Laugavegur 55K

Laugavegur would be the conclusion of a long extended block from Boston Marathon to Snowdonia 50K to Laugavegur in July. I don't remember being as passionate about it as Boston or Snowdonia, both bucket list races for me. I think I had the idea of doing Snowdonia first, then at some point decided also to try for Laugavegur. Andrew ended up being in for both as well, and my Dad for Laugavegur. 

Snowdonia with the brutal course and limited prep was really about finishing, but with an extra two months I felt I could peak for this one and try to run pretty well. Laugavegur was also much better suited to my strengths- while still a challenging course, much faster and more manageable than Snowdonia. 

Unlike the travel and gear requirement hassles for Snowdonia, this race was a piece of cake in terms of logistics prep in comparison. No crazy long travel days - the flight to Iceland is a bit easier than the one to the UK, a few hours shorter and one time zone less, plus no connection to Manchester after. For most Saturday races in Europe, going on Thursday is probably a day too late, but I think it's fine for Iceland (coming from New England). The race also conveniently has a bus from Reykjavik, the largest city in Iceland (although that has it's downsides, I'll get to that later).

Training and Goals

Unlike Snowdonia, I didn't have to crunch my training within a few weeks. I only took 3 days off, then got back into it fairly quickly with NH mountain races Sunapee and Chocorua. I didn't have any mega long runs, never more than 20 in a day, but got in 2 really big "time on feet" weekends in the whites. This isn't the most efficient, as much of the whites is so technical and steep, you're either not running or barely running (better for Snowdonia) - but long time on feet over hard terrain still builds great endurance, and mental stamina. I got about 9,000 feet each weekend. They weren't particularly fun since the trails were really wet each time and quite slippery. 

I ended up bailing on more ambitious plans to do 4 white mountain weekends in a row as the fatigue from those weekend in conjunction from never taking significant downtime after Boston hit me really hard. I got a solid weekend in again with the Catamount 25K and while a step in elevation, 34 miles for the weekend. I settled for much lighter following weekends to ensure I was fresh for Laugavegur. Had a minor hamstring issue pop up which I was able to resolve quickly. 

Got in my 4 mile run the day before and felt ready to go. Based on the winners of this race typically being around 4 hours and my Dad running about 5:30 in 2022, I thought sub-5 would be a good goal. 

The Race

Woke up early as the race bus was at 4:30am. Easy walk from the hotel, but not the easiest bus ride to Landmannalaugur. In all, it took about 3 hours and 45 minutes to get to the race site although that includes a 30ish minute stop for breakfast. The first half was smooth on highways, but after that it was a bumpy dirt road and I had to pee quite badly. While most people on the bus were speaking Icelandic, interestingly the two having conversations around me were in English, as the guy next to me was from Mexico and the guy in front of me from the UK. 

The bathroom lines were very long at the race, I went once but it was clear it'd be a long wait to go again. Went for a short 0.5 mile warm-up, peed again and definitely felt like I might have to poop but waiting in line now would be a real risk to miss the start, and the first wave was being called to line up. Surprisingly to get in the corral, you had to show the required gear items- I wasn't expecting that, or usually this is checked at bib pickup. Not an issue as I had the items (safety blanket, whistle, jacket, but I wondered if some people didn't as their packs looked nearly empty).

I was casually waiting around with Dad and Andrew and suddenly things were packed as people lined up and I was back in the 10th row or so. I do like to try to start somewhat conservatively, especially in a 50K but this might be an issue. 

There were some small climbs right away, and everyone slowed to a walk as it bottlenecked quite hard. I wanted to run this, but there was nothing I could do. That's on me for not lining up further up. In fact, a quarter mile I glanced back and saw Andrew was right behind me. After a quarter mile, I was able to find some gaps on the sides where I could slip by, then we got a flatter gravel path that was much easier to pass people. Although I still had to sometimes pause to ensure I'd pass without crashing into someone. I caught to some of the top woman and had awkward moments as I'd pass one of them then would be stuck there and they'd seem annoyed with me. Mile 2 had the most climbing of any mile in the race at 600'. At one wider steep downhill, I bombed past like 3 people before a steep climb. I did a mix of hiking and running here. By 5K, we had climbed about 1,000 feet and I had no problem with positioning for the rest of the race as it was easy to pass. 

While the remainder of the first 10 miles would not have extended climbing like that, we had a series of steep up and downs. We'd run on flat gravel, sometimes technical before bombing down a steep gravel decline then a hike up. Sometimes this would be snow covered. I ended up catching a pack that included the #2 woman and about 6-7 guys. I hung at the back which was good for me as I wasn't as efficient on the snow running as everyone else. I'd get dropped on the snow, which was really challenging as I'd slip a lot, then catch back up on firm ground. Some of these sections were actually quite rocky too. The effort on the snow felt quite hard which was making it difficult to just relax. But this felt like the appropriate pack for me. My legs got a little tight on the initial climb then felt better on the flatter ground. A few miles out from the aid station, I felt like I may have to go poop. When I got to the aid station, I didn't see the restrooms and the pack I was in went through here so quickly. Even taking out my trash to throw out got me dropped by about 5 seconds. I decided I didn't for sure have to go and I did not want to lose that pack so I continued. 

First 6 Miles: 9:02, 12:28, 10:41, 7:42, 10:04, 10:05

With the second aid station at mile 13, after a few more miles I realized I had made a big mistake and there's no way I'd make it to the second aid station. This was a problem, as there's barely any trees on the course, and none here so I'd have to poop on the open landscape which I wasn't thrilled about. Fortunately through at least 10 it felt manageable and we had some interesting sections as those steeps downs and ups would occasionally get insanely steep where people were slipping quite a bit on the scree and struggled to stay on the trail. I took this sections easy to avoid falling. After about 10 miles this pattern of short steep up and downs, black gravel with rocky sections and snow ending as mile 11 would drop 850 feet. This mile was quite technical with loose gravel and loose rocks with tight switchbacks. I didn't try to do anything crazy here, but surprisingly found I was dropping those around me and very quickly gaining on another guy. Very different from Snowdonia where seemingly everyone was a technical master. Around here, I felt like I had to go poop so I kept looking back to see if the coast was clear. There were a handful of hikers so I'd have to wait until I saw no one. Except I came up on this next guy quick and he pulled by to let me pass- now I'd have to wait since he was right behind. The final mile up to the aid station was super fast on a flat gravel road and my fastest mile of the race in 6:59. Miraculously, I made it to the aid station in one piece, but then lost about 2 minutes and 2 places sitting on the toliet. I refilled my water, of which I hadn't been drinking much up to this point. The scenery descending the scree was quite cool with a big lake the aid stations were at and snow covered mountains in the distance.

Miles 7-13: 8:10, 8:49, 10:11, 9:42, 9:35, 7:39, 6:59

I quickly caught one runner who had passed me while I was in the bathroom, while keeping an eye on a chase pack of 3. The guy I originally passed at the end of the downhill was a ways out and it'd take me a while to repass. That original pack had been splintered just before mile 11 as the #2 woman and others pulled away, while I pulled away from some as well. Sitting down for a minute hurt my momentum. I felt great running high 6s/low 7s and now nothing really felt good. After a few more rolling miles, we'd enter a very long stretch of nearly flat non-technical gravel path. This was a huge mental boost for me not to have to grind up technical hills but really just the same as everyday road running. I ran a consistent 7:30-7:40 pace through about Mile 23. There was an epic looking steep green mountain in the background that legitimately took like 5 miles to get to. There'd be a couple small hills here and there to break it up, but this was largely flat and very runnable. The 3rd aid station was at 32K, and I drank all of my electroylte drink here, only to realize there was actually any refreshment, so that was a little disappointing. This included a stream crossing with very cold water. Shortly after, I repassed the guy from the first downhill for good and he asked me about my pace/goals, I said I wanted to break 5. I think looking at my watch at the halfway point I was at about 5:00-5:01 pace but the second half was definitely faster given the first 10 miles were so tough. I grinded out the miles to the next aid station, passing one more runner and then truly entering no man's land. 

Miles 14-23: 9:43 (inc. poop), 9:37, 7:33, 8:01, 7:10, 7:20, 7:26, 7:37, 7:24, 7:27

I took a bit more time at this aid station as I finished my fluids. I wasn't taking much early on but now felt considerably more thirsty and depleted. I still declined to eat aids tation food as I was running most of the stuff and I wanted to get to the finish as quick as possible. They say a marathon has two halves: the first 20 Miles and the last 10K. This felt like the second half of Laugavegur. Over 2/3 done at this point, but the mental and physical fatigue would ramp up signfiicantly, similar to the marathon. This next stretch would be by far the hardest mentally in the race for 2 reasons: 1) at 11K to the next aid station, this would be by far the biggest distance between aid stations in the second half, and 2) the terrain got substantially harder after a very runnable 7 miles. On the bright side, I'd have just 5K from the final aid station to the finish. Get to the next aid station, get this 10K stretch done, and I'd be in the final stretch. 5K's nothing. But at this point it was hard to see that given I had a full 10 miles to go. 

Despite my flat running being strong enough to pass some guys, and drop others I identified a chaser about a minute back that'd I keep an eye on. There was a lot of downhill after the aid station, including another loose scree section where I got some rocks in my shoe which fairly annoying and I'd have to just deal with it going forward. There a bridge over a gorge with a raging river below, quite cool. I noticed the chaser was ever so slowly gaining on me. This meant I was running decently, yet I figured I was close to the top 10 and would want to try to hold onto that if possible. After a hilly Mile 26 with some hiking, it was all flat or downhill to the next two aid stations, weirdly with one at 49K and one at 50K. I kept waiting or hoping that I get back to easy, flat running but even the flatter sections here were still fairly rocky and technical so I'd be running 8:30 pace instead of 7:30. It became clear the chaser was eventually going to catch me and I got caught around 46K or so. I felt so bad in this section and despite rapidly increasing my gel and fluid intake, I was getting very weak often. After what felt like an endless period, I hit the 49K aid station maybe only 20 seconds back from the other runner. I filled up what I could and continued, knowing it probably wasn't wise to stay there for too long. I was also overheating at this point, which seems funny to stay given Iceland's summer temps are cooler than just about any developed place in the world. 

Miles 24 to 30: 9:09, 9:20, 11:22, 8:19, 9:42, 8:16, 7:48

While this race was tame compared to Snowdonia, this next climb at 250' might have been mentally the hardest in any ultra. Going from suffering running flats or slight downhills for the last 8 miles to hiking up 20% was agony. I also went from being on the verge of bonking to a full on bonk. In snowdonia, I'd just slow down and fuel, but here I only had 4 miles left and every mile mattered to get under 5 hours. I walked it as best I could while trying to get down some chews as I had completely run out of gels, but had plenty of chews and waffles left (this type of course lent itself self better for taking gels while running rather than walking). These were hard to eat and I downed 2/3 of the bag before getting to the crest and returned to a small jog. This was also the first ultra where I didn't eat anything from the aid stations and relied entirely on what I brought. Steep downhill on the other side, before the final aid station at 50K. I blew through this one and resolved to get to the finish without any more fuel. 

We now entered an area with vegetation after being in the open all race. But I still had some small 50 foot bumps that felt brutal at this point and was suffering on. I finally crested the last hill and was ready to hammer it into the finish. But I noticed as I opened up my strides on the downhill, my calf would occasionally start to cramp up. It happened a few times, so I just settled for a solid 7:30 effort. The last thing I needed now was to have a complete meltdown and lying down on the trail. Fortunately I didn't need any special kick as I finished well under 5 hours in a 4:51:41. 16th place and first American- not even close to top 10. Results here.

Miles 31 to 33: 11:21, 9:22, 7:41

Similar to Snowdonia, I felt quite bad initially but much better after eating some food and showering. I waited around a bit for Andrew and Dad, quite difficult to find them after. I was super happy with this performance and I think this is my top trail ultra performance, if not my top trail performance outright. 

Other than a tight start and unremarkable finish, this is a fantastic 50K course. Until the last 5K, it's an open and extremely scenic course. It's challenging and varied- there's plenty of climbing, technical sections, snow sections. But overall, it's still fairly manageable. I feel this hit the sweet spot in being difficult but not too difficult. There's plenty of aid stations with great volunteers. 

I feel like I largely got this one right, but there were a few downsides in my performance. The biggest one would be fueling management. I didn't drink or have gels often early, and this definitely led to a calorie deficit and overheating later as I desperately tried to catch up. I think this is a tricky balance. In snowdonia, I tried to fuel aggressively as I knew it'd be a hot day and I had significant discomfort and vomiting. Here, I went much lighter on fueling early given cooler temperatures and a more runnable course- but I paid the price later. The other issue was a mid-race poop stop, which cost me a minute or so and a few place. Ultimately, that didn't make the difference between losing a spot or two and the outcome wouldn't be very different had I run 4:49/4:50 instead of 4:51, but it does interrupt rhythym a bit and it absolutely could make a difference in another race. Not really sure what to do about that one, it very rarely happens (first time in an ultra).

I was frustrated with getting a slightly lower than expected UTMB index. 728 for my ITRA but only 681 for UTMB where it should have been around 720 (that time was in the 720-750 range in other years). 

Anyway, this was a great end to what had been a pretty mediocre trail season. Unfortunately I'm not sure when the next one will be due to chronic ankle issues that I think need to be taken care before hitting the trails again. So might be looking at a few years off from trail racing. On the bright side, this was a good one to begin an off period on.