Race report Fjällmaraton 100k 2022 [5/5]
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It was a relief reaching the final aid station and there chitchatting with the people refilling my softflasks and pouring me some coke. It was a magnificent view at the last aid station, and they pointed out where we started in Fångåmon, 11 hours ago. Then I hurried onto the trail again in order to reach the finish under 12 hours. After the aid station there were mostly runnable trails and foot bridges. I managed to make a quite fast km during this section of the race, but it soon passed and the stomach cramps came back.
When you finally reach Ottsjö you run downhill on a gravel road towards the lake before turning back into the forest and then to the goal. I had to walk downhill on the gravel road as it was so painful running, but I then knew I would make it under 12 hours as I knew I could hold it together enough to reach the finish.
I finished with a time of 11.51 and became the 8th male to finish Fjällmaraton 100k 2022. I held back the tears of relief as I hugged my children after my finish. It was a tough race, but I loved every minute of it despite my stomach cramps. As I’ve recovered fast and well from the race, I know I could have raced faster. That feels a bit disappointing but I also feel encouraged to train and make the most of it when its time for the next race!
Big thanks to my family that supported and cheered on me! Thanks Fjällmaraton for an awesome race and thanks to all the people at the aid stations!
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📸: elinabhansen fjallmaraton ...

Race report Fjällmaraton 100k 2022 [4/5]
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When you run an ultra, and most of all try to race, you do it a lot by yourself (in my experience). Therefore it is a cherised moment when you meet nice, enthusiastic and talkative people at the aid stations. It is a bit hard to carry on running sometimes. This was the case at this aid station. But there was a race (or I was trying to race) and I ate some apple, refilled my softflasks and talked some before heading up and around the fell Välliste and Trillevallen where I would see my family again.
The traverse over Välliste was runnable, except for a steep section where you had to hold on to a rope in order to descend to then carry on running. For me it wasn’t much of running – I ran a bit and then had to walk for a bit, rinse and repeat. I stopped with every second stream of water that I found and splashed water on my face, neck and then drank some. This seemed to have an soothing impact on my stomach cramps and I could then run some more.
As you get closer to Trillevallen you end up running down in one of the ski slopes. After a while you turn right and then go past a muddy and boggy trail before running downhill on some foot bridges and more runnable trail before getting to Trillevallen. Here my family cheered me on and it was the last time I saw them before the finish in Ottsjö. There were now less than 13 km left to the finish and it almost felt as I had the whole race in front of me.
I ran and walked with the second to last milestone being to reach the final aid station. There is a climb from Trillevallen to the aid station at 91 km, but I couldn’t really tell as I was focused on the muddy trail that windled up and down ahead of me. At this point I started doing math in my head and calculate what pace I needed to run in order to make a finish under 12 hours. I knew I could make it if my running/walking business didn’t come to a complete walk.
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📸: elinabhansen
fjallmaraton ...

Race report Fjällmaraton 100k 2022 [3/5]
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I then set off and climbed up from Ottsjö above the treeline. I was a bit thoughtful about if I was drinking enough as I had been sweating a lot. I drank some fluid replacement and this is when I think that my stomach turned against me. After this I had a problem of running even on easy runnable terrain and from Ottsjö to the next aid station at Tobaksdalen there were a lot of runnable terrain. Except the climb up the mudfest close to the crest of Hållfjället (that I passed on the way down to Ottsjö).
At the aid station i Tobaksdalen I stayed a bit and tried to figure out what I possibly could eat or drink in order to get rid of my stomach cramps. I settled with some coffee, broth and salty cucumber (what a combination…). My stomach didn’t get better but it didn’t get worse and I ran, walked and power hiked on towards the next fell and aid station.
On the way up on Grofjället I saw the back of another runner and my fighting spirits came to and I tried to push some in order to gain on the other runner. After cresting Grofjället it was time to descend towards the aid station in Edsåsdalen. There were some steep and technical downhill running, especially after hitting the treeline, which I had a tough time with as the downhill made my stomach to really cramp up. All of a sudden I had passed Erik (who I talked to after my finish), despite the problem I had downhill.
In Edsåsdalen I met my family again and I refilled my softflasks and drank some coke and more coffee in hope of the stomach getting better. As I left the aid station Erik had passed me and I then also saw the first female in the race, Malin. She then passed me only a short time after I left the aid station as we started to climb last big climb of the race, up towards and around Välliste.
I tried to hang on to Malin and Erik, but their backs soon disappeared and I was left alone with my stomach cramps. I was then suprised when I got to the aid station at 82 km because I had somehow forgotten that one was coming up that close to Edsåsdalen.
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📸: elinabhansen
fjallmaraton ...

Race report Fjällmaraton 100k 2022 [2/5]
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At Nordbottnen I was shortly interviewed and filmed by a photographer how the race was going and how I pace myself as i refilled my softflasks. I replied that I was a bit bad at pacing myself (but my legs felt fine and I was in a good mood) and that I almost got completely stuck in i bog on the fell. They filmed my legs, which were all covered in bog. I then took off, to climb up the next fell. The climb started with a somewhat technical trail in the woods that got easier and less steep the closer I got to the treeline. When above the treeline the sun hit me quite hard, it was almost noon and it was getting hot, and the view of Ottsjö lake hit me as well – stunningly beautiful! The trail then headed north up to Hållfjället which threw me off a bit and I had to look at the map as I wanted to run south east towards Ottsjö and my drop bag. But I quickly settled with that the route was going north and later on south east.
A km after I crested Hållfjället there was a steep downhill section with muddy and boggy terrain. This was, for me, not runnable at all because it was too slippery. I realized when going downhill that this is a section I will have to run uphill after I’ve been to Ottsjö. I thought that it might be faster uphill than downhill.
After the slippery downhill section came a more runnable forest trail that descended me down towards Ottsjö. I can’t say that it was a lovely single track trail with gravel, but a slippery single track trail with mud. But nonetheless it was more runnable than the section I had just passed. In the mud I got cheered on by my step-dad that biked up the trail. I did fall over once as I lost my balance running on a foot bridge, but I landed sofly in the moss and could quickly get on my feet and run again.
Down in Ottsjö, after 53 km, I met with my family for the first time which was a big happy moment for me. My wife and kids helped me with refilling softflasks and gels then I changed my t-shirt as it was drenched in sweat. I did take my time and got to know that I was 8th in total.
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fjallmaraton ...

Race report Fjällmaraton 100k 2022 [1/5]
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After a short sleep of 2-3 hours I took the free bustransfer from Åre Björnen at 3:40 am to the start in Fångåmon. The race started at 5 am in Fångåmon. There were no problem keeping warm as you had to be in motion all the time as here were a lot of mosquitos. The weather conditions at the start was good – a bit of mist due to the rain during the night but a forecast of clear skies and sunshine a couple of hours later.
I positioned myself behind some of the runners that I knew I wouldn’t have the chance of competing with. It was a quiet start, full of anticipation for the race that lay ahead of us. It started with some hundred meters of gravel road before turning right onto a single track trail in the woods. On the gravel road I counted the runners in front of me and found that I was positioned somewhere in the top 10 and was satisfied with that and content of holding that position.
I passed a female and a male runner during the first km of trail as I think some were thrown off that there were some hills in the forest as well. The trail, sometimes gravel road and cross-country ski paths, to the first aid station at Vålådalen were very with nice scenery of the sun setting over rivers and lakes we passed on our way there. Sometimes we could glimpse the first fell that we soon would traverse. Due to the heavy rain there were a lot of puddles that I tried to avoid, but knew it was only a matter of time before I would be wet anyway.
At Vålådalen I quickly refilled my softflasks and then set off. After a couple of km the climb up on Ottfjället started and it is the biggest climb made during the whole race. Now we were on the old Fjällmaraton route and had other markings to follow in order to navigate over the fell. I never saw a runner when I traversed Ottfjället and that put me a bit off as I thought I must have made a wrong turn somewhere – but the route were well marked and when I crested Ottfjället I met a photographer and knew I couldn’t be on the wrong trail.
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📸: freddaeriksson
fjallmaraton ...

Första riktiga passet i coach_nilver regi!!🏃‍♂️🥳👍

15 minuter uppvärmning
5x3min @ 4,45-4,55 tempo
15 minuter nedjogg

Har en del att utveckla när det kommer till att hitta "rätt" fart tydligen 🤣 Men ruggigt skön start på dagen!!

#motukapain2023 #ukapain100km #welestfommpainas #löpcoaching #ultrarunning #ultrarunning #ultramarathon #trailrunning #trailrunningsweden #mittmål ...