Help - 1.5 Mile Run For Police Training in 15 Minutes

Hi All

I am new to this to be gentle!!

I am currently training (not very well) for joining the police in a few months time.  I passed the initial bleep test at level 6.7. I am struggling a bit with the running side of things I am more a plodder than a runner I am 5ft and feel like I am running 100 to the dozen when I run so any tips would be greatly appreciated.  I also have two young children to take into account and can only train 3 times a week 4 at a push!

At the moment I can run approx 16-17 minutes - slow I know (this is quite a hilly run) and I need to get to 15 minutes at the very least.

All help and advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Have a search through the forum for advice on running the 1.5 mile test, as its a common question from army recruits.

In summary, you need to run further than 1.5 miles at a slower pace (e.g. 3 miles at 12 min/mile if you want to run 1.5m at 10 min/mile) for most of your runs and then concentrate on speed for one run a week.  

Most of the Policemen and Women I see couldn't raise a gallop if their donuts caught fire, so I shouldn't be too concerned about it. I agree with Stutyr though, to achieve this you really need to be able to comfortably run/jog for over 20 minutes before you start to look for speed.

An easy way of adding speed when the time comes would be to turn your usual route into a hilly fartlek run - once into a comfortable pace look to mildly push the pace on the uphill sections, easing off when the hill levels out or goes downhill. If the hills are long break them up in 15-20 seconds efforts. Have the last few minutes of your run for a cool down 

EKGO wrote (see)

Most of the Policemen and Women I see couldn't raise a gallop if their donuts caught fire, so I shouldn't be too concerned about it. I agree with Stutyr though, to achieve this you really need to be able to comfortably run/jog for over 20 minutes before you start to look for speed.

lol I was thinkin the same thing, but thought it would literally be un-PC to say it!

Seriously though, and i'm not taking the piss, maybe i'm fitter than I think, but when ever I see these "armed forces fitness test run" type threads I always think is that it? A policeman only has to run 1.5 miles at 10 minute miles? I could do that the very first day I started running, and I was 14.5 stone (29 BMI).

Then the elite infantry only have to do what, 10.5 minutes for 1.5 miles? I thought they should be the cream of the crop? And especially at 18-25? I'd set it at 7.5 minutes!

We're paying for these people to sit around all day eating biscuits, the least they could do is attempt to attain some sort of athletic standard

Lardarse, I never thought I'd see you and PC in the same sentence 

moi?!

You're not the only one Lardarse - I'd have thought the training would be harder.  But if you're not used to it..

Katherine, If you can only train 3-4 times a week I'd ignore the distance and build to 30/40 min each run at a slower pace.  6 weeks of that should see your speed increase just from improved aerobic fitness.

I imagine as well it is like training for a race - most people will always do much better on the day than in training due to the adrenaline - and at 1.5 miles its unlikely you can go much too fast to burn out like you can in a 10k or half.

Good luck with it

When I joined the Police Force the time limit for the 1.5mile run was 13 minutes 30 seconds for women - 15 minutes seems a bit 'relaxed'.

Some good advice been given already Karen and if it's any encouragement/consolation to you, I initially struggled with the run element of the fitness test, but have since gone on to complete many a decent half marathon and a sub 4 hour marathon, so have faith in yourself

Hi Everyone - I am new here and just read this post... Maybe I am too late but I have a great resource that offers training on the Army Fitness tests for selection and as the above post mentions, there is a lot of advice and tips to be gained from this kind of resource. The website is www.armyfitnesstest.co.uk - It´s a new site and there is new information and training advice being produced daily.

Hopefully you already passed and no longer require this, however it may be useful for someone else!

To be fair they cant be too picky in the army. Would you volunteer to fight in some fruitless endeavour like Afghanistan????

Katherine Brown 4 wrote (see)

Thanks for all the help it is appreciated and still waiting on news

I hope youre not eating a donut while youre waiting.