Basic Training for Basic Training

I have written about my time in the Royal Air Force in a previous blog post and mentioned my preparation. Looking back on the three or four months before I travelled to RAF Swinderby my determination to be as prepared as possible was completely at odds with my previous approach to life. It was part of my somewhat late growing up process – which I still feel like I am continuing! The issue was whether I could match my famously poor self discipline with the task I had set myself.

Starting was definitely the hardest part, because I hadn’t done any real exercise since leaving school the previous year and I had already developed a very regular pub going habit which played havoc with my concentration and sleeping patterns. I was at home with no real incentive to go out apart from getting away from the atmosphere of disappointment that still pervaded the house after my spectacular crash and burn of my first full time job.

The first ‘run’ was an absolute nightmare. I chose a 2 mile course which was twice round the block and then up to the end of the road and back. Yes, I was out of practice, yes there was a fairly steep hill on the route, but 20 minutes was a pathetic time to take, particularly given how exhausting it was! As I stood in the shower I realised I had two choices. Give up and hope for the best or redouble my efforts. The person I was then should have taken the first option, but something clicked in my mind at that point. I realised that I was going to be pushed to my limit and probably beyond in basic training – although I had no idea how bad it would get at times – and I would have no say in how bad it got. My training, on the other hand, was totally within my control and I owed it to myself to make the best of it.

The whole of that first week was dreadful. I got my time down by about a couple of minutes but I was still nowhere near the 11 minutes for one and a half miles which would see me pass the BFT. The one thing I did, was to get myself into a proper routine. I would get out of bed, get into my tracksuit and trainers and go straight out of the house without even a cup of tea. It’s not something I would recommend, but I knew that if I waited until after breakfast, or even a cuppa, I would have given it a miss. That might not sound like a big challenge to most, but at the time it was huge.

As the weeks and months went by I devised my own approach to the training. I decided that once I had got down to 16 minutes for two miles I would add an extra two miles to my run. I did this and I realised something very quickly. However far I was running I was a metronome! My first mile would take exactly the same amount of time as my fourth mile, and later my sixth mile. I was not capable of speeding up but I was not capable of slowing down either!! 🤣🤣 Timing wise I only needed to concentrate on my first mile and the other three or five would take care of themselves. By the time I went into the RAF I was running 6 minute miles across the 6 mile run. Not a bad rate of improvement I’m sure you would agree.

Those morning runs showed me that I was capable of so much more than I realised but that getting started was my main challenge. I would love to say that I never looked back but that would be utterly untrue, but meeting that personal goal was the start of completely changing myself as a person.

I wonder if I could get back to 6 minute miles with some training?!

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