Pushing yourself to the limits

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Another unit from around the world running in full kit.

I sometimes have a chuckle on here when I see some actifit posts by some individuals when they give their times for distances covered. I know how hard it is to achieve times as I spent two years doing this in the army running against the clock twice a week. In the beginning it was multiple times a day though.

The Army has a set time and distance that you have to complete every week and this is drummed into you from day one. You have 12 minutes to cover 2.4 Kilometers. It doesn't sound like much,but it has to be achieved as a group initially.

I have played team sports all my life and can assess who in the group is going to struggle quite quickly. When we were split up into our platoons you don't get to choose who is with you,but it is done alphabetically. There was 30 members to a platoon and those are your mates for basic training.

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This is an aerial view of my base in Durban where I spent 18 months.It was very small as it was an elite unit with about 60 Operators. An Operator is the term used for someone who does special work, normally behind enemy lines.

I was fairly fit already and didn't have much fat on me, others weren't so lucky and they were in for a torrid time.We had one guy who just didn't look as though he had done any physical activity in his life and the only running he may have done was to the fridge. You always have some superstar who rates himself who tears off into the distance not realizing what doing it as a group means. Reality soon sunk in though as we repeated this exercise over and over again for weeks on end. We would repeat this throughout the day having breathers in between and sometimes not.

We could get 29 out of the 30 making the times,but one we struggled with. This guy wasn't really a runner and even though he had lost a third of his body weight he was getting close,but we needed to drag him the whole way. I am glad to say we finished the basic training with everyone making the time and it wasn't easy.We had all suffered together including our superstar who after being beaten up became a team player. we had all lost stacks of weight and I was at my skinniest and I even had a six pack. I have upsized now as a barrel sounds better than a six pack. Kidding, it is more like a mini casket and my six pack is just in hiding.

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This aerial photograph shows the road we used to run up as part of the course.

When I moved to my new base the dreaded 2.4 kilometer run got worse as the route had a hill involved and we had to be fully kitted up now.I am sure the other bases never had this as why do the Special forces have to prove a point I don't know. Everyone on the base that was in this unit did this every Wednesday afternoon. If you had two legs you were running as it was something you just had to do. Everyone on this base was super fit and I didn't know the older guys in the base would be going off on a special mission. Most of the base ended up behind bars in the Seychelles after an attempted coup.I went through the list and was just saying no way as I knew a vast majority of them. The Zimbabwean government had tipped off the Seychelles government so they had no chance and knew they were coming. If you have watched Dad's Army most of them weren't that far off and were in their mid forties and only fifties. Another post maybe.

Full kit running is not easy as it includes your back pack,a rifle with extra magazines and a full water bottle.Running in boots is not fun either and my funny size 18 army boots must have weighed a few Kilograms each. The total weight that we were carrying on top of our body weight must have been an extra 30 kilograms or so.

This thankfully was done on an individual format and was the same test the Operators had to do.I wasn't crazy enough to sign up an extra few years and try and do their courses as I am not joking very few used to get through.I was fit and strong ,but not nuts.When we used to help with the elimination rounds only about 2 percent made it through.I will cover that in another post why so many dropped out as it is the opposite ones who you would think at the start who actually make it.

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A certificate of appreciation is what was given to you for giving 2 years of your life away.

I am in no condition now to try the 2.4 km in 12 minutes as I would probably kill myself shooting cholesterol at speed through my arteries lol. I would like to get back in shape slowly though and will do it over the coming months.