Martha Galiany: "I was in my best years as an athlete and I wanted to keep going"

The Catalan marathon Martha GalianySpain’s champion in 2020 and fourth best Spanish brand of all time (2h.27: 08) is in the final stages of its intense preparation for Munich European and considering that, at 36 years old, he was in one of the best moments of his career. “

“I think I’m in my best years as an athlete. What I want is to keep improvement and see how far I can go,” Galimany said in an interview with EFE.

Under the careful supervision of his coach and partner, Jordi Toda, the athlete is on Font Romeu where, in the last five weeks, he covered about 1,000 kilometers from Monday to Sunday, dividing the training sessions at altitude (1,600 meters) and at sea level.

The absence of Spanish marathon runners at the World Cup held in Eugene (United States) is noteworthy, but he explained that he has “minimums for both the World Cup and European Championship”, but “the short distance on dates from to one. to the other “, made him choose.

“The World Cup is something special and the European is four years old, but the federation talked to my coach and told him to prepare for the European, because no one is going to the World Cup,” he said.

Martha Galiany He is serious about preparing for the European Championship and insists he will only stop “one day before the competition”.

“There are workouts that are very easy to recover from the hardest, but every day I run from 12 to 15 kilometers the lowest, and we train in the morning and afternoon and I can reach 40 in a day,” he says.

The athlete from Valls acknowledges that the change in altitude training is noticeable: “There are a lot of differences in sea level. At first it was difficult, but I’ve climbed a few times and my body is adapting. In addition, we rented of the apartment there to avoid further displacement.

At 1.69 in height and 52 kg in weight and with the tremendous speed of preparation he carries, he also needs special food and nutrition.

“It’s important to follow a good diet, because physical deterioration is very high and I have a nutritionist from Sant Cugat CAR guiding me and when I’m on height he controls my diet,” she says.

In June he was already in Munich, to find out what the Marathon route would be. “It’s a circuit where we have to do four laps. It’s pretty flat, though not one hundred percent, because it’s in a city. In the last laps they can make a difference and I liked it. Let’s see. if I have a good memory “, details.

The biggest problem is that the exam is held from 10:30 am. He considers it “a bit late for a marathon, considering that it will end at 1pm”, although in Germany the temperatures, a priori, are more favorable.

Galimany’s professional life has changed over the past year and a half. Until then, he had combined his work as an Environmental Sciences Technician with athletics, but his development caught the attention of Adidas, who signed him up for their professional athletics club. Until then he wore the colors of FC Barcelona.

“At that time I didn’t have a sponsor and Adidas noticed me joining the team, which also gives me a high level of material. I didn’t hesitate to sign for them and it was the right decision because now it is I can already dedicate myself one hundred percent road to athletics ”, said the Catalan long-distance runner.

“I had always really wanted to be one hundred percent athlete and I was excited because I don’t want to be left with the ‘little thorn’ of saying, What if I had tried it? And if you didn’t try it, no “You know what will happen. I am satisfied because, Unfortunately, there are few athletes who can dedicate themselves professionally,” he adds.

Galimany had the fourth best Spanish mark of all time in the marathon, with 2h.27: 08, achieved in Valencia, on December 6, 2020, the day he released the ‘new’ Adizero Adios Pro ‘. And on February 20 he made his second personal best in the Seville Marathon (2h.27: 53) and the lowest for the European.

European is a big challenge for Galimany. Leaving the legendary British mark Paula Radcliffe 2:15:25 (2003), the next best marks were held by nationalized Kenyan runners: the Israeli Lonah Chemtai (2h.17: 45 in 2020) and the Romanian Joan Chelimo (2h .18:04 in 2022).

This makes fighting for medals at the European Championships in Berlin very expensive, although Marta Galimany values ​​it as “normal in a globalized world.”

“However, there are some European runners with times of 2:21 and 2:22. That means I still have a lot to improve,” admits Galimany, who is closer to the current Spanish record (2:26:51). . held by Ana Isabel Alonso since 1995.

However, the Catalan makes sure that beating is not his immediate goal: “I don’t want to be obsessed with this brand. Maybe someone else will beat it, although I hope I will. I’ve tried and will do it again, but I prefer to focus on me. “