When bus 1 was about to leave, they asked if anyone had a ticket - No, but can I ride along if that's okay? He looked at me - and rarely has it helped to LOOK a bit fast - I got to jump on bus 1. Phew, felt good.
The first kilometers went on gravel road and downhill - about 15-20 people pulled away in front of me. I had planned to hold 4:30 min/km, but it went so easily that it became down toward 4:10 on some sections, but the average was around plan.
Soon we got onto trails and then it was almost constantly trail. Here at the beginning, people moved back and forth in position - or was it me? I felt I held a stable pace on the trails waiting for the first real climb which was supposed to be about 260 elevation meters. When we got there I caught up with a guy and a girl (first lady) and started following them. They held a reasonable pace so I hung with them uphill. My pulse was in zone 4 and up toward threshold pulse (167) sometimes, mostly around 163-165. I was balancing there and didn't want to go up to zone 5 on such long climbs. We walked when it was steep but ran as soon as it flattened out.
I was struck by how incredibly technical the trails were - incredibly fun running - but very demanding and 100% focus on the trail was necessary. I like it though, you constantly had something to handle which made time pass faster than when I run flat kilometers and just think about how hard it is. Would have been really fun to run the trails even faster in a shorter training session. In the steepest parts you absolutely couldn't run but almost climbed up with both arms and legs. After the race I had muscle soreness in my armpits, says something about how many trees and cables and railings I pulled myself up on.
There were occasions when I could have pushed more I felt, but the race is long so I continued following my little group. Once up we caught up with another guy while another caught up with us from behind.
Right from the start I had been a little needing to pee, but since I was constantly running with some others I never wanted to stop. This made me drink a bit conservatively because I didn't want to become more needy. But I drank continuous sips from the sports drink. The fluid deficit slowly reduced the need.
We missed the trail in one place, but saw it after just 20 meters so no problem. In the turn I ended up first in the group instead, but the one who caught up with us 20 meters ahead. We stayed in that grouping for a long time while the trails wound down the mountain again. A quite "comfortable" stretch that sloped net downhill but still not so steep that it became difficult, you could run on at some 5:30-5:45 pace.
I had thought before the start that you'd be alone the whole time doing your own race, but there was constantly someone you saw in front and behind. However, running doesn't feel as "racey" as a bike race. Partly because wind isn't a factor so the importance of the group isn't as obvious - it's fine to drop back and catch up again in later positions. So it feels like people do much more their own race and can slowly pull away or drop back a bit. I noticed that the guy 20 meters ahead ran a bit faster than me downhill but a bit slower uphill so I wasn't stressed about hanging on his wheel but could push a bit on uphills and catch up. Uphill doesn't wear on the legs as much but more centrally.
After 17 km we came out on the first gravel road and it was about 2 km easy downhill. I came out first since he ahead stopped at the checkpoint. And it was a tough bit because I knew I had 3-4 behind me and thought now everyone will come past. I held steady at 4:30 and thought whoever wanted could come past. When it became trail again, the first lady together with a guy I hadn't seen before had come up right behind me, and there were some others just behind them. When I got onto the trail it pinched hard on the inside of my thighs - the change from 4:30 downhill to trail uphill bit hard. I thought the first 20 meters that oh - this is going to be unbearable for the last 10 km. But after the body got into the new movement pattern it released and it was possible to run again. But now I was starting to be really tired overall.
Before the Race
Before the race, I had taken complete rest for 4 days. On the last day, I ran 3 km just to check if my legs were still there. I had run 30 km at marathon pace the weekend before and really wanted to recover from that load in my muscles. I think it was good to have fresh legs, but ideally I should have run a few kilometers one day during the week to keep blood flow going.
I was quite nervous well in advance, since much of this was new and somewhat unknown. On race day I left home at 7 AM, and it was a long journey since I was quite tired from not sleeping properly. I had to take 50 mg of caffeine in the car to hold it together.
The mandatory equipment included first aid, headlamp, and an extra base layer shirt, a jacket, hat and gloves. I actually bought a really light base layer from Norrøna (took the opportunity to justify buying good gear). My vest is quite slim at 6 liters so it doesn't hold too much. I already had a Squamish jacket from Arcteryx which is awesome. I used a running belt and vest. Jacket and small items + phone and car key in the belt, and in the vest all energy, shirt, hat, gloves and first aid. The packing worked brilliantly - I barely noticed it and could always reach everything I wanted - fun with good gear! Since the weather was so good, I took Gripgrabs summer hat and Aclima liner gloves, very minimal!
For energy, I didn't really know how long I'd be out. After analyzing result lists and Strava activities, I calculated around 3:30-3:45 would be reasonable (since I thought the course was 28k...). I calculated energy for 3.5 hours and took 3.5 30g gels in a soft flask, these with 30 mg caffeine each. Then I took 3 500ml soft bottles mixed with about 70 grams each. This gave a total of 210+90 = 300 grams or 85 grams/hour. That's a good level for running and I don't really dare push my stomach much more than that.
I'm struck by how simple running is compared to cycling. Just put on clothes and shoes. Since it was so long, warm-up was absolutely nothing I planned to do. Didn't want to waste one meter more than necessary on my legs beforehand.
I walked over to the buses going to the start, but there was already a crazy queue - if I had to start after all these people, there could be too much traffic. I went up to an organizer and they immediately asked if I was planning to run fast. Yes, I was going to try, I answered. Here they were quite arbitrary and not as rigorous as in cycling, where not even strong results help you get forward in the start line if they're from the wrong race. I got a ticket for bus 3, always something I thought.
When bus 1 was about to leave, they asked if anyone had a ticket - No, but can I ride along if that's okay? He looked at me - and rarely has it helped to LOOK a bit fast - I got to jump on bus 1. Phew, felt good.
Start
The first kilometers went on gravel road and downhill - about 15-20 people pulled away in front of me. I had planned to hold 4:30 min/km, but it went so easily that it became down toward 4:10 on some sections, but the average was around plan.
Soon we got onto trails and then it was almost constantly trail. Here at the beginning, people moved back and forth in position - or was it me? I felt I held a stable pace on the trails waiting for the first real climb which was supposed to be about 260 elevation meters. When we got there I caught up with a guy and a girl (first lady) and started following them. They held a reasonable pace so I hung with them uphill. My pulse was in zone 4 and up toward threshold pulse (167) sometimes, mostly around 163-165. I was balancing there and didn't want to go up to zone 5 on such long climbs. We walked when it was steep but ran as soon as it flattened out.
I was struck by how incredibly technical the trails were - incredibly fun running - but very demanding and 100% focus on the trail was necessary. I like it though, you constantly had something to handle which made time pass faster than when I run flat kilometers and just think about how hard it is. Would have been really fun to run the trails even faster in a shorter training session. In the steepest parts you absolutely couldn't run but almost climbed up with both arms and legs. After the race I had muscle soreness in my armpits, says something about how many trees and cables and railings I pulled myself up on.
There were occasions when I could have pushed more I felt, but the race is long so I continued following my little group. Once up we caught up with another guy while another caught up with us from behind.
Right from the start I had been a little needing to pee, but since I was constantly running with some others I never wanted to stop. This made me drink a bit conservatively because I didn't want to become more needy. But I drank continuous sips from the sports drink. The fluid deficit slowly reduced the need.
We missed the trail in one place, but saw it after just 20 meters so no problem. In the turn I ended up first in the group instead, but the one who caught up with us 20 meters ahead. We stayed in that grouping for a long time while the trails wound down the mountain again. A quite "comfortable" stretch that sloped net downhill but still not so steep that it became difficult, you could run on at some 5:30-5:45 pace.
I had thought before the start that you'd be alone the whole time doing your own race, but there was constantly someone you saw in front and behind. However, running doesn't feel as "racey" as a bike race. Partly because wind isn't a factor so the importance of the group isn't as obvious - it's fine to drop back and catch up again in later positions. So it feels like people do much more their own race and can slowly pull away or drop back a bit. I noticed that the guy 20 meters ahead ran a bit faster than me downhill but a bit slower uphill so I wasn't stressed about hanging on his wheel but could push a bit on uphills and catch up. Uphill doesn't wear on the legs as much but more centrally.
After 17 km we came out on the first gravel road and it was about 2 km easy downhill. I came out first since he ahead stopped at the checkpoint. And it was a tough bit because I knew I had 3-4 behind me and thought now everyone will come past. I held steady at 4:30 and thought whoever wanted could come past. When it became trail again, the first lady together with a guy I hadn't seen before had come up right behind me, and there were some others just behind them. When I got onto the trail it pinched hard on the inside of my thighs - the change from 4:30 downhill to trail uphill bit hard. I thought the first 20 meters that oh - this is going to be unbearable for the last 10 km. But after the body got into the new movement pattern it released and it was possible to run again. But now I was starting to be really tired overall.
I never looked back, or if so deliberately rarely. After a while I peeked down a steep section and saw the lady was a bit back but none of the guys were left. That was quite nice because when you're that worn out it's tough to lie there racing for positions.
We came up Getsvedeberget around 22-23 km, it was a "smaller" hill I had forgotten in the elevation profile, 150 elevation meters! I went quite hard toward my pulse, not zone 5 but went around threshold. Up on Getsvedeberget the course joined the same track as the shorter 17k race had. And there was a lot of traffic - the 17k went both up and down on the same trail that we on the 28k were supposed to go down. And since there were people everywhere, it wasn't like anyone moved aside. So it was a bit disruptive coming down that hill, also very technical and blocky.
Once out on the road below, traffic wasn't a problem. It was a bit nice to see people from the other race. I tried to distinguish backward if anyone from the 28k was on my heels but only saw the slightly slower movement pattern from those who were tired on the 17k course.
Now it was around 24 km and so only 4 km left - even though I was really worn out, it felt doable at the pace I was holding. I had gotten pain in the ball of my left foot. I knew I had accidentally tied it a bit looser than the right, and when the sock gets wet and the foot slides around, that's not good. After a while I was sure it was a big blister that had burst - it felt like the whole ball was sliding around. Shit and damn I thought - how will I be able to train when I get home again? I have a marathon to think about. I cursed myself for not taping and tying tighter. The times I've tied hard at home I've almost gotten pain on top of the foot so I'm a bit careful with that. I thought regardless that now the die is cast, I'll obviously finish the race and deal with the consequences afterward. The left shoe looked reddish on the side from blood, I thought.
Now cramps pinched here and there, inside thigh and calves were worst still. I didn't feel the outside hip so much. I think the dynamic running in terrain makes it less monotonous and doesn't become the same wear as 30 km on gravel. When you walk fast uphill each step becomes like a calf raise and I had to adapt my step to not stretch out the calf each time but keep the foot as flat as possible.
I now had 26 km on the watch, but we weren't even on our way up Skuleberget yet. How can the path over the mountain only be 2 km I thought. I realized the watch might have shown wrong. I still saw no one behind or ahead in my class. When I FINALLY turned off up Skuleberget I had 800 m left according to the watch and then I asked an official how far was left. "I don't know, 5-6 km maybe?" Whoa!? That was a bit crushing I must say. I understood the finish wasn't 800 meters away, but that it was so far didn't feel good. Now I was really quite tired and it was hard just to move forward. I experienced myself that I had lowered the pace markedly the last 7 km compared to the first 20. I was afraid a train of fresh 28k runners would glide past and I wouldn't have the drive to hang on.
Up Skule was extremely steep so you just had to walk - but it was almost nice because I was quite sure it would at least be difficult to gain on me at the pace I managed to walk uphill. I passed someone here and there from the 17k. Had to concentrate not to get stuck walking but to start taking running steps as soon as it became flat. A bit before the top I had 28 km on the watch. Here I actually stopped and tightened the shoe on the left so the sole wouldn't come completely loose.
Then downhill from Skule was no longer super fun to run. I just longed for the finish and for it to be over. Still extremely technical with large blocks you had to jump between and coarse roots etc. If someone had caught up from behind, the feeling was that I would have waved and congratulated - didn't have much fight left.
I made it down and crossed the finish line at about 3h 31 minutes - the distance turned out to be just over 31 km. That must be the longest race I've done in a very long time. Kundledenrännet was probably the only one that was longer.
It turned out I had placed 9th! I was very pleased with that. I thought it was a smaller race but there were still 411 guys on the 28k. Fun to get top 10! At 3:30 I was about 30 minutes behind the winner - then you're pinning it on. I had 6:45 min/km on average and GAP 5:37 min/km. You can't figure out in training what paces you can hold - it's probably just about experience running different races and boxing in how they should feel.
How was it with the foot then - I limped to the finish and sat down trying to prevent cramps from biting my legs - took off shoe and sock - to realize there was no damage to the ball - what? I was completely surprised. I think maybe it's a blister inside the pad but that hadn't burst, so it felt like it was sliding, but no pain now afterward either. Which was a nice surprise.
