This Sunday, just as the kilometers flew, so did the feats in the Valencia marathon.
The unknown Abel Kiptum (23) signed 2h01m53s and became the third marathon runner in history, just behind the legendary Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele.
Ethiopian Amane Beriso (31), another unknown, overtook the great Letesenbet Gidey and recorded 2h14m58s, another Top 3 in marathon history, behind Brigid Kosgei and Ruth Chepngetich.
And in the background, the silhouette of Marta Galimany emerged.
(...)
Galimany (37) was ten years old on that day in 1995 when Ana Isabel Alonso had gone to run the marathon in 2h26m51s: that had happened in San Sebastián, then the fetish marathon in our country, in the same way that Valencia is now.
Well, there we have it.
This is Valencia and this is Marta Galimany, and this is how the times are today.
-Everything was going well. Every kilometer was perfect. No wind, a little cool... We had gained a few seconds, I was comfortable. Roger (Roca, his training partner and hare in Valencia) was taking the times, making calculations and telling me: 'come on, we have twelve seconds left over...'. And me, mentalized.
Were there many in the group?
–At first, even too many. A huge group had formed, occupying almost the entire width of the street. Those things can make you nervous. Some cross each other, others begin to change rhythm...
Galimany attended us this Sunday afternoon, after a nap, after turning on his cell phone and assuming his commitment: he had hundreds of responses.
Well, feats are applauded, and in the morning he had signed 2h26m14s: he had broken that old record from 1995.
(“I hope you enjoy it for as many years as I have,” Ana Isabel Alonso, the previous record holder, confessed this Sunday to the Efe agency).
–At what point did you see that you had the record at hand?
–At kilometer 34. We had overcome a slight climb, one of the few on the route, and there were no more obstacles. I felt comfortable and in the rhythm.
And she knows what she's talking about, because no one knows herself like she does.
It is enough to follow his training sessions, the sessions that his coach and partner, Jordi Toda, posts on the networks.
On video, a run of 20 series of 400m on the Valls synthetic track. Sometimes Roger Roca accompanies him, the hare before him. Other times, now alone, a 30 km jog in a forest in Font Romeu, at altitude.
–I took a quality leap last year, signing with Adidas. With the contract in hand, I was able to start dedicating myself professionally to athletics.
(Until then, Galimany had combined training with her work in a Geology laboratory: she is an environmentalist).
Is there such a difference between being an amateur or a professional?
–Maneee. I didn't leave work until I had the contract on the table, a contract that would allow me to live from this. And I know that when I leave athletics, I will be able to return to work (there is no hurry: his success in Valencia will generate a prize of 30,000 euros: 5,000 for the victory and 25,000 for the Spanish record). But, going back to your question, I will tell you that now I have more hours to recover and focus on what I do. I can do concentrations at altitude and be more focused on athletics. The key is in the rest.
(When he concentrates on Font Romeu, he is accompanied by Jordi Toda, who had been a magnificent middle-distance runner in the 1990s; they both live together: "While I rest, Jordi works," says Galimany).
And now he delves into his training systems:
–I have come to run 217 kilometers in a week, that is my maximum peak. I have a lot of weekly loads of 200. But the secret is in the controlled jogs. I never go at maximum pace, but relatively easy (and he points out something: if he runs at 3m28s per kilometer, like yesterday in Valencia, his pulse is around 150 beats per minute).
-And how is your life? Are you exhausted, always sleepy and hungry, as marathon runners usually do?
-Don't believe it. My life has been reduced to running, eating and sleeping, but I'm not exhausted. In fact, on the hardest days we handle the double threshold. In the morning he plays an intense jog and in the afternoon, the series. What happens is that, the next day, a soft filming comes. And that filming helps me to recover.
