“Running a marathon is almost like writing a book”: Marco Salami explains how to be prepared and enjoy every moment

“Running a marathon is almost like writing a book”: Marco Salami explains how to be prepared and enjoy every moment

At the age of 13 he ran his first cross-country race, at 18 his first national titles and at 19 he was baptized as a professional athlete in the Army Sports Center, which today also sees him as a coach: that of Marco Najibe Salami is a story of visceral passion for athletics, born at a very young age, cultivated in a career as a middle-distance runner and steeplechaser and reinvented, now, at the age of 36, with his debut in the marathon (fourth place overall and second in his category at the 2021 Venice Marathon). A life of achievements, victories and hard training.

To the FLOKY Community, he reveals all his secrets to prepare for a marathon, enjoy every kilometer in training and in the race and never give up.

What did it feel like to cross your first finish line?

They say “Where there is a will, there is a way”: for me it was more true than ever when I won the race that led me to become a professional athlete. At the time I worked as a salesman. It was March, almost April, it was starting to get hot and I could no longer train on my lunch break as usual. I wanted to participate in a national championship and I asked and got 20 days off from my boss to go to the mountains to train. I participated in the race, won the title and turned professional. It was a great victory: from a worker I became an “athletics worker”.

You recently made your debut in the marathon. Why this change after a career as a middle-distance runner?

I had almost stopped, I had given up: I had a bad injury and, at 36, I was at the end of my career. I was starting to follow some young athletes of the army as a coach. Then I met Piero Incalza, an athletic trainer, who told me that he thought I could still give something. I started training again and started going fast again. I threw myself into the marathon because I wanted to prove that I was a versatile athlete, capable of running fast both in the 800 meters and in the marathon: with my debut in Venice I can say that I have shown it. And I had FLOKY socks with me! I wore them for the first time in competition, without ever having tried them in training. Madness! But after 42 km I didn’t get blisters, I couldn’t feel the seams and I didn’t have burns under my foot. A miracle! I fell in love with it, I felt like I had a shoe support. A sock is just a sock, FLOKY instead keeps my foot more stable, in trim.

What does your typical training day look like?

I run 200 km a week, distributed between morning and afternoon. In Kenya, where I went to train for the Venice Marathon, I reached peaks of up to 210-220 km, on dirt roads, ups and downs, long stretches, hills, stones, up to 2400 meters above sea level. I went to Kenya on purpose to look for difficult conditions, which would allow me, then, once at home, to concentrate on collecting the best possible performance. The FLOKY socks give me a lot of support, both in competition and in training, especially when my legs are tired, when I am sluggish, when I have tendon pain. We marathon runners have a lot of pain and FLOKY helps me a lot in this. I use them all the time, precisely because they give me relief: they keep my tendon and muscles unloaded, avoiding me from using the roller for hours or going to a physiotherapist every day. When a race is approaching and I have to start unloading, i.e. lowering myself to 150 km per week, I use the Run Up Long or Short, also for post-workout recovery. In the race I switch to the Run Up Medium.

In a race, especially a long one like the marathon, how do you overcome critical moments?

Running a marathon is hard. My coach in the months leading up to the Venice match led me to crazy mental stress: it created uncomfortable conditions in training. For example, if I ran 30 km, one kilometer was on the sand and one on asphalt. Or at the 22nd kilometer he made sure that a bicycle cut me off. Or even he would put a slightly stronger rider in front of me to get nervous. The first few times I got angry, I arrived exhausted, but that’s training too. In the race, for example, it can happen that a distracted volunteer with the flag makes you take the wrong road, or that the runner in front of you drops your water bottle: in those situations you have to stay calm, you can’t afford to get nervous. You have to find a solution to get out of it in the best possible way. And you prepare this thing in training.

And what is your favorite moment?

As a kid I suffered a lot from the race: the week before, as for an exam at university, I went haywire, I forgot the training I did, I lost conviction, I thought I wasn’t ready. Now, as a mature athlete, the race is the moment I enjoy the most. I am aware of the work done and I have confidence in myself: once I get there I don’t get caught up in emotion, I remain rational and I know I am ready. A thousand things can happen in a marathon and you can’t keep them all under control, so it’s useless to fret. Better to stay focused and not think about the final result.

What is the first thing that crosses your mind when you leave? And the last one at the finish?

A lifetime passes in front of you at the shot, you have a thousand doubts, but then you concentrate and think about bringing it home, in any way. At the finish, whether it goes well or very well, you are happy necessarily: it can’t go badly, bringing home 42 km can only make you happy. Running a marathon is almost like writing a book: when you start you have an empty book in your hand, and from then on you write a story, anything can happen, everything can go wonderfully or everything can go wrong. At the finish line you sometimes cry, but because of the nervousness, because you release the tension of having held on until the end, you feel the satisfaction of not having given up despite the temptation to do so at every kilometer.

What would you say to a person who wants to approach this sport, even without having competitive aims?

I would advise him to do things in stages. Everyone starts directly from the marathon, because they have a romantic ideal. It would be good to go step by step: from 5 km to 10, then the half marathon and only at the end the marathon. It is important to get there well, gradually preparing the muscles. Running is something you do first of all to let off steam, to feel good: doing things step by step allows you to carry it forward for a long time. If you get hurt, you risk carrying the damage with you for a long time. The advice is to prepare for a marathon in no less than a couple of years, giving continuity to physical exercise.

What do you think cannot be missing in the training of a marathon runner?

Nutrition is fundamental, more than the fatigue of training, because it is our fuel. Another important thing is hydration: learning to train by trying to drink while running. For a marathon runner it is one of the most difficult things ever: every 5 km take the water bottle and drink while at a very high pace. It is very difficult, sometimes even retching. Never show up for the race without having tried to drink while training at a high pace, because it can create big problems. And then rest. When you have these workloads, if you lack sleep or if you don’t recover properly, it’s as if you don’t work. We often think that a workout is only effective if you arrive at the end exhausted, but everything else around it counts. 

What is a cliché about athletics that you know from experience is not entirely true?

One thing I have often heard is that the marathon should be done when you are of mature age. I don’t agree: as professional athletes, if prepared well, you can do it even in your twenties. Relegating the marathon to the end of your career is limiting, it must be done immediately to get used to the kilometers, especially if you are slow on short distances. Which is the opposite of what I recommend for an amateur! Another cliché is that those who run the marathon slow down. Nothing could be further from the truth! Those who run a lot of kilometers learn to run them all and manage them well, without slow kilometers: the result is that they run fast even in the shortest distances. We are seeing it in many professional athletes, now that this taboo has been cleared, so much so that sometimes we long-time athletes wonder where we would be if we had started running longer distances early.