Feel like I am not fit enough. Please help

[Martin Scott]

Just to add it seems that you are improving which is good, Having upper body strenght is all well and good but if you havent got the lower leg strenght to be a good runner concentrate on that. As if your infantry of any kind your going to be doing lots of marching over some rough country. You really do need to hit the hills carrying weight, not to much to start but as the training programme states .

take it slow to start and then increase distance and weight as if you go to fast you will injury yourself which isnt good.

 

[Perun]

My advice is almost always wrong, but: as you said your upper body and core is good to go. For your legs and your lungs it really will help if you do them at elevation. The extra resistance is good for the leg muscles and the thinner air will condition your lungs to be able to perform with less oxygen. Then when you get to France and are made to run, your lungs will feel like they have more oxygen than they even need, and your legs, used to steep grades, will have a lot more spring in them. Again though, by all means ignore this advice if you thing I'm sabotaging your goals.

I believe you actually pointed out why Ghurkas are .. well Ghurkas. (Mountain people famous for indurance and discipline)

 

[jonny]

But why???
Why not drink beer, kiss girls, check out nice pubs instead?
Why being stupid and join something like the French foreign legion??

 

[jonny]

Norwegians as well. Famous for being much better looking than Swedes, and running effortlessly up and down mountains,while singing, The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music""""

 

[Martin Scott]

Norwegians as well. Famous for being much better looking than Swedes, and running effortlessly up and down mountains,while singing, The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music""""

Gits one of the training carde on Marche De Kepi Blanc was scandic, a feckin racing snake, can still remember the pace and the blisters.

 

[Don Pedro]

Gits one of the training carde on Marche De Kepi Blanc was scandic, a feckin racing snake, can still remember the pace and the blisters.

I belive that may have been Sgt Björn Eek, R.I.P

 

[BrokenToPieces]

Well run 5-10 times a day those 500-1000 m, for example you run one tour end then rest perhaps walk until you feel good and do it again, and perhaps one more time, and later in the day do one more running circle. Or something similar no one say's you have to run all your km in one go, run several times a day if you can only run 500 m you can run that 5 times in one training circle. Important part is that you become comfortable with running not the distance, as for how long will it take its impossible to tell, everyone is different but there is a saying Rome wasn't built in one day, but they weren't exactly sitting on their buts doing nothing either.


Internet is the most important one out of them

Thanks for the advice ,I think it will work well for me . I 've been so caught up in that 8 km run that I 've been forcing myself to complete at least 8 km every running day whilst trying to minimise the running time to 50 minutes .....

As for ruck marching with weight , well this morning I added 20 kg on my backpack full of books and water bottle filled with water and did that 4 hours hiking , guess I read this forum a bit too late , um ... so I injured my left foot ankle and is now dealing with crippling pain in my left ankle .

i can't find hills at the moment , the best thing I can find around my place was only a forest with sandy trails ( this is where I do my running and ruck marching ) and if I were to find the nearest known hills ,say, the mountains I would have to travel across heavy traffic to reach the nearest hill which is two hours away consider the traffic flows
where I am staying ..... ...

Anyhow I appreciate all your advise even though I can't give all a reply back , it's all very helpful .

 

[Don Pedro]

Go and see a Doctor about your ankle, then follow his advice(s). Maybe a few lengths in a swimming pool, if the Doc says it's ok.

 

[SEIRAN]

I expect I will cop flak for this from some of the greens, but seriously, DO NOT just grab some random backpack and fill it with heavy objects then march around, you will screw your body up eventually. If you do not have gear that adequately distributes weight across your body, then don't do it. I have no doubt that many people have trained like this in the past, but the risk of injury is too great with improper gear and no training. Never mess around with weight. Train for the selection, and if you get in they will teach you how to march. Don't risk blowing your chances by getting injured now.

 

[Don Pedro]

I expect I will cop flak for this from some of the greens, but seriously, DO NOT just grab some random backpack and fill it with heavy objects then march around, you will screw your body up eventually. If you do not have gear that adequately distributes weight across your body, then don't do it. I have no doubt that many people have trained like this in the past, but the risk of injury is too great with improper gear and no training. Never mess around with weight. Train for the selection, and if you get in they will teach you how to march. Don't risk blowing your chances by getting injured now.

Indeed you will get FLAK, you are brought up in the decadent society of, "why make it hard, when you can skive out easy", i can see you confronted to have to carry a wounded lard arse and since it isn't top notch and easy. Most back packs are random shite and Soldiers always get the stuff from the lowest bider. You can carry the most advanced back pack, as you can carry the most useless, your comfort is last on the list, all is in HOW, you use what is given to you. Now dismiss, EINSTEIN!

 

[SEIRAN]

Indeed you will get FLAK, you are brought up in the decadent society of, "why make it hard, when you can skive out easy", i can see you confronted to have to carry a wounded lard arse and since it isn't top notch and easy. Most back packs are random shite and Soldiers always get the stuff from the lowest bider. You can carry the most advanced back pack, as you can carry the most useless, your comfort is last on the list, all is in HOW, you use what is given to you. Now dismiss, EINSTEIN!

It is not a matter of comfort but of safety. Even the worst military issued pack is far better at this task than most of the crap you find in stores. They are designed with pack marching in mind, as opposed to civilian backpacks which are designed for people of my generation to easily transport their Playstations and laptops.

BrokenToPieces, all I can say is this: if you are really dead-set on doing it, then go ahead. But remember - get an injury now, and you're likely screwed for selection. Get an injury in the Legion and you will be taken care of, and even if worst comes to worst, you know that you made it in and will have no regrets.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

I expect I will cop flak for this from some of the greens, but seriously, DO NOT just grab some random backpack and fill it with heavy objects then march around, you will screw your body up eventually. If you do not have gear that adequately distributes weight across your body, then don't do it. I have no doubt that many people have trained like this in the past, but the risk of injury is too great with improper gear and no training. Never mess around with weight. Train for the selection, and if you get in they will teach you how to march. Don't risk blowing your chances by getting injured now.

I absolutely agree here. Having a well distributed back pack is essentiel. Best way is that all the weight is taken up on your shoulders and the small of your back. All that is good advice, but essentially you must prepare yourself mentally. Take your favorite athlete, could you imagine him being shouted at by some corporal after running, swimming... his guts out and just turning the other cheek. You have to run yourself into the ground and then go back home and do the chores, wash the dishes, clean the floor etc. The legion corporal is a lot different from you beloved mum. You may come in first on the 8000 TAP and then find yourself on kitchen duties all afternoon.

 

[jonny]

Seiran, I might have more experience with long distance marching than everybody else on this forum put together, including their third removed cousins. First rule is only carry every gram you need, not one more. Then distribute as much as possible around your hips and carry only bare necessities on your back, i.e. lightweight poncho for
sleeping, ration packs stripped off every useless gram and two cans of beer wrapped in wet socks for moral support.

 

[Chas]

Jonny,
Individually in the 'bled' and surrounds possibly like Joe, maybe.
But everyone on the forum put together is an amusing statement and for the birds.
As you say ; You might have.

 

[mark wake]

Seiran, I might have more experience with long distance marching than everybody else on this forum put together, including their third removed cousins. First rule is only carry every gram you need, not one more. Then distribute as much as possible around your hips and carry only bare necessities on your back, i.e. lightweight poncho for
sleeping, ration packs stripped off every useless gram and two cans of beer wrapped in wet socks for moral support.

Enough jonny! We have all done our share of marching. I have marched in the deserts of Djibouti the jungles of central Africa to the mountains of corsica. And any ancien will tell you no matter how heavy the load or hard the march willpower not letting your mates down and esprit de corps kept you going!

 

[Löken]

You forgott your car door jonny.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Jonny, lets not go back to your ranting and ravings of how the legion used to be. Nowadays, as I've said before, the legion is a modern army. In a modern army, you look into the past failures, and you learn from them. Some idiot said in 1830 you only carry what you need. Jonny and other imbiciles listened inspite of their mates dropping down left right and and center because they took the minimum. I ask you, future legionnaire, if you are told that you are going on a march for two days, you only need half a bottle of water. But there are free water bottles avaiable, help yourselves. Listen to some halfwit or grab the water?

 

[SLehman]

Gents

Before everyone jumps on Jonny, look at his message again "First rule is only carry every gram you need, not one more. Then distribute as much as possible around your hips and carry only bare necessities on your back, i.e. lightweight poncho for sleeping, ration packs stripped off every useless gram".

Nobody is saying canteen discipline is one water bottle per man per day regardless of the conditions, most of us have humped a ruck of ammo and water in some shit-hole desert hoping that water resupply was closer than it actually was.

His statement was carry what you need and don't carry extra crap. That info is timeless.

 

[Don Pedro]

English isn't my first language, but as Steve mentioned, is how i understood jonny too.

 

[loustic]

Jonny, lets not go back to your ranting and ravings of how the legion used to be. Nowadays, as I've said before, the legion is a modern army. In a modern army, you look into the past failures, and you learn from them. Some idiot said in 1830 you only carry what you need. Jonny and other imbiciles listened inspite of their mates dropping down left right and and center because they took the minimum. I ask you, future legionnaire, if you are told that you are going on a march for two days, you only need half a bottle of water. But there are free water bottles avaiable, help yourselves. Listen to some halfwit or grab the water?

We had marches as exercises where the cpl said "take only enough food and water for two days" an dhe checked we did not have more. He kept us for three days (the first time) : it was a survival exercise. All my friends "new legionnaires" and myself got caught out of guard. Next time, some of us took (hidden) dried meat and chocolate : we survived easily the four days of march. Marching in summer in Corsica can be very very tiring !