SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Being Fit to Fight is the Air Force requirement for physical fitness, but for some that means more, 100 percent to be exact.
Lt. Col. Troy Appel, former 932nd Airlift Wing Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander, now with Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base had one goal, get a 100 percent on his Air Force physical fitness test.
Appel recently participated in his second round of the Scott Health Promotion Running Clinic to help achieve his goal. His first time in the clinic helped him get faster, but he just wasn’t fast enough.
“My first run clinic I dropped almost a minute off my run time, from an 11:24 to a 10:27,” said Appel, “My hopes are to finish at a 9:45 or better.”
For Appel to get his perfect score he needed a 9:45 or better and to max out his push-ups and sit-ups.
It all came down to his run.
And for Appel, after missing a 100% score in 2008, he achieved his goal March 4, 2017 at the James Gym track, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, with a final time of 9:38.
Appel contributes a lot of his success to the running clinic and to a few individuals that helped cheer him on, Liz Wszalek, group leader with the running clinic and a member of the 932nd Airlift Wing and myself, a participant in the running clinic, Group 1 with Lt. Col. Appel. He also said that the clinic’s training plan and the team leaders were perfect coaches that ensured continuous improvement each week.
“Going into the fitness test I had some anxiety, but I knew I was going to be very close to the run time I needed,” said Appel. “I didn’t think I was going to make it half way through lap six, but then I heard you and Liz cheering me on and that gave me the last little bit I needed.”
You can read more about Lt. Col. Troy Appel and his experience with the running clinic in the Week 4 installment of “Turning All Runs Into Fun Runs, or How I Learned to Embrace the Running Suck.
http://www.932aw.afrc.af.mil/News/Commentaries/Display/Article/1103560/turning-all-runs-into-fun-runs-or-how-i-learned-to-embrace-the-running-suck-wee/