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LostandFound wrote:I think as long as you are making progress on your fitness and times etc then use what works for you. Personally, I hate treadmills and just can't stick with them so I do all my running on the road, but I've also read stories on here of lads who only ever trained on treadmills and then went to PRMC and passed. As said above, put a slight incline on to give you a proper beasting, but I think the true measure of your present abilities can only be judged out on the road so just keep measuring your progress and youll be reet.

Thats true. I was worried about recent anti-treadmill posts so i tried running on the road and achieved a time of 19:14 - i hope thats going to see me through.

Exactly the same as me mate - I was using treadmill to measure myself and seriously was struggling to do 5k in 23mins, but then went out on the roads, and did a 5k in just over 19mins. I think with me I always just feel like I'm running faster than I actually am when I'm on a treadmill, so its probably purely psychological.
Well I've jacked my gym membership in now anyway so Ive got no choice but to leg it round the roads (hurricane winds or not!)

eddie_2006 wrote:digitalfreefall were you given the choice like pvtdouhnut or did they just say you can have another go in 6 months time and that was it?

I believe that if you complete the run outside of the time you are given the choice to stay, if you are put in the back of the van thats it, your going home and have a full 6 months to contemplate what a twat you are.

lodgi wrote:what was your 3 mile road time before you went down?

21mins

Paulc83 wrote:How come the 3 miler is so hard then, if you can do it on the road at home whats the difference at ctcrm? its done in trainers isnt it?

If you are capable of running the 3 miler and fit it shouldnt be any more difficult than at home, the bit that killed me was the truck in the road, when I ran 3 miles at home it was always at a steady pace after sprinting to catch up with the Pti my energy levels dropped and I fell further and further back.
Look I could start a long list of excuses as to why I failed....... the bottom line is that I was ill prepared, although its unlikely you will face obstacles on the 3 miler its something you must be prepared for, if you cant handle a few 200-300m sprints mid run and settle back into a 7min mile pace you will struggle.

I dont want the PRMC to sound all doom and gloom guys its not an unachievable level of fitness your expected to be at.

Take the advice of PvtDonught and myself get yourself out twice a week and work on your sprint training, IT HAS TO BE DONE.

Wow! Lot of posts on this one, don't want anyone to think I was posting and then ducking out

First of all I should say that I've never been able to run 5km in under 21 mins on a treadmill, but run it on roads at around 19:30 mark.

Running on a treadmill doesn't simulate weather conditions, surface or gradient, all of which have a bearing on the effort required to complete a run and consequently all factors affect your muscular and cardiovascular conditioning.

Even if you've found a route on a 'flat surface' the chances of that route being 'spirit-level flat' - as a treadmill is at 0% incline, is highly unlikely.

As I said, I find timed runs on a treadmill harder than on road, but if i spend too much time on the treadmills and not enough outside, then my road run times increase.

I was given the 80% effort figure by the QMSI at the Army gym I use, perhaps it is a case of chinese whispers, or maybe its just more appropriate to go down the sit-on-the-fence route and say: 'running on treadmills may require up to 80% less effort than running on roads.'

@ rgj-rifleman: If you look through any of the online running resources, or through running publications you'll find the percentage varies from 1% - 3% with 2% being the most quoted (IMO it's the whole fence and sitting thing again). Not dissimilar from trying to obtain a concrete figure on what period of rest you should take between sets when lifting weights, you're never going to find one. The way I see it if you run at 3% then all you're bases are covered, but I don't doubt that 2% is fine.

At the end of the day I'm not a qualified expert on treadmills or running, and these are just my thoughts/opinions and as I've said before, nobody's word on fitness (including mine!) should be taken as gospel.


...But I'm a probably right. That's a joke.

Lads that 3 miler was a killer, remember you will be wearing combats that are probably going to get soaked because of the puddles you will be running through which make them heavy. PvtDonught & digitalfreefall keep you chins up lads. That truck was a killer though.

One of the lads in my room said he had a stopwatch on and it was run in around 18 mins, but I dont know if he was telling the truth.

Remember theres a lot more to a PRMC than fitness. You have to get things done the way the training team want or you'll lose your free time or much needed energy. You'll be tired and more than likely peed of at something, but youv got to show the commando spirit and get yourself through (its only 3 days). I would write more but Im away for a sleep.

daz89 wrote: One of the lads in my room said he had a stopwatch on and it was run in around 18 mins, but I dont know if he was telling the truth.

Have you ever personally run at that pace before and do youself believe that to be true?. 18 minutes is mental!

It was a fast pace but its unlikely, the Cpl in charge of our PRMC said on the first night that the margin of error for the 3 miler is minimal and the furthest out the Staff have ever been is +12sec
The PTI staff run the 3 miler every week, know the route and have proper watches

I doubt it aswell, it was ran at quite a fast pace. If it was 18 mins a lot more would of failed, including me

So do you think it was a little "unfair" that you had to suffer the truck while the rest buggered off ahead?

I wouldnt personally say it was unfair....a pain in the a*s maybe lol.
I think its just one of those things that happen i guess and if those of us who were at the back had been at the front of the group, we would probably have a slightly different outlook on it. Its just the way things go sometimes I think.
What is silly though, is a lorry that size trying to go down small lanes like that

Pvt Doughnut wrote:I wouldnt personally say it was unfair....a pain in the a*s maybe lol.
I think its just one of those things that happen i guess and if those of us who were at the back had been at the front of the group, we would probably have a slightly different outlook on it. Its just the way things go sometimes I think.
What is silly though, is a lorry that size trying to go down small lanes like that

Sods law springs to mind, probably the only truck to pass through there in 6 months

The driver must have thought we were trying to tip him over or something because im sure just about every person was grabbing onto or bashing against the truck as they tried to avoid a big mud puddle while squeezing through

sound abit harsh the PTIs not being a little more lenient with you and then giving extra beastings later to make sure you could of run 3 miles had the lorry not been there...

Thats just the way she goes unfortunately, your expected to overcome and adapt to anything that gets in your way.
After the run the Cpl asked if we could tell him any car registrations from vehicles we passed or describe buildings Most of us had enough trouble just with the running.

Pvt Doughnut wrote:Ive got a 3 month wait and Digital has a 6 month wait I believe.

Unlucky there lads, i feel for ya, and i've taken your advice in well. Well, if youve got that wait you and i might be on the same PRMC together, because i can see mine being about april time matey and i cant wait!!!