Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

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marauder
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Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by marauder » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:03 am

Just curious as to what everyone thinks is the best distance to train with. There's already an exercise topic in the off topic section, but I figured we could steer that to be more water warfare centric.
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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by the oncoming storm » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:53 am

At a guess I would say the most useful for our wars would probably be the 800m, but for larger (Vermin War sized) battles I would say 5k because moving troops quickly over a (relatively) long distance is useful for flanking moves, ambushes, and encirclement's.
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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by isoaker » Wed Sep 17, 2014 8:54 am

Isn't the best distance to run just over 50' farther than how far your expected opponents can run? :goofy:

More seriously, I think two distances are needed: a short sprint distance and a longer endurance haul, both while carrying one's full water warfare load-out.

For sprinting, my guess is that 100m to 200m should suffice. For endurance training, I wouldn't expect most to be continually running without break for over 1500m so I'd choose that. Of course, these distances are being based on distances used for the Olympic Games, but seem like good distances to start with. Granted, in a water fight, I foresee lots of multiple quick sprints as opposed to prolonged endurance runs. If anything, perhaps shorter, but multiple sets would make more sense to use to practice (e.g. 3 sets of 30m each - sprint/stop/sprint-again)?

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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by SEAL » Wed Sep 17, 2014 11:46 am

I do just under 6 miles. Ideally I'd do it every night, but with school and other crap it usually ends up being around 3 nights a week. I never was much of a sprinter so I focus more towards endurance. Playin' to my strengths, ya know? Next spring I want to try running a half-marathon.

That's what I feel the best distance is for me, but it might be different for others.
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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by isoaker » Wed Sep 17, 2014 12:01 pm

For endurance, after reading the oncoming storm's thoughts, I'd have to agree that longer (5-6miles) is probably better for training. Not sure I'd make the 1 mile mark, but that's me and I know I need more exercise. :goofy:

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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by SSCBen » Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:04 pm

I used this training plan when I spent a summer in New Mexico. It's for 5Ks, but it'll really get you into good general running shape, I think. It has a mixture of different distances and speeds, and a calculator to figure out what pace you should train at. For water wars, I'd modify or add some runs with fully loaded water blasters.

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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by marauder » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:46 am

That's pretty good. Right now with ROTC we are running a mix of 2-3 mile runs, 1.5 mile last man ups around the lake with a set of pyramid pushups and situps followed by another 1.5 mile last man up, hill sprints, and 4.5 milers. We split up into ability groups and I'm the leader for the Alpha run group. I think we ran the 4.5 mile in a little over 24 minutes on our last run. I try to do box jumps at the gym afterward when I'm lifting weights.

There's a guy in Alpha run group who is sponsored by Adidas or Rebok (can't remember which) who runs the 400m I think. Dude is insanely fast. He chose the sponsorship over a scholarship because you can't take both, and he can take the ROTC scholarship to pay for school and still have the sponsorship. The biggest problem is trying not to over train. When I run on my own I like to run just for fun or as a stress relief, so my method is nothing more complex than just going out and running until I feel like coming back. The problem is that I want to work on my explosiveness and this doesn't really do much for that. I almost always come out 1st when we do our timed 2 mile run, which is required if you are in the Army, but there are a lot of people who get that initial burst much faster than me. One of the most difficult opponents I've ever faced ran at my undergrad. I had a 150 and he had an Arctic Blast. We fought at night and he'd just appear out of nowhere, unload the flood nozzle, then disappear.
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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by SSCBen » Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:29 pm

There's a lot you can do to get explosive speed. Certain types of weight lifting that requires explosive strength (e.g., cleans) can be really helpful. You also can do high speed running drills, especially with lots of turns as these'll appear in real water wars often. You might be familiar with the pro-agility drill from your training (if not, Google it). You can incorporate things like that into your training, or use it as a benchmark. I would also suggest talking the fast guy in your group, as I'm sure he knows a lot more about the subject than I do.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, a lot of initial speed has to do with the composition of your muscles. Some people have more "fast twitch" muscles than others and apparently there is little you can do about this. But, I'm sure you can still improve your initial speed with the right training.

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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by marauder » Sun Oct 05, 2014 5:46 pm

I'm awful at squats because your form has to be perfect. I really need to go with someone that knows what they are doing, so I just have been using dumbbells whenever I do squats. Truthfully I did that a good bit last summer, but haven't since then. I do box jumps and hill runs every week, but I rarely do leg press or anything like that. I'd really like to get a jump rope and get into that, but I'd have to go outside as there's not enough room in my living room with the fan.

I know that when I was at my fastest I improved a lot from simply doing P90x Plyo for a few months. I dropped my 2 mile time from about 12:30 to 10:15. That's certainly not sprinting, but to run a 5:08 mile for 2 miles you have to at least have a decent amount of quick twitch muscles. After I went to Afghanistan I think all my quick twitch muscles died because I was hiking long distances and climbing up giant hills. We weren't allowed to run outside (rightfully so) and I didn't do many box jumps or barbell squats, just dumbbell lunges and squats and a few cleans (not regularly).
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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by SSCBen » Tue Oct 07, 2014 9:40 am

Yes, form is a major issue. It's one reason I don't lift as often as I'd like. My form is pretty bad and it's not uncommon for me to hurt my back or neck while doing squats.
marauder wrote:After I went to Afghanistan I think all my quick twitch muscles died because I was hiking long distances and climbing up giant hills.
Heh, I understand. There have been a few periods of relative inactivity in my life too. I think the idea about fast twitch muscles is that they don't die like that and you can't really do anything about them. I have read that you'll lose fast twitch muscles as you get older, but you shouldn't even notice this until well into your 30s.

Thinking about it, here's are a few drills that should develop speed and strength relevant for water wars:

For both, completely fill up your water gun of choice. You'll be running with this.

1. (Speed/agility) Mark off an area 20 meters apart. Run back and forth between this line as fast as you can 5 times. Repeat this with a rest period. The rest period should be long enough to allow for full recovery.

2. (Intervals) Go to a track or other area with distance marked off, and alternate between (for example) 100 meters of sprinting and 100 meters of jogging. Do this for half an hour or until you tire.

Should be a good starting point for water war specific training.

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Re: Best Running Distance to Train for Water Wars?

Post by wetmonkey442 » Tue Jan 06, 2015 8:29 pm

Nice resource Ben! And Marauder, if you ever decide to move up to the NYC area, feel free to hit me up and we can lift together.
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