by Adolfo Salgueiro | May 13, 2020 | Article, Personal, Reflection
By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro
I just started listening to “Strength Running” a couple of weeks ago. This is a podcast hosted by Jason Fitzgerald that, so far, I feel I can openly recommend it to my readers and trainees.
I am writing this quick blog entry because I just heard episode 138 of the series and it blew my mind. It is a quick, 6-minute reflection from the host on his view of running through the Covid-19 pandemic. It is well thought, well-written and well delivered. I was listening to it during a brisk walk and it stopped me on my tracks. I looked for a transcript in the podcast’s website but was unable to find it, so I am sharing the audio with all of you.
I invite you invest six minutes of your life listening to Mr. Fitzgerald’s reflection. It is less than the time in which most of us can run a mile, and most likely you will get something out of it. The audio file is at the bottom of this post.
I hope Mr. Fitzgerald doesn’t mind my sharing his point of view. If you want more information on his podcast, you can click here to visit his website.
by Adolfo Salgueiro | May 6, 2020 | Article, Personal
By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro
The Half Marathon Course: to the end and back 52 times
As the quarantine progressed and more cancelled races came and went, viral videos of runners doing their once-upon-scheduled-races virtually, or just challenging themselves to mind boggling trials, started popping up. I saw a guy who ran a full marathon in his 23-feet long balcony, another one who did 1066 laps on his backyard. Others ran a variety of distances with unhuman number of laps around their blocks.
My first thought was that I would need a psychiatrist after completing one of these challenges. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was nothing more than a mental experiment. So I went into the backyard of my subdivision and measured the distance from my patio door to the bridge, which was about 0.128 miles, so about 0.255 for the round trip. Doable, for sure.
As I started elucubrating the plan, my wife kept suggesting options for longer routes, so I wouldn’t have to complete an insane number of laps. The more I consider it the more I realized my challenge was not running a half marathon, which between competition and training I have done more times that I care to count. This was supposed to be a mental challenge.
As I have been limited to a run/walk schedule as I wait for a surgery to correct a small health issue, this was the first obstacle. I know I can’t run the entire distance, so I adjusted by running on the way out and walking on the way back. Running for so long on grass was also another challenge. I have never done it for more than a few hundred yards. Could I take it for 50+ laps non-stop?
The medal represents my backyard. It was made on polymer clay and it was handmade by my wife.
On Monday, April 27th, I gave the idea a trial run. I went back and forth for an hour and passed the test. So I planned the half for Saturday, May 2nd, so I had Sunday to retry in case there were weather issues. During the week I planned everything I could possibly require. I made sure all the batteries were charged to the brim, that I had plenty of water, electrolytes and nutrition available. I was ready to go.
The first challenge came earlier than expected I hadn’t been running for 60 seconds when my socks were already soaked. Because I have no experience running on grass, I never accounted for it being wet at 6:45 AM. By the end of mile 1, I was seriously considered aborting the mission and retrying in the afternoon, but it was then when realized this was a mental challenge. So I kept moving forward. At mile 7 the grass was dry, so I invested 3.5 minutes in a change of socks, which made a world of difference the rest of the way.
By loop 4 or 5 I had already lost count. From there on I only counted distance, as marked by my watch’s beep every half mile. I was feeling so good at times that my mind wandered as I contemplated going on for maybe 26.2 or even 30 miles. But at mile 11 I realized I was barely trained to complete a half marathon so a half marathon would be good enough.
Towards the end, my wife asked me how many laps to go, to which I answered, “about 5”. A bit later she asked again: “two more!”. As I was coming back from my last lap, I saw a beautiful finish line made with toilet paper, which I crossed big grinned and arms up where she was waiting with an embracing hug and a big kiss. Neighbors on the other side of the canal started cheering and clapping, they must have seen me passing by who knows how many times. As if it wasn’t awesome enough, my wife surprised me with a spectacular handmade medal with an image of the scenery I enjoyed during my run. It now occupies a privilege spot in my medal rack.
What I learned from this crazy adventure is that I am mentally stronger than I thought. I had large playlist of podcasts lined up to accompany me in the journey, but I never even picked up the phone from the table. To me, 52 laps of anything is about 51 more than most of us can handle. Same applies to 103 U-turns. Yet, once I got over the wet sock obstacle, I never wavered from my goal. I also realized that I hope I don’t have to experience another quarantine to see if I can extend my challenge to 104 laps.
Final time, if anyone cares to know, was an unimpressive 3:20:30.
by Adolfo Salgueiro | Apr 29, 2020 | Article, Personal
The new normal for the pre-run picture
After 28 days in quarantine and strictly running around my home, I ventured out on a Saturday to the site where I usually meet my friends for long runs. At the other side of the parking lot I saw David and we had a nice chat from about 25 feet. Further down the road I crossed paths with Alfredo, who gave me an enthusiastic hi and we had a quick talk. Later, Andy caught up with me and offered me an elbow.
For day 35 I accepted an invitation from a group of friends and met at the parking lot of our local running store. We were 10 people, all super happy to see each other after a hiatus. We opened our arms 6-feet apart from each other to send virtual hugs, blew kisses from a distance and used the wide angled lens to fit everyone in the pre-run mandatory picture.
With the latent possibility of Covid-19 returning in the fall, with the valid proposition of not having a vaccine for about a year and a half, and with the 2020 Berlin Marathon already in limbo, I started thinking:
What will the Post Covid-19 running scene will be like?
I believe social distancing will become the new norm. There is no way around it. Covid-19 will not be the last new virus we will experiment in our lifetime but, hopefully, nations will now be ready to avoid another pandemic. The pre-run group pictures, large groups of runners, high-fiving, sweaty hugs and large post long-run breakfasts, unfortunately, may become a thing of the past.
What will happen with racing?
This is one of my biggest worries. Very few run just so we can race, but most of us love to race in order to celebrate our training. Social distancing cannot work with the Marathon Majors, or the Miami, Los Angeles or Philadelphia Marathons which regularly gather over 20,000 runners. Even 1,000 runners seem like too much right now. Keeping participants 6-feet apart at the start means corral areas longer than 3 or 4 miles for huge races as well as logistic nightmares at finishing areas, even for smaller races. What about water stops, volunteers or spectators? Sure, we still have our local 5Ks, with just 200 or 300 runners, but is that the celebration of your training? Maybe virtual races will become more than just a way to increment the size of your medal rack. I hope we don’t have to get there.
Will we continue enjoying our running without the social component?
What will happen to the post long-run breakfasts with friends?
I passionately believe that most of us run because we love it. If we didn’t, we would be practicing another sport. Yet, the social benefits of our activity of choice are undeniable. Some of my dearest friends were met while running. When my fellow team members put together a birthday celebration after one of our runs, I realized how much they meant to my life. I look forward to the post long-run breakfast every Saturday morning. The post run burgers-and-beers on Thursday nights has become such a highlight in my week that I once asked my doctor to push back a medical procedure because I had a scheduling conflict. Sure, we can run without friends, but I can’t fathom missing this aspect of running
What will the “new normal” be like?
I wish I knew. It is impossible to know, as even Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC are still trying to figure out this pandemic. What I do know is that we will overcome this, and we will create and adjust to a “new normal”. It is not like there is an option. We did so in our daily lives after 9-11. We adjusted our financial outlook and behavior after the Great Recession. We became more vigilant after the Boston Marathon bombing. And these are just 21st Century examples. Humanity has proven its resiliency and will find a way. I hope and pray that you, reader, are openminded enough to adjust to the new reality that it is already being created around you.
Always moving forward!
by Adolfo Salgueiro | Apr 15, 2020 | Article, Coaching, Exercises, Personal
By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro
Racewalking can give you a second career on the asphalt.
During Olympic competition we always see those weird-looking racewalkers shaking those hips while keeping short steps and swinging arms like crazy. A select few know about what’s going on, some wonder what it is they’re doing, and the vast majority just laugh out of ignorance. Racewalking has been around since long before the Boston Marathon was a thing and it is an athletic discipline that requires the same training and dedication and any other discipline. Most important for this audience, it can give you a second career on the asphalt.
Personally, racewalking was my segue into running. After my second knee operation, at age 39, I told the doctor I still had another marathon in me, and I wanted to make sure I could do it. He was very clear telling me “your marathon days are over”. Sadly, I took his word and stopped completely until eight years later, when I realized I could still participate even if it was walking. Shortly after, I discovered racewalking, met with a racewalking group and the rest is history.
Racewalking is not just walking fast; it is not power walking either. Racewalking has two basic rules: a – one foot always must be in contact with the ground (as discerned by the naked eye), and b- the front knee must be straight when it makes contact with the ground. There are other techniques and details you need to know but this is what you need in order to get started.
Racewalking is gentler on your knees because you are not dumping the additional weight of a jump on them when you land. That alone can give a second career to both those knees and its owner. It still provides you with cardiovascular benefits if you exert yourself hard enough and you can still enjoy the runners-high we all crave. If that wasn’t enough, you can still participate in races, as there are no limitations against walking, you just need to observe the right etiquette, which in not on the scope of this blog post.
Less stress on your knees
The one thing you will have to adjust when you move to racewalking is switching your mindset. Throwing out the window all your previous PRs, race paces, tempos, age group rankings and being comfortable at the back of the pack. You will have to be content with just racing against yourself and enjoy getting better and progressing. Just realize you are still racing in a 5K, or a half marathon, or even a marathon, which is a better alternative to reading on how your friends via your WhatsApp group.
It is unfortunate that there are not that many racewalking groups out there, given how beneficial this discipline can be to so many. I was lucky enough to find a group and to meet coach Danny Koch, who guided me through 13 half marathons and 3 full marathons before I was able to return to running. Regardless if you find a coach or not, I can recommend “The Complete Guide to Racewalking”, by Dave McGovern, as the go-to book to learn about the philosophy and technique of racewalking.
If your knees can’t handle running anymore yet you still want to remain active and/or competing, I invite you to give racewalking a try. It worked for me so who knows, it may work for you, too.
by Adolfo Salgueiro | Mar 18, 2020 | Article, Personal
By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro
With the cancellation or postponement of three races in my calendar, as activities all over the world came to a halt because of the Covid-19 pandemic, my 2019-20 running season comes to an abrupt end. I understand the reasons behind it, and they are justified. Yet, on a personal level, this is a reflection on how rough the season was for me.
Season best at the 305 Half Marathon in Miami Beach
I had a couple of non-running related injuries, which took me twice to the operating room, and had me limited in my athletic activities since May 2019. I have been able to keep myself active, first by walking and then going back to my old friend racewalking. I racewalked from 2012-15 and really enjoyed it. It was my way back into the sport after a long hiatus. But then on 2015 I started running again and improved plenty through the seasons despite the almanac doing its thing.
For the 2019-20 season I was already registered in three half marathons, which is by far my favorite distance, so rather than skipping them I trained to racewalk them. After flirting with the sub-2 last season, I had to settle to see if I could go sub-3 this season. It was a struggle to find myself towards the end of the pack after being in the middle of it no so long ago. It was a struggle to ask my friends to wait for me at the finish line party when I was arriving an hour after most of them. It was a struggle at times to reach mile 9 around two hours knowing you had another full hour to go.
My personal triumph was to go sub-3 in all three races, including a season-best of 2:54:23 at the 305 Half Marathon in Miami Beach in early March. During the season I also participated in two 5Ks and one 10K race, just for the pleasure of keeping myself competing in the activity I love and sharing my friends’ achievements.
With my 3 runners from the Miami Marathon
There were highlights to my season, though. I had the chance to run an entire 5K with my dad and finish together, holding hands. I had three coaching clients finish the Miami Marathon, two of them smashing their PRs. I was also able to lock in four more runners who requested my coaching services. Also, my half marathon count reached 40, which I take as a secondary milestone.
It is a dilemma to be so thankful about being able to keep active and participating yet being so frustrated when you see a season pass by without being able to accomplish what you would have hoped. But as the sports cliché goes: “there is always next season” and, as the suffering Brooklyn Dodgers fans used to say: “Wait till next year”. Even though I am not completely healed from my ailments, I already started running a little bit and enjoying the runner’s high, the camaraderie and the time alone with myself on the road. So, I look forward to a better season recap a year from now.
Thanks for all the support. I couldn’t have done it without it.
by Adolfo Salgueiro | Mar 11, 2020 | Personal
By Adolfo Salgueiro
Today, March 11th, 2020, my dad, Adolfo Salgueiro, Sr. is turning 82 years old. He is still running 3-4 times a week and competing in local 5Ks. The experienced runner and running coach that I am today would have not been possible without his inspiration and encouragement to get started over 40 years ago.
Finishing together a 5K in Plantation, FL in February 2020
My running story has been tied to my dad since its very beginning, probably in the mid-to-late 1970s, when we lived in Caracas, Venezuela. He would run starting from our home and my mom would go pick him up after a predetermined time while making sure she noted the odometer reading. I remember many times being in charge of either spotting my dad or being in charge of the odometer read. I could have been as young as 10 or 11.
Soon after, my mom was not only picking up just my dad but also myself and my twin brother, Jose. Maybe we ran one kilometer, maybe two, who is to know? Tough to recall 40+ years later. But somehow, we became a running family. Living in Venezuela in the mid-70s, I knew no other road runner than my dad. This was at the time when nobody ran. When people would stop to ask if we were escaping from the police or would throw their cars at us just for the fun of seeing our reactions.
Even though my dream was becoming the first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, I kept running on and off with my dad. I was a junior in high school when he encouraged me to run my first 10K race, an unfathomable distance for a 16-year old. I ran a few more 5 and 10Ks here and there, but baseball was my first love and I would play it at often as possible.
One day in mid-1982, my dad came back from his weekend run and stated: “I am going to run the New York City Marathon”. We all thought he finally lost his marbles, paid not much attention and let him enjoy his delusion. But, long story short, on October 24, he took the start at the Verrazano Narrows and finished in 4:36:37. He was the first person I ever knew to run a marathon. I couldn’t believe it. My dad ran a marathon!
Half Marathon in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in 1983
A month or so later, the Caracas Marathon has held in my hometown and my dad went to the 30k mark to meet a friend and run him in (it wasn’t frowned upon then). I went, too and was amazed by what I saw. I jumped in and ran the last 12k, where I saw first-hand the emotions, the suffering, the effort, the triumph. So, I told my dad: “One day, I will run one of these”. Seven weeks later we both were in front of the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami lining up for the start of the 1983 Orange Bowl Marathon. Even Bill Rodgers was there. I was still a Senior in high school. I was 17.
My dad held me back when I wanted to surge, he reminded me to drink water, brought me back to focus when I got distracted by a hot girl running in front of us, etc. As planned, at 35K, each man was on his own and he left me in the dust. I struggled the last 7K, cursing my bad judgement for wanting to do this stupid thing. I limped into the stadium only to see my Dad with a big smile, cheering me up and letting me know he went sub-4. I went around the track, crossed the finish line and collapsed in my dad’s arms. He was so proud of me. The only words I could muster were: “when are we doing the next one?”.
The answer came rather soon. 10 months later we were both lining up in front of the Verrazano Narrows at the 1983 NYC Marathon. On December 1984 we both set up PRs in the Caracas Marathon. He ran 3:47 and I ran 3:32. In December 1985, once again we ran the Caracas Marathon. Then life and injuries got on my way, but he kept going for another 30+ years. He ran a handful more marathons and even set a better PR of 3:43. When for his 30th birthday, my twin brother wanted to run New York, my dad trained with him and at 57, ran his last marathon. My dad beat my brother by 3 minutes or so.
Three Generations of Adolfo Salgueiro finishing the 2016 Miami Turkey Trot
After a 27-year hiatus, I came back to road racing in 2012 at the Miami Half Marathon. As I picked up my race kit, I was so happy, in disbelief of what I was about to do after such a long time. My mind went back to running with my dad all those years ago, enough that I even sent him my race shirt with a message thanking him for initiating me in this wonderful sport.
Through the years, there have been many more running experiences. In December 2012, we had the opportunity of running my dad, myself and my son, all three of us named Adolfo Salgueiro, in a 10K race in Miami Beach, where we finished all three together. In November 2016, we did that again. The day he turned eighty, 18 family members accompanied him completing a 5K race, in which the race director was gracious enough to hold number 80 for him. Last February I ran a 5K race with him, at his pace, and we crossed the finish line holding hands.
I don’t know how many more chances I will have to share races with my dad, but what I do know is that I plan to keep running as long as the good Lord keeps me around. And as this happens, it will be thanks to my dad initiating me in the sport, over 40 years ago, even when my favorite sport was baseball.
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