How the best race walkers train: lessons from three-time world medallist Kimberly García’s coach, Andrés Chocho

After failing to finish the race walking event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and openly contemplating retirement, things changed for Kimberly García when she won double gold (20km and 35km) at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

And that "something" is rather “someone” with a name of his own: Andrés Chocho.

He is one of the most renowned coaches in Latin America, but the Ecuadorian is a special case: he is still active.

So much so that, at the 2022 World Championships, he was competing while simultaneously giving instructions to another one of his outstanding pupils, Daniel Pintado. In 2023, the young Ecuadorian won 35km silver in Budapest 2023 and gold in the 20km at the Pan American Games.

As a coach, he expects his pupils to be on the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. "Kimberly has all the conditions to win the event," Chocho says.

But if he can adapt to the 20 km distance, he himself will also try to obtain an Olympic quota as an athlete: "If I see that I can be competitive in the 20 km, I will try to qualify".

Becoming a coach while still competing was something that grew out of his own needs. He adopted a training program that worked for him and, as it turns out, works for his athletes too.

Below, find out more about Andrés Chocho and his training methods that make his race walkers some of the best in the world.

A typical training week in race walking, by Andrés Chocho

Training during the competitive season is analysed on a daily basis for the race walkers who work under Andrés Chocho, so there is no defined weekly plan. However, he says, “We train every day from Monday to Sunday. And we have five ‘double days,’ usually from Monday to Friday."

They are normally distributed as follows:

• Two or three interval sessions –"These vary in length depending on the needs we have at that stage of the preparation."
• Two days of long runs
• Two days of recovery
• Two or three gym sessions

The importance of rest for athletics

"Rest is part of the training. It is essential for a better recovery and being able to perform much better the next day," said Chocho, who considers rest as one of the pillars of sporting success. "If you combine all these factors –recovery, nutrition, concentration in training and good preparation– you get what you are looking for."

Training in altitude, key to race walking

Andrés Chocho explains two factors that make training in altitude key to his athletes. “In addition to the fact that it has been scientifically proven to be very beneficial to the athlete, [altitude] is our home, it's where we like to train because we are close to our loved ones. In sport, family support is vital. If you can train in high altitude and at the same time be close to your family, it's even better."

What separates the best race walkers from the rest?

Andrés Chocho knows some of today's best race walkers very well. Kimberly García is ranked second in the 20km race walk, while Daniel Pintado is fifth in the same distance.

"What separates the best walkers from the rest is preparation and mentality: the best ones are clear about what their goals are, what they want and what it takes to achieve it," Chocho says.

The Ecuadorian coach also explains why his training method works: "Having a good atmosphere and communication with the athletes could be one of the secrets for it to work this well. We get along very well, we have a lot of trust in each other, we can be open and say things frankly to each other's face. That's very important: to have that security in the group."

Coach and competitor in the same race

Being a coach is something that Andrés Chocho did not contemplate from the beginning. He only had being a race walker in mind, and with that, being the best he could be.

"I talked about it with my father many years ago and I told him that I didn't want to be a coach, that I didn't like it. As the years went by, I wanted to learn a bit more about training to improve my planning. From 2010 or 2011 I started to manage it and to have an important progression."

Chocho remembers the moment when everything changed.

"My wife [Érica de Sena, Brazilian race walker] also started to follow my training plan and she also had a very big evolution. So I kept learning more, kept training more, kept researching more... and so on, until today. But, my first athlete was my wife," he continues.

However, there was a big shift from being alone with his wife and himself to having more race walkers.

"When I worked only with Érika, I could handle it very easily. Since she was living with me, she knew exactly what I wanted. All day long we would talk about race walking. Sometimes during the event, when the [men's and women's] events were both at the same time, I would also give her indications during the race," Chocho says.

The definitive change came in 2021, when Chocho stopped thinking about the preparation of two and started thinking about the preparation of a group. "Now I'm with a lot of kids. We've been working with them for two years. I try to pass on everything they might need to know, but the idea is that they can make their own decisions as well."

Because, although Chocho can compete alongside them and offer them guidance during the race, he knows that this is not always possible and the key is for them to react.

While his athletes benefit from a coach that can still compete alongside them, Chocho in turn feels competitive by going out on the road with them.

"I train with them. I do a lot of training with high-level athletes from my team, like Daniel Pintado, for example," he says.

This makes him dream of taking part in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 also as an athlete himself, not only as a coach.

"Representing your country at the Games is something incredible. And when you go with chances, you get the kind of pressure that I enjoy. I love it. If I see that I can be competitive in the 20km, I will try to qualify [for Paris 2024]," he declared.

At the same time, Chocho knows that balancing these roles means that he can't always aim for the highest level as an athlete. "It's true that in some competitions I haven't been able to perform at the level I could because we all competed at the same time. But I think that being there, enjoying what I do, I like it, it motivates me and, if I'm enjoying it, I plan to continue".