Kyle Larson Wins the Frozen Gnome 50K for the Two-Peat, Shows Why He's Nominated for Chicago's Athlete of the Year

There's no place like Gnome.

Winning a race is something the majority of us will never experience. Winning a race two years in a row is even more doubtful. Winning a 50K race in 3 degree temperatures, with windchill, on a winding, technical course through the winter wonderland of Veteran Acres and Sterne’s Woods in Crystal Lake is something we're having a hard time even imagining.

But Kyle Larson, our footwear product manager and coach of our Racing Team did just that.

Bringing in the win with an overall time of 4:05:04 over 31.1 miles, this marks Larson's second win at the Frozen Gnome 50K & 10K in two years. Last year, Larson finished with a time of 3:57:34. While this year's time was eight minutes slower, the course was proven to be more difficult. Course planner Jeffrey Leonard spent months designing the new course. He wanted to include more single track and hills to give the runners the ultimate winter trail run challenge.

Just look at this section of the course appropriately named 'Butt Slide Hill'.

With the weather and terrain playing a large factor in this race, we asked Larson a few questions. We hope the answers can help you answer some of your own questions you may have about winter running. Larson is nominated for Chicago Athlete magazine's 2017 Clif 'Athlete of the Year'. You can vote for him here.

How do you prepare mentally and physically for a race as grueling, not only in distance, but in weather and terrain, as the Frozen Gnome 50K?

"Having done the race before helped quite a bit. Looking at the weather ahead of time helped a bit too. It was colder last year so mentally I was prepared for the cold weather. Knowing that the course would be less icy, mentally preparing was not a problem. Physically preparing was difficult because I wasn’t able to run as much as I had wanted. I was coming off a different training schedule after the New York Marathon."

How was the course more challenging this year?

"They added at least two more hills into the course. There were also more turns. They routed you onto the single track trails that were about one person wide as much as possible.  I talked to the course director after the race and he said he was purposely trying to make the course harder than last year."

Were there moments when you had any doubts?

"(Laughs) Yes, actually. It’s a five loop course, on the fourth loop, my training partner and I were trading back and forth for the lead. He got ahead of me, maybe 50 yards, I was tired at that point. I just said to myself "okay just try to keep running this pace, don't try to catch him. Keep in mind there was still 15km to go in the race. I definitely thought I was going to have a tough time on the final loop but I took a gel, drank water, had some candy and some pretzels."

How did you prepare in terms of nutrition and apparel?

"We can start with nutrition. It’s something that killed me last year primarily because it was super cold and I didn't want to stop at aid stations. I didn’t have enough gel. This year i packed more than enough gels. I took four gels, one between each loop. I grabbed Huma gels and a few Gatorade gels from the store. I grabbed those because they are thinner because it was easier to keep them warm. When I was about five minutes away from the start and finish line, I’d take it out and hold it in my hand to warm it up. The Huma gel was definitely a slushy. It was really cold.

In terms of terrain, I wore the Saucony Peregine Ice because I expected it to be icy and I wanted to keep my feet warm. It wasn’t icy. I didn't need that specific model but it was nice because it had an arctic upper. I wore Smartwool socks so my feet were warm. I wore gaiters over my shoes and ankles to make sure I didn’t get sand or rocks inside. I wore windproof tights and windboxers even though I was on the trails. On top I knew it was going to be warmer than last year, but since I knew I would be stopping, I wore an Icebreaker t-shirt and Smartwool half zip baselayer because it regulates temperature well. I wore a vest over the top throughout the entire race. For the first lap, since it was the coldest, I did have a wind shell but I put it in my bag after the first lap. I changed gloves, I was initially wearing a pair of thicker gloves from Sugoi, then I put my Manzella 2-in-1 gloves on. Even though I was on the trails I was wearing sunglasses the whole time to protect my eyes from branches, sun, and wind. Oh, I wore a Buff gaiter too to cover most of my face."

Welp, he makes it sound so easy. See for yourself next year and keep your eye out for registration on the official race website here.