Practical Application

This wasn’t a case study. It was real. Real Soldiers. Real problems. Real consequences when training misses the mark. I built my capstone to fix a gap I’ve seen firsthand in the Army: Soldiers showing up to the ACFT with no idea how to train for the 2-mile run. Not because they’re lazy or undisciplined, but because no one ever taught them how to train smart. Heart rate zones? Pacing progression? Recovery cycles? That stuff wasn’t in the barracks playbook. So I designed an instructional unit that teaches them to build their own 30-day running program, based on their metrics, their needs, and their goals. It’s practical, personal, and grounded in performance science, not guesswork. The unit walks them through how to calculate training zones, map pacing strategies, and use NSCA-backed training residuals to create a plan that actually improves their time. And it’s not just theory, they create their own plan, review a peer’s plan, get feedback, and leave the room with something they can use the next day. This project wasn’t about just passing IDE 737. It was about building something that lives beyond the syllabus. Something that can be run by any instructor, used by any unit, and scaled across the force. Because Soldiers deserve better than “just run more.” They deserve instruction that actually works. And this is where that starts.