Tree trunk sign, the desire to run long & dual citizenship

Tree Trunk Sign: When you have an imprint of a tree +/- bark on the front of your shirt and chest skin, accompanied by various frightended but friendly bugs and crawlers. This is pathognomonic for running steeply downhill in mud and torrential rain in the forest with New Balance minimus "trail" shoes.

And my call out for help- I need trail running shoes with a good tread. Can anyone out there recommend a minimalist trail running shoe with traction that can take on the Alps and Superior Hiking Trail even in the event of rain?

(I am willing, very willing, to write a review if someone sends me a product to test. Just throwing it out there. European size 40.)

This is exactly how my mind works- I just remembered that I won a pair of Inov8 Mudroc shoes that I simply need to return and get in my size. At least I'll have something! Seems like they offer traction satisfation. Yes, I just arranged it with Extreme Sports in Lynge and a pair is coming my way.


The Desire to Run Long

But first- did this seriously show up on my Facebook page from Polar Dash?

Um- this woman is not a runner. She is a model who wears annoying shiny chapstick and "natural" (very obvious) makeup and annoys the hell out of me. Go away. I don't like your bra. I don't want to run in your bra (it wouldn't fit me anway). Get off of my blog.


Perhaps my blood sugar is too low to write about running ultra marathons.

The thing is, I read Amy Sproston's blog and it struck me. She sat looking out of the plane window at Mount Hood and the familiar gorgeous nature of her home. And - yes- that is it. We run long because we can. Because we can traverse forest trails and parks and river edges and really, really be a part of this earth and it is a home for our soul.

What better motivation is there to run a 100 miler other than WE CAN?

And then - as many ultra runners know - there are also times you can't fathom why you ever would or did want to run so long. So many people have suffered from overtraining- it is being discussed more and more. If you don't love the experience of running, take a break.

Last winter, I kept thinking- why am I running? I wish I were doing X (this was usually swimming or Bikram Yoga). But after Fyr til Fyr, it came back- just like that in a lightning strike as quickly as the desire went away.

Dual citizenship

Exciting times in Denmark now as a majority in the current government is for allowing dual citizenship. Learn more here: http://www.statsborger.dk/. This obviously would have a huge positive impact on our family: if a bill is proposed and passed. If you are a Dane opposed to double citizenship, I would love to hear your reasons and thoughts.

Winforce 100k Preview, Two noteworthy performances & My next 100 miler (aka THE FUTURE)

So have I mentioned how excited I am that trail ultras have made it to Denmark (finally)?? (okay maybe only 5 or 10 times) - well, it looks like they are here to stay. Today I was out measuring and photographing the Winforce 100k route with Christian & Christian M, which will take place August 17th in northwest Sjælland.

Martin Paldan (Denmark's most well-known adventure sports photographer) was supposed to accompany us, but his motorcykle broke down, so the Christians had to settle for the less-known, less-equipped Sea Legs Girl Run N Snap. Here are pics from the 25k route (run a total of 4 times (did I just write that?)). We only ran it once.

Christian, Christian & small head

The first 3k were a bit technical, but very runnable.

The first and only water stop on the route (besides the start/finish) after about 10km.

Sjællands 3rd highest point: Vejrhøj 121 meters.

Wild onions smell wonderful! They adorn the route in many places. 

And that rounded off 110km over 4 days. All on trails. Think I'm sad about not running Copenhagen Marathon? Or Skechers 100k on roads? Not really. Not at all. I'm just happy to not be injured. And to be experiencing Denmark like this. (if as a baseline you think of Denmark's nature as boring, you will constantly be pleasantly surprised).

In summary, Winforce has a runnable, beautiful, varried route with almost no asphalt. Lots of altitude change - enough for almost 3 points for UTMB, but all finishing participants will receive 2.

I am so excited to be part of the making of this race- and look very much forward to being race physician (I would of course love to make this a focus of my practice in the future). Looks like SR will be running it. It is just his kind of route. I would not be surprised if he wins. He will do well if he doesn't cramp up. That's where I come in with a magic electrolyte elixir.


Two noteworthy preformances

Veéra Vainio, 21 years old from Finland Photo: BT

Veéra ran her first marathon last year at age 20 in under 3 hours, then went on to run another in 2:53. Today at the Copenhagen Marathon she ran a 2:56 marathon for 6th place woman on a very humid day. She just started running, but was an extremely active child according to this article: involved in gymnastics, hopping, skiing, ballet, dance, jump rope, etc, etc. http://www.arcticsportaddicts.fi/veera-vainio-menee-eika-meinaa. Doesn't she look amazing?

Speaking of amzing

Pia Joan Sørensen after 40k in 3:08 on her way to winning the Danish 100km championship. Photo: Skechers Ultra

Today my dear friend, Pia ran the 2nd fastest 100km ever by a Danish Female. Her time was 8:29:01. This woman is such an inspiration to me. She absolutely LOVES to run and runs a lot! It is so fun to see her achieve something so incredible. She was on pace to run sub 8 hours but got very bad stomach cramps the last 20 k. An incredible time, which she no doubt can improved if she desires (and I think she does).

Sidenote: one woman gets good at running by not running (jumping, skiing, dancing, etc) and one woman gets good at running by running a lot. That's all I have to say.

My next 100 miler

So it looks like I will be running the Superior Sawtooth 100 miler. Haven't signed up, but will soon. SR hasn't written yet about his future job on his blog yet, but said I could after his phone conversation last week. Looks like we will be moving to Duluth, Minnesota. My job will still be in Denmark, so there will be lots of transatlanticism in our lives. But more time spent together than not by far. In terms of places to live in the US, it could hardly get better than Duluth.

My last running song of the day reminded me of an even better song and an even better band from 20 years ago now (wow). I am so in love with Tanya Donelly. How much is too much? She has so many good songs to choose from.

Active recovery, optimal weight & diet and preferential calorie consumption

Training since the Salomon Hammer Trail 2 weeks ago has been 100% "designed" by myself while coach Ole took at little break from determining my every athletic motion. We took a family trip with the HG Tri club to Mallorca, Spain- and this is how things have looked.

Active recovery

Fri-Sat: 100 miles (Bornholm)

Sun: nothing

Monday: 30km bike, 30 min swim

Tuesday: 2km run, yoga

Wednesday: 30 km bike in Mallorca

Thursday: 30 min ocean swim, 90km bike in mountains

Friday: 30 min ocean swim, 5k easy run

Saturday: ½ Ironman in 5:53 (took it pretty easy, had a ton of fun; no signs of injury)

I ran for a long time with this fellow inhabitant of Denmark, whose name I didn't get!

Maria (left) and I had been theorizing for months who between the two of us would race a faster ½IM. I love being part of a club! 

Sunday: waterpark with the kids

Monday: 30 min ocean swim, 150km bike in the mountains (with the fast guys- ouch)

Up to Sollér

Rasmus, Rasmus &... Allan

Tuesday: 90km bike with SR, 5k run with fam while I pushed baby jogger (header picture above). Loved the British guy who sang "military family" as we went by. Damn straight.

Wednesday: 2 hour moutain run- single track! up to Puig de San Martí, down, up again, down---- sunrise view over the Alcúdia bay. Tears of joy were shed. What a run!

Thursday: 23km trail run over the åsen back in Næstved. All about slowness and tons of hills.

Friday: 7km run- starting to pick up the pace, trails - 1 hour pulse/step/core - 25 minutes of my own crossfit

This was pretty active and I have not felt so UNinjured since last August. High volume and low intensity seems to fit my recovery needs well. Plus trail running seems to be key for me.

Baby "foot fetish" Mattias

Optimal weight

I'm there right now and happy about it. I lost over 3 lbs since Hammer Trail. Just stepped on the scale yesterday for the first time and it was reproducible today. Hadn't expected it, but I am back at my "ideal" Ingrid Christian BMI when she set the marathon world record- specifically 5´6" 106 lbs.

If I hadn't been so active, I would think I had lost muscle, but it doesn't seem like it.

Now- I am talking about optimal marathon and ultramarathon weight. Not optimal- "I want to attract the opposite sex weight" (which would be more) or optimal "I want to model skirts" (which would sadly be less). I have come to the conclusion that optimal marathon and ultramarathon weights are equivalent since the very best ultramarahoners also tend to be some of the very best marathoners.

Optimal diet

This week in Mallorca was stellar in terms of diet. They had an all-you-can-eat salad bar. In the mornings I had oatmeal, lunches (no salad bar) were basically Clif Bulders Bars and chocolate, dinners- 2 enormous plates of salad (always with an abundance of beets) and fish.

I have heard time and again that beets are good for recovery. How much they helped my recovery from the 100 mile run, I can't say, but I feel like they helped. Beets have a combination of Vitamin C, B vitamins (including folate), fiber, magnesium, potassium and iron. These things together would make a nice recovery pill, but our bodies are so much better at uptaking real food. There is a lot of logic (despite it seeming like a fad) behind the theory that beets are wonderful for athletes.

Just to reiterate some past posts: the four best things I ever did for my diet:

1. Give up artificial sweeteners (100%)
2. Stop eating gluten
3. Increase protein intake
4. Increase Omega 3 Fatty Acid intake



Preferential burning of fat

I think we have all noticed in our infinite boredome the little picture of "fat burning" zones on athletic equipment. I had never given it too much thought since my goal was usually cardiovascular fitness instead. That was until I heard Casper Wakefield talking about how he had to adapt his body to preferentially burn fat (over glycogen) so he could suvive the Yukon Ultra with less food and less energy expenditure.

Then there was an article about Henrik Them, the big favorite at the Copenhagen Marathon this Sunday, in Politiken.  He is pictured here wearing a mask which measures his CO2 output.

Photo: Daniel Hjorth

The idea is, he can't do too much of his workout at threshold. He needs lots of easy "fat burning" miles, but also a certain amount of time at his threshold (and max CO2 output) so he can improve his speed. It seems like a tricky and fascinating balance. This is, I have gathered, why it is so hard to get good at the marathon without enough slower long runs.

Apparently our diets can also be used to preferentially burn fat if we deplete our glycogen stores and don't have extra sugar in our blood. This can be done by either running in the morning on an empty stomach or by limiting carb intake before runs. 

I'm no expert at this, but find it interesting, so stop me if I have misunderstood something. 





Running song of the day: (One of the greatest things in life has to be finding a song you can play over & over & over - and it keeps sparking you on.) Best Coast - Fear of My Identity

Mallorca ½ Ironman

So here we were in Mallorca with the HG tri club, on a trip planned around doing a ½ Ironman. I had promised myself lots of rest after the 100 miler last weekend ("no running for 10 days" - I could be quoted saying). But on Thursday, we took an easy bike ride on the 90k route and I realized I felt fine. And as long as we were here and I had signed up, I might as well give the ½ Ironman a go. I mean, I could always just drop out of the run.

Then on Friday, we had to spend hours doing various check in activities, and this involved lots of running back and forth from our  hotel with the baby jogger. And I realized- hm. My legs aren't even sore. It is interesting how running a really hard marathon can kill your legs for weeks, but an even-paced 100 mile maybe isn't as taxing. I would say, though, that my tendons - in many places- just feel worn down. (mostly my achilles and hamstrings).

This was a sold out race with over 3000 atheletes. Sounds exciting, but basically this meant lots of waiting in lines - for the registration, bike check in, chip pick-up, toilet, etc.

The Swim

Beautiful lagoon-type setting in Alcúdia. Sunny, no waves. Just perfect. The only problem was, there were well over 300 women in my wave start. Imagine jumping into a pool with over 300 women and everyone trying to swim at once. Total chaos. If I were a front-of-the-pack swimmer, I would have just swum ahead of the fray, but I am in the back half of the swim and I was caught behind women who I couldn't pass for the first half of the swim. It was so hard to get into a rhythm. I wish I knew what to do to avoid this - then I would tell  you, but it was kind of rough. The second half went better.as things opened up.

Slow time of just over 42 minutes. But, really, what can I expect for not having been swimming more than once a month the last 6 months??

The Bike

THIS was the highlight of the race. I felt great and the course is nothing short of fantastic. There are around 2,800 feet of elevation change and these are pretty much all in one enormous climb up into the Tramantura Mountain Range and down again. Both climbing and descending are my forte in cycling, but on the long, flat stretch back to the finish, I had to settle for half of the people I passed repassing me on my rented road bike.

Bike time: 3:16

The run

Huge triathlons have really fun runs because there are so many cheering fans lining the route. Mallorca is no exception to this. What a fun atmosphere! I just ran an evenly-paced race, nothing to write home about. I felt fine, but no reason to push it, as this was just training.

Run time: 1:40:25

Lots of time was eaten up in the very, very long transition zone: transitions were around 7 and 5 minutes.

Total time: 5:53:25. (164th female/356)

It was a really good experience. The beauty of the course, the camaraderie of our tri club and the exciting atmosphere more than made up for the waiting around the day before. Plus, because our race numbers were made according to where we live, I ended up with a Danish flag on mine - and the support from the Danes from the sidelines was absolutely incredible. Wow! It almost felt like I was cheating using all of the good energy I was getting because of that flag. Thank you so much to all of the supporters on the course!

SR raced, too and had an incredible run in 1:22:58. He had a good bike, but difficulty in the wind with no tri-bar. (his total time was 5:32:26 One of the irritating things about triathlon is you have to buy a really high end tri bike in order to compete with the top athletes. (oh and you need to learn how to swim well. too ;o)). In my mind, the sport of triathlon would be a lot more fun if everyone were given the same type of bike to ride on at the start. I imagine Ironman would have more than enough money to provide these...

Now onto a day at the Alcúdia waterpark with the kids. And then back to run training the next few weeks with Ole. (we don't have the money or time to get serious about triathlon, but it's a fun sport).

Salomon Hammer Trail 100 Mile

There is no doubt that running 100 miles - both entering and finishing - requires a certain mindset. Two months ago, I didn't have it, but two weeks ago I did. All creatures on this planet have a skill set they have developed over the span of their evolution. One of the skills a human has is the ability to travel an incredibly long distance. I am at a point in my life were I simply very badly wanted to see what I was physically and mentally capable of.

Salomon Hammer Trail has been on my race wish list since my blogger friend, Tina Christensen, trained all year to run the inaugural 50 mile version in 2010, fell, got injured, lost and was located by a rescue team and carried off the course on a stretcher. That is what I call going down in style. And - seriously - a race on Danish soil that is so tough? Bornholm, as I learned at the Fyr til Fyr 60k, is a Baltic Sea island that is geologically entirely distinct from the rest of Denmark and bears more resemblance Sweden.

Last year, TIF athletic club added the 100 mile version to the race. 17 people started, 8 finished under 30 hours, including one female, Anne-Marie Rossen. What on earth?, I thought. Certainly I was intrigued.

THIS year, the TIF arrangers, decided last year's course was not hard enough. Therefore they added 2000 extra meters of elevation and 6 trips down an enormous set of stairs to ring a bell over an ocean inlet (Jon's Kapel) and back up again (edit: Jon's Kapel was not new this year. A more technical trail along the coast was). The world wondered: would ANYONE finish this year?

bag check-in. Photo: Moses Løvstad

Me and D Ditlev - nervous energy. Photo: Dan Mygaard

This year there were 36 starters. Danes, Swedes, Germans and one Faroe Islander. Oh, and that one American.

12:00 start. Here we go! Photo: Moses Løvstad

Here is a video from just before the start, made by Thomas Dupont, where I talk about my preparation for the race (especially for those who love to make fun of my accent)


And yes, it is true there was no specific preparation. In some ways this helped. I have been training a lot less than I am used to since the goal was to train for a sub 3 marathon. It may have been a magic combination of muscle memory from all of my old ultras and speed work + tapering over the last 6 monhts.

On the other hand, boy did I look and feel like a clod trying to run with my poles. Over half of the field ran with poles. If you knew how to run with them, certainly they were a help on the course. But I did not, so I had to drop them after the first 15km. At that point, I was in nearly last place, if not last. Oh boy. It was just so much more technical than honestly any race I had run, except the Trans Alpine (which I dropped out of).

Photo by Stefan Stougaard

I was trying to enjoy the gorgeous running, but there was no doubt I had a rough start. But when we left Hammer Knude and made our way up to the spectacular Hammershus, I started to warm up.

Hammershus- built in 1255 by Archbiship Jakob Erlandsen - has been occupied by Danes, then Swedes, then Danes. Photo: denstoredanske.dk

Nowadays, I think Hammershus is occupied by the drunk guy with a rifle who Dan Majgaard and I met on the surrounding trails in the middle of the night (one of the many times I felt my life was in danger during the race).

Just before it got dark, I had finished around 70km. As you can see in the picture, I look like someone who ought to be finishing a race right about now.

50 miles done. Photo: Jesper Halvosen

With nightfall upon us, I changed clothes, though not my sports bra or underwear, as there was no privacy to be found and I didn't want an accidental embarrassing photo ending up on Facebook. Besides the fact that the men there were so tired that they had better things to worry about than looking away. I ate hot potato salad for dinner prepared by the volunteers. It was wonderful. I chatted with Moses and Jesper, who as ALWAYS were there, making this race so much fun for us runners. Tine, the woman who owns Tines Gjestehuz, where I had stayed the night before, had come to cheer us on with her husband. It is a small island and this was a huge event for them.
THE NIGHT

I had dreaded it. Worried that I would be tired. But the night was by far the best part of the race. Imagine this- being awake all night with your mind and body and full alert- hearing and experiencing the sounds and subtelties of nature in full splendour. I could hear the sheep and the birds and other creatures I could not identify - roaming, living. Before I got lost and found Dan Mygaard, I was stunned by the experience of my headlamp gleaming into the green retinas of 40 sheep eyes. Wow! (none of them had cataracts) Then Dan and I realized we had gotten lost but soon found the trail again. We ran together sharing headlamp strength. His was much better than my Petzl. If I did this again, I'd buy a super strong headlamp.

As we were scaling a mud wall over a quasi cliff overlooking the ocean, I stopped and enjoyed the sound of the tide coming in. Strong waves suddenly out of nowhere. And the stars. No moon as it hadn't risen yet. THIS IS LIFE!!! I am alive and experiencing this world.

THE MORNING

Here with 50k left to go and I WAS STRUGGLING. Photo: Jesper Halvorsen.

Basically, I felt like I couldn't move my legs anymore. And my head was pounding. Dropping out in some ways looked attractive. But I had no one to pick me up, no way home, no one to comfort me, so continuing seemed a lot better than curling up in a ball in the tent and giving up. I had a cheese sandwish and (very importantly) a large cup of warm coffee. THANK YOU!!

The stairs to Jon's Kapel.

In a while I was back at Jons Kapel to battle the stairs yet again - round number 5 - one to go.

I had been feeling ok before this, but these stairs could really make legs stiff. Basically everyone I passed from the 50 mile and 50k races were cheering me on. It helped- but most thought I was on my last lap - the fact that I wasn't was a bit of a mental blow!

Henrik Leth Jørgensen had just won for the men in an incredible 22:14!

Henrik Leth Jørgensen and Kenneth Kofoed, winners of the 100 mile and 50 mile respectively, leaving for their last 25km loop.

Maibritt Skovgaard battling her last 50km of the 50 miler. She would go on to win for the ladies in 11:12 (just for comparisson, she ran an 8:54 100km 3 weeks prior). Photo: Stefan Stougaard

And I had my own crises to deal with and they were tougher and more frequent. It was a mere question of putting one foot in front of the other. I could not conjur up true feelings of happiness anymore. This was just tough. I was talking to myself a lot after I lost the company of Pól from the Faroe Islands. I thought I was going nuts. I could hardly lift my legs (sometimes I used my arms to do it) over all the trees and roots over the trail. I had a gel, which helped. But then I got to the stairs pictured above and my legs could no longer support me. With no banister, I could not go down them- I was certain-without tumbling. I almost started crying. What a way to end the race! But THEN - I thought of scooting down the stairs on my butt. All 200 or so stairs. It took a good 10 minutes, but I made it! I still had a chance of coming in under the 30 hour cutoff. And I did get more energy back- a lot. My last 8k went awesome.



And I won. 2nd ever female finisher of the Salomon Hammer Trail 100!!! Photo: Jesper Halvorsen

THIS was truly incredible. I already can't wait for my next 100 miler. After and experience like this, you just want to THANK THANK THANK everyone involved - TIF race directors, Lene Møller, Jakob Verstergaard and Kim Rasmussen. Moses Løvstad and Jesper Halvorsen, for the race hype, the constant support and good humor. And my husband!! For loving me enough to let me do this (he watched 3 kids all weekend, folks!!). And my dear son Christian, whose words I kept repeating in my head: "My mom is going to run all night while I'm sleeping. Someday I'll do it with her"--- yes, you will, Christian. And you will love it every bit as much as Mommy did!

Following the race, I was interviewed by the German running magazine, which I think he said is called "Running". He said in his lovely German accent - "You know this is the hardest 100 miler in the world". Well, I asked if he'd heard of Leadville or Hardrock and he looked at me a bit askance. Sure, let's just call it the toughest! Here is Leon Skriver Hansen's stats from the 50km (which he too 2nd in). So I guess you can multiply this by 3.2 to get the 100 mile race stats. 18,752 ft of elevation change.And that was enough for a flatlander like me!


 Here are the results (for the 100 miler this year, 36 entrants, 15 finishers, I was nr. 12).

One bit of advice for runners wanting to complete a 100 miler: Look at it as a long journey from one point to another - no getting off until you have arrived - no way out - and you WILL make it. We humans are built for this.

Why not 100 miles?

I was running yesterday morning while I thought it over. I feel like I can run forever on trails. I get injured when I run fast on roads. Copenhagen Marathon costs 600 kr. I have free entry to Salomon Hammer Trail100 Miler.

It takes only 4 hours to get to the start. SR is okay watching the kids. The trails are gorgeous and challenging. Therer are 25km, 50km, 50 mile and 100 mile races. As long as I am making the trip, I figure I should take full advantage. This is why at noon on Friday, I will be standing at the start line of my first 100 mile race.

Lately I have heard podcasts with Casper Wakefield and Moses Løvstad, where they go into great detail about coming through crises in ultras; not to mention Jacob Juul Hastrup's book, Ekstremløberen. I found myself intrigued and inspired by the mental aspect of running really long ultras. I have run 100 miles over 3 days (at 3 Days of Syllamo) and 50 miles 6 times - but this weekend will be something else.

And I have a feeling it is going to be awesome. It is not about getting faster or winning. It is about an experience of a lifetime. 

Edit - live updates from the race will be here: http://www.tejnif-lob.dk/ (I guess some people are going to be wearing a live update armband).

More pics

Photo: Allan Lyngholm

Photo: Jacob Vestergaard

Oh, and while I'm "blubbering" (thanks, Olga ;o)) - check out something I spent a lot of time writing. It's about this history and safety of the pregnant marathon:

http://ubermotherrunner.com/2013/05/01/30-years-of-the-pregnant-marathon-its-history-and-safety/