leg bounce - Slightly leaning forward as in the double leg bounce but with

all your weight on your left foot, raise the right knee forward while pushing the

left heel towards the ground.

Then lower the right foot to the floor while raising the left heel one or two

inches.

Repeat in a rapid, bouncy fashion. Do 15 to 20 repetitions on each leg.

Walking Straight Leg Kicks

Purpose: Dynamically stretching the hamstrings, calves and lower back.

Move forward keeping your front leg straight.

Kick your leg up while keeping your knee straight and dorsiflexed ankle.

As this movement comes with great force, build up the intensity (height of your

kicks) over 5 kicks to avoid the stretch reflex of your hamstring.

Try to touch your toes to the fingers of your opposite hand.

Repeat the same kick with your opposite leg.

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Avoid slouching forward when reaching for your toes. Do 10 to 15 kicks with

each leg.

Running Carioca

Purpose: Dynamically stretching the abductors, adductors, glutes, ankles and hips.

Stay on the balls of your feet with your hips in a low semi-squat position.

The movement starts by twisting your hips and crossing one leg in front of the

other, bring your trail leg through, and cross your lead leg behind the trail leg.

Continue by alternately crossing your feet in front and behind.

Your shoulders remain square through the entire drill.

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The Training Schedule

This 8 week plan has been designed to focus on improving your strength,

cardiovascular fitness and speed in order to help you achieve a time of 10

Minutes or less for your 1.5 mile run.

Before starting Week 1, it is important to know exactly what level of fitness you

currently have. The first test is to complete 1.5 miles as quick as you possibly can.

This will provide a base time on which you need to improve, and also enable you

to see how much progress you are making in such a short time.

As the real Army Selection testing takes place outside and on normal terrain, it is

strongly suggested that you complete all of your training in similar conditions.

The ideal training conditions will be a flat and stable surface, you want to ensure

there are no steep gradients and that the ground is either road, or grass.

The next step is to know exactly how far each of your necessary checkpoints (1.5

miles, 2 miles, 2.5 miles etc) are from your chosen start point. This ensures that

you run consistent distances each workout and dont run to far, or indeed not far

enough.

Army Fitness Test recommends using www.mapmyrun.com it is a website that

allows you to view maps of any location globally, and mark out specific routes

that calculate the total distance.

Once you have found a suitable stretch to perform your workouts, all you need to

do is log on to the website and calculate the required distances. Here is an

example:

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Here you can see I have marked out a 1.5 mile run. Its an area close to my home

town that I know is quite flat and suitable to train on. You will also see that there

is a marker for 1 mile. This can be useful for your longer distance runs and can be

used as a half-way point so that you complete the run at the exact same place you

start it.

The online tool is very easy to use and you can save different maps (for various

distances). It essential that you calculate the exact distances so that you do not

over train and progress throughout the 8 week program at the correct pace.

Keep Time

It is essential that you use a stopwatch to time the sprints and recovery periods

during your interval training. This program is designed to build your stamina and

speed gradually and to avoid injury. Ensure that you follow it correctly and obey

the given timings.

The best way to do this is with a watch. Although modern smart phones have this

app preinstalled, holding a phone is both uncomfortable and will affect your

training. There is also a high chance that you will drop it and break it.

Comfort

We suggest that you take time to research and buy a comfortable pair of running

shoes for your training. Quality running shoes are designed to provide support to

your body and reduce the chance of injury.

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Training Plan Weeks 1 4

The first 4 weeks are designed to test and begin conditioning your body without

placing too much stress on your legs. If you train too hard, or too often it is likely

you will injure yourself. Make sure you give your body time to recover from eachworkout and always leave at least 1 full day between runs.

Preparation is key

As previously mentioned, you need to know exactly which routes you will take on

specific training sessions. Take the extra 10 minutes before each run to plan your

route and you will progress quicker.

First Timed Run

Before starting the 8 week plan, you need to time yourself on a 1.5 mile run. It

doesnt matter if you are currently very unfit, or if you need to stop at any point

and walk some of the distance. The focus of this plan is to improve and in order to

be able to mark your level of improvement it is necessary to know where you arestarting.

Make sure you warm up properly before starting and push yourself as hard as you

can to finish the 1.5 miles in as short a time as possible. Record your time and feel

proud that you have completed the first important step to running 1.5 miles in

under 10 minutes.

Note: The first timed run will without a doubt be the most difficult. Once you

begin the training program your body and cardiovascular capabilities will increase

with every single session. Running is an exercise that is easy to notice the

improvements quickly.

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Week Session Type DistanceSprint/best

effort Time

Recovery

Time

Type of Recovery Repe

1 Interval/Speed Training 30 Seconds 4 minutes Walking pace

2 Long Distance/ Endurance bui lding 2 Mi les

3 Interval/Speed Training 30 Seconds 4 minutes Walking pace

1 Interval/Speed Training 30 Seconds 4 minutes Slow Jog 1 min, Walk 3 mins




2 Long Distance/ Endurance building 2.5 Miles




3 Timed 1.5 mile Run

Interval / Speed Training Guide

Best Effort - Timed Run. Complete 1.5 miles as quick as poss

eek 1

eek 2

eek 3

eek 4

The Plan

There are full page plans suitable for printing at the end of this eBook

Each week is divided into 3 sessions. You can decide which days you want to do

these but always allow at least one rest day between sessions.

Types of Session

You will complete 2 Interval and Speed training sessions each week and 1 longer

distance run to build your level of endurance.

Interval sessions will increase your ability to run faster over longer periods of

time. They are designed to rapidly raise your heart rate and physically push you tothe limit for short bursts, and then allow your body to partially recover during

each slower period. When running at sprint/best effort, you want to be aiming to

run as hard and as quickly as you can during the allocated time.

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Long Distance sessions will train your body to be able to cope with running

further and help build the muscles needed to perform well. You should maintain a

pace at which you could keep a conversation. This will also increase your overall

stamina. Your body will adapt to running the same distance session after session

which is why distance increases throughout the Schedule. Although the actual

test is only 1.5 miles, by training your body to run much further than this, it will

be easier and enable you to complete the distance quicker.

At the end of week 4 you should be feeling a lot fitter, and it is a great

opportunity to test yourself. Complete a 1.5 mile in the quickest time possible and

compare against your original run time before you began the training plan. You

should notice a vast improvement of at least 3 minutes and be much closer to

your goal of 10 minutes.

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eek Session Type DistanceSprint/best

effort Time

Recovery

TimeType of Recovery Repe

1 Interval/Speed Training 50 Seconds 2 minutes Slow Jog 1 min, Walk 1 min

2 Long Distance/ Endurance building 3 Mi les



2 Long Distance/ Endurance bui lding 3.5 Miles







3 Timed 1.5 mile Run

eek 8

eek 7

Interval / Speed Training Guide

Best Effort - Timed Run. Complete 1.5 miles as quick as poss

eek 5

eek 6

Training Plan Weeks 5 8

The second half of the training plan increases the difficulty and brings you even

closer to completing your 1.5 mile run in 10 minutes or less. By now your body

will have become used to running longer distances and your level of fitness will

have greatly improved.

The interval training is designed to become progressively harder with longer

sprint times and shorter recovery periods. This ensures constant improvement

and will continue to increase your speed and cardiovascular capabilities. Your

heart will become stronger and your lungs will have a greater capacity.

At the end of week 8 you should now be able to run 1.5 miles within your target

time of 10 minutes. Even with all the training, it should still be difficult to

complete and prove a challenge.

On your final run, visualise your goal and push to achieve the time. You should

now have the level of fitness to finish inside of 10 minutes.

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Final Note

The British Army ensure that only the fittest and most dedicated people pass the

Selection process. If you are committed to joining The Army then this training

program will give you the best possible advantage of passing the 1.5mile test inthe required time.

You will need to be mentally and physically strong and pass a number of other

difficult tests and challenges in order to succeed. This training guide has been

developed to help give you the discipline and fitness that will help you achieve

this. Follow the 8 week plan without tweaking or changing the times or distances

and you will be extremely happy with the results.

For more information and advice on Army Fitness, be sure to regularly visit

www.armyfitnesstest.co.uk for new training plans, workout ideas and challenges.

Thank you and good luck!

Army Fitness Test

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Week

Session

Type

Distance

Sprint/be

st

effortTim

e

Recovery

Time

TypeofRecovery

Repetition

s

1

Interval/SpeedTraining

30Seconds

4minutes

Walkingpace

5

2

LongDistance/Endurancebuilding

2Miles

3


30Seconds

4minutes

Walkingpace

5

1


30Seconds

4minutes

SlowJog1min,Walk3mins

5

2


2Miles

3


30Seconds

4minutes


5

1


40Seconds

3minutes


6

2


2.5Miles

3


40Seconds

3minutes


6

1


40Seconds

3minutes


6

2


3Miles

3

Timed1.5mileRun

Interval/SpeedTrainingGuide

BestEffort-TimedRun.Complete1

.5milesasquickaspossible

Week1

Week2

Week3

Week4

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21/21

Week

Session

Type

Distance

Sprint/best

effortTim

e

Recovery

Time

Typeo

fRecovery

Repetitio

1


50Second

s

2minutes

SlowJog1min,Walk1min

7

2

LongDistance/Endurancebu

ilding

3Miles

3


50Second

s

2minutes


7

1


50Second

s

2minutes


7

2


ilding

3.5Miles

3


50Second

s

2minutes


7

1


60Second

s

2minutes


8

2


ilding

4Miles

3


60Second

s

2minutes


8

1


60Second

s

2minutes


8

2


ilding

4Miles

3

Timed1.5mileRun

Week8

Week7

Interval/SpeedTr

ainingGuide

BestEff

ort-TimedRun.Complete1.

5milesasquickaspossible

Week5

Week6

pace 6.40

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