Team Intersport, lead by Worldloppet winner Jœrgen Aukland, meets for their first training camp of the year – with high training volume.
The Norwegian National Long-Distance Team, or Team Intersport, was formed last year. The team follows the long-distance World Cup circuit around the World, and participates in all the big Worldloppet marathons. The team consists of four skiers, Rune Torseth, Anders Hallingstad, Jœrgen Aukland og Morten Brœrs and their team manager Lars Christian Aabol. Skier Morten Brœrs is a very interesting case, since he also is a former FIS World Cup winner in Sprint.
Last weekend, the team met for their first dryland camp of the year, and did the following program:
Thursday: Long distance running 3+ hrs
Friday AM: Uphill Interval rollerski, x numbers of 5 minutes intervals (until fatigue)
Friday PM: Long distance mountain biking 2:30 hrs
Saturday AM: Long distance running 2:30 – 3:00 hrs
Saturday PM: Hard strength session
Sunday: Test-race rollerski – double poling only
This program included about 15 hrs of training over 4 days, with two hard rollerski sessions.
“We will have one more camp before Christmas, in connection with the National season opener”, says Rune Thorseth. The first serious race will be the 42 km free-technique race in La Sgambeda in Bormio, Italy.
“Our traveling team is about 10 persons including racers and support personnel. We can not compare ourselves with the regular National Team in terms of numbers and support, but we are doing fine. Last year our budget lasted through the season without any of the skiers having to pay anything. This year our budget has increased, and we should be able to start with a National Team that can match any of our competing teams at the races”, says Thorseth.
“We try to specialize a bit more than normal. We focus especially on being able to use the arms and upper body efficiently over long time. So, when other skiers end their 2:30 – 3:00 hrs long distance rollerski sessions, we keep going for another 30 minutes at an even increased tempo”, Thorseth explains.
