We quickly ran up to Schönbielhütte ahead of the storm, which arrived at the hut only minutes after us. With time to kill we researched a few options for the following days.
After waking up to a stunning view of Matterhorn we decided to go up high and evaluate the conditions. It turned out to be windy and 15cm of fresh snow, but otherwise perfect. Naturally we pushed on and eventually found ourselves at Refugio Perucca Vuillermoz after moving for 9 hours straight over glaciers, down stunning single track, over passes and through seas of boulders.
On our final day there was nothing else to do but close the loop back at Zermatt. Not quite the variation as the previous day but still gorgeous trails down to Cervinia before heading up to the last pass and rolling down 1700d- back to where we started.
A 360 view of Matterhorn, 77k and some 6000d+ is something I’d definitely define as an adventure. Even though this type of movement in the mountains is not something I’m very used to, and definitely had moments where I had to fight, I’m incredibly grateful that my back managed to pull it off with only minor annoyance.
It’s a privilege to be moving in the mountains again.
]]>Confinement here in France meant we weren’t able to leave our houses except for absolutely necessary things like grocery shopping and going to the doctors but also for light exercise close to home. We were allowed to go out for a maximum of 1 hour a day and not further than 1 distance kilometer and 100 vertical meters from our place of residence. At all times we were outside we needed to have a dated and time stamped attestation of the reason for being outside.
I wanted to stick to the rules as much as possible without going completely insane and I mostly did, except for on a few occasions, and most of them were during the last week and days before the restrictions were lifted.
The stats
So, what kind of running did I do and how much did I manage to squeeze in the limits? Well, turns out, quite a lot. I started out doing a lot of drills and not much advanced running, mostly maintenance runs around the block. But then I had to move a couple of days into confinement and that changed everything, all of a sudden I hade new places to explore and better access to varied running. There was dirt roads and semi trails just behind my house now and all of it new to me. This made me change my tactics to work on one of my biggest weaknesses instead, uphill running. To be fair I’m pretty bad at uphill hiking as well but seeing as I only had an hour to play with a day, running seemed to give me more bang for the buck.
The drills were good though, I’m all too lazy when it comes to that kind of training but I think it’s really good to do as a regular part of your routine, doesn’t need to be much, just enough to keep you healthy.
If we look at the actual stats, this is what I ended up with during the entirety of the confinement period.
That equals to just over an hour of training a day consisting of about a 10k with just over 500 meters of vertical. This isn’t a great deal but considering 99% of the vertical was purely running I’m happy about it. I definitely feel more powerful on the climbs now so I think it had quite the positive effect in the end.
Sleep
I’ve decided early on to approach this thing as an opportunity to rest and reflect. To give my body, which is usually constantly under stress, some well deserved slack. Don’t get me wrong, I was still active everyday, as you can tell from above, and I tried to be creative but not nearly at the same load as it would normally be.
I slept a lot, and I mean A LOT. At least in the beginning I got 9-10 hours of sleep every night which is way more than my normal 6-8. I’m generally a rather poor sleeper but this all changed during confinement for some reason. Unfortunately it hasn’t stayed quite like that afterwards.
Drills I did
When it comes to drills I like to keep it fairly simple, I think a few exercises covers most of what you need to build of your small running muscles. Some of my favorites are skipping, high knees and high heels. All of these directly translates to running and is part of your running stride but in an exaggerated form. To that I would add strides and barefoot running, again, to add that exaggerated form to your natural running stride.
Body weight strength
Finally, I also got into the habit of doing light body weight exercises. Usually before bed I’d do 10-15 minutes of push ups, sit ups, hip raises and a bunch of different variations on the classic sit up. The purpose wasn’t really to work up a sweat, it was more to maintain upper body and core strength and keep those muscles active too. I still do these exercises but not everyday, more like 2-3 times a week.
General life
As far as everyday life went, most things were a bit wonky to say the least but I tried to stay sane by still doing creative things and kept the mind working. I did a lot of reading and writing as well. I tried to keep a journal but I never seem to be able to stick with it so that faded quickly. A lot of time was spent just doing regular things but only took the time to not rush it, cooking, baking, gardening and all those kind of basic things. Then of course some of the time was spent planning for future projects, especially now since most races are canceled and the calendar is quite open again. Hopefully I’ll have something fun to write about soon enough.
I’ll leave you with a few photos of some of the things I cooked and baked during this period, there was loads more but these ended up captured. The thing I probably made most of was probably banana bread with a chocolate twist, that was my go to for after runs, and snacking on and as breakfast sometimes even. I might post some recipes later on if that’s desirable.
]]>In March I did my very first speed block which took some time getting used to, and I still am trying to figure it out. I did a lot of 200m intervals but soon it turned out I probably had the necessary leg speed, my problem was my thresholds, they were way too low. But instead of changing up that speed block I continued what I was doing and tried to improve as much as I could from that kind of training.
To escape the monotony of running in Stockholm me and a friend decided to visit another friend in Lisbon for a training week in April. The idea was to get away, get some good training in and hopefully even some climbing. Even though we didn’t get to do much climbing cause it was wet, it was good to get away and we got a solid week of training.
After that I went straight to Nice to visit a friend there and try to get some vert. This turned out to be my biggest training week to date with around 140km and 5000m vert. Nice is beautiful and even though not optimal for running itself, one just have to go inland a tiny bit to get to some beautiful mountains connected to the alps.
The week after I got back I foolishly decided to do my first parkrun ever. It’s a free timed event every week all over the world. Local volunteers help make this possible and it’s just a prime example of the fantastic community this sport has. My body was a wreck after the big weeks and I was a lot slower than I thought I’d be in 19m40s for the 5k. It is a hilly course but that’s no excuse, I should’ve been in the low 18’s. But that didn’t discourage me from doing my first ever marathon distance the week after that. Sweden Irontrail Marathon, and I ended up finishing 7th in 3h18m. It’s a fun local marathon on trails and gravel roads with some vert, definitely check this out if you’re in the area.
During the last build up for my race season I decided to do another small race in Stockholm just for fun, Stockholms brantaste. This is so far from my comfort zone it’s ridiculous. Climbing an 80m hill three times on a 3km course, brutal. I ended up 49th in 19m11s completely wiped out. My excuse is that I ran there and back home, but not really.
Then it was time for my big race of the year, Lavaredo, and I was psyched for this one. I was in good shape and I knew I could do well but unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan. I haven’t written anything about this race yet since I’m making a short documentary about our experience. It has taken longer than expected but I’m hoping to get it done as soon as possible, keep an eye out for that one!
Tradition is tradition and even though my ankle was still not recovered from Lavaredo (Oops spoilers) I decided to start Swedish Alpine Ultra anyway. My goal beforehand was to at least make it to Kebnekaise station since that’s really the point of no return, after that you might as well finish the race instead of turning around. I set off in the lead but felt almost instantly I for sure wasn’t going to be able to finish the race so I continued pushing to just after the Kebnekaise station where it’s possible to sit down and see really far in both directions. I waited for the ones behind me and cheered them on before I turned back and continued cheering people on as I met them. I’ve written about this race many times before and I can warmly recommend it. Read about my experience last year here.
Now it was time for probably the biggest event of my running year but it wasn’t a race or anything like that. I had decided to move to Chamonix to be in the mountains but I didn’t really have a plan and nowhere to live but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. With only a tent and I suitcase of essentials I took a flight there in the beginning of August and I haven’t looked back since. Maybe I’ll write a longer post about this later but for now just now it’s the best decision I’ve made in a long time.
My last race of the year was going to be the MCC which is the shortest race under the UTMB umbrella is only for locals (that’s right) and volunteers. But just a week before the race I took a fall going down a peak and initially it didn’t seem that bad but the next days would prove otherwise. I hade irritated the ruptured disc I have in my back and it was incredibly painful again. I was forced to bed rest for almost the entire week leading up to the race. Fortunately it was good enough on race day and even though it wasn’t optimal I could run. It was an incredibly hot day and even so I managed to hit my first split but it would soon be apparent I had pushed too hard and I ended up falling off pace more and more after that. With spent legs and not being used to the heat I fought hard to get through it and I ended up in 60th in 5h10m. Far off prediction but I was happy to not have abandoned the race, cause I was pretty dang close.
The rest of the year I spent exploring the Chamonix valley. The possibilities and beauty is endless here. There are so many trails and so many mountains that can be connected in so many ways. I will do a follow up post with all my favorite routes in Chamonix in the future.
By the numbers
Distance 4,162.3 km
Time 414h 57m
Elev Gain 120,778 m
Runs 291
What was your running year like?
]]>We had talked about doing this trail for quite a while. So when I got back from a solitude couple of months in the cold and harsh Swedish mountains, I booked a flight down to a sunny Lisbon. That’s where my friend Pedro lives and from there we rented a van and drove down the coast to the Alentejo region.
The fisherman’s trail is probably the most gorgeous trail you can find in Portugal, it follows the coastline and have stunning views the entire way. This is actually a part of a bigger trail network in south west Portugal called Rota Vicentina which also covers a lot of the inland.
We decided to do it with support since this was more of a fun adventure to see what this piece of trail was like on foot. Pedro’s wife Teresa was kind enough to drive the van and meet us at predetermined meeting points. It was great to have someone always bringing snacks and cheering you on when things felt tough, but especially the bringing snacks part was great.
I highly recommend this piece of trail to anyone wanting to get to know Portugal a little better and I would also recommend to do some of the other trails of the network to also see some of the inland. Which I managed to do accidentally but getting lost is just another way of exploring as long as you find your way back again in the end.
I challenge anyone to not stop every couple of hundred meters to take a photo, cause that’s what I did!
Quick facts
Quick tips
If you’re planning about doin this trail and have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. And if you’ve already done it, please share your experience, I’m curious to know what you thought of it!
If you’re interested in more trails around the Lisbon area I’ve written about that here.
]]>These are my smultronställen of trail running in Stockholm, do enjoy them in my absence.
Hammarbybacken
We’re starting out with the crown jewel of climbing in Stockholm. With the most vert you can get in one go this monster of a hill will get you a total of 85 vertical meters. If you manage to find the absolute bottom before heading up that is. Here you’ll find a lot of people trying to get their weekly vm’s in and soon you’ll get to know a lot of the faces.
You’ll find a lot of different paths going up and down the hill so you’ll be able to get some variation. There’s also a lot of fun competitions going on here, like Stockholms Brantaste which is a 3km course going up the hill three times and ending at the top.
Kungsholmen runt
This doesn’t really fall under the trail category except for a slightly technical part of maybe half a kilometer, but it’s a classic run in Stockholm and you won’t ever be alone going around this island.
Södermalm runt
Same goes for this one, it’s an extreme stretch of the trail category but it’s also a super classic run. You won’t ever be lonely on this one either, especially if you do it around lunch time, since a lot of Stockholms inhabitants like to spend their lunch hour (more like two) circumventing this island. If you do it in the height of summer watch out for the wall of people getting their daily dose of sun and water exposure at Tantolunden.
If you feel adventurous you can cross the bridge Årstabron, which happens to be my favorite bridge in Stockholm, and end up at Årsta Strand which also has a nice waterside trail, oh well, it’s more like a gravel path.
Hagaparken
Here you’ll find a lot of different paths and trails that can be connected in lots of ways. There’s also a small hill here, Haga kulle. Going around the lake Brunnsviken, located in the middle of the park, is a nice loop.
Alvik strand
This is a surprising little gem of an out and back trail close to central town. With a few small loops that can be added along the way. And if Kungsholmen runt doesn’t cut it for you distance wise you can tack this on as an extra and get twice the distance.
Ursvik
Home of the classic Ursvik Xtreme and Ursvik Ultra races, which are some of the best races around. There’s a lot of good trails and paths here and you can put the loops together making up a desired distance. You probably won’t be alone here but it’s also big enough to not be crowded.
Marked trails all the way from a lit and groomed 2k to a 15k semi technical trail.
Järvafältet and Upplandsleden
Järvafältet is just a big “field”with tons of gravel paths and small trails. Bring some cash when going here during summer and pop into one or several of the local farms for coffee and cake. Upplandsleden is actually a little known trail in Stockholm but well worth checking out.
Gömmaren
This might be Stockholms best kept trail secret. If you go here you’ll experience one of the best trails around and you usually won’t bump into a lot of people, especially if you’re doing either the 10k or 15k trail.
Has the same kind of prepped trails as Ursvik from 2k up to 15k, but more of a single track and off-the-beaten-track feel especially on the 10k and 15k loops.
Högdalstopparna - Högdalstoppen, Fagersjötoppen and Hökarängstoppen
I’ve spent a lot of time going up and down these hills and even though they’re literally old garbage piles, from the right angle, on the right day and with perfect weather it can be almost beautiful here. You can connect this with the lit trail in Fagersjöskogen which is close by and make a good loop.
Hellas, Tyresta and Sörmlandsleden
Sörmlandsleden is a trail system covering a lot of ground around the Stockholm area and it goes through both Hellas and Tyresta. Hellas offers a lot more than just running, including ice skating and ice baths in winter but also a lot of great trails. Tyresta is a big national park that’s a bit of actual nature just south of Stockholm and there’s a lot to discover here, I won’t spoil it for you, just go there and explore. Bring a map.
Sörmlands Ultra Marathon or SUM has its way with all of these places.
Vinterviken
I’ll leave this here as a bonus, I’ve run a lot of miles here and it’s a great area to run even though there aren’t actually any trails here. But with a little imagination I managed to put together a loop with almost 500 vertical and that’s not bad in Stockholm.
Did I miss any place good? Let me know!
]]>A friend of mine called me just after having dropped out of the TDS this year and told me that he wasn’t going to continue. “I’m completely exhausted, there was no way I could have stayed in the race.” His voice sounded weak and he really seemed exhausted to me and I insured him he had made the right decision. Not even an hour later he called me again and this time around it was a completely different story. “I don’t know why I quit, I feel fine now.” He told me and he sounded disappointed in himself. I can’t know that he made the right decision, I can only help him figure out what drove him there and what to do next time.
I think this is universal and I’ve had the exact same experience on every single one of my DNF’s. Even the once where I was completely sure I didn’t have any other choice, there was still this tiny little seed of doubt in me that kept on growing. It’s human to forget painful things fast, it’s ingrained in us. If not, we would never try to do something hard and painful ever again and our minds are remarkably good at distinguishing between good bad and bad bad.
In the end I think you do need to trust your gut but at the same time I think it’s healthy to challenge that initial urge to quit. The only way to get better at this is to look back and learn from your own experiences. And if you don’t have your own, maybe you can learn something from mine. So here’s the anatomy of my DNF.
UTMB
Severe stomach cramps, unable to run neither up nor down, unable to get any food in and unable to sleep it off.
The first one is always extremely hard, you can always find a reason to why you could’ve continued so unless you’ve withdrawn for a really good reason you will regret it, even if it was the right decision. I still regret this one even though I tried to sleep it off for a couple of hours. I wrote about this experience here if you want to learn more.
Beskidy Ultra Trail 90
This is my most well executed race to date and it came right after my first and most devastating DNF. I was in the front or in the lead for most of the race and felt absolutely fantastic the entire way. A few navigation errors (and stolen course markers) probably lost me the win with a few minutes but there’s no point in speculating. I’m super proud of this race no matter what and it earned me my first international podium and a great big fire log trophy to show for it.
This is where I thought I was in the clear and the pattern had yet to become a pattern.
Costa Blanca Trails
Hip pain from recent climbing fall, forced to a slow walk and whimper, got way cooled down when it started raining.
After the first one it gets surprisingly easy, as a matter of fact it’s easier to find a reason to quit than to go on and if you’re not careful it turns in to a dark pattern real fast. I’ve seen athletes who go down this spiral of withdrawal never to return to former glory days. Even though this was from a somewhat acute injury it was troubling to have another DNF within a few months from my very first one.
Lavaredo
Sprained ankle on the first descent, continued for another 40k before pulling the plug.
Some DNF’s seem like they should be more obvious than others but that’s not always the case. As soon as I heard the loud crack when rolling my ankle the fourth or fifth time I knew it was bad, but I chose to ignore it. I thought maybe it would be ok as long as I kept moving. After another 30k it was clear I wasn’t going to finish the race no matter what. Again, this was an acute injury but even more troubling that I now had three for four and this wasn’t the end of it.
Swedish Alpine Ultra
Not recovered from ankle sprain.
Sometimes you just want it so much you can’t help yourself even though you know the outcome even before the race starts, and sometimes that’s ok. The goal doesn’t always have to be to finish the race. Sometimes the goal is just to get out there and see how long your body can hold up, and turn around when it says enough is enough. This was now my fourth DNF but this was also the least surprising one. And maybe it was here something shifted in me, where I realized it’s not always a bad thing to quit.
MCC
Breaking the pattern for real. After I went out to hard in the 30 degree heat, and hit my first split spot on, my legs were shattered and from there on it was hanging on for dear life. I wanted to quit so many times and in my mind I found all the excuses, but non were good enough. I knew I had to push through all the way to the finish if not only for the sake of finishing. And that’s what I did, I finished way off my A, B and even C goal but at least I finished. I knew that if I didn’t finish this one it would be for the sole reason of giving up, I had no valid excuse and so I kept going. And if the previous race taught me that it’s ok to not finish sometimes, this one taught me that it’s not ok to quit sometimes.
So, is this the end of it? Have I made it over the DNF hump? I’m not so sure about that. I think once you’ve realized how easy it is to quit it’s always going to be tempting when things don’t go the way you want. But the only way to grow and learn is to push your mental and physical limits, sometimes you go over them and sometimes you won’t reach them. Eventually you will find that balance and know yourself well enough to make the right decision in the moment.
And hey, if you were to make the wrong decision once in a while that’s not the end of the world either.
]]>Fast forward almost a year and the UTMB week is already here. I’ve probably had the best year of training thus far in my life with a huge focus on this race. Even though I didn’t expect to be running this year I had to refocus all my training with the goal of successfully completing the UTMB and with that my first 100-miler. And even though training had been going excellent I still didn’t feel ready. This race and the 100 mile distance requires so much more than training, it takes all out of you. A 100k is possible to just toughen out and get done even if you don’t have your best day. This is something different, a new beast all together.
Me and Jonas, my brother, lined up at the start after waiting as long as possible, a slight dusting of rain was in the air and we didn’t want to get too cooled down before the start. The course was slightly changed due to weather and an accident the previous day but nothing major. Weather during the race seemed to be almost optimal, at least for us Scandinavians used to colder temperatures and muddy trails. More and more runners started to join us in the starting area, and excitement started to build. Nervous chatter was all around and people taking pictures instantly posted to instagram and facebook and what have you. Music was playing loudly and energetically and I do get this but I’m not that kind of person who wants to get pumped, I want to be relaxed and focused at the start, I know this isn’t a sprint by any means, this is a slow, calculated and meticulous race. This is a mountainous 100-miler. This is no joke. This is the frickin’ Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. Notorious for eating up and spitting out runners going too hard.
Suddenly we were off, after all the expectations and build up and craziness surrounding the race it felt almost anti-climatic.
As planned I started out a little harder than was sustainable for a hundred miles to avoid the bottle neck which can be expected by the first climb if you’re not fast enough in the start. I felt pretty good to begin with, no real problems at all. But after starting the climb I noticed my heart rate was a little high even though effort felt fine, I had slowed down after the initial surge. I ask Jonas for his heart rate since we’re usually in the same ballpark. His was consistently about ten beats lower than mine. This was something I wanted to control and so I backed off on the pace and told Jonas I’d see him on the descent. I kept on going steadily up the mountain side and switching between a fast paced walk and slow paced run, and almost at the top I caught up to him again. I noticed I was running side by side names like Stephanie Howe and Kacie Lickteig which made me feel comfortable in that I maintained a good position in the race.
Downhill is where I get to shine. After reaching the top and starting the descent I picked up the pace, a lot. I flew by people all the way down to Saint-Gervais and I felt like I passed hundreds of runners, in the end it was maybe 70-80 but that’s still quite a lot. This definitely gave me a boost and I flew through the first aid station without even stopping. The crowds were going crazy and was cheering us on which gave me even more of a boost. At this point energy intake was on point and in that aspect I felt great.
By the start of the next climb darkness had descended as we started to ascend and it was time to bring out the headlamp. This was my first night start and I didn’t feel great about starting with the night part, I kind of like it when it gets dark as I’m well into the race and I can cut back on the pace for more than one reason. But I was feeling good, still climbing strong even though I’m a terrible climber. I kept eating well and moving well, some people passed me but not a lot.
I ran through the Les Contamine aid station rather quickly. The course flattened out a bit here and I was able to step on the gas again before we would start climbing again. At the steepest part I started to feel a little loss of energy but nothing major, I had another gel and kept on pushing up in a steady grind. When I hit the next station, La Balme, where I in hindsight realized I made a crucial mistake which likely was the reason for my downfall. I finished the leftover Maurten I had left in my flask, which I usually do, but this time it was an unusual amount left, way too much for my stomach to handle during a climb. That in combination with pushing hard completely shut down my stomach and from there on it only got worse.
Jonas caught up with me somewhere before the Col du Bonhomme and I told him my stomach had started to act up. We parted ways and I told him I’d try to catch him on the descent. But my stomach didn’t recover and as soon as I started to go down the cramps hit me. Downhill is where I knew I had to be good cause climbing isn’t my forte but know I could barely run, every step was like a punch and a twist to my guts and I had to alternate between running slowly and walking. Runners started passing me, which rarely happens on descents and that’s when I knew I was in real trouble.
I made it down to Les Chapieux where I had some water melon and slowly made my way through the station, and kept on walking after exiting the station even though it was flat gravel road. I managed to get off course somehow and had to backtrack. Then I tried running again to catch up but only made it a few hundred meters before I felt like I had to throw up.
As the trail of lights passed me one by one and me stepping off the path to try and throw up every once in a while I knew I couldn’t go on like this. I knew I’d have to quit at Courmayeur.
Hickups all the way down, had to walk most of it.
At Lac-Combal I walked right up to the first person I could find and asked if I could quit the race. I took some explaining but finally they could understand me (I probably didn’t make much sense by then) and they told me I could quit, but they also opened up a door for me by asking “don’t you want to try and rest in a medical tent first?” I was finished, there was nothing left, I could barely walk, it was more of a stumble and I couldn’t eat anything, yet something in me didn’t want to quit, I didn’t want to give up. I took their offer and slept for half an hour and another and another, in the end I’m not sure how many hours I spent there but many until I finally gave in and allowed myself to DNF my first 100-miler. It hurt.
After spending a few hours in the medical tent I got a ride back to Courmayeur together with a couple of others who had decided to quit the race as well. A Finnish guy, Mikael Heerman, who had a bad knee and a french guy who, well, only spoke french. However, the ride back was not very smooth, we had to stop and wait for some unknown reason for a long time, during which I started to feel really sick and repeatedly went in and out of the car trying to throw up but nothing really happened. I wore all my spare clothes but was freezing nonetheless, probably cause I hadn’t been able to eat anything for a long time. We made it back and I got on the bus across the border and finally did the walk of shame through Chamonix, luckily it was too early in the morning and I was pretty much alone.
This was maybe the strangest UTMB in history, so many elite quit for a myriad of reasons both among the males and the females. It seemed like one of those years where everything that could go wrong did. The one good thing about my DNF though, it allowed me to watch Jonas finish 50th in under 27 hours after an extraordinary display of grit and determination.
A lot of lessons was learned during this race and I will definitely come back and do it right one day.
]]>Me and my friend Mikael had decided to drive up to the start this year, make a road trip out of it. I’m not entirely sure why I thought this was a good idea. I hate driving and it isn’t awesome for my back to sit still for a huge amount of hours at a time. But in the end I guess the adventure and the company more than makes up for that. It’s a blast just hanging out with your friend and getting to see a lot of this beautiful country of ours and we also planned to head over to Norway for a few days after the race.
We arrived in Nikkaluokta just in time for the regular pre-race meeting in the church. All the usual suspects were there, Sten, Adrian and Rober, Bruno, Perttu and Jonathan to name a few. That’s what makes this event so special, it’s like a homecoming every year. You get to meet your trail family and run around in the mountains for an entire day, that’s pretty cool if you ask me.
Spirits were high and everyone seemed really excited. Usual talks about the weather, the course and previous years were going on left to right. There were more participants than ever before, around 50, and one of the big worries is always someone getting hurt or lost out there. I’m happy to conclude no major incidents occurred this year and everyone who finished did so in less than 24 hours. That’s pretty cool considering it’s completely self sufficient.
The start went off and me and my brother Jonas quickly set the pace. Even though none of us were sure we would even race this year, until just a couple of days before the start, we went out in a good pace. It’s fun to start relatively fast and it is the most runable part of the course. We were both rather decided on taking it somewhat easy considering the big goal this year is the UTMB and we didn’t want to risk getting injured just a month before. We knew the splits from last year and tried to hit them more for fun than anything else.
Everything went pretty smooth, we were ahead of the splits but we didn’t push especially hard. We were conversing a lot, which for anyone who knows us is considered out of the ordinary, and having a good time just being out there. In Sälka we stopped for a coke and had a quick chat with the cabin host there. The trail was dry, probably the most dry it’s been for years, and it was obvious we wouldn’t run into a lot of snow, if any, this time around.
When we got to the Tjäktja pass we realized we were a lot ahead of the splits so we were in no real rush. We looked back to see if we could spot anyone behind us but we couldn’t make anything out, although we knew Anna couldn’t be far behind us. We took a few pictures before continuing on. There is usually a lot of snow right after the pass, which is a good thing cause the enables you to take the winter trail instead of the summer trail and it’s a lot easier. This year we wouldn’t be so lucky. The summer trail was the only option and it’s mostly balancing on sharp rocks trying not to trip and cut yourself.
Before Alesjaure we were hitting fast kilometer splits and I think this is were my stomach started to shut down. Even though the pace didn’t feel that strenuous I think it might have been just a tad too fast for me at that point. Up until that point I had been pretty spot on my energy schedule even though I had been feeling a little queasy from the start, most likely because of the road trip, but from then on it would be tough. I struggled to get anything in and in the end that’s what stopped me from finishing the way I wanted to.
We noticed we had a chance to break eleven hours and so we did one last push to see if we could do it. But even though we ran as fast as we possibly could the technical terrain and fatigue at this point wouldn’t allow for fast enough kilometer splits. My lack of energy intake during the last couple of hours started to catch up to me. With only eight or so kilometers to go I got extremely dizzy and was afraid I would trip. I decided force down a gel and walk for a bit, either I would get my head back or I would have to stop and throw up for a good while. I told Jonas to go on without me and I would try to catch him before the finish. In the end I did manage to get rid of the dizziness but I had fallen too far behind to catch him.
I finished in 11:11:15 which is over 40 minutes faster than last year and with no real dark spots during the entire race I have to consider that pretty good. I still need to work on my energy plan but one of these days I’m going to figure it out and I’ll be able to finish strong.
A big thanks to Roland for such a special race and to all the volunteers who makes it possible. Congratulations to Jonas on another victory and course record and to everyone who finished and I hope to see you again soon. Also a big thanks to Cecilia Rydberg for the fantastic cover photo.
]]>The bus for the start in Courmayeur left at 4am. As usual I hadn’t gotten much sleep that night, nerves and excitement made sure of that. When I got there I just took it easy, sat down for a while, had some breakfast and just looked at my fellow runners. There’s always this weird kind of excitement in the air, nervousness and the lack of sleep puts people in a strange state.
The race started and once we hit the first uphill the sun also started to rise. Almost right away I got pains in my left hip and my right knee, as expected, but it wasn’t too bad. I kept on grinding up that mountain and once I hit the the top the pain was almost gone and I felt pretty great actually. I kept on moving well and gaining positions all the time, even in the uphills which is usually where I do the worst. After the Col Chavannes there’s a 7-8 kilometer long traverse which I flew down. Those were by far my fastest splits and that’s probably where I felt the best during the entire race.
After the Bourg Saint-Maurice aid station the biggest climb of the race starts and I knew it was going to be a doozy. It was unbelievably hot and I didn’t want to finish my water all at once so I had small sips and was saving the whole way up and at times, above the tree line, the sun was shining and hit me like a torch. At one point a supporter with a huge danish flag past me and was cheering me on. He was such a character that I couldn’t be entirely sure I wasn’t imagining him but then I noticed other people reacting to him as well. No hallucinations. Yet at least. I did however run out of water before I got to the top but thankfully some kind spectators was aware of this and came down with just enough to wet the tongue and that was plenty at the moment.
It was starting to get dark a little while before Col du Joly and when I got there it was pitch black. I could hear the music playing a long ways before I got there and upon arrival I was confused. It seemed like there was some kind of party there but barely any people. My tired mind had trouble comprehending this. I just thought there would be a lot more people there for some reason.
The climb up to Col du Tricot was truly horrible, so steep and I could see a trail of headlights all the way up. I saw a floodlight at the top so at least I knew from the start where I was heading and how far it was but man, it was so steep. One step at a time. I kept telling myself I just needed to move, it didn’t have to be fast as long as I moved. I kept checking my pulse, and had been for a while and I knew exactly how hard I could push before it was too much.
At some point I ran out of water and I got kind of desperate. I finally stumbled upon some running water, it wasn’t much though. I had to get down on my knees and press my face against the ground and slurp that water mixed with a lot of dirt but, oh, how sweet it was. At the end I couldn’t push my pulse beyond 130, if I did I noticed right away something was wrong. But as long as I kept it around there I was fine.
The guy ahead of me on the decent down to Les Houches was screaming and swearing, I couldn’t figure out to what or whom. As it turns out he was really mad at his quads which were completely trashed and he was stumbling the whole way down. My quads were killing me as well but I knew that everyone was hurting there so that was no reason to slow down, on the contrary, I started speeding up. I’m good on the down hills, quad pain wasn’t gonna stop me if my hip hadn’t yet.
I came into this race with a goal of sub 20 but with the knowledge of my injuries I knew that might be impossible and with that in mind my goal would quickly change to just finishing. I ended up doing something inbetween and considering the circumstances I’m satisfied with the end result. Out of 1818 runners at the start 1251 finished the race and 567 did not. I ended up in 158th place and top hundred in my category with a time of 21:49:17.
The absolute best part of the race though, of any race really, is crossing that finish line and having my family and my girlfriend there. It’s such an amazing feeling. Nothing compares to it and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
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