Boulder – Like many endurance runners a few miles past their prime, Silvio Guerra has turned to cycling for performance improvement, injury prevention and enjoyment. He just rides and runs at a considerably higher level than the rest of us.
Guerra still is an elite runner. A two-time Olympian for Ecuador, he has been in the Bolder Boulder’s elite field nearly every year since 1990 and wants to run the marathon in the Beijing Olympics next summer.
But Guerra, 38, slashed his running mileage the past couple of years and made up for it with time on the bike. He has begun competing in bike races and found success in a new realm last month, finishing 24th in the world duathlon championships in Gyor, Hungary. Nine days later, he placed 14th in the Bolder Boulder’s International Team Challenge, finishing in 31 minutes, 17 seconds.
The benefits of cross-training are well known to most recreational athletes, but few elite runners spend much time cycling.
“Whenever I do the bike, it helps me a lot,” Guerra said. “My body doesn’t get beat, my legs are fresh, and when I have to do my (running) workout, I do it with no problem.”
Guerra used to run twice a day, nearly 140 miles a week, when he was training for a marathon. Now he is more apt to run 55-60 miles a week, substituting rides of 90-120 minutes instead of a second daily run.
“Before when I was training twice a day and putting almost 140 miles a week, that was just too much,” Guerra said. “My body was just exhausted all the time. I got really good results, especially with marathons and half-marathons, but when I was 36, it became too difficult. I started getting injured. I said it’s time to do something (different).”
Guerra enters bike races almost every weekend – criteriums, time trials, mountain races. He doesn’t intend to become a professional rider, but when he is in a race, he competes.
“I’m not doing this just because it’s fun. It’s because I like to compete, also,” Guerra said. “That’s natural in us. We want to compete.”
The world duathlon championships consisted of a 10K run, a 40K bike and a 5K run. The top American was Derek Kite of Colorado Springs (sixth), who won the Cherry Creek Sneak three weeks earlier. A former teammate of Deena Kastor’s at Agoura (Calif.) High School, Kite badly injured an ankle running the steeplechase at the 1999 U.S. track and field championships, derailing his track career.
Guerra tied for the fastest 10K (28 minutes, 26 seconds) and had the 45th-best ride (58:23) and 15th-fastest 5K (15:27).
“That was a great experience for me because I’d never been in a tough (cycling) competition like that,” Guerra said. “On the bike, I couldn’t keep up with the guys because I didn’t have the skills, the technique they use.”
But he expects to learn, and certainly there is no shortage of cyclists around Boulder who can advise him. Next month he will compete in the Pan American Duathlon Championships in Colombia, and he aims to compete in the world championships again next year.
“If I’m going to do something, I want to do it right,” Guerra said. “I want to push myself. I want to get to the world championships and try to be a champion.”
He also wants to find out if cycling can make him a better marathoner. Three weeks after the Pan American Duathlon Championships, he will run the marathon at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, hoping to run a qualifying time for the Beijing Olympics.
“This is the race I want to see how the bike really helps,” Guerra said. “I want to do this marathon with not too many miles, but with cycling.”
I got serious about cycling as a complement to my running about a year ago for all sorts of brilliant sports physiology reasons. Those remain valid, but the main reason I ride now is because I enjoy it. Guerra found the same thing.
“I don’t have the same motivation for running, but for the bike I have a lot of motivation,” Guerra said. “It’s more fun. After being on the road (running) for so many years and then doing something different, it’s fun.”
