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Thursday, August 19, 2004

Runner Gets Faster With Age

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Cedar Crest's David Salazar is like the Energizer bunny. The 53-year-old Salazar, a wiry 5-foot, 71/2-inch, 140-pound master's athlete, helped set a world record in the 50- to 59-year-old 3,200-meter relay at the USA Track and Field National Masters Outdoor Championships in Decatur, Ill., this month.
    Salazar ran the third leg of the 4x800 race for the Southern California Track Club. The age-division record time of 8 minutes, 41.55 seconds was well ahead of the second-place team's clocking of 11:04.08.
    Salazar said his leg time was about 2:10. In addition, the East Mountain High School track coach earned individual bronze medals at 50-54 in the 800 and 1,500 runs.
    Salazar's medal count in master's competition, accumulated over the years, now stands at 12 golds. That includes six individual first-place finishes.
    He was the 50-54 national champion in the half-mile-equivalent 800 in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
    Salazar acknowledged there is a noticeable difference, even between age 50 and 54.
    "But I ran a good time (this year)," Salazar said. "The competition is better. Before I ran a 2:09 or 2:10 and won. Some moved up from 45-49, and they had very good times. I'm still ranked fourth in the U.S."
    Salazar is looking to the future, maybe even setting world records in the 800 and 1,500 in the 50-54 division.
    "I didn't start running until I was 35," he said. "It was really just for fun. I didn't get serious until I was 40."
    The question is: how does this man, who's pushing senior-discount age, do it?
    "I cross-train," Salazar said. "I don't run a lot of miles, about 25 miles a week. And I bike up the Crest road to the turnaround at the ski area. I do core strength work, exercise. The cross training is to prevent injuries.
    "And I do do some resistance training, but not with weights, just pushups, chinups, things like that. And I do some biometrics."
    And Salazar's learned to adjust. He has come to realize that he has to avoid downhill races, which hurt his ankles.
    Some athletes will tell you they follow a strict food regimen. But not Salazar.
    "I don't have a special diet," he said. "I just try not to do anything to excess. I don't eat a lot of red meat, but I eat plenty of fish and chicken and pork. I crave a Coke and something salty, like chips, after a race.
    "I'd rather eat what I want and exercise."
    Salazar loves to run, but he loves teaching the sport, too.
    "(The Timberwolves) have improved a lot," said the EMHS coach. "I expect there to be more state qualifiers than last (spring). And I hope we'll have more athletes so we can be a little deeper and can move up in the (team) standings."
    Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com.