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Originally Posted by Big Chief
Good Morning,
I know guys in 20th who say they all run marathons and guys from other groups who do Triathlons. I was considering training for a half-ironman as part of my rehab/gear-up fro SFAS (plus, PT and tons of rucking of course).
Is Tri training/marathoning good cross-training for SF?  |
No.
You've had surgery from doing too much too soon. Running 3-6 miles and rucking with heavy loads will be hard enough on the injured area, let alone doing half or full-length marathons.
Cycling now would be good to help maintain your aerobic power and general "health," while you lower extremities heal. However, cycling overall does not translate very well to running (lack of specificity) or rucking any more than swimming helps you hold 30 mph in a bicycle race.
Long runs will pound your lower legs beyond belief. How are you going to do lots of rucking along with half/full marathon training and expect the permanently weakened areas in your lower extremities to recover???
Additionally, "true" marathoners have very poor leg strength. Huh??? Don't legs have to be strong to run a marathon??? Not at all. Studies over the years have shown marathoners to have significantly lower leg strength that sedentary people who don't exercise at all. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes...
<"STRENGTH"-------------------------------------------------------"ENDURANCE">
Remember the number lines in grade school??? Strength and endurance are opposites just like positive and negative numbers. When you train for strength, endurance suffers, when you train for endurance, strength suffers.
As much as people try, the human body usually only does one thing well at a time. That's why you never see people who can squat 485 lbs run 2:30:00 marathons and vice versa.
In the above example, who's legs will support a heavy load the best???
Do short runs 3-6 miles fast (6.0-7 min miles) This will give you all the aerobic power you will ever need, and give you plenty of time to do your rucking. Once or twice a month, do a PT test in the correct order. Smoke the 2 mile run as fast as possible. Keep a PT logbook. Log pertinant data like time/distance/course, weather conditions, and other variables like sleep, recent injuiries, nutrition, etc.
Look back on your logs over time to see how much recovery you need to perform well. A logbook with detailed entries will serve you quite well in your overall growth as an athlete/soldier.
You won't make it if you can't support a heavy load. Most of the time, you should be rucking and developing thick callouses, since the short runs don't take very much time to complete. Also, not mentioned too often, you should be able to do at least 10-15 wide-grip pullups when you report for training as well. The more the better.
Most important are a heavy ALICE pack, broken-in boots and serviceable socks. There are no secrets or tricks that will help you pass except good overall fitness and using those three items regularly.