Lake Brantley junior Juan Moscoso is well known for his race walking abilities as one of the best in the country. However, this summer Moscoso headed to the mountains of Ecuador for altitude training and to work on his base for the upcoming cross country season. After placing 26th at regionals last year, he told us it's time he gives distance running more attention.
"I'm here training in Cuenca with a coach named Louis Chocho," he said. "He's basically a national hero in Ecuador because he trained Jefferson Perez, Ecuador's only Olympic medalist."
The USA Junior runner-up in the 10k race walk contacted Chocho over a month ago asking he could train with his club and the coach gladly welcomed him. The training wasn't easy though and a far cry from the flat lands of Florida.
"Cuenca is at 8500 feet," Moscoso explained. "I knew I was in for a treat when I got to my grandparents apartment and was out of breathe climbing three flights of stairs. Right now In Ecuador they're at the peak of their track season so the workouts have been really tough."
On his first day with the club, the workout was 15x400 at 1:12. Moscoso made it through ten before he fell to the ground because of the altitude. He adds that he has been putting around 50 miles per week, but the long runs are at a lot slower pace.
"Running a long run here at 7:00 minute pace feels like running at 6:00 minute pace because it requires so much more effort," he said.
With all this attention to honing his craft, this could mark the end of race walking. It's a switch that seems logical to most in the United States unfamiliar with the sport, but not those back in Ecuador.
"In Ecuador race walking is seen as equal as running," Moscoso explains. "Everyone is shocked when I tell them I'm quitting walking because here you have equal opportunities for walking and running and if you make the national team for any sport you automatically get a monthly salary."
He has race walked in two practices with the country's best race walkers, athletes just as good as him if not better, but that was not his main reason for going.
"My main focus is running here," he said.
