SMP vs. Army Scholarship & Tips to Road Marching

Tip of the Day:  Do not let friends abuse the relationship because at the end of the day...it was only a "thing" to them while you spent so much time and energy to help them.

One thing I've learned is that you can tell someone time and time again on how to be successful in life but in the end they will choose their own path...whether it is to destruction or just another emotional crutch.  And what have you done except waste your own breath?

This has happened to me several times with different people but I guess it took that many times to get it through my "thick skull"  (my Dad's old saying) for me to finally see the light.

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Anyways on to another note.  My contract for ROTC is finally unveiling a light at the end of the tunnel.  I never doubted that it would since I have been working hardcore towards getting it.  My medical waiver has finally been approved by Cadet Command.  It only took them almost 4 months! lol  But hey all good things come to those who wait.  =)  I have just one more thing to turn in which is my blood type.  I've gone my whole life without even wondering what my blood type was and now when I need it the most is when I don't have it lol.  Well I went this past week to get my blood taken so my results should be in sometime next week and then I'm done!

I've been researching lately on the Army scholarship vs. going SMP.  I've learned that you can't do both because the money paying for school comes from the same pocket.  After going through a couple forums I've decided to go with SMP.  I've been wanting the scholarship for a while because I thought I would be getting more money back into my pocket.  Instead, I would actually be double-dipping which is a negative with the Army.  SMP  gives more benefits as well.  Not only do I get tuition assistance (TA), but I get my weekend drill pay on top of the ROTC stipend.  If I did get the scholarship at the end of this semester, I would have to give up my weekend drills which is a good $200+ a month.  With that said, if they offer me the scholarship I will most likely decline it.  It sounds good but it actually limits me.

So if any of my readers are thinking about doing Army ROTC check out this site to see the differences:

SMP vs ROTC Scholarship

Another thing I've been doing lately.  I on a new team in ROTC called the Ranger Challenge.  It's a small group of us...only four.  But we've decided to push our limits on PT.  We meet separately from the other cadets to perform a more intense PT session.  The first week was a killer for me.  The three others in the group are PT studs (two guys and a female).  And me...we'll well I'm just average.  I do always score a 270+ on my PT exams but again I'm on a female scale which has different standards for running. So my 16:30 doesn't add up the same on a male scale.  Nevertheless, I'm glad I joined the team because I am getting better at PT...faster and stronger.  The first week, we did a 4 mile road march where I almost died and this past week I did the same road march just fine and even cut my time.

My boots were a major issue on the first road march.  It caused major blisters on my ankles which stopped me from being able to run to catch up to the group after the third mile.  For the next one, I took everyones' suggestions and combined them.  I'm happy to stay I did amazing on my second road march and I didn't get any blisters but I can't tell you what worked the best.  Here's everything I did to help prevent getting blisters.

• Buy comfortable boots:  The boots I was using were S.I. summer combat boots.  My husband bought me some new boots though, the Nike Special Field Boots (SFB).  They fit like a sneaker but still have the combat boot appearance.  They are also a lot lighter than S.I. boots.

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• Change the insoles:  not all insoles fit perfectly on everyone's feet.  Even though the Nike SFBs were light and had a nice sneaker fit, the soles were hard on my feet.  I didn't have time to go to the store and buy some new insoles so I grabbed my most comfortable sneakers, took the insoles out and put them in my boots.  What a difference it made!
• Put Vaseline on your feet: One of my girls was in the Army for 5 years and told me she would always put Vaseline on her feet before a road march and she never got blisters.  I didn't have any Vaseline but Neosporin works the same way so I put that on my hotspots.  (Hotspots are the places where you are more likely to get blisters)
• Wear a thin second layer of socks: I didn't feel comfortable with another pair of socks because my feet felt too constricted.  Instead I grabbed a pair of nylon knee-highs and put those on under my socks.  They worked great and helped lessen the friction.
• Get good road marching socks: The thicker the socks, the better.  Most places that sell military clothing will have these type of socks.  They cost about $10+ a pair but I promise, they are definitely worth the buy when it comes to road marching.  I have Fox River socks.  You can buy them straight from their website.  Click here

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I know this all sounds like a lot of things to do but when it comes to your feet, it's all worth it.  Pain is going to happen regardless but at least you can alleviate some of it.


I hope you enjoyed my tips!  Have a great rest of the weekend!  =)

T.G.I.F

Gosh am I glad it's Friday!  It's been a long weekend for me even with having Monday off because of Labor Day.  PT has been pretty tough for me this week.  We've been running every day.  Between Tuesday through today, I've ran around 9-10 miles.  I strained my hamstring on Tuesday from sprints and it didn't help as we continued sprints on Wednesday.  I was able to get through by stretching my legs many times throughout the days. Stretching is one of the most important parts of exercise.  If you don't stretch right it could really ruin your whole workout.  Here are a few stretches that I used to get myself back to speed.  There are several different ways to stretch the hamstring but these are what I found that fits me best.

Standing Hamstring Stretch #1

This is a good one to do before doing any exercises.  What you do is bend over until you touch your toes. (You can bend you knees if you need to.)  Once you are touching your toes, try to straighten your legs.  You will feel that back muscle tighten a little but remember it shouldn't feel painful.  Stretching is suppose to help not hurt.  =)

Standing Hamstring #2

This is a good stretch to do after you exercise.  It is stretching the same muscle but you are keeping your head up and elevated.  The worst thing you could do is bring your head down after a hard workout and have all that blood rush to your head.  It could lead to lots of dizziness and it could make you feel even more faint.  For this stretch just extend one leg outwards points your toes up.  Then slowly bend the opposite leg and you should feel that hamstring tighten some.  Remember to always stretch twice as long after your workout.

Hamstring Stretch sitting

If you find it difficult to stay standing after your exercising, this is a good stretch to do as well.  You still have your head elevated to stop from getting very dizzy or faint and still stretching that same muscle.  For this stretch just bring one leg inwards with the other leg extended all the way out toes pointed upwards.  Then extend your arms all the way out as you try to reach your toes on your extended leg.  

I hope you enjoyed my little stretching brief.  =)  It really helped me a lot especially for today on our 3 mile run which turned to 4.  I feel real good though. I never thought I could improve so much physically in such a short time.  I think I'll be more than ready for the PT test on the 27th if I keep up like this.  

I hope you all have a great weekend!  Stay blessed ya'll! 

Wipe the sweat and keep truckin

So my PT test wasn't the greatest today.  I failed :(  I missed the situps by one but that was my own fault for not looking at what score I needed to pass.  I surely could have pushed out one more but I was thinking passing was 38 situps so I was good with 49...nope!  Passing is 50 situps.  Pushups was fine...35.  And oh boy...the run.  Well I was doing great the first 6 laps 2 minutes or less per lap and then as I was curving my 7th lap, I felt a sharp pain like a knife digging deep into my rib cage.  Yep...it was a cramp.  And boy was that thing fierce!  I could hardly breathe.  I tried to stick it out and keep running but nope, my body wasn't having it.  I walked that 7th lap having to stop about 3 times just to stop myself from curling into a fetal position (Trust me those cramps hurt bad!) It started to go away as I started my last lap so crazy me decided to sprint to catch up on lost time...NOPE!  As soon as I got 3/4 around the lap the evil cramp returned but I didn't stop running.  I pinched my right side and kept running even though I felt like I was dying lol.  Didn't do much for me because my two miles came out to 21:07 and you need a 19:36 just to get a 60.

I'm not sure why my body decided to cramp on the day I needed it to work.  I ran 2.5 miles this past Friday just fine.  As a matter of fact I was doing great on the run.  I would have finished with around 16 minutes for both miles if I didn't get that cramp.  It really took a toll on me.  I was really bummed afterwards and was so mad at myself.  Did I hydrate enough?  Did I stretch enough?  Was I breathing right?  My answer to all this was yes but what can you do when you get a cramp like that?  And the crazy thing is after I finished about 15 minutes later, the cramp was completely gone.  I felt like running the two miles all over again just to prove I can do it.

But in the end I just have to suck it up...realize I may have lost that battle but I'm not going to lose the war.  Tomorrow I'll be back on the track working on my sprinting to get my stamina up.  Maybe that way I won't cramp up again.