How training for a marathon can help with military special operations training

 

How Marathon training can help you prepare for special ops training

“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.”
― Anthony Robbins

It's hard to imagine how tough U.S. special operations training actually is.  You can read about some of the events you will encounter, you can watch documentaries on the actual training, but nothing can give you the full experience without actually doing it for yourself.

Most people can probably get through a few days of even the toughest military training.  But only a few can make it through the marathon of events that the Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, and the Air Force Combat Control and Pararescue training pipelines are. 

When you see the washout rate of any of these career fields, and then you wonder what causes the attrition rates to be so high, there is one thing to remember:  The training is long and demanding.

When I signed up to be a Combat Controller, enlisted in the Air Force, and began the journey to see if I had what it took to make to graduation day, I had no idea what I was getting into.

There was little information on the CCT pipeline.  They listed all the cool schools I would attend, not much else.  Sure, I heard sources on how high the wash out rate was, but I couldn't imagine why.  

What was so hard about doing push ups until you could not do any more?

What was so hard about training in the pool, or learning air traffic control while getting beat every morning before class?

Didn't seem that hard to me.

What training for a marathon can teach you 

I trained for a marathon after I got out of the military.  I never did one before I joined, but I did have the same consistency with my workouts as I did when I trained for the marathon.

I had about as many set backs as anybody could have and still made it to graduation day.  The CCT pipeline, if everything goes perfect, is about a year and a half long.

That's a long time to be tested to your limits everyday in training.  For me, it took nearly three years.  It took me so long that toward the end of my training I only had a year left on my enlistment.  

I suffered four set backs that delayed my forward progress.

I say this because it's in my nature to be consistent and continue to move forward.  I may complain and be a pain in the ass, but I do not give up easily.

If anyone ever asks me what it takes to make it through special operations training, the number one thing I'd tell them is to be ready for a marathon.

It's a marathon in the sense that everything you are asked to do is not impossible.  It is a big challenge.  After a few weeks, the training gets harder and the difficulty increases.  Just when you are asked to complete a 50 meter underwater swim, and you overcome the challenge, there is a 15 mile ruck wearing 100 pounds of gear. That's after a week of getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep for a week.

After you've spend 5 days with no sleep, you move into wearing the same heavy gear and having a 12 hour land navigation course. You spend a week in the woods trying to master the navigation requirements. It's tough to explain how hard that is, but one thing is for sure.  If you want time off from being challenged, it's time to quit.

Here are 4 things that happened to me on top of the normal challenges of CCT training:

1. After the first week of selection training, I went off base one weekend and got into a fight. I was lucky I wasn't removed from training, but I had to wait for the next class to do it again.

2. I broke my leg at Army Airborne school.  It wasn't a complete break, but I got a fracture in my shin bone because I landed in a tree before hitting the ground.  For nearly four months I answered phones in the school house.  When I finally could bear weight on my leg, I started walking and running as far as I could.  Eventually I was back into running shape.

3. I failed a final air traffic simulator run during the operator course.  Again, I had to wait for the next class to show up, and I did it all over again.

4. One month before graduating combat control school I got a safety violation that made me have to redo the three month course.  It was a very tough school that began with a Hell Week, and this was the mistake that almost made me quit.  CCS is an ass kicker, and having to do the course over made me question my will to make it through the training.

Just my set backs alone were extremely hard to overcome.  Watching people I got to know move on without me was hard.  There was a lot of uncertainty about my injuries, my ability to grasp concepts, and not be a safety liability.

I often wonder why I wasn't kicked out of the program.  When I look back I understand now.  I had the mindset to become a combat controller.  I had the resolve and the self motivation to make it through, and I think the instructors could see that.

If someone does not have the self motivation and the mindset to accept that the discomfort, long days, and challenges will never end, that person will never make it.  

The Marathon

When I decided to run a marathon, I realized how I was able to make it through Combat Control training despite many challenges, and it gave me some credibility on sharing what it takes to make it through some very demanding military training.  

Of course, when I decided to enter a 26.2 mile race, I didn't think it was gonna be that big of a deal.  I had never actually run 26 miles at one time.  I probably moved that far with a heavy ruck sack on, but that was over the course of 3 or 4 days. I was also 15 years younger. 

But, it was a run wearing comfortable shoes and shorts, so how hard could it have been?

I thought it'd be a great way to get back into shape and become a better runner.

Well, little did I know that training to run that far was gonna be a little more difficult than I previously thought.

On my long training runs, I began to realize training for a big physical challenge was like special ops training.  It was a physical goal, but there were mental challenges as well.

As I mentioned before, training to be a special operator is a long process making two years seem like eternity.  It's a mental game that involves constant physical effort under the constant pressure to do more.  

Welcome to marathon training.

When I decided to run the marathon, I quickly found a simple beginner's plan to get the ball rolling.  I found a plan that only required me to run 35 miles per week at the peak of the plan, just a bit more than I did before joining the Air Force.

It seemed easy.  I saw every week that there was a long run on Saturday.  I saw a 13 miler.  Then a 14, and it went all the way to a 20 mile run.  

It didn't look so bad on paper, but let me tell you how it went.

Being humbled by a marathon

Like most things I attempt to do, I made the decision to run the marathon and I immediately started the training.  I signed up for the marathon, and it asked me a question about how fast my pace was.  

It makes me laugh now to think of how I answered.  I put 7:30 per mile pace.  Now, back when I was training for shorter distances ( Combat Control/ Pararescue indoctrination) I was close to that pace, but I was only running six miles max on my training runs, not 26.

By week three, I was immersed into the running plan.  I was enjoying the process of getting prepared for the race.  Like special ops or any other success in life, you must enjoy the process as much as the end goal.

I was running my 4, 5 and 6 mile runs without an issue.  At the end of the third week was an 11 mile run.  I have to be honest and say that was far enough.  After that run, I began to wonder if I could even run 26 miles.  It felt very long and far.

The week after the 11 mile run, on one of my shorter runs, the back of my calf muscle cramped.  I never experienced that sort of running injury in the CCT pipeline, and I couldn't believe that the cramp got so bad that I turned around and walked home.

Like CCT, I told my family and friends that I was gonna run a marathon, but it didn't look so good the day I limped home.  

I tried again the next day, and the same thing happened.

I limped back home.

Damn, I made it through some of the toughest military training but my plan of doing a marathon may have been over that year.  I knew people way older than me were running marathons all the time, so I felt defeated.

I got online and researched my condition, and I found out I had a common injury for runners.  The solution was to run as far as I could and when the pain came on, I'd let off and walk.

This was the same remedy for when I was recovering from a fracture in my leg from an Airborne jump.

I actually was able to work the issue out, and the next week I was back on my routine of running.

Although I am a decent runner by special ops standards, I started to dread the long runs, the weird aches and pains I'd never experienced before, and the heat of the Florida summer running the long runs.

Each run wasn't that bad, but every week they were longer and seemed to be harder.  What concerned me more was my pace.  I found out I should have been running slow, well below my actual marathon pace, on the long runs.

On my first 20 mile run, my legs were hurting bad toward the end, and I had to call my wife to bring me water because I was out and was feeling pain I'd experienced 15 years before in the military.  

Although the marathon training was only running, it was very close to the mind set I had during my military training.  I could do any run, even the 20 mile run, just fine, but the training was three months long and each week I would have to talk myself into doing the long runs. Doing this each week and consistently without taking time off was difficult. 

Sound familiar?

I had another issue.  Not only did I want to complete the marathon, but my goal was to do it under four hours.  When I looked up marathon stats, running under four hours was very hard to do your first time, unless you were gifted or ran in some sort of competitive running program.

When I was supposed to run slow on my long runs, I'd run half of it at my planned marathon pace.  I'd get exhausted and almost screw up my entire run.

Constantly adjusting, showing up everyday, and trying to exceed the normal standard of completing the race is exactly what special ops training is all about.

I could have said I'll try again next year when my leg cramped hard, or I could have said just getting across the finish line was enough.  I could have skipped a weekly long run, but I never did.

I trusted the program of Hal Higdon, and I stopped trying to run fast on the long runs as my program tapered down for the race.

I was nervous the day of the marathon because I feared my leg would cramp during the race.  The thought of not finishing scared me.

I was feeling good the day of the race, and i gave it everything I had.  The training paid off and I got across the finish line with a time of 3 hrs and 52 min.  You'd have thought I won the Olympics when I  saw a 3 in front of the minutes.

I say all this because I believe you have to have some experience of pushing yourself physically to be successful in special ops training.  Whether it be competitive sports, working a physically demanding job for a few years, or entering some sort of tough physical competition.

Put yourself into things that are long and hard

There is no doubt that you come out of special ops training like combat control a better version of yourself.  No matter what happens, the experience of that type of training helps you find out what you are capable of and where your limits actually are.

I saw a lot of similarities between the Special Ops training and marathon training.  Of course, it's still not as hard as military training; I slept in a comfortable bed every night, I carried no weight ( except for a camel pack for water),and I was just running.  

The day to day grind, the mental fortitude, and the feeling of accomplishment was the same for me.  I know a lot of people who could go out and run 10 to 15 miles and get it done, but the entire process of training for that distance takes another level of commitment.  

I'm not special because I ran a marathon, just like I'm not special because I graduated combat control school.

I just committed myself to a process.  I accepted the physical and mental challenges.  I accepted the process.  

If you've ever considered Naval special warfare, Army special forces, or Air Force special operations, it's crucial to gain some kind of experience doing something that's uncomfortable for an extended period of time.

You could get a job loading trailers at FEDEX, for over a year, and accept the process of doing hard physical labor and showing up everyday.  It really doesn't matter what type of job, just that it's physically demanding, which breeds mental fortitude.

If you're in high school, you try out for the wrestling team.  You could enroll yourself in a martial arts program.

You could enter a marathon or ultra marathon while in college, or any other time.

These are the types of experiences that you could fall back on when the days are long, and the nights are even longer in special ops training.

These are simple ways you could live your everyday life like a special operator, and it could even prepare you for the real thing.

Show up everyday for something that is hard.

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Kevin