Training sedentary people to run 1.5-mile test

Its real hard to make any significant improvements in only 6-8 weeks. However, since you can't control that, I would recommend that you give them workouts that would push them to their physical limits, not just jogging around.

I would suggest that you spend the first 4-6 weeks on hill repeats. Maybe between 200-400 meters long.

Then the last 2 weeks, work on 800 meter repeats at goal pace on the track.

I recommend hill repeats, because I feel that is the best workout to get the most improvement in a short period of time. There is less impact on the body, since it is up hill, and their V02 max will most likely improve faster than just conditioning type of training.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I think it's an important concern. I'm a little worried about your goal. These standards are there for a reason. Being a police officer requires that you are physically fit. Trying to get a sedentary person to meet a time trial standard in 6-8 weeks sounds similar to when I was in college cramming for a test. Yes, I passed the test, but I didn't retain the material. How many of these recruits will pass the test by the skin of their teeth and then revert back to their sedentary lifestyle. If the recruit can't pass the test on their own then maybe this isn't the job for that person.

Great point.

There's quite a bit of case law out there regarding fitness requirements for law enforcement. Unfortunately, the current case law makes it very difficult to implement fitness standards for tenured employees. In order to do so, you have to demonstrate that the fitness standards are "job related." Police officers generally do not chase anyone for more than a couple hundred feet, so police departments that have tried to implement fitness requirements, including a 1.5-mile run, have been sued and lost on a regular basis.

The courts generally will allow the entry level fitness requirements, but they don't allow departments to maintain those same standards once an individual has been hired and put to work. It has to do with the additional "rights" that come with being a public employee. When you're applying for a government job, you don't have any of these rights. But once you've been given the job, you can only be disciplined or terminated for "just cause." If a police offcer can't run the 1.5-mile in a given time and is disciplined or terminated, they can sue their employer and will generally win. It makes no sense, but that's where we're at right now.

The smart thing to do would be to have a job-related agility course that encompasses the things police officers actually do: run at top speed for about 50-100 yards, hop over two or three chainlink fences, sprint another 50-100 yards, then tackle a guy on asphalt and wrestle him into handcuffs. Unfortunately, that's not the fitness standard I have to work with. I have to get recruits to a point where they can run a decent 1.5 miles on a track, followed by a decent 300-meter sprint, do a set number of situps and pushups in a minute, do a max leg press and a max bench press. The only real problem we've had has been with the 1.5-mile run.

I'm primarily trying to determine if the aerobic conditioning is what I should be focusing on, or if I should focus more on raising their V02 max with 400-800 meter interval work.

well hmm that is somewhat valid but also you dont want to run out of police officers(i just typed that and then left the pun in hehe). really its good for police to be in shape but they do have cars/bikes/horses its not like they have to sprint after every suspect.

And if it was very critical for them to be in shape then there would have to be an absolute standard not like graduated for older people/women etc.

hmm in answering the question yeah they should prob do some faster running certainly at the pace they have to run in the race. after 3-4 weeks of walking/jogging you should be able to do some faster running- if you are going to be able to run any kind of speed in the race that is. The idea of 200s and 400s is good race pace i would just have them do that take as much rest as necessary so they get used to the pace and running fast even when tired- then hopefully they can gut it out in the race(another pun hehe oiy!).

The other poster is right though you dont want them to hate the training if it can be avoided but lots of people would look at it that way unfortunately i think.

I have to do one of these 1.5 milers next month, I'm going to try and go around 6:30 =)

The greatest short-term improvement will most definitely come through moderate exercise and extreme dieting. The 6'2" 220lb guy has about 60lbs to shed before he's at or near his best racing weight.

Good points all around. Obviously, you've inherited an odd situation, as most of us would like them to train consistently for most of their careers. But if you have 6-8 weeks to get them over a hump, before they can sit down and eat donuts full time forever, I think "tips" points are good:

1. Hill repeats can make poeple a lot faster quicker than most other tricks -- it will improve their form and let them relax better at speed.

2. I think long repeats -- e.g 800-1200 meters, possibly included in really nasty fartlek with the intent of just exhausting them, will help put some steel in their legs and lungs (just put a box of krispy kremes at the end of the 1200m, and they'll pull through).

Just curious -- what times do a 25 year-old or 30 year-old man have to run?

Why do they need to run? Can't their bullets fly faster than the fastest sprinter on seroids?

This is a little off topic, but do any runner officers out there have stories of chasing down suspects? Those are always fun to hear.

I chased a guy for about 1/2 mile once on a dirt road along a river bank. We had a warrant charging him with a homicide he had committed about a week earlier. I was in decent shape at the time (4:58 miler, 1:22 HM, in my late 20s), but the uniform, bulletproof vest, and gun belt slow you down quite a bit. I just continued running his pace (about 8:00 pace), figuring he'd run out of oxygen before I did, so the handcuffing would be a little easier.

When he decided he'd had enough, he shuffled over to the riverbank, reached down and picked up a stick, which he then held up against his throat. The idiot was threatening to kill himself by cutting his jugular with a twig! It took me a few seconds to stop laughing and gain my composure, but once he realized the absurdity of what he was doing, he put the stick down and allowed me to handcuff him. That was the longest, and funniest, foot pursuit I've had.

who needs to run 1.5 miles when you can shoot the suspect, plant one in his or her leg, and say the suspect threatened your life. I'm all for more police officers shooting people. Teach those bastards a lesson, maybe they will reconsider running if they know they are going to be shot at. Plus it gets things done the American way, with the least effort possible.

Mike Tyson wrote:

who needs to run 1.5 miles when you can shoot the suspect, plant one in his or her leg, and say the suspect threatened your life. I'm all for more police officers shooting people. Teach those bastards a lesson, maybe they will reconsider running if they know they are going to be shot at. Plus it gets things done the American way, with the least effort possible.

LOL, I think it's appropriate that you're posting under the name "mike tyson."

Spider wrote:

Just curious -- what times do a 25 year-old or 30 year-old man have to run?

The times needed for a male to enter the Police Academy are as follows:

20-29 12:25

30-39 12:51

40-49 13:46

50-59 14:54

These are the 40 percentile figures. In order to graduate from the Academy, they have to meet the 60 percentile figures, which are significantly faster, but we have 22 weeks to get them to that point, so it's not too difficult. We usually have 8 weeks or less to get them in condition to meet these entry level times.

do you have to run those times with a gun and belt on or can you ditch the belt and just carry the gun?

btw, if you can not run with scissors (i learned that in school) are you allowed to run with a gun?

We've got the same problem here. We use mainly intervals 200-400 with walking between for the real challenges. We get mixed results. I wish we were more successful and I could give you better advice.

I like the hill repeat idea....just never thought of it. Be careful of injury (especially achilles). We experience that quite frequently when taking a sedentary person and starting a fitness program for the first time.

I agree that the best workout to do is hill repeats to get into shape fast.

I was on a Cross-Country scholarship in college, and we didn't have a track and field problem. So, what do you think I did for the rest of the year. Get fat and out of shape!

Two months before the cross-country season started, I would start to panic because of how out of shape I was. That is when I would start my crazy hill workout to get into shape fast. After 8 weeks of the most pain in my life, and losing 2 pounds a week, I usually would get back where I left off the year before.

With the short amount of time you have to get the recruits into shape I would suggest interval training.

You should have them perform a trial of the 1.5mi. Based on these times have them alternate between the following examples:

3-5X 1mi @ Trial pace +1:00, 200M walk between

4-6X 400M @ Trial pace -1:00, 400M walk between

This is not optimal training for the long term however we are talking short term here and this is the best way

to achieve the results you are looking for...

Good luck

I don't know, but if san jose fitness can take a walker/middle age mom and get them to run (jog) the marathon in 12 weeks I would think you can do the same thing for the recruit over the same period for a mile and a half and most of the middle ages overweight moms run 8 to 9 min pace after their training. Perhaps you need to talk to your local charity marathon training group.