Two days ago, after two self-imposed postponements, token amounts of preparation and a heck of a lot of anxiety, i finally got down to taking my ippt. I only had a week left in which i had at least to attempt it once, and if i had failed, it would, for all intents and purposes, have meant that i would have to be down for way too many (thought one is already one too many) mandatory training sessions. You can understand why i would therefore be on tenterhooks, dreading in particular the sit-up station, which currently assumes the rotating position of my ippt Achilles' heel, a position that it has held for the last few years (At first it was the 2.4 km run, but since the chin-ups and standing broad jump have also taken their place - so typical for me that once one improves, another will get worse and leave me perennially struggling to clear the ippt every year, just due to a different station.)
My aim was, of course, just to clear the whole thing, which would mean doing at least 30 sit-ups in a minute, 5 pull-ups and jump 212 cm (i have no issue with the other two stations at the moment, but who knows what may happen next time?). And that was precisely what i was able to do - nothing more, nothing less (well, ok, one more sit-up, but that was only because the machine counted 31 after i got up after finishing the 30). After finishing those three stations, the rest was a breeze. I was even possibly eligible to get $100 if i had completed my run within 11:20, which i thought i had a shot of doing. It was not to be though, as owing to the fact that the route was six rounds of a running track, the slower runners were hogging the inner lane, which meant that i had to cover extra distance just to overtake them - and so i must have probably covered quite a few extra metres, and in the end missed out by 2s, which i'm sure i wouldn't have been the case had there been no need to overtake.. But oh well, i am thankful for what i got in the end - and am looking forward to slightly laxer standards next time round, owing to turning thirty - for now the best thing i can think of by far about reaching that milestone.
My aim was, of course, just to clear the whole thing, which would mean doing at least 30 sit-ups in a minute, 5 pull-ups and jump 212 cm (i have no issue with the other two stations at the moment, but who knows what may happen next time?). And that was precisely what i was able to do - nothing more, nothing less (well, ok, one more sit-up, but that was only because the machine counted 31 after i got up after finishing the 30). After finishing those three stations, the rest was a breeze. I was even possibly eligible to get $100 if i had completed my run within 11:20, which i thought i had a shot of doing. It was not to be though, as owing to the fact that the route was six rounds of a running track, the slower runners were hogging the inner lane, which meant that i had to cover extra distance just to overtake them - and so i must have probably covered quite a few extra metres, and in the end missed out by 2s, which i'm sure i wouldn't have been the case had there been no need to overtake.. But oh well, i am thankful for what i got in the end - and am looking forward to slightly laxer standards next time round, owing to turning thirty - for now the best thing i can think of by far about reaching that milestone.
