Retired Marine, I don't use any specific physical training techniques that I learned as a Marine. Marine Corps physical training is really about an overall fitness, not being a good/great/elite endurance athlete. However, Marine Corps training does tech one how to suffer, mentally tough out a physically exhausting event. I use this technique quite a bit, most notably the final 3 miles of a running race or run leg, I just repeat the mantra "3 miles, just a PFT"

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I'm a Navy vet. When I was active duty in the 90's the physical testing was really a joke. I was that oddball that brought my bike and trainer on deployments. When we were shore based I don't really remember ever having to wait for or share a lane at the base pools. So, to answer your question, no I don't use any training methods learned from the Navy.

trav

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"As for "xxxxxx"...what can I say? You sound like a dick. If you don't want to answer the question, just shut up." AllezPappa

A Navy vet here and I have had a few experiences from my active duty days that help me as a triathlete. The open water swimming part of triathlons has been helped significantly by my past experiences swimming in the open ocean, aircrew water survival training and the cold water training I received. I was fortunate enough to have a good CO on my first ship who thought that swimming in the deepest water on Earth was a cool thing, so I was able to swim over the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific once. Swimming in water 38,000 ft deep with swells around 15 ft high makes swimming in any river, lake or ocean seem pretty tame.

I also did a lot of cycling and running when I was in the Navy, so that background supported me well when I first started competing in triathlons and running events.

Spent 24 years on active duty. When training or a race gets tough. I go back and think about all the crazy and difficult stuff I did while I was in. Then I just smile I remind myself...I'm just swimming, riding a bike or just jogging along. And this is nothing compared to what I did in the past. Then I embrace the suck and know I'll be sleeping in my own bed later that day..........

Embrace the suck....yes love that SH!#...and sleeping in your own bed beats the dead of winter in Korea in a G.P. Medium with a potbelly stove any day. But I'd never trade it....

As another former Marine I agree.

I am active duty CG, and I think the only way that helps is that it's a reason to live at the beach so I could have easy access to open water training, and my current command is probably more supportive of taking vacation for races, a long lunch, etc than your average private sector employer.
Otherwise, almost nothing from my job translates to triathlon. I have to run 1.5 mi twice a year where passing is 12:51 or something. I swim once a year 100m in a drysuit to prove it fits and isn't leaking. If I'm in the water in my job as a commercial vessel inspector, something has gone horribly wrong. Other jobs in the CG like helo rescue swimmers might have more crossover, but their work training is to swim short distances in flippers and a mask while assisting somebody, not 1500m for time in a trisuit.

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IG: idking90

Check out Team Red White & Blue:

www.teamrwb.org

LOTS of veterans involved! And we've got facebook groups for tri, endurance running, cycling... just about everything :) And applications are active for the yearly Tri camp - no experience necessary.

Retired USAF (mid 70's - mid 90's). USAF "PT" was a joke back then. We were supposed to pass a 1.5 mile run once a year with some ridiculously lax required time (14 minutes?). The squadron commander would get us out to play flag football on a Friday afternoon with a couple of kegs and we'd sign everyone off. Or they'd just say, "Go run sometime and write your time down." We'd have guys (and gals) "on profile" who couldn't run because they had "a bad back", "knee injury from HS football", etc. We joked about the guys on the "fat boy program" doing stress tests on flight suits, and they never lost any weight. If you were one of the few guys who spent some time at the gym, you were there playing racquetball or lifting weights. A few of us would go on our own and do some running, and even fewer did some cycling, but nothing like what I do now to train for triathlon. However, most of us were pretty good at doing 12 oz curls on Friday night at the Club!

The USAF is much better today when it comes to expecting their folks to be in shape.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

As a retired Navy Corpsman with 13+ years serving with the Marines I agree

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

That's debatable. I've found that PT is still a bit of a joke and profiles are still widely used to get people out of testing. Expectations have increased but most of my triathlon training has been done in spite of the PT program. But hey...they're talking about using Crossfit a lot more in PT programs, sooo...

I was on active duty and/or active Reserve status in the USAF from 1984 to 2012 and i'd say the AF is def more serious about PT now than in the 80s, but still not to the point of requiring what most anyone would call a "high level" of fitness. I was a Civil Engineering officer and we had squadron/group PT on M/W/F mornings at 0600, but it was only 15-20 min of calisthenics, then at least 30 min of aerobic exercise on your own.

The one thing that the AF did do for me was that i realized that i was actually relatively decent at running. The first time i ran the 1.5 mi for time i ran a 9:36 just based on my competitive swim background with no run training at all. The 9:36 was 3rd overall out of around 100 airmen being tested that day in 1985. Obv a 6:24/mi pace for 1.5 mi is nothing outstanding but, compared to the vast majority, better than most:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Active duty Navy (12 years) and the military life is very conducive for endurance sports. There is a gym on every military base, often multiple, and you will usually see races (5k, 10k etc.) being hosted on the larger bases (San Diego, Norfolk etc.).......I'm an Aircrew instructor so fitness is just part of the job. Thank you for your service btw, and all the vets in here too!

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"I would definitely smell her seat after a century ride"

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I spent 10 years as a Navy Aircrew Rescue Swimmer. I don't apply my training techniques, but the experience I gained in the open water is applied. I grew up swimming from a very young age and swam competitively all the way through high school, so that comes a little bit easier to me. We were also in the pool a lot with my job, just with a wetsuit and some very big fins towing other people. So that didn't help my swim training.

Everytime we ran in the Navy, not many people were strong runners. In my specific rate training we ran in training for fitness over longer distances and practiced carrying a medevac litter. So that wasn't a big help.

I rode BMX a lot growing up as well, but was off a bike until the last year I was in the Navy. I think that my experience riding as a kid helped a little, but no military training helps you ride a bike.

Otherwise, as others mentioned, the overall fitness goal was a way that led me to triathlon, but it took me a while to breakdown the muscle mass I accumulated doing crossfit exercises and the like. I felt like a rock in the pool, and my swim mechanics suffered a bit. But overall, my fitness level was higher than it had ever been before, just not for anything specifically. Even with a more specialized job that required a high level of fitness, I wouldn't implement any Navy PT techniques into my training today.


jake

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Get outside!

Yeah, the USAF wouldn't need to be doing much in the way of physical conditioning today in order to be better than we were back in the 70's-80's. My last couple of years in the early 90's, the USAF did away with the annual 1.5 mile run requirement. The justification was that folks sat around all year and then they'd go out on that one day and try to do the run. Supposedly, people were passing out (or worse) from the exertion.

I train and race with some active duty USAF folks now. They're probably above average when it comes to fitness among USAF personnel so I don't use them as examples of the overall level of fitness. However, they tell me about going to mandatory PT (we never had that) and how failing the PT test (which requires more than just the run which I can only remember actually doing twice in my career, and that was while I was doing a tour on the USAFE IG team) can hurt your career and even lead to getting kicked out of the USAF. And I don't see the "fat boys" in their flight suits that were pretty common back in the day.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

The mental side of everything is what I carry over. There is no substitute for what you learn after completing time overseas or going to one of "the schools," (take pick and insert suckfest).

Was AD (INF), now Guard. Thankful for every opportunity. Endurance sports, and actually finding out when AD that I love running- but despised formation runs. Best part of the day would be when COB rolled around and I knew that I could go run tank trails until my hearts content and not deal with the knucklehead in front puking/sweating out dollar long-necks from the night prior.

I wouldn't wonder too much about "how good" you could have been if you applied yourself b/f. Even if the worse case scenario is that you squandered away a successful "career" as a runner or triathlete, your service and sacrifice far outweighs any honor you would have from a PR or overall win.

Just a word of caution- you will have an ingrained and overarching ability to push way past injury thresholds, especially if you took part in selections or schools of a combat-arms nature where it was your job to endure. Remember now that you're out, no one cares if you toughed it out for a certain evolution, but your body will thank you with longevity as an endurance athlete if you make sure to not work through all injuries.

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http://www.reathcon.com

According to the graphic in this thread, I was "I like the way this sucks" :-) 10 years Army service both active and reserves. I liked running in the Army, but found I love it more now that I don't "have" to do it. Getting up early for workouts was no big deal when I started endurance sports, so that helped.

Ya, gotta do 1 min of push-ups and 1 min of sit-ups, plus they measure your waist, weight, and height, and of course then calculate your BMR. During our overlap time from around 1984 to around '94 or '95, IIRC we ran the 1.5 miles every year, and then around 94/95 they went to the bike test which allegedly calculated your VO2 max but yet I did not even break a sweat the few times I did it. They put an HRM on me and measured my HR response to various loads but the loads never went very high, and apparently they had an equation to calculate your VO2 max based on this very sub-max testing. I think they only took my HR up to around 75% and even that was for only around a minute or so. The whole test was only circa 15 min tops:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Prior service army and veteran. The biggest thing I took home from my service was probably commitment to my goals. I've had times in my cycling and former tri years where I felt like taking the easy road but knew that quitting just wasn't an option, and wanted to see myself complete said goals. I think the way the army taught me to exercise has its place but it's not sport specific. While I can cycle well now these days and have lower body fat and feel fit, if I was told to complete one of the usual 20k rucks I was told to do prior I would probably struggle more than I did previously... And I'm only 28, so I can't fully blame age.
The only thing I really took from my military is to keep some form of general overall physical function. So while I do mainly cyclocross as my sport, I still ensure I can do pull-ups, sit ups, and generally keep a decent upper body, however leg strength and endurance are still priority.

22+ years (and still going) as an Active Duty Marine (Infantry - both enlisted and officer). My n=1 experience is that Marine Corps fitness is all about where you are, the leaders you have, and what's the priority for a given unit for their given mission. The lower on the food chain you go, the less ability to have to make personal exercise decisions/scheduling. At the very bottom, its all about what your 20 year old NCO wants to do or what your 22 year old lieutenant wants to do that day. Most often whatever that is has no relationship to a thoughtful and individualized progression of load and intensity. Fast forward in time (and in rank) a bit, you have a bit more flexibility in what you are able/have time to do under your cognizance. Group fitness in the units that I have been in has focused on mission specific, functional fitness type stuff (getting ready for schelping gear around Afghanistan mountains, Iraqi deserts, learning to swim well because you are in a boat unit, etc). Very little of which easily translates into long course triathlon stuff. And I don't believe it should. As a Marine (and an American tax payer), I don't care an iota how fast my nation's front line troops can ride a bike. I do care that they can go and perform their missions that this country requires them to do.

On the personal front, I've been lucky to have bosses that enjoyed (or at least put up) endurance sports, so I've been able to train and participate when my duties allow. However, the job always comes first. I do think I've gained some of the previously mentioned mental toughness though the training/schools I've been to. However, my endurance sport physical training routine/regime is definitely not the norm for my peers and is typically considered 'whacko'. Cross-fit and mud runs are all the rage in my world, Ironman is just silly.

I was just wondering how many veterans or active duty are into endurance sports? I am on staff at both Team Red, White and Blue (http://www.teamrwb.org) and US Military Endurance Sports (http://www.usmes.org). We have over 1,300 triathlon members on the Team RWB Roster, roughly 70% Military and 30% Civilians. Nationally Team RWB has over 60,000 members, same 70/30 ratio. For USMES we have right around 600 members (227 Triathletes and 476 cyclist, you can choose both so there is some overlap.) USMES is only for military, so no civilians there.

Do any of you still use some of the training methods learned while you were in? Nope none of it. 10 years in the AF, 3 on the flight line in maintenance, 2 in the Post Office, 4 in an office job with maintenance. The last 5 years offered me a lot of time to train and probably close to 200 days of Permissive TDY to race, so from that side of things I was really lucky and had great support from my chain of command.

I wonder now if I had applied myself how good I could be at this point. I ask myself this same thing all the time. I always come to the conclusion that I may have been burned out by now, or even earlier so may have never made it to the level that I am at now.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

13+ years as an active duty Marine. Couldn't have said it any better. With rank comes the freedom to pursue your own fitness goals, but it so gives me the opportunity to influence the fitness in my younger Marines more as well.

Not US serviceman so take this for what it is worth. Royal Canadian Air Force 1983-1996. I was a co founder of the Royal Military College tri team in 1986...RMC is our single combined services college equivalent in some ways to the US academies, but I would say academically more difficult but easier from a military training perspective. Anyway, while the pros were inventing what it took to be a pro athlete, we were watching what they were doing and trying to figure out how to be servicemen/women and competitive athletes, while be tired, time constrained, sleep deprived and all the other crap that comes along with Armed Services life (and yes, I was Air Force so as the cartoon strip above shows, we had it pretty good). I was fairly highly recruited by the Airborne Regiment guys given my athletic performances back then to which I would reply, "why on earth would any sane man jump out of a perfectly serviceable C-130 Hercules...". In any case, we really were trying to figure out how to train around service life through a lot of trial and error, and I would say "mainly error" but what I learned was that there are many opportunities all day to get fitter....crank out a 10 min run, have a moment then do some pushups, or do some squats. Jog everywhere in my military kit where I would normally march/walk. I had a chin up bar in my locker so everytime I went to get kit out of it, I forced myself to do some chin ups. If I was standing around with my ruck sack on doing nothing I'd crank out a bunch of squats. Why walk stairs when you could run up them....any idle moment was a chance to get fitter for the physical fitness test and associated bragging rights. All of these were opportunities that added up and I apply the same philosophy today 31 years after being a recruit. What I learned in the military is that everyone gets 168 hours in a week and you can't "FIND" time because everyone gets the same amount. The question is MAKING time for what you view as a priority. You can't "FIND" time just like you can't "FIND" money. It just does not happen, or at least that's what was drilled into my head during recruit camp and its stuck in to this day...we have to "MAKE" time for priorities. If training is a priority then time will be MADE for it.

One more thing I learned in the military is that they will intentionally scream at you for meaningless things like having shiny boots, or dust on your uniform or other assorted make work tasks that have to be tended to every day. They are only there to divert you from real priorities, but no one will tell you in the military or in most companies what the real priorities are...but a zillion people will make you hurry up and wait to go no where fast doing nothing useful. What I learned is to tactfully or blatantly find a way to bow out of these task, and take the heat and shouting that goes with blowing them off and focus on what is really valuable to the organization and valuable to yourself. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they don't but you have to take care of what is valuable to the organization so that you can do things like training or spend time with your family cause if you don't take care of the stuff that is of value, you will feel the heat. In private enterprise you will be fired, in the military since they don't really fire you the outcome is even worse because you get stuck in the organization doing crap work which is really a worse outcome because you have no way out.

While most of this is not directly related to training, it kind of is...because if you can't manage your time and priorities, no training plan will be of any good because you will never be able to hit the workouts.

So perhaps the most useful thing I learned in the military that affects training is how organizations work and how to deliver what the organization really needs while carving off some part of the day for me. If you can figure that out, most people who really want it badly enough can train like a pro even on a full time job...recovery may not be like a pro, but we can't have it all. Age groupers don't have as much free time, but they tend to have money. Pros have more free time, but most have no money.