Coach
Valeriu Tomescu says: "it took me about eight years
to have an Olympic Gold medal in my “pocket,” along with five
other medals in World Championships, and there probably are
not too many coaches who can say that at the age of 32."
About Olympic
Gold medalist Constantina Dita: "Mentally, Constantina
is a very strong athlete, but probably with more respect to
her physical abilities, she already could have run below 2:20
a couple of times in London or Chicago.
She really feared and didn’t trust a strategy
of negative splits. Fortunately, she did try such a tactic
at least once in her career, and we all saw that it paid off
with the Olympic Gold medal in Beijing."
Coach Valeriu Tomescu on the
Beijing race:" So, finally after years and years of running,
after about 30 marathons, Constantina finally runs a negative
split marathon and she gets it right, a Gold medal in the
Olympics against a field that only the London Marathon is
able to put together.
We are both extremely respectful of the
huge names that were in that field…Catherine [Ndereba], Paula
[Radcliffe], [Gete] Wami , the Japanese and Chinese women,
and so on…and that’s why this medal is even more valuable
in our memories.
On
that day, we were able to be the best from the best field
in the world."
Training for a marathon
Coach Valeriu Tomescu says: "As
for a training method being perfect, I would say there is
no such thing. There are too many other factors to run the
perfect race to just [rely on one’s] training.
When I see books about the “secrets of marathoning” or “secrets
of training,” I would say loud and clear: “THERE ARE NO SECRETS!”
and apologize for disappointing some people.
It is exercise physiology that will make
a huge difference in an athlete’s training strategy and racing
tactics.
It will help to individualize the training
and tailor it to your athlete’s capabilities."
Coach
Valeriu Tomescu says: "it took me about eight years
to have an Olympic Gold medal in my “pocket,” along with five
other medals in World Championships, and there probably are
not too many coaches who can say that at the age of 32."
