Back in mountain business: Ulriken Opp 2016

Sorgen forgikk meg på Ulrikens topp...

Third race and third personal record of 2016! Yesterday I participated in the Ulriken Opp mountain race. It has two versions; one of length 1.7 km with elevation gain 410 m, and one of length 3.6 km with elevation gain 605 m. With almost no mountain training since December, I did not dare to do the long one. Moreover, I had done the short course two years ago, and I wanted to see if I could beat my time from then.

In 2014, my first time in this race, the short course took me 26 minutes and 45 seconds. Last year I was in shape to do better, but I could not participate due to injury. This year, I did not know what to expect. Since the Christmas Whisky Race in December, I have not been running up mountains. However, I did start uphill interval training three weeks ago, and I have done a few trail runs involving steep hills. My general form has been improving, albeit slowly, since I started running again in September, and my time at Bergen City half marathon was better this year than in 2014. So I had some hope of beating my time from 2014 also in this race.

But not practicing at all is really a drawback. With no form improvement, just practicing the course a couple of times can improve the race time with at least about a minute. Fortunately, when I was in Bergen about a month ago, I had a go up Stoltzekleiven, which was faster than I had expected, and that gave me some additional hope and mental confidence that I would be able to push myself yesterday.

The first couple of hundred meters of the short course are not as steep as the rest, and it is easy to do the mistake of running too fast at this point. It never pays off! I think I was able to do it more or less correctly. Then it gets steeper, and it is important to find a pace that is fast enough but still saves your energy for the last part. The last 700 m are brutally steep, and then you just have to go with all that you have. I was so lucky that many of my friends from Varegg/Melkesyre/Fjellgeitene were standing by and cheering at this last part of the course. I had in particular outstanding help from Åshild just before the stairs at the end. Not only did she cheer and push, but she also started running by me! With her help I started to run and kept running all the way to the stairs. At the finish, I was totally exhausted and my arms ached badly, which for me is a sign that I did my best (I think it is lactic acid creeping all the way up). As threw myself at the feet of my friend Michal who came to finish just before me (and whom I tried to catch all the way), I was very happy with my finish time: 25:12. One and a half minutes better than 2014!

Almost all goals of 2015 got killed by injury, and Stoltzekleiven was the single personal record of last year. With that background it feels indescribably wonderful to break my previous records on all the races of this year so far. Perhaps it is not entirely correct to speak about a record for the Deer Race of February, as it was the first time, but since it gave me my first class victory ever, I think it counts. For next year, I set it as a goal to do the long course with the aim of finishing in less than 40 minutes. Of course the main goal is to manage to stay out of injury...

Shit happens; look forward, be dedicated, and surround yourself with good people!