Skövde 6-timmars

Making a short blogg post here on Lifetime Runners regarding the fantastic Skövde 6-timmars which took place yesterday.

We left for Skövde late Friday afternoon. The hotel was good enough and I had a really good night sleep. We had breakfast at 07:30, 2.5 hours before the race. I felt pretty ok during the morning. My plan was to start at a 6:23 pace, not faster than 6:15 and not slower than 6:30.

At the start line


Just minutes before the start of the race. The temperature was +2 degrees at the start. The temperature (I think) was good during the entire race. I think that it was between +1 and +3 during the entire run, I have to say - ideal conditions. I was afraid that it was going to be waterish but on one side of the course it was dry asfalt and on the other side it was more slusherish but still very runable. Only on some places a small waterhole could be found but they managed to remove that during the run.

Some last minute tips from Mr Legend


Mr Legend said that his plan was to start at 6:15 pace during the first 20km. After that he would drop to 6:30. This was not the case. We started the race together but...

El Maco


After 1 lap (1.2km) El Maco was alone. Mr Legend was 100 meters ahead of him. It was obvious that he started way too fast for me. I think that the first km (with a very slow start) was 6:00. Hence far too fast. So I dropped down after the first km. I said goodbye to Mr Legend and turned my IPOD on. Listened to P1 documentaries during the first 5 hours of the race. Pretto? Well not pretto - smart. Didn't want pumping music during this long day. Listened to some interesting programs regarding the Iraq war, questions of life and something about a crime at a library here in Stockholm.

A happy Mr Legend in the beginning of the race


Here you see Mr Legend himself. Just a big smilig face. What he didnt understand was that...

El Maco in the beginning of the race


...after 1h 25 minutes he would see me again. Yes, he overtook me after 1 hour and 25 minutes. Totally crazy if you ask me. I asked him why he was running that fast. It felt good he said. He had even had some kms as fast as 5:45. I kept my 6:20-6:30 pace.

Another interesting thing was the big hill at the end of the lap. It was a hill..hmm...100 meters? A little bit less maybe. Anyway, I walked this hill every one of my laps around Skövde this afternoon (every one besides one). I think this was smart. I think it sucked a lot of energy in a lot of legs to run this hill during 6 hours.

So when Mr Legend passed me the first time I thought that - well after 2:50 he will pass me the second time. This never happened. But after appr 3 hours I saw Mr Legends son and wife. They said that he was 2 min 40 second ahead of me. I then realised that he is now running a lot slower (wise). I don't know when but I think that I caught him the first time after appr 4h 15 minutes. Then he was 1 lap ahead of me (1.2km).

I kept my pace so Mr Legend dropped behind. I never thought that I would be able to "catch him" since 1.2km is a long way to catch. But I have to say that I was in a very good running mood during the entire 6 hours yesterday. I think that, if you check my garmin connect, that the km splits are kind of good. Not too fast and not too slow. So I kept this pace during the entire run. At the end there were slower kms but still fast enough.

I realised that the dream distance 50km might be possible. I think that I made the marathon distance on the time 4:32. So only 8km to go and 1h 28 minutes. That can basically be done walking. So I am in a really good mood and my legs are just stiff, not totally dead stiff. I also realise that a lot of the people that were overtaking me during the first 4 hours are now overtaken by me. This builds confidence of course.

At some part here I see Mr Legend again. I dont know that what point. Can it have been after appr 5 hours? So now we are "on the same lap". He said that he was cold so he would change some clothes at the next lap. I slowly continued to run. After 5:30 I saw him again. What? Is that Mr Legend again?! I think that his cloth change took appr 2:40 minutes and I managed to maintain a good 6:15 pace during this part of the race. Now we ran together until the end of the race. The last lap (we thought) we actually walked with Mr Legends son during one lap. That was the only time I walked, besides the big hill. When we came to the finish line we realised that it was 3:51 pm, 9 minutes to go. Another lap Mr Legend? Why not - go for it. So we started to run again. A good fast last lap actually. Crossed the finish line at 5:58 so we continued during the last 2 minutes when the gun was fired and the race was over.

El Maco and Mr Legend at the end of the race


This is where Mr Legend and myself cross the finish line at 3:58. Just 2 mínutes more to run.

El Maco just finished the race


At the end of the race everyone had to stop where they were since the organizers were going to measure the individual distances. I got another 255 metres I think.

Mr Legend just received the medal


Another medal for Mr Legends shelf! Time to put some light into that shelf!

The new Ultra Heroes



Summary
A fantastic race. 54.5km! That is 12km more than I have ever done before. Totally crazy! I kept a 6:30 pace during the entire run. One of the secrets for me was the food. I ate and drank like a crazy. I drank sport drink and coca cola every second lap. I ate a hot dog after 12km. Between 15km -40km I ate a lot of meatballs (appr 15 meatballs). I also ate a lot of candy, pringles, salty cucumbers, chocolate. Unfortunately I couldnt eat that much after 45km, I just couldnt get food down the mouth. I think that for the future I actually need to eat more. I ate a lot. Will eat more next time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26936205

For more pictures from Skövde 6h. Please check the following link. Please let me know if it works!

http://picasaweb.google.com/marcus.hansander/Skovde6H#