Julia Vaquero continues in top form

The Galician legend, Olympic 10,000m athlete in Atlanta '96 (9th in the final), Julia Vaquero Sousa, left the competition a couple of years ago but is still in very good shape at 54 years of age.

This does not mean that she does not appear in a race if it is close to her beloved town, A Guarda, or that she is invited to an event as godmother of some event where she is delighted to come to enjoy contact with the people who love our sport

But what moves her practically every day to go jogging or riding a bike, or to combine both disciplines, is no longer, as I say, the competition but rather the motivation for the effort itself. And it is in his DNA because he loves to give rein to his body and feel free, with power and a lot of energy.

Sometimes he shows me spectacular photos of the places he goes with his bike and I appreciate with them how beautiful his land Galicia is. They make you want to go.

We maintain contact practically daily and he tells me what he is training and what he wants to do. Now he no longer follows a training plan because he does what he wants to do every day, but it is true that he asks me if he has any questions and we resolve them.

For example, he planned to do a 10K that was organized very close to his house and was canceled due to inclement weather. He asked me what he could do to replace this, because he was motivated by knowing what he would be able to do currently in a 10K where he doesn't do series or anything like that, just ride. I suggested a 7Km test because the pace he achieved is the equivalent of a 10Km competition carried out with people

As such, he took a 1Km straight line that he has there in A Guarda and repeated it back and forth seven times. His final time stunned me: 29:37 (4'13”/Km) as it says a lot about his capacity for effort and his genetics.

Attached are some of the screenshots that she gives me of her sessions. You can see an 84Km bike ride (she has done just over 100Km on some occasions), a duathlon session consisting of 29Km on the bike + 8Km of running, a 15Km run and the 7Km test… A truly exemplary athlete.

I only ask that she be completely happy and make things better, that local or provincial institutions can provide her with a job (Julia is unemployed) so that she can feel fulfilled and fulfilled and above all because she receives monthly financial aid laughable.

A person of Julia Vaquero's character who contributed so much to our sport in her professional stage, an example of capacity for effort for later generations, should not be so forgotten by "those at the top."

You are a very big lioness and you know it!!

 

Franc Beneyto

Coach