Triathlon | Nuppu Hepo-oja’s amazing 104-hour ultratriathlon is looking for its equal in Finland: “It hurt a little”

Imaginethat when your work week starts on Monday morning, you go swimming.

You swam 19 kilometers. After that you jump on the bike, there are 900 kilometers to ride.

After cycling, you switch to running. There are 211 kilometers to run.

Yes, we are talking about a triathlon, but a performance where the distances are five times longer compared to the full length. A person from Vantaa for such a triathlon competition Knob Hepo-oja participated in June in Calmar, Alsace, France.

An ordinary worker can outline the time spent on the race through his work week. Hepo-oja spent 104 hours 40 minutes and 56 seconds for the competition. The departure was on Monday morning at seven o’clock, the finish line a little before four on Friday.

However, a worker accumulates much more sleep during the week. Hepo-oja slept one and a half hours a night.

“Even sleeping is competition time. How much sleep is part of the competition strategy. Taking terrible breaks is out of the question,” says Hepo-oja.

Horse ditch started triathlon only in adulthood. He started running in 2009, after the children were born.

In the beginning, the sport was a marathon, but because of a broken foot, it changed. When the leg couldn’t stand running in the old fashion for a moment, swimming and cycling came along.

First, Hepo-oja competed on short distances. After the first Ironman, his psychologist friend showed him a scientific article about the difference between Ironman and ultratriathlons.

“Then I thought this is my thing and started doing ultratriathlons.”

Since then, it has been reported several times how Hepo-oja has completed various journeys as the first Finnish woman. So also in the last week of June, with a journey of five full-length triathlons, which no Finnish man has completed before.

Hepo-oja finished in 20th place in the competition. Among the women, she was the fifth best.

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“The route was even a little dangerous.”

Clearly the fastest part of the competition is swimming. It took Hepo-oja about seven hours and 45 minutes. In the race, we swam in a 50-meter pool. The maximum time that could have been used was 14 hours. After that, he would have been flagged out of the race.

After swimming, it was cycling’s turn.

“I changed my clothes and drank a little espresso and ate a croissant because we were in France,” says Hepo-oja.

The 900-kilometer cycling section was run on a nine-kilometer run.

“The route was even a little dangerous. There were really disgusting turns that you couldn’t see behind. Because we were in a wine-growing area, there were big machines on the route.”

During the first night break, Hepo-oja encountered a surprising problem.

“I had rented a small competition tent with a tarp under it. At night, centipedes started to emerge and went to feed. It was a really stressful situation, because there is a calorie deficit all the time and you should be able to eat a lot. The first two nights there were problems, after that we figured out how to hide the food.”

Yöt Hepo-oja was on his own in the race. The rest of the time, his mother and his brother, who lives abroad, came to the competition venue unannounced to surprise his mother and sister.

“There were no other Finns in the race and no Finnish was spoken anywhere. I was wondering who the hell is the guy who encourages Finnish at one point. In the next round it turned out that it was my brother. Of course, I was very touched that he managed to come.”

Support was needed. The first setback happened already several months before departure. Hepo-oja’s coach announced that he would stop coaching all his athletes. With the help of friends, Hepo-oja was able to create a training program for himself for the remaining time.

“There was a real panic in March. I thought it would be nice to be the first Finn to do a race without a coach and without a program.”

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“Basically, you can eat anything that goes down.”

Knuppu Hepo-oja cycled 900 kilometers in France. Picture from training in Vantaa. Picture: Usva Torkki / HS

When sports performance lasts more than a hundred hours, energy is consumed and food must be refueled.

Hepo-oja had a sports watch. According to its estimate, the energy consumption during the performance was 31,000 kilocalories. Despite the fact that part of the ultra performance is the effort to keep the heart rates moderate in order to save energy.

Hepo-oja reminds us that she is a petite woman, for tall men consumption is naturally bigger.

Before the competition, Hepo-oja tried to increase the intake of carbohydrates a little so that the stores are full. Hepo-oja does not eat meat, chicken or fish, which somewhat limits the preparation.

The food during the competition could be, for example, rice and tomato sauce and an omelette. Carbohydrates are consumed a lot, but the race is so long that Hepo-oja tries to get some protein as well.

“The basics are probably pretty much the same for the competitors. The difference may come from what the stomach can handle. In principle, you can eat anything that goes down. Of course there are sports drinks and sports nutrients, but when the journey is long, ordinary food is good.”

Part of the energy goes into drinks, because it’s easier than eating sufficient amounts. The breakfast breads were frosted with jam and butter to make them more energy-rich. In addition, Hepo-oja drank, for example, sugary juice soup.

“If you mess up Pak, it goes against everything you’re trying to do. This is where experience helps. I know how my body works.”

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“It’s much easier to stay awake when running than when cycling.”

Cycling took almost exactly half of Hepo-oja’s work. 900 kilometers were covered in 52 hours and 20 minutes. There was also a time limit for cycling: a total of 81 hours could be used for swimming and cycling.

After that, a run of five marathons began. It took a little over 40 hours, which means that the distance had to be covered at a good 5.5 kilometers per hour. Five eight-hour marathon performances in a row.

“It’s much easier to stay awake when running than when cycling,” says Hepo-oja.

Hepo-oja was at the finish line quickly before the entire race time ran out. There was time until 11 in the morning on Sunday.

The performance of more than 104 hours includes various moments, both physically and mentally. According to Hepo-oja, the most difficult moments were those when the thought seemed to run away during the cycling section.

“There is often a point in cycling where you wonder why I am on such a long journey, when I could have taken a shorter one. You can’t go along with that idea, and I really don’t think so.”

The oppressive hot weather brought its own spice to the race.

“When you’ve been on your feet for a really long time, you start to feel the pressure. There were no really bad blisters, but leaving was a bit painful. In the last laps, it felt like it was in the legs. It wasn’t super fun anymore, but it also hurt a bit.”

The race after Hepo-oja gave himself time to recover. He has not done a detailed study of how the nervous system reacts to the games. For a few weeks Hepo-oja was doing nothing, after that the start was soft. For example, together with his family in Lapland, he went for a walk in the fells.

“In terms of general balance, it is good for the body to rest, even if it feels good. I’m not in a terrible hurry for anything and I don’t want, for example, delayed exhaustion. There is a burden for everyone every day, you cannot live in a vacuum where nothing burdens you.”

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“I don’t want to do anything stupid.”

Changing equipment between sports is part of the competition in triathlon. Picture: Usva Torkki / HS

It It remains to be seen what kind of challenge Hepo-oja will tackle next. Increasing the length of the race is not an absolute value.

The fact that Hepo-oja does a full work week also brings boundary conditions. Part of the race costs are covered by the sponsor, but there must be enough money in the family’s everyday life for things other than ultratriathlon.

For example, there would have been a competition in England where Hepo-oja had thought that he would compete one day. However, the race will be held this year for the last time. Leaving on the express schedule is not possible for the budget either, so the plan cannot be implemented.

“I don’t want to do anything stupid, when it would be nice to see my family, for example. I’m going a bit differently than if we were to get something from the Guinness Book of Records and be away from home for seven years. The most important thing is to find what motivates you. And not because someone else thinks it’s great. It doesn’t work at all.”