Navy Seal Running Workout

Trainees going through Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training, or BUD/S, will be expected to do many miles of running every week and continue to do so while training as full SEALs. Training for endurance-based distance running is a matter of putting in the miles. SEALs can run 30 miles in a week or more. Running routines of several miles a day, four to five days a week are used to train for these distances.

Initial BUD/S recruits are required to build up to a 16-mile-per-week running regimen. This is a nine-week program that begins with running 2 miles a day at an 8:30 pace, for three days a week. This continues for the first two weeks, with a week of rest. Week four increases this amount to 3 miles a day. Weeks five and six increase the running to four days a week, to 2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, then 2 miles, on each day of the workweek respectively, resting on Wednesday. The last three weeks increase this regimen further to 4 miles the first two days, 5 miles, then 3 miles, for a total of 16.

The second phase of the run training builds the trainee up to a 30-mile-per-week level. The routine ramps up to five days a week, excluding Wednesdays and Sundays as rest days. The first two weeks work out to 3 miles, 5 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles, then 2 miles for a total of 19 miles each week. This pace is steadily built up for the next few weeks until the seventh week, when 6 miles are run each day for a total of 30 miles.

Aspiring SEALs must first pass a BUD/S physical fitness screening before being admitted to BUD/S. Screening at this level requires the aspiring SEAL to complete a battery of tests that emulate the minimum basic requirements of SEAL training. The running component of this test requires the applicant to run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes minimum. Realistically, to be competitive for SEAL training, you will need to run faster.

Much of BUD/S and SEAL training includes arduous endurance-based training that is both high-intensity but also high in duration or repetition. Long ocean swims, pyramid calisthenic workouts and even running longer distances can become quite boring and even painful when combined with other training. While SEAL training is designed to be difficult for everyone, regardless of their physical abilities and capabilities, much of what makes successful SEALs successful is mental fortitude to tough out the pain and discomfort.