While most of the others are blogging about their big success or
failure at WOC (mostly it’s about success or failure, there’s no room for a
mid-thing there) we recreational runners can write about small idyllic summer events that
no one knows about. One of these was Tällberg half marathon. During the WOC
week I made a little road trip first to Dalarna and then to Strömstad and
Halden, area where WOC 2016 goes. Nice to get started with preparations already
before this year's champs were even finished. Early bird catches the worm and so
on… But first to the run, then more about the training camp later.
Tällberg half marathon is said to be the most beautiful half
marathon in Sweden. After running the race I find it hard to disagree. Well I’ve
only run two half marathons in Sweden but this was definitively the prettiest
half I’ve run. Tällberg is a well-hidden and incredibly cute little village in
the hearth of Dalarna, by the Lake Siljan. Pretty as it is, the route is tough.
You really need to suffer a great deal to explore all the beauty – but don’t
worry, it’s definitively worth it!
I had a bit mixed feelings before the run because I had
absolutely no idea if I would and could finish it. I mean who goes and runs a
half marathon if your longest run in four months has been only 14km (at 6min/km
pace) and if you haven’t covered any fast miles on hard surface?? No wait, I
had done one sprint O race, but that was just about 15min. So basically
no long runs and no fast runs in 4 months. I had run in terrain a few times but
that doesn’t count really (impact and pace pretty far from road running). In
other words I was terrified before the race. What the hell was I thinking about when I entered myself there?!? Okay, I can
always run 5km and quit, I thought when we kicked off.
1km – I like to start gently and take the first kilometre easy. Like 3:40. Actually it goes downwards and it’s easy to get a fast start without pushing hard. I can
already see groups forming. A few really fast guys up in front. Then a group of
semi-fast recreational runners, probably sub3 marathoners. They are slowly
pushing away from me. There’s also one woman amongst them. I should probably
let her go...
2km – Around 2km starts the big climb. I try to keep my
running relaxed (as relaxed as possible in that gradient) but to my surprise
I’m gradually reaching people and closing the gap to the leading lady.
3km – Somewhere here I pass the woman in front of me and
suddenly I’m the one in the lead. But I’ve done it all wrong. I hear Sami’s
voice in my head blaming me for that. You don’t pass your rivals slowly inch by
inch so that they have time to react and set themselves just behind you. No, you
should accelerate and smash them (not literally) once you pass them so
that you get a gap before they have time to react. But I follow the first
scenario and the next thing my rival is breathing heavily in my neck and I can
hear her steps as if they were my own.
4km – She’s still there, glistered in my back, and has no
intension to let me go. Suddenly the climb turns steeper again, the second part
of the big opening climb, and we are approaching the mountain prize point. I
feel I’ve failed. I should have stayed behind her and attack if I wanted to win
that polkadot jersey. Now I’m the one doing all the work and she has the
advantage to sprint from me just before the mountaintop. Idiot.
5km – Near the finish of the climb now. Initially I had
thought to take an easy start and definitively not to push before after the
first climb. It would be essential to have fresh legs after the climb for the
remaining 16km:s. The actual race wouldn’t start before after that climb. But
when suddenly there, in a position of taking the glorious mountain prize, my
legs refuse to listen to my brain and accelerate in order to win that prize. I
explain to myself that this irrational attack is just because I’m not sure
whether I will run the whole thing. If I’m going to quit early I should at
least make an effort to win the mountain. I take that but I'm pretty
exhausted at the top of the climb and start to doubt how I will survive the rest
of the race. Just 16km to go…
5-10km – It’s mostly downhill and goes easily, we pass the
arena around 9km and I get a lot of support and cheering. I feel pretty good.
11-12km - Starting to feel less great. Getting seriously
tired and cannot keep up with the guys who I’ve been running with. My endurance is used. Also my calf
(the healthy one) starts to cramp and running gets more and more difficult. (Actually
it’s great news that it’s not the injured calf that is causing the problems.
This pain is normal, part of the game.) Then I see David Andersson coming across, walking. I’m having my weak moment right
there and seeing that David has dropped out doesn’t help. Just
the opposite, it gives me an excuse to start to think about quitting. I’m deep in
my gloomy thoughts when the woman who I passed earlier suddenly hurries past
(fast and from distance, like a schoolbook example how to break your rival’s
backbone). The only thing that had kept me going was my chance to win the race.
No that it’s gone I don’t have anything to hold on to. The distance between us
keeps growing and it’s over half a minute when we hit another major climb.
13-14km – One more climb. I’m dying but when a second woman
passes me I get some extra strength and accelerate. By the time we reach the
hilltop we have almost closed the gap to the leading lady. This second girl has
run her race smart, saved her strengths and she’s able to push harder now. I
have no chance keeping up with her – but I’m determined to catch the other girl.
A moment ago I had almost given up and now I’m able to find yet another gear.
15km-17km – Tarmac turns into a path and I’m in my element.
I catch a few runners, including the girl I’ve been fighting with the whole way.
Just when I’m about to pass her, her personal supporter turns up with special
drinks and stuff. Unfair. He follows us with his bike, giving her his support all the
way home.
17-21km - We are running side by side and I get slightly
irritated by the situation and decide to push away from her. I can’t remember
pushing myself so close to limit but somehow I manage to accelerate, keep her
behind me and finish as second lady. Also the time is quite alright. The
course was seriously hilly and I didn’t think I could finish it in 90min. But I
do, almost.
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