The time to beat

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt Abigail Wise
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
Dover Air Force Base, Del. --  Since the standing up of the Fitness Assessment Cell here at Dover Air Force Base, a new record has been set. 2nd Lt. Ryan Chylewski, 436 Logistics Readiness Squadron air terminal operations center duty officer, a recent graduate of University of Idaho, set the bar high for the 1.5 mile run at 8:44.

"This is the fastest time we've heard of in a while, and definitely the fastest since the FAC has been grading," said Mindy Rolkowski, 436th Force Support Squadron fitness center director.

According to Lieutenant Chylewski, he was unaware that he was in the process of making history. He was just doing his personal best.

"Before this run, my best time was an 8:49," said the Lieutenant. "I had set a goal of 8:45, but rather than bringing a watch to track my time, I decided I would rather focus solely on constantly pushing myself."

Lieutenant Chylewski participated in many different sports, but enjoyed baseball the most. This was not, however, where he got his motivation to run longer distances. There was a distinct moment in the lieutenant's life that gave him the desire to go fast. It all began one day during his senior year in college.

"There was this guy in my Reserve Officer Training Course class. He smoked like a chimney, yet he ran a 1.5 mile in 9:15! I decided it just wasn't right that a smoker was faster than me (no offense to you nicotine lovers out there), and so my goal in life became beating him. I achieved my goal, and the rest is history," he said.

Aside from being an avid runner, Lieutenant Chylewski enjoys biking and swimming. He has found that swimming has greatly improved his pace of breathing on runs.

He has a few recommendations to those wanting to improve their time.

"It's very important to pair a good workout with a healthy diet and lots of water."

The Lieutenant says that recording your workout times and distance will allow you to visually see your improvement as time goes on. This will help keep you motivated and on track with your goals.