Julio Rey, recent winner of the Hamburg (Germany) marathon in 2:06.50 is an interesting character.
A native of the city of Toledo (situated at an altitude of about 800m above sea level), Rey is trained by his father, and is a pure road runner, with a background in cross country and road races in Spain.
Rey normally runs between 160-180 kilometres throughout the year, but when getting ready for a marathon, increases the kilometres to between 240-260km per week. He does most of his hard sessions in the morning. The afternoon run is more for recuperation.
Rey has a special diet, in which he gets most of his nutrients from his evening meal, which he believes gives him the energy and reserves to train well in the morning. His lunch is much lighter and usually consists of salads with a bit of protein.
Rey finds racing very stressful, and this is why he prefers to limit his races to about 3-6 per year, which is very little in total. But when he prepares for a race, you can be sure he will be ready on race day to give 100% or more. In Hamburg the past few years, he has ran away from World class Kenyans, and this year was no exception.
Rey finished 2nd in the World Championships Marathon in 2003 (Paris, France), losing out on the sprint to Jaouad Gharib (Morocco), which was not surprising, as Gharib is a former track performer with a best of 7:39 for 3000, and other very good track bests.
The recovery process for Rey at this years\' race in Hamburg was quite painful, and it took him hours after the race to feel right....his whole body was in pain, as he had really pushed the envelope on the day.
Rey commented after the race, that he felt \'sorry\' he had taken Fabian Ronceros\' Spanish record, and hopes that Roncero will bounce back from his latest injury (Roncero has bests of 27:14/10.000, and 2:07.20 marathon).
Rey will now take two weeks off from running completely, and go to a secret beachside location to recover with his family, including his young son, whom he was very proud to hold during the awards ceremony in Hamburg.
Following the two week break, Rey will gradually build up for the European Championships Marathon to be held in Gothenburg (Sweden) in August.
Rey is a tremendous runner, and it is very unfortunate that his reputation was somewhat tarnished by a doping control (positive) a few years back. Doping or no doping, Rey has now proved that he is a great runner, and one worthy of consideration as one of the top marathon men in the world. A pure marathon man.