Norseman 2019

The short summary: The coolest race I ever participated in. From waiting on the ferry, the jump in the fjord at 5 am, swimming in the salty green water with the enormous surrounding mountains. To the climb up to Hardangervidda, the fog that dissolved, the fast ride across the mountain plateau, the continued climbs and the crazy fast downhills. To the body that felt ok at the start of the run, 25 kilometers on hot flat roads, the hike up Zombie hill. Reaching the top of Zombie hill as number 156 of the 160 allowed up all the way, the crazy technical steep finish and meeting my family/support team at the top while the sun is setting. This race made it clear why I do this. It's not to reach the top and get the black t-shirt. It is not to prove to myself that I can do it despite my age. It's not to chase a certain time. It is not to add more merits to the list before I die. No, I participate in this crazy fantastic sport because it makes me feel fully alive - all the way from stepping on to the ferry until I was on the top of the mountain (and yes, pain is part of this and yes of course it is also a bit fun to get the black t-shirt and add another race to my list).

If you want to read the entire race report - scroll down

Norseman 2019 the full race report

Yes it was an incredible race - fantastic weather, fantastic organization, from the Facebook group, to picking up the race bib, to the reception at the top and the fantastic buffet and breakfast. Unbelievable. Although it felt like I slipped into this race.

After the 2018 season, I was a wreck. Too many races, too much training and too little stretching / yoga - the fall of 2018 became a major rehab adventure. From naprapaths, to physiotherapists to doctors and magnetic X-rays. I needed something to look forward to so I threw in my application for the Norseman lottery in October. With 4500 in the lottery and 250 spots (and 30% earmarked for Norwegians) I saw the chance as very small. But I got a spot. So now I just needed to be injury free at the beginning of August 2019. The big problem with my injury was that it was very painful to run downhill. However, I knew that the Norseman marathon was all uphill, so even if I wasn't completely injury free I might be able to make it.

And I was still injured in the beginning of the summer. I started doubting as to whether Norseman would be possible at all - but I had trained pretty well. Another problem was that I hadn’t booked accommodation in Eidfjord where the swim start. This was a problem since it’s a very small village, albeit very touristy. At the end of June I made the decision to race and emailed all the hotels in Eidfjord and luckily one of them had received a cancellation the same day and I happened to get two rooms at a guest house in the middle of the village. Expensive, but now there was no return.

I had, of course, like most people do before a big competition looked at the race maps, read through the race manual and looked up some Strava users who had done the race previously.But only when we came driving across Hardangervidda and down to Eidfjord did I realize how incredibly much uphill it would be at first, I immediately began to worry if I had the right gear ratio on the bike.

Eidfjord is an absolutely fantastic place, add absolutely fantastic weather and a fjord with green water that held about 18 degrees centigrade. (a so-called normal summer it would have been 12 degrees in the water) My kids loved it, they swam all day before the competition. We stayed at Vik's guest house, a cozy nice place, right in the middle of the village. Good food, fantastic breakfast and on race morning they served breakfast from 02:30. The day before the competition was filled with the usual activities - number pickup, race meeting and preparing everything. And it was hot.

Got up at 3am, after a short but quite good nights sleep. Strangely, I have no problems with the early start time of extreme triathlons. Breakfast, chatting with the other competitors who were staying at my guest house, then off to leave the bike and equipment at T1 and get on the ferry which left the dock at 4am sharp. The hour on the ferry was cool, so much anticipation and nervousness in the air. Many sat silent others discussed the usual - past experiences, injuries and plans.

Just before 5am we jumped from the ferry into the water and swam to the starting line. And the water wasn't cold at all, 17 or 18 degrees even out in the middle of the fjord. It got a bit crowded at the start but in all I had a great swim. A fjord that looked like a mirror and a little downstream because of the tide gave me the best time I have ever had on an Ironman swim, 1.03.

T1 became chaotic, my son who was going to help me, somehow missed me getting out of the water and was not let into T1 by the staff. So I had to take care of the whole T1 change myself - get the light on, the reflective vest and my gel bottles etc. Fortunately everything I needed was already on the bike. I got up on the bike and we had a few kilometers of relatively flat roads before the big climb started. I was a little worried that I should have had another gear ratio. But 11-28 worked even though on the steepest parts I was grinding on very low cadence. The scenery was incredible, especially on the old roads that rounded the tunnels. I found a good rhythm, tried not to ”burn any matches”.

In all the extreme triathlons I've participated in, there's a certain nervousness associated with the first time you see your support team. It's always a bit tricky for them to get from T1, into the car, connect to the queue of cars and drive past us cyclists. In this case we also cycled on several old road sections where the cars passed through tunnels, so I never saw my support car pass. We had one earlier first stop and an optional later first stop scheduled and my support chose the later. This was after the whole big climb 1250 m up and 36 kilometers into the cycle route. It had been a bit foggy until then, but after this stop the fog dispersed and the ride over Hardangervidda was absolutely amazing. No wind, lakes like mirrors and straight roads - just get low, find the rhythm and pedal.

Up until 90 km into the bike ride and the town of Geilo it was an easy ride, just floated by. But after Geilo I realized that I should have looked a bit more careful on the ride profile. I figured it would be some small climbs and then a big downhill to T2. It turned out to be four really long climbs, three with about 250 meters of elevation and one with 600 meter, in between very fast downhills. I wasn't prepared for hill after hill. Lesson learned: Study the bike ride profile carefully.

The last downhill was insane, the fastest daredevils lay down on the bike frame and clocked up to 110 km/h. I, a pretty coward downhiller, maxed out at 76 km/h. The fact that there was only downhill on the last 30 kilometers provided an opportunity for recovery, I did not push at all, instead eased off on this final stretch.

Got into T2 tired but not exhausted. Made a fairly slow change and started the run slowly. At Norseman when you start the run they hold up a paper with your current place. I ran out as 138th and with the knowledge of my injury and problems I had with running I knew, it would be a struggle to stay among the 160 who were allowed to continue up to the top. But the first part of the run felt really good, at least the first 15 kilometers. I held a 6 minute pace and didn't lose that many places. The Norseman race first consists of 25 kilometers almost flat tarmac roads, just a little uphill. After 15 of these 25 kilometers my pace dropped and at the same time it got really hot. It was almost 30 degrees down in the valley and a large part of the route was completely unprotected from the sun.

After 25 kilometers, your supporter can join you if you wish. The supporter must be with you from 37.5. At 25 kilometer the famous Zombie hill also start and you get a new indication of your place, I was now 148th. Zombie hill is a wide tarmac road that winds up the mountain in big swoops. The elevation rises by about 750 meters in 7.5 kilometers. At the end of the hill 32.5 kilometers into the run, it is determined whether you are among the 160 who are allowed to continue all the way up, or are directed to take the low path around the hotel. My son Måns joined at 25 kilometer, he was very happy to get out of the car and we started out slowly - walking eating chips and drinking Coca-Cola. We lost a few places, but not too many. With about 1 kilometer left of Zombie hill we had three runners right behind us and we had calculated that we were in place 157. Then we increased the pace considerably, there was no chance that we would miss being among the 160. The last bit was almost a full sprint (at least it felt like it - see the heart rate curve) and we got number 156 when the race director congratulated us at the top of Zombie hill.

We had passed the big hurdle and could relax. We now had five kilometers up on minor paved roads, with “only” 250 altitude meters to the checkpoint at 37.5 kilometers where all extra equipment was required and everyone had to have a supporter (although everyone I saw had their supporter joining already at 25 km). These five kilometers became a social hike, we chatted with our competitors, we did not compete with each other, now the only thing that mattered was to get up to the top without completely collapsing. At 37.5 kilometers, the actual final climb started, we now had 650 altitude meters in just under 5 kilometers up to Gaustatoppen. I had expected a well-trimmed very steep path, but in front of us lay a path full of large stones. You had to be focused and keep track of every step. Once again a very social walk, the supporters who already had left their runners at the top were on the way down and we got happy cheers all the way up. I was in a lot of pain in the end and had to sit down a couple of times. We crossed the finish line at the top second to last of all on the high course, but that didn't matter one bit. Up at the top I met my family and it was incredibly cool to sit there at the top with the setting sun. There is something very very special about a race that starts in one place and ends in a completely different environment.

The way down was painful, my legs were completely gone. An old tram inside the mountain takes you down and the wait was long. Then we had a short transfer bus to the hotel. There we where meet by an incredible buffet, which was served until 2 in the morning. Finally the whole family crashed in an extremely hot hotel room. The breakfast the following day was as fantastic as the evening's buffet and the awards ceremony, in continued glorious summer weather, was incredibly well arranged.

The Norseman 2019 was the most awesome race experience ever, more of an adventure than a race. An adventure with ever-changing scenery - from the ferry, to the fjord, to the climbs, to Hardangerervidda, to crazy fast downhills, to the hot asphalt in the first part of the run, to zombie hill and the last steep rocky finish. Full presence was required and yes, I do this crazy fantastic sport because it makes me feel fully alive.

Content: Start - Flow - Experiences - Tools - About

Change to our Swedish site