I was editing my Training Record spreadsheet again (I do that a lot), and I noticed that it has been a year (more now) since I did my very humbling diagnostic CPFT/APFT. Obviously my laser-like focus and monk-like commitment to achieving the 375 CPFT is nothing to brag about at this point. Neither is the now week-old commitment I made to doing another diagnostic to gauge my current condition. I was going to do the Sunday before last . . . but didn’t . . . and still haven’t.
I have – of course – iron clad “reasons” that I haven’t done it yet. These include things like “life” and “I’m getting into a good workout routine and don’t want to disrupt it”, etc. But the real reason is that full effort CPFT’s are uncomfortable and I’m avoiding that discomfort. But I really do want to buckle down and knock it out. And while I know that I’m nowhere near a 375 scoring level, I can guarantee an improvement over last year’s diagnostic.
In that pathetic performance I eked out forty-five push-ups; now I do fifty push-ups every morning before breakfast just to grease the groove. I only ran a 16:28. That’s an 8:14 pace for two miles. I cringe at the shame of it. A week or two back I ran a 5K (that’s 3.1 miles for you Imperial folks) at a 7:47 pace. Not sure where I would come out on sit-ups, but at a minimum I don’t think it would be worse than I did last year.
So it’s not fear of doing poorly (well, TOO poorly) that is keeping me from doing it. It’s just laziness and dislike of max effort discomfort. And the fact that I’m getting into a good running/lifting rhythm and don’t want to mess it up. But I WILL. Here’s the plan: I’ll lift again today and Friday, run on Thursday and take Saturd . . . crap. Just realized this weekend is not a good time for this because I’m going up to Dallas to link up with my brother and watch an Army football game.
New plan: regular workouts this week, including a run on Saturday morning. Enjoy the football game on Saturday, relax on Sunday, recover and rest up on Monday, diagnostic CPFT on Tuesday and back to our regularly scheduled programming on Wednesday.
Boom. Done. Next Tuesday be on the lookout for a new CPFT score update. And maybe some embarrassing videos as a bonus.