I ran the 2009 TjurRuset terrain race on Saturday and although my intention was to just have fun with the event, I wound up learning more about myself as a runner than I had in many years. 10 truly grueling kilometers of the annual run called “Tjur Ruset”, which literally translates into “The Bull Rush”. Essentially, the one-off design of the route  through forrest, marsh and boulders reduced most of us to appear as if we were indeed, a stampede of nervous bulls who were escaping from a slaughterhouse.

This year’s course was the toughest one in memory for anybody I interviewed. The event location doesn’t change, but the routes and *edit- changes every year, but kept secret until weeks before each start.-edit end* Additional obstacles are brilliantly arranged to be about as difficult to run as possible. Mother Nature decided to kick it all up a few notches with cold rain in an already wet Autumn. This year’s location was quite unique with sand dunes, rocky alpines and marshy quagmires, all in the same 5km radius. Add to that a few obstacle courses drawn right out of a Navy Seal bootcamp and you begin to get the picture. Most of the run was as fun as it was frustrating, save the 25% which we ran over slick, wet roots which I just didn’t have the right shoes for. (I ran in retired Asics Cumulus with no traction left)

The entire length of the course was a virtual roller-coaster of sick ascents and dangerous downhills with your eyes glued to the ground ahead. After an immediate climb of a 50m, steep and sandy dune, the route narrowed quickly into single-track trails, bottlenecked with cold and anxious runners jostling for any shot to jump ahead.

Advice was issued to all to take it easy in the beginning, which is usually sensible for any race of 10km or longer. However, it’s advice which I’ll blatantly ignore next year and here’s why: The more runners that get by you in the beginning, the more congestion you’ll see later on when the field bottlenecks with hundreds of runners. More than five times my efforts were helplessly reduced to a slow queue of hikers rather than runners. In the end, one’s finish time and placement would not be a result of their physical condition and fighting spirit alone. Lesson learned: Get and stay ahead early and hold on as long as your body can handle it. Those who had this strategy had run this before. Most of the top finishers, and both male and female winners, were orienteers.

The wrong strategy aside, I had magnificent fun sloughing through the mud. That said, I ended up with an embarrassing 1:04:58, just coming in in the top 1.500 of 5.000 terrain-trotters. With a little more conditioning, an aggressive strategy and proper orienteering shoes, I’ll be looking forward to doing this event again next year.

At the finish line.

**A special thanks goes out to my wife, Sanna, who made her debut appearance of support for me on my last event of the year. It wasn’t easy as she had our five month old daughter in the cold and rain for about two hours while waiting for me. Muahh!

*New* Added 20.10.2009…

Click here for an article by Torbjörn Sköldefors of Marathon.se covering this year’s event. (Swedish)

Click here for a photo gallery of TjurRuset 2009 by photographer Martin Ekequist.

Lidingöloppet 2009 medal

Two days after Lidingöloppet and my body is giving me all the signs needed to finish writing my race-day assessment of my 2:44:02, 2009 performance:

Distance Training- 8/10. Following a three month training gap, I began preparing for this event in August. I jumped right into the last nine weeks of my 20-week marathon schedule. 635km in 9 full weeks for an average of 70km/week; 10km/day. This may have been too sudden but the distance workouts all went well, including a slow-dry run on the actual course three weeks ago (30km/2:52:00). When I say slow, I kept an even 5:25/km pace and a heart rate under 140 bpm to preserve my legs, while adding endurance and mental stamina.

Adjustments for 2010: Foundation should have started at least a month earlier.

Speed/Hill Training- 3/10. I basically failed in this category. I normally allocate one day a week (Tuesdays) for speed work. This was simply not enough for the hilly demands of Lidingöloppet. But I didn’t even stick to that schedule and missed all but a few sessions which came toward the end of the nine-week plan. In hindsight, it was a bad idea to have done the last few speed sessions without having done the earlier ones; Too much late program body fatigue.

Adjustments for 2010: Not only for Lidingöloppet, I simply have to value my speed work more going forward. Specifically for Lidingöloppet, I need those speed sessions and hill-work. Also, I want to plan my daily routes to play more specific roles within my training plan.

Sleep- 4/10. Nothing I could have done to change this. My four-month-old daughter continues to bring us all the perfect joys and challenges of parenthood. We’re still doing feedings at 24, 03 and 06. Add work, home-improvements and 12-15 hours/week for running… getting proper sleep is a challenge. I manage to piece together five hours a day for sleep, which works for me mentally. Physically, the recovery demands my body requires have not been met. I know I would have performed better with eight hours sleep.

Adjustments for 2010: Obvious.

Nutrition- 7/10. I ran this race 5kg over what I planned for. Prior to the nine weeks of prep, I gained nearly 10kg during summer holidays and not working out properly. My diet over the last nine weeks has been fairly good, with a few indulgences (homemade ice cream) on the weekends. Out of respect for my lack of sleep, I should have been compensating with higher protein ratios.

Adjustments for 2010: Hmm. Don’t gain 10kg.

Race strategy- 5/10. My plan was good, it just wasn’t right for my current fitness level; Fail. A week ago I ran a routine 8km run at a 4:30/km pace while keeping my heart rate out of my upper zone and feeling like a moderate effort. I felt great and energized afterwards and thought I’d be able to keep, at least, this pace for the first 24km. Instead, zig-zag’ing, bumping and running off the trail pushed my heart rate up and my pacing down. Continued…

Race-day variables- 6/10. The event was spectacular, and so was the weather. Of the things in my control, my start group placement was pretty miserable; I was in group 4 of 9 and showed up late to the starting line. There is no “net-time” on this race, either. I wasn’t able to run interrupted until km 8, zig-zag’ing and bumping along. Soon after km 8, I fell on a steep downhill section, leaving me a bit battered and bloody. Bottom line: I need a better start group.

Adjustments for 2010: For my benefit at every large event, I need to find a good, flat and fast 10km race to nail down an excellent qualifying time. This year, Lidingöloppet start group “2″ qualifying time was 43:00/10km, 39:59 for ‘”1C”. Also, wear gloves in case of falls.

Next race: Tjur Ruset on October 17th is a 10km “tuff-man” event.

I suppose it’s a little bit funny that I’m so excited for this event after reading my “Urban or Suburban” post, but I am. The Lidingöloppet’s main race on Saturday is a 30km cross-country run on the picturesque island of Lidingö, a Northern suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. I lived here back in 2001 and I’ve missed it ever since I moved.

Lidingö has an area about 25% the size of Manhattan, but with only 30,000 inhabitants, leaving a lot of room for outdoor recreation. You’ll also find Sweden’s best sports training facility here, Bonsön, nestled on the island’s North side in the midst of Lidingö’s vast network of well-maintained trails. Many of these trails see race activity year-round; X-country skiing, running and triathlon.

I’ve been looking forward to this event for a number of reasons, mostly because I missed out on the majority of my intended races, thankfully due to the birth of my daughter now 4,5 months old and beaming with beauty. I’ve since worked out my time budget with my wife to allow 12-15 hours a week to train.

Lidingöloppet is a tough course which only gets tougher as you go. The first 20km are relatively easy, but it’s the ups and downs of the final 10km which puts strain on everyone’s threshold of pain. The killer for me comes around 25km with an uphill section that leaves you tempted to use your hands to help climb it.

No excuses for this race: I’ve done all the training I could fit in; Injury-free and feeling strong; Weight is… OK, I’m as lean as ever but all the extra hill work has added muscle all over. The added strength is much needed but I can feel that extra weight sapping efficiency from my stride on long distances.

Participants who finish the 30km race under 2:15 (4:30/km) receive a silver medal honor. Realistically, this is just out of reach for me as I predict a time closer to 2:30 (5:00/km). If the course was flat and the temperature fell to 14C, I could hit 2:07 for right now. However, Lidingöloppet will be crowded, forecasted at 20C and saturated with late leg-destroying climbs. Bottom line, I’ll be happy to remain under 5:00/km for the end tally.

My start number is 41257, in group 6 of 11 at 13:00. Lidingöloppet’s 30km race is Saturday, the 26th.

Lidingöloppet race profile image

In other news, this weekend is also the last of a two-week Stockholm Beer and Whisky festival. I’ll stick to melon post-race, my favorite recovery food.

Midnattsloppet 2009

The timing of this race is perfect for me. Not because I’m prepared to reach for a new PR, far from it, rather this 10km race is designed for some fun.

Held on my old stomping-ground of Södermalm (nearly all my training runs took place here before I moved back in June), Midnattsloppet will be packed with 21.500 participants of all abilities. Nine start-groups will start five minutes apart, beginning at 22:00.  Some dressed in costume while the entire rest of us will be donning the official, strange-shade-of-green, Midnattsloppet 2009 shirts.

I entered just days ago and, out of 21.500, I am nr 20.431 and in the last start-group. So no personal-best tonight, just a great night out around Södermalm and maybe a recovery beer afterwards.

Pictures from the event tonight will be fed back to this post, so check back.