Now that the season is over, the Lager 157 Ski Team has started working hard for the coming year, says Anton Järnberg. The work since the competition season has been intensively focused on planning for the summer and recruitment for the coming season. 

The team is now facing a generational change on the women’s side after Britta Johansson Norgren put the skis on the shelf. Getting the women’s squad together and increasing the coverage on the men’s side, Järnberg describes as areas they have focused on in recent weeks. 

Now a long training period awaits before the next season starts in December. Lager 157 Ski Team plans to conduct one training camp per month during the pre-season. The first of these will take place in Ulricehamn (Sweden) at the end of May and start the work towards the new season. 

What does your training plan look like?

“We have developed the plans we use for several years, and we are delighted with this. We have ways that it has worked well with many camps that are not too long, and we are involved and keep track of the riders even when they are at home.” 

How do you view altitude training now that several Ski Classics races are at high altitude?

“We have chosen not to prioritize camps at altitude. There are both advantages and disadvantages to training at altitude, and we think it is important to be able to train hard all summer. It is also expensive to camp abroad, so we have chosen to have our business at home. We believe that it works well to go south in good time before the altitude competitions and acclimatize then.”  

“In training, there are unexpectedly many long double poling sessions for the skiers in Lager 157, but the forms of training continue to vary. Depending on the skier in question, they run quite a lot and use other alternative forms of training. They also have shorter and more intense interval workouts as part of the training that does not differ too much from the traditional skiing except for the extra importance when double poling.” 

“Long-distance skiing and cross-country skiing have become more of a “year-round” sport as more and larger rollerski competitions are arranged during the summer. This is a good development for the sport, and the skiers in Lager 157 will participate in several competitions during the warmer season. However, it is clear that the priority is in the winter.”

Is there a race during the summer that you prioritize a little extra?

“If there is any competition during the summer that stands out, it is probably the Alliansloppet in Trollhättan (Sweden). Otherwise, the summer competitions are largely a test to see that the skiers are on the right path towards winter.”

“Towards the season, the team goes on snow a few weeks before the competition. As double poling works well even on rollerskis, there is no rush to find snow as early as possible. They will go to the traditional national premiere in Bruksvallarna in November if it fits into the program. Then they start from a base in Orsa before it is time to go south to the continent well before the competitions so that they can acclimatize to compete at high altitude.”