At 82 years old, the Spaniard Juan Lopez He continues training almost every day. Just a year ago ran a marathon in 3 hours and 39 minutesawakening the interest of researchers trying to understand their unusual physical ability.
Known as «Superlópez», the marathon runner counted what is the breakfast you usually have before your workouts.
For his part, he differentiated running from going for a walk, the former being what “gives him joy.”
Juan López’s breakfast before going out to train
Regarding his diet, he said that “he eats a lot.” “I don’t want to get bloated every day, but I usually eat well”, he noted.
Likewise, the runner himself avoids attributing his performance to a single factor. For him, the secret is in the combination of habits maintained for years.
“Of course there is a lot of good genetics in me, but also a lot of training hard and daily”, stated the federated man in the Club de Athletics of Toledo.
His breakfast is part of that daily routine that he accompanies with regular training and a discipline that he considers essential to stay active over time.
“I take a loaf bread toast with olive oila layer of cottage cheese and another of honey. and one large cup of coffee with milk with honey,” he said.
In addition, he revealed the food he has consumed for 40 years: “I have been taking pollen for many yearsthe food of the bees. I put a spoonful in my mouth and then eat breakfast. And there are times when I eat a tangerine or a banana.”
He started running at age 66 after retiring
The story of Juan López is far from that of an elite athlete who trained from a young age.
For decades worked as a mechanicrepairing cars to support his family and save what he could to face unforeseen events. At that stage, sport occupied a secondary place.
Everything changed when the retirement. First he started walking and completed the nearly 800 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago in just 20 days. Shortly after, one of his daughters encouraged him to try it. running.
«I started little by little. Then I met a group of distance runners from Toledo and that’s when one of my friends, Ricardo Ortega -who has always been my doctor and is now my coach- told me that my pace was among the four or five best in Spain for my age,» Fissac told the scientific magazine.
From that moment on, López joined a federation. At age 70, he completed his first cross country championship in Mérida and became champion of Spain.
The data that most surprises scientists
In 2019, when he was 75 years old, he traveled to the World Championships in Torun, in Poland. There he won four gold medals in the over 75 category: he won the 3,000 meters indoors, the cross country, the 10 kilometers on the road – also establishing a Spanish record with a time of 42 minutes and 32 seconds – and the half marathon.
Since then he continued to accumulate titles and records, becoming a reference in European masters athletics.
Beyond his victories, what aroused the interest of the scientific community is his physical condition.
The physiologist Pedro Valenzuelaa researcher at the Ramón y Cajal Institute of the University of Alcalá, studied López’s case and found unusual values for a person of his age.
His body composition is already striking, with a high percentage of muscle mass, as he wrote in Fissac magazine. However, the most extraordinary data is its maximum oxygen consumption, an indicator that reflects the body’s ability to use oxygen during exercise and is also related to the state of cardiovascular health.
«If you have to loosen up, you loosen up»
Currently Juan López is going through a different stage. The deterioration of his wife, Mari’s health, caused him to change some priorities.
It also recognizes that competing is no longer the same as before because there are fewer and fewer athletes his age. This same thing was carried over to his social circle.
Between friends who are staying put and those who have already “gone to the other neighborhood” (sic), López told “I have a plan” that He replaced the group of acquaintances his age. With what? With colleagues runningthat is, with those who go running.
«I hang out with groups of all ages, girls and boys. I feel totally integrated, and they with me,» he said. He explained that if they go out on a Sunday, the particular difficulties are considered by the rest: “If you have to slack off, you slack off, that what we want is to go together”.
In this sense, he indicated that in these spaces the demand to the limit is not encouraged, but rather that «you can talk.»
Regarding the sleep factor, he stated that he was always a “sleepy person,” and contrary to the general rule, he maintains the same characteristic. “If I can I sleep 8 or 9 hours. My brother, who is younger, wakes up at four in the morning and no longer falls asleep. “Not me,” he said.
