Not sure what’s been going on running-wise for me since my last post. Just been training and dealing with a mild and annoying injury. My right hip flexor that I’ve dealt with in the past has been giving me grief. I DNF’d the Arc of Attrition due to it and also had a couple flare ups in the past that stopped me running. Odd thing is zero problems at Malverns Ultra, Wyre Forest Half, and from speedwork. I can’t pinpoint a cause either, normally you can look back at training and see where it came from, not this. I can run on it but I’d love for it to be pain free, just don’t have the confidence in it. So I’ve been doing everything I can for it. Have yet to go to the physio, I worked very little in August so I had a tiny pay check. No money so no physio. Maybe next month. Still been getting in 40 mile weeks and a decent long run but no more mileage, strength, or speedwork.
I did sign up for a race next year. I saw on the Hardrock 100 qualifying list a race in Norway. The Sandnes Ultratrail. It’s in south west Norway near Stavanger. 100 miles with 26,000 feet of vert! It looks like it goes through the fjords which should be really cool! Very hard though!
Sandnes Ultratrail has vibes of old school and I liked that! UTMB events are fun but very sterile (and EXPENSIVE), you’re just a number, too big, too much production. I was really drawn to this race because the entry was affordable, £150! Also, flights were £80-£200 and about 4 hours with a 1:45 layover. But most of all you can camp at the start! At Sandnes, the final day, Sunday, they state in the race manual “the barbecues stay warm as long as runners enter,” once again showing a local feeling which is great. Car hire is about £40 a day, I’ll be there for four days, but you can also take a bus to within 5km of the venue and they’ll come pick you up just to encourage less cars.
I clicked the registration and unfortunately it was full! Maybe next year. However I was looking at their Facebook page and saw a recent post saying the race is full but “we do have a small quota open for foreign and elite runners.” Well I’m foreign, so I sent an email off. Shortly after I received a friendly email with a smiley emoji and a link to register! I guess I’ve got to do it now! April I’ll be going to Norway.
The airport is in Stavanger in the top left corner, the start near Sandnes at a camp in Alsvik
Really excited for this. The race is small, last years results show only about 70 entrants in the 100 mile race, and there were maybe only 10 non-Norwegian runners! I’ve always wanted to visit Norway especially with my skiing background. I’m hoping to make some friends and connections for future trips, fingers crossed nordic skiers! The last Norwegians I met were Nordic ski coaches in Colorado and then at the World Cup in Thunder Bay in high school, and these three names runners will definitely know as supposedly in their prime they were more popular than the king of Norway: Thomas Alsgaard, Bjorn Daehlie, and Vegard Ulvang. Famous Norwegian skiers.
Had to zoom in so the vert profile is a bit blurry
I don’t need to start training until December but want my leg to be 100%. It will be much like UTMB, lots of hiking. It looks to be very technical and steep. I was looking at results and saw a British woman did it a few years back, she is an elite runner so I recognized her name, Sabrina Verjee. I usually run with the elite women in races so it was a good gauge of what time to expect. She ran 32 hours, average pace was around 17 minute miles, and got second! Yeah, it will be hard. I sent her a message asking about the race and she wrote back saying yes it’s hard, and be prepared for navigation, definitely have a gps watch. This community is still small enough you can reach out to some random person you’ve never met and get a positive reply, pretty cool. Thanks for the info Sabrina!
Training will focus on big vert and strength. I will need to lift my treadmill on blocks to get the incline up like I did for UTMB. Always feel bad ass doing that. I had my old treadmill lifted to 18% gradient which worked well, I could hike for an hour with a weight vest and get 4000 feet of vert. My legs felt really good uphill at UTMB so that will be the plan. I’ve got a squat rack and Olympic barbell now thanks to Facebook marketplace so will incorporate that, probably early on in the plan. Then I’ll need some trips to Church Stretton as I did for UTMB for some outside vert with poles.
Now just need to heal this quad hip flexor issue.
Had issues formatting the photos so apologies if it’s wonky!
