Just two weeks after 100 miles of Istria and with those 170k in my legs I went to Jonsered, just outside Gothenburg, to run another race! Yes, I know, it's pure madness to even try to push my body when It's actually still recovering! But once again I was impressed how the human body reacts and adapts. Amazing! 😄
I started the race pretty hard. A tough pace in the beginning was my strategy. I knew that I didn't have my legs ready for 61k, but I wanter to try something new. 30k went smoothly, I felt that my legs were tired, my hips sore, and that the stride was not the usual one, but the pace was acceptable and I was happy with that. I enjoyed the race! 😎
I raced at the beginning with Branislav Pavic and after 6k Emil Johansson came and his pace was much better for me. We ran together maybe 20k. As some point I needed to pee so I stopped. I felt pain in my legs for the first time. Nothing serious, so I continued but at a slightly lower pace. Emil vanished of course and chasing him would result in a suicide attempt! 😂
Altering expectations.... I was slow now, after 40k I felt that this was a little bit too much for my body... But right there, from nowhere somebody called my name. It was MikBlo MikBlo MikBlo and Fredrik Larsson! Cool! 👍
I tried to run at their pace but it was hard... really hard. I chased them a few miles always with something like 50mt in between.
At one point a bridge came and I noticed that my uphill pace was slightly faster.... we were running together now. Great, because I needed help both navigating the course and mentally it was nice to have somebody around when it's nasty! 😄
We ran together all the way to the last CP in Skatås. After that one I was pushing my luck. I had to dig deep and find both concentration, motivation and strength to keep fighting. It went well up to km 50, than I needed to slow down the pace and take care of my running - safety first! Yes, my legs started to abandon me, I had stones, no legs anymore. Bending those was painful. That technical section slowed me a bit, I had to play it safe to the finish line by pushing faster where possible and running/hiking where not. The rain was just part of that game! 😄
6:43 is the result!
This race is a good mix of technical trails, lovely nature and fast asfalt and gravel sections where you can push the pace if you can, in particular after km38. This was a nice race for me. I wanted answers and I got a few new! It's a learning process. I ran with patience and all went fine apart the last 10k where I needed to prioririze safety due to my legs and hips that were extremly tired. The 100-mile race was still there! This was the last time me running two ultra races so close! The body needs more time to restore after such races. Yes, it can be done, but if you want to "race" in a proper way, and not just run the race than, than you need a properly train and rested body and mind! Training is not enough, you need to add rest and restore into the equation as well! I learned it the hard way! :)
Yes, I knew what I was doing the whole way and I'm quite happy with the result! Can I ran this better? Of course! ;)
See you! Run with a smile! ;)
