Guidance for Ability Group Run Speeds and Distances in Basic Combat Training

During the first few days of Basic Combat Training (BCT), new recruits take an initial assessment run and they Me ranked from fast to slow. Four roughly equally sized "ability groups" Me established from these rankings and recruits run together in these groups for their aerobic training. There is no formal guidance on how fast or how far these ability groups should run. This paper provides this guidance and a rationale for systematically progressing ability group runs. The major considerations in the development of the guidance were 1) minimizing injuries, 2) the initial fitness level (maximum oxygen uptake or VO2max) of recruits, 3) improvements in run times during BCT, 4) running speeds of the slower individuals in each ability group 5) running speeds that must be achieved to "pass" the 2-mile run in BCT, 6) the gender composition of the ability groups, and 7) recommendations from the trainers.