The 2022 champion, Petter Engdahl (Sweden), arrives at the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon less than three weeks after racing the Boston Marathon. In the following interview, Petter talks about his spring training and motivation to run a marathon, how he’s trained for various distances over the past few years, and his approach to tackling the 2,500-meter final descent of Transvulcania.
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Petter Engdahl Pre-Transvulcania Ultramarathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar. I’m here with Petter Engdahl at the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon on La Palma Island. How are you?
Petter Engdahl: Good, thank you. How are you?
iRunFar: Good. How long have you been here?
Engdahl: A few hours. I arrived yesterday evening late from Norway, so it was quite a long travel. It’s never easy to get to La Palma, but it’s always one of those spots where the travel is long but it’s always worth coming here.
iRunFar: How many flights was it for you?
Engdahl: Four.
iRunFar: Solid.
Engdahl: From where we live in Norway, it’s always like this. It takes just the same amount of time to go to Sweden, or Chamonix, or Boston. It’s the same.
iRunFar: Speaking of Boston, you’re less than three weeks out from running the Boston Marathon, right?
Engdahl: Yeah.
iRunFar: How is that? That’s a far cry from the steep, vertical everything you’re facing in three days.
Engdahl: It was such a cool experience, and it was my marathon debut. I think it really exceeded my expectations of what a road marathon would be. I think my body was maybe more prepared for doing a half marathon. I have the speed, but did not have the endurance in my legs. I did not get the long runs or the training in due to some sickness in March and April, so I wasn’t as prepared as I wanted to be. But I’m overall super happy with the experience, and that I got at least some parts of the course where I felt really, really good, and the whole atmosphere. I think I got a new perspective on running, a little bit. You sometimes get stuck in your bubble, and our bubble has been trail running, so it was very fun to come into a new environment, a new community, and see this other, bigger world of running. I just took it as a cool experience, and it really was. You have family that lives outside of Boston, so that was also very special to have them there. It was very, very cool.
iRunFar: So was the motivation mainly to just see a different part of running, or was there a background training motivation?
Engdahl: Yeah, it was from the start a different motivation, to get better on the flat and get faster. The sport of trail running is evolving so much, and I feel like the flat is something I always have to work on in races, even in hillier races, like I was at OCC last year. It wasn’t the original course, but we finished on a very flat and fast section at the end. And some other courses I feel that’s the section I always have to work on. So in December, when I started to train for this new season, I planned to have more of a focus on the flat. First I started with Tarawera, and then that didn’t go as I hoped either, with some stomach issues. But I had already started to work on my flat. I could definitely feel that I had improved when I raced in Boston, but just didn’t have the specific training to endure the last 12 kilometers. But in general, the goal was to become a better runner overall. And it was also the curiosity of what road running is and what this sport is. It was all fun, but now I’m excited to go back to the trails.
iRunFar: What is road running?
Engdahl: I don’t know.
iRunFar: [laughs]
Engdahl: Yeah, it’s a lot of people running on the streets.
iRunFar: Fair. No, Boston looks amazing. I’d love to go see it someday. So you are the 2022 champion of this race, and this is your third time back, correct?
Engdahl: Yeah, this is my third time, and it was my first ultra race here.
iRunFar: That was 2019, correct?
Engdahl: 2019.
iRunFar: I feel that was your breakout at this longer distance. You came from a background of Skyrunning. I think what’s interesting about this race and about you is that you get people who do longer stuff who come and do well here, and then you get people who do shorter stuff, Skyrunning, who come and do well here. You’ve done everything. Before your first one, you were mostly a Skyrunner, and then between that first one and 2022, when you won, you focused on that mid-distance stuff. Since then, you’ve done longer stuff like the Western States 100 and Canyons 100k. How does this distance and this race fit into everything, from skyrunning to Western States? In your mind, where does this race fit in?
Engdahl: It is a very interesting one because the course profile is quite different from any other course. It’s pretty much a 45k uphill in the start, and definitely the first half marathon, up to El Pilar, is just a big climb. That’s why it’s a course that fits runners who come from Skyrunning or this more uphill-focused type of races. It’s not a full 50-mile race. It’s not a 100k race. For me, it was this first good try at a little bit longer race. I remember the first time I raced it, when I got to 50k, I felt no, never more. It was just so long. But afterward, I remembered, this was super cool, and it gave me the curiosity to try some longer races. Then it took a few years until I tried my first 100k race, but it gave me this introduction to what ultras could be. It’s also a race where you have a little bit of everything in the terrain. It’s super fascinating. You start at the beach, you have the volcanoes and the sand, and then suddenly you’re in almost a rainforest, very tight forest, and up in alpine terrain. Then back to the beach and a riverbed. You have everything. It feels super long, even though the distance of 73k for a lot of people doesn’t sound like much to those who follow 100-mile races. But when you do it, it feels super long because you go through so many different sections.
iRunFar: Now that you have done a 100 miler since the last time you finished this, is this going to feel shorter? How has your perception of distance changed in the past few years?
Engdahl: Maybe it has changed a little bit, but I think 73k is still long. I think someone who’s racing 800 meters probably doesn’t want to race longer. It’s also always a perception of how fast you’re pushing it. It always feels long, whatever you do. My perspective maybe hasn’t changed. I know it will be a long, hard day out there when you have to be pushing quite hard and be very focused on this type of race. I think from learning during this period of doing a few longer races, 100k to 100 miles, I wanted to step back a little from those distances and go back to something shorter. That’s why I decided to do OCC last year for example. My plan is to go back to OCC this year as well. I felt I wasn’t mature yet to try the 100 milers, even though I felt I could do really well at those distances. Like UTMB, for example, I think would be a race that fits me very well. At the same time, I don’t feel finished yet with the shorter distances. Seventy kilometers is still short, but this marathon distance to 100k, I don’t feel finished with that yet. And learning from the 100 milers, you have to plan your season really different compared to doing shorter races. My background as a skier, competing a lot, I like to race a lot, and then I can’t do 100 milers. So I want to take a little bit more time at this distance. But I’m also very motivated to go back and try for Western States and UTMB in the future, but not this season.
iRunFar: For short stuff?
Engdahl: Yeah. Short.
iRunFar: Short. Air quotes, short. I think what makes this course so unique is the big descent at the end. After 52k, you have a 2,500-meter descent. What do you do in training to show up there fresh and ready to descend?
Engdahl: It’s a really long one. Previous times, I haven’t done anything really specific, because it’s one big downhill. It’s very different when it’s lots of ups and downs. Like other courses, I’m thinking particularly of CCC, which is a little bit longer, and other races in the Alps where you start with a big climb and then a long descent. This is just one big one. My goal is I think you can endure that at the end, and hopefully have the legs for the last 6k. That worked pretty well last time. In Norway, we have a lot of mountains, but we don’t have a 2,000-meter descent. Since Boston, I have done a few longer runs with a bit more descending to try to harden the legs as much as I can. It’s a tough one for the legs, but also mentally, to be up on the top and see the beach far, far down there, knowing you’re going all the way there. And then you know that’s not the finish. You have to run up again a little bit.
iRunFar: Well, best of luck on Saturday.
Engdahl: Thank you so much.
iRunFar: Have a great race.
Engdahl: Thank you.
