Incirlik Airmen partake in running trial: Part 2 of 3

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Daniel Phelps
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --   Editor's note: This is part two of a three-part series on a trial running program taking place on Incirlik Air Base.

After about four weeks of training, Incirlik Airmen participating in the running improvement trial took a mid-course test to see thier progress.

They gathered at the Incirlik base track at 6 a.m. Sept. 10 and took off.

"I expected to see an average drop of about 25-30 seconds," said Bobbi Cervantes, 39th Medical Group exercise physiologist. "Some people blew that away."

One of those Airmen was Lt. Col. Jonathan Richards, 39th Medical Support Squadron commander.

"At the beginning of this program I ran a 12-minute, 36-second 1.5 mile," he said. "This time I ran 11:37. So I've dropped about a minute off of my time at the mid-point of this program."

The eight-week program was established for those who scored less than 45 points on the run portion of their last fitness test to become stronger runners, and it has been successful.

One Airman even dropped three minutes off of her run time, Cervantes exclaimed.

Those who had the larger drops in time were doing other activities to get their times down, such as biking or swimming, Cervantes said.

Richards had been cycling a lot since arriving in Turkey, but knew he needed to run more, he said.

"It's been tough," Richards continued. "But the more I put into it, the more I get out of it."

Richards said that camaraderie between students in the program has been good for him and has helped push him through hard times.

"Doing this with others who struggle, and not being alone, has been the biggest help," he pointed out. "If it was just me alone, I probably would have just quit when it hurt."

Participants credit their progress to the way the program is regimented and builds at reasonable pace.

The running program is transitioning into its third and final phase, Cervantez said.

"They are about to be in a world of hurt," she commented. "But, in a good way."

The intensity of their running will be much higher, Cervantez explained. Several one-minute speed bursts are thrown into their 22-minute run.

"They are at a pretty much all-out sprint for the period of that interval," she said.

Though  the participants have made great improvements so far, Cervantez is looking forward to challenging the students even more.

"I'm very happy with the results," Cervantez said. "I'm really expecting to see even more improvement through the next phase."