I was both excited and nervous about this run, to be on Sweden’s second biggest island, running from the most northly tip to the most southerly tip, from one lighthouse to another. I was testing out a few alternatives from my original FKT I did in August and so was intrigued to see how that would affect my performance and indeed see if I managed to finish the run.
One thing I wanted to test was sleep deprivation. I got up at 0130 on the Saturday morning having slept for approximately two hours in the car. I got changed, ate some porridge, drank a cold coffee and seeing it was the day after Kannelbulle dag I had a cinnamon bun made the previous day by my wife Anna. I brushed my teeth and packed my vest and made sure I had my head torch and warm clothes as it was a clear sky which made it cold outside. Marc, my friend and crew member, woke up briefly to wish me luck and went back to sleep. I walked over the bridge to Långe Erik lighthouse took a few photos and set my Garmin run live at 0211. I posted my Livetrack onto my facebook account while I was running so friends and family could track me during the day.
I originally split the 149km route up into four sections with three aid stops where Marc would meet me; at 47km, 75km, 110km. The first section was deliberately longer to allow Marc to have some extra sleep and to coincide with the sun rising at around 0630. I ran the first section towards Byxelkrok passing Neptune beach and the stars were out to their full potential as if guiding me to my first stop. It was so beautiful which inspired me to make a few live facebook posts which kept me occupied whilst I was running which helped me from a mental point of view.
I was running under my target average pace but not too much under and felt comfortable so carried on at around 5.30min/km even though I was aiming for an average of 6min/km overall. I met just a handful of cars on my first section including a police car and ambulance, who were probably attending what sounded like a riot half way along the section – something I was keen not to get involved in at 0400 in the morning! The roads felt safe with quite a bit of extra kerb to run on but all cars I met during the day either slowed down or moved over to give me plenty of room.
On each of my sections I had a vest full of different snacks to keep my energy levels high such as Mars Bars, Bounties, granola bars, Umara energy bars, energy tablets and Tailwind drink. I had extra water with me to dilute the taste of the Tailwind and also drink after I had an energy tablet. I took a Umara gel with caffeine at around 80km and again at 135km to help give me the caffeine boost that I feel is useful on these longer runs.
When I met Marc at the first aid stop at 47km I ate fruit pieces (water melon, orange, grapefruit) which I prepared the day before plus a banana, drank some coke and a protein shake. I changed my socks and noticed a blister which I put a plaster on. When setting off from Marc I felt good and my pace went up to 5.08 for my first km after the stop so had to slow down. However I seemed to hit a wall somewhere between 50km and 60km and do not understand why. My pace only slowed by about 20 seconds/km so was not concerned about my timing. I was feeling I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted and so cut a couple of items out of my food intake and drank a bit more water. My feet were hurting (I was wearing Hoka Speedgoat trail shoes). I decided I would change into my Hoka Bondi shoes which are more designed as a road shoe at the next stop. I put my head down and just counted down the km until I would meet Marc which was about 18km left which coincided with half way. I thought as the sun had come out I would feel good but for some reason I was worse mentally after the sun came out.
Coming into the 76km stop when I saw the church (Gärdslösa kyrka) where I was meeting Marc I walked for about 400m to send a wake up message to my family and send a few text messages. Other than walking here I didn’t walk for the rest of the day which was a big improvement on my first FKT.
I met Marc at Gärdslösa church at 76km at around 1000. I chose this place as it had a public toilet which did not disappoint. I had my fruit, coke, protein shake and went to the toilet and washed myself off and changed my t-shirt and put shorts on instead of wearing my tracksuit bottoms and jumper as it was starting to get a bit warmer. I put a running cap on to shield the sun a little. I felt refreshed and set off with a half decent pace around 6min/km which is where I was trying to average. I thought with half of the run down it would be downhill from here but it was more difficult than I expected with my pace slowly deteriorating. Although there wasn’t much elevation it did seem that there was steady inclines throughout the day but this was more in my head than it was in reality. Having changed both clothes and shoes I felt better and my feet didn’t hurt anymore. I knew my toes weren’t doing well with what felt like quite a few blisters forming which I attended to a couple of times by putting plasters on.
I stopped at 110km at Stenåsa church but there was no toilet here. I refreshed myself with the usual snacks and put some water over my head. Whilst running I realised that the last 40km would be better split into two sections, mainly from a mental motivation point of view. I agreed with Marc to split the remaining 40km into two sections and so I would run another 21km to Torngård where I’d meet Marc and then I would have 18km left to finish. After the last stop Marc drove to the end and walked through the Ottenby nature reserve to meet me at the entrance for the last 4 to 5km. I knew from my first FKT that splitting this remaining 40km up would help motivate me better.
When I got to my last 18km I took off my vest, made sure I drank plenty of fluids including my usual protein drink, had the usual fruit snacks, changed my t-shirt and felt fresh for the final stretch. My legs were stiff after each stop and I tried to keep the last two stops as short as possible, both to help with time but also to stop too much stiffness. After each stop a minute of going from stiff walking to stiff jogging my legs moved into the jogging motion I was accustomed to for the majority of the day.
I got to 144km and turned into the nature reserve to see Marc ready to meet me and he mentioned there were some bulls in the field past the cattle grid. The bulls were near the road we were planning to run along but they didn’t seem like they were going to cause any trouble so we ended up running relatively close to them through some fields which was not good on my feet but better than upsetting the bulls. Once we got past the bulls and rounded the corner we could see the lighthouse Långe Jan, Sweden’s tallest lighthouse, ahead of us with the sun setting to the right. It didn’t seem that far but I knew it was probably still a couple of km. I felt I was running a quick pace but my phone was blurting out at me that I just ran my slowest km at 7.51min/km. At this stage I didn’t mind going so slow as I knew I was so close to the end and time was not a major issue. I don’t know the time we got to the lighthouse but I knew it was roughly 1900. I didn’t care as I knew I’d got within the range I was targeting and I got to the lighthouse before the last rays of the sun were disappearing – which was my goal.
It was great to see the different areas of Öland with the forests in the north, the barren areas in the south and lastly the savannah on the southern tip as well as all the cultural historic areas that there were to see along the way including the many windmills. It was great to see so many pumpkin stalls along the way and nearly every house had pumpkins outside.
One of the things that helped me along each section which I learnt from the first FKT I did was to have things at the rest stop I knew I would really enjoy – grapefruit segments and coke were very refreshing and rewarding for me. I also had in mind that I had a breakfast at the Kalmar Scandic hotel the following morning which kept me driving forward. These thoughts helped me succeed when my brain was telling my body to just keep putting one foot in front of another.
A tough day mentally and physically but really happy with what I’ve learnt as part of the experience and the views and memories I have made on the trip won’t be forgotten for some time. Looking forward to the next FKT adventure…