Hoe loop ik 2u42 IM Hawaii – Paulo Souza

Gered door de bel noemen ze dat. Paulo antwoordde gisteren met een fijn artikeltje. Hij maakte van mijn interview wel een monoloog, maar ééntje dat interessant is en dat ik zeer aandachtig heb gelezen. Geen geheimen en ook geen mirakels….. run like sergio ! Lees het exclusief voor 3coach geschreven artikel door Paulo Souza in de originele engelse versie:

Run like Sergio

By Paulo Sousa

Even though our sport is made up from swim, bike and run, there is always great curiosity for those triathletes that excel in one particular sport: the swimmers that come out of the water long before anyone else, the first athletes off the bike, the runners that come from behind to fight for the win. Among the former, there is an athlete that is slowly making a name for himself: Sergio Marques.

As Sergio’s coach, I often get people asking me, how can he be that fast, how’s his training, what’s his secret? The answers to these questions are not simple, but I will try to go over what I think are the important aspects that make Sergio Marques one of the best runners in Ironman triathlon.

As it is often the case in endurance sports, it all starts with natural ability. When I first started to coach Sergio, around the year 2000, it was quickly apparent to me that he was quite the gifted runner. I remember one occasion at his first road race, a 15k, when after going through halfway around 30mins, he asked me if he could take off towards the finish line. He ended going into the low 50’s that day, which made me think at the time that he had some running talent. As we are talking about talent, let’s stop a minute to think what does that mean. Because there are some aspects that make Sergio an unlikely candidate for the title of good runner. At 1.75m and 66kg, he definitely has a frame a little too heavy for a runner. Also he has been tested countless times at a very pedestrian VO2Max. So in the case of Sergio, his running talent is the very good running economy he possesses. That allows him to operate at a very high percentage of his VO2Max for a long time.

Obviously his natural ability has had some help along the way. Around 2001/2002, a bike accident caused a hip injury that prevented Sergio from running for one month. That was the perfect opportunity to completely revamp his running style. Sergio ran with a “heavy” form, with pronounced heel-striking and significative breaking force. Under the influence of the “Pose method of running”, which began to be popular around that time, some changes in Sergio’s running form were made. Those changes focused mainly on increasing his stride frequency, shortening the support time and having the impact point under his center of mass. After 6 months of work in that area, the task at hand was successful, with Sergio running with a seemingly better technique. Of course if that was translated to faster running is hard to say, since his return to form from injury happened at the same time as he acquired the new running technique.

Finally, a little bit about his training. Like most good runners, Sergio enjoys running tremendously. You don’t become good at something when you hate it or when every workout feels like a chore. In order to improve and achieve your best at anything, you need to embrace it and work hard at it. As for the main staples of Sergio’s running program, those are:

• - Run everyday – For Sergio, running everyday is a given. Sometimes a run for a particular day is not scheduled and that often leads to some “secret training”.
• - Run hard, run long – On top of the most traditional long run, that does not excceed 2:30h, another staple of Sergio’s program is a second long run that is done at a pace that is faster than Ironman marathon pace.
• - Do hill repeats – Short, steep hills during the off-season. Go up hard and recover on the downhill. Great for ankle/achilles strenghtening.
• - No such thing as a junk mile – Keep your overall mileage up by doing short (45-60min) runs, even if at a very easy pace.
• - Learning to push yourself – Sergio runs only with just a watch on unmarked trails. The only time he has accurate splits is when he races. This allows him to focus on himself and what what he can achieve on any given day. When racing, he focus on achieving the best he can on the day.

And there you have it, a simple how-to become like Sergio. Now go out there and RUN!

Paulo heeft naar aanleiding van dit artikel ook een blogje geschreven op zijn site, en bewijst nog maar es wat een smartass hij is !