Rob Youngren still has the Iditarod Trail Invitational on his to-do list, but it’ll be a bit longer before his return to Alaska to tackle the famed winter challenge.
The veteran ultramarathoner from Huntsville has delayed his return until 2026 to compete in the grueling event. Recovery from back surgery and more preparation for the legendary trail will spur his drive. Youngren twice has completed 350 miles of the roughly 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational trek; his 2023 attempt ended in McGrath after 10 challenging days.
The Iditarod Trail Invitational includes competitors on foot, bikes and skis. They follow the Iditarod Trail from Knik Lake north of Anchorage to Nome. The trail was an important travel lifeline by indigenous tribes and further was heavily utilized between 1880-1920 during the Alaska Gold Rush.
Trail competitors have myriad considerations before and during the event, from training to planning for food, shelter, clothing and the route. We talked with Youngren about the Iditarod Trail Invitational and his plans; the interview has been lightly edited.
Is there any way to describe what it’s like out there?
Not really. You kind of lose track of time. It’s kind of a blur when you’re out there. You know, you kind of wonder what the date is, what’s going on? But that’s not bad. It’s just very, very peaceful, very quiet. Especially this year (2023), we had some challenging weather at the start, a snowstorm that pretty much lasted about a day or so. It gets really quiet. Kind of hard to see; you get kind of a flat light, when it’s snowy like that. But it’s an eerie kind of calm. I really don’t experience too much of that, you know, living in the city or even in the country here. There’s no noise, no sounds, no animal noises. So, so quiet. It’s just an amazing place.
How much did your sled weigh? How much were you pulling and hauling around?
I’ve never actually weighed it. I think it’s probably around 60 pounds. There’s another fellow racer who who made it to Nome, I think this was his seventh or eighth time he made the full route. I lifted his sled because everybody’s always comparing gear. As you could imagine, this is kind of like a gear junkies dream. Everyone’s got everything and a lot of stuff’s custom made, or they make it themselves.
So, I think about 60 pounds on my sled and I also had like a 35-litre backpack. I didn’t have it super heavy, maybe 10 pounds in there. Maybe 5 pounds, but it’s still not insignificant. That speaks to my energy level, obviously quite bad because it’s it’s a lot of effort. I mean, even pulling over snow and ice is tough and it drags pretty well. But there’s definitely times, you know, we get some big hills and other areas that it’s a little more challenging with a sled.
How many calories do you consume a daily to pull an extra 65-75 pounds?
My goal going in was to try to budget like 5,000 calories per day. I think I got like I got close to that, maybe 6,500 or 7,500, because I tried to figure out what I did when I was there in 2020. Most of that is stuff that packs well in the cold, doesn’t get ruined, is cold or frozen and is still palatable. You can still eat it like that when it’s frozen. So, like your favorite trail mix. Typically, just once a day, I would stop to melt snow because you need to drink water, but it’s all frozen. So I’d fire up the stove, melt some snow, and make a backpacking meal. So I think I got pretty close (to my calorie goals).
When I did the Iditarod Trail Invitational three years ago, I was not good at all (with planning calories). I lost a pretty good amount of weight. But I think I did better this time. Usually there’s checkpoints every 50 miles or so where you have a chance to get inside and dry out your clothing and you can buy buy food. I always took advantage of that no matter what time I got there. The hosts are always pretty awesome. They will cook your meal, you know, and that gets you set right before we head back out again. I was not wanting on food this time. I think I did better for the time I was out there.
You did this back before the pandemic hit and really shut down everything. How do you train for something like this?
I did lots of like heavy rucking with a backpack, you know, 40-60 pounds. I’d take that everywhere I’d go hiking and a lighter pack for running when I got tired of hiking. I think that all paid off, being able to not only carry the lighter pack during the race, but I also think it kind of activates the same muscles when you’re trying to pull pull a sled. Everyone does something different for their sleds. I had a waist pack. Well, I pull probably 50 percent of the weight from the waist and also had it tied on my backpack. So it’s kind of distributed. The weights are basically pulling my whole upper body. That seemed to help kind of distribute the forces and not be so bad.
The reason I did that backpack was I found out last time, you know, either at a checkpoint or taking a short break on the trail I’d constantly be at my sled, digging through my big duffel-type bag trying to find one specific thing. That’s a lot of back-and-forth, maybe for something essential that you wanted or needed right then. So this time, I wanted to keep some of those essentials in my backpack and that made it much easier. Then, when you get to a checkpoint, it seems like it’s always the same stuff you want to bring inside like your foods, stuff that you cook with to make hot water, maybe a change of clothes, the essentials.
So I had those in the pack at at the checkpoints I could just go right inside, maybe grab my sleeping bag. The gear I needed to dry out, I was probably already wearing. That made it quicker going in and out of places. That was definitely one of the things I did right this time. That was a change that worked. A lot of stuff didn’t work, but that definitely worked.
So how do you how do you prepare mentally to start this? Then I guess, also keep your sanity on the Iditarod Trail by yourself in such a stark white environment, or at night or in a storm?
It’s it’s very difficult. I just think about, you know, how much work it took to get there and how much time it may be to even have the opportunity to do it again. I just try to make the most of it. I was scared for so many years to even attempt something like this. I’ve been following this particular event for years. I thought there’s no way, you know, a guy from Alabama, I mean, how do I how do I prepare for that? How do I even have the courage to do that?
And finally, I know my age … I just spent a lot of my life doing these ultramarathons and doing tough things. I read a long time ago about training for these winter 100-mile races and it obviously said to train in the cold weather, the worst winter weather you can be in. But it said if you don’t have cold weather for training, get out and train in the worst conditions you can for where you live. I kind of took that to heart early on with my running. So that’s what I’ve been steadily doing, not even realizing that I was preparing myself for a long time for this event.
And finally, I think after I turned 40 that I realized I gotta stop wasting time. I want to do things. Who knows what’s going to happen? We lost some family … my in-laws, in pretty close succession. That kind of kind of hit me I need to do the stuff I want to do, and just start doing it. So I started doing the the advance (races) that got qualified me to do the race in Alaska. I learned a lot from that. Finally, I just pulled the trigger and got up there. I learned a lot the first time and learned even more this time. I’ll be going back.
You mentioned the aurora. I’ll bet that was incredible to see up there, in that setting.
That was, you know, if you’ve ever asked for a sign, that was a sign because my first day I really struggled. You know, it’s been three years since I’ve done anything like this, in that kind of winter environment. I’d forgotten how tough it was pulling a sled and just have everything right. We start race starts late in the afternoon, not in the morning, so it’s kind of a weird day. I was experiencing just kind of a lot of stuff, pity, you know, a lot of self-loathing.
Then the sun went down and it got real cold and all of a sudden, the sky just exploded the most amazing display I’ve ever seen. My family and the Fritzs, we purposely went to Fairbanks about a year ago (in 2022) and experienced the aurora. That was pretty amazing. But this night, by myself alone out there, it was off the charts. If you’ve never experienced that, definitely gotta go see it. The pictures and videos is don’t do justice.
There are so many cool places to visit and things to see. I think it’d be cool to go to Greenland or Iceland and do something there.
Yeah, absolutely. You got to do that. That was what kind of made me realize I gotta just start doing things. I’d forgotten how amazing that experience was (in Alaska) because, like, I got so wrapped up with all the planning and preparation because it’s a logistical nightmare. Trying to plan for 30 days on the trail for a 1,000-mile hike? There are so many things you have to mail, you know, provisions to yourself ahead in these villages and trying to figure out where and how much. How much gear? Which piece of gear do you take? What do you leave behind?
I got so wrapped up in the details. I’d forgotten the joy, you know, and it took that aurora coming out that first night to kind of re-establish that joy and satisfaction. I think that’s a big part of the payoff of these kind of experiences in places we’ve been before, like Alaska, or for new ones.
