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Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. That is an understatement. Her non-stop, year round ski and running schedule keeps her trotting across the globe to pursue racing on dirt and snow. In part I of FasterSkier’s interview with Laukli, she spoke with us from Japan about her current injury, defending the trail running world title, and her commitment to skiing.
Laukli is coming off the best ski season in her career, but she doesn’t always see her results in such a positive light. “It’s easy to forget about the best races of the year,” she said. “Especially in the World Cup when you’re racing so much. The last few races of the year I was definitely bummed out and then I started to think back, even thinking of Minneapolis. I was 15th there, I was not psyched, but then I realized last year if you were 15th , you would have been over the moon. It’s funny how our expectations shift so quickly. I didn’t have a lot of time to reflect at the end of the season, but it was pretty cool to compare everything to one year before. That was pretty insane of a jump. Quite a bit of room for improvement, but that’s an exciting thing to end the year on and focus on for next year. In general, it was quite a jump, and that doesn’t always happen. It was very motivating.”
Training Changes: Keep Easy Workouts Easy
So, what accounted for Laukli’s performance leap? She gives much credit to joining team Aker Daehlie. “I think it’s (her improvement) a combination of a lot of things. Another year under the belt; but a lot it has to do with my move to Norway and working with a new coach. This was the first really strong coaching relationship I’ve had; it was very collaborative. Before that, it was bouncing around with various coaches and it’s hard to build a strong relationship which leads to improvement.”
There were, however, additional specific training changes which Laukli can point to which aided her improvement. “I changed quite a bit of my training in the summer, and I had a lot more fun. Because I had a base in Norway, I got to go home quite a bit (during the ski season) so I wasn’t so exhausted mentally which made the racing more enjoyable.” There were a couple of specific training changes which she employed, and one was an increase in her double poling training. “I had never done strict double pole training sessions before. It wasn’t so much for improving double poling itself, but how that improvement transitions to skating and ski strength. Also, a lot of technique work. Also, my intervals were the same thing each week. Having a standard interval set to compare to and improve on.”
Her summer training mirrors Aker Daehlie’s philosophy of polarized training: make easy days very easy and make hard days hard. “What I do is definitely zone one. A lot of very very easy training. I’ve noticed that when easy training is too hard is when you struggle the most. It’s been a funny realization in the running world. A lot of runners I run with are beyond confused with how slow I run in training. My training is successful when I’m specific about it, so on easy days it’s very very easy and I’m able to go much harder on intervals.”
Changes to Team Aker Daehlie and Looking Forward
Laukli’s team has undergone some recent changes with its leader Knut Nystad announcing his departure. But Laukli doesn’t think it will affect her. “I’ve had discussions about what that means, but it won’t change a whole lot (about how it affects me).
For the next ski season, Laukli hopes to continue to build upon her past improvement. “I always set the goal of having more consistent top results and moving up in Overall results instead of pinpointing races. Getting more top tens and having that be more of a norm is a super cool achievement. In the Tour de Ski, I’ll always be thinking about the hill climb.” But there’s work ahead for her to move up in the Tour de Ski standings. She has been candid that Sprinting just isn’t in the cards for her. “Improving a few seconds in Sprinting can help a lot in the Overall. If I put a little bit of focus on strength it would help with the Overall. I don’t think a top thirty in a Sprint is a realistic goal, but not having such a massive time back is a first step.”
Dealing With Adverse Press Coverage
Laukli is still a little disconcerted about some adverse press coverage which followed her last season after a statement she made on a podcast about enjoying having an active social life and enjoying the party scene. The European press quickly picked up on it, and there were headlines splashed across European papers about Laukli’s partying habits. When asked if she felt she was treated fairly Laukli responded that, “I was definitely a bit shocked with how what I said was twisted.” She continued that “it was quite the learning experience because I was trying to portray this message in a podcast that for me it’s important to have a social life and have a life outside of running and skiing. Because I’m competing 12 months a year, I need a place where I can totally distract and not have to think about sport, and for me, that’s having a normal social life. The way that message got taken and put into all these articles…I had a hard time reading them and eventually stopped, because this is not what I said. This is sometimes how the press works and I have to be careful. In a way, they didn’t take it out of nowhere, but the way it was twisted was pretty unfortunate, and for me I want to be seen as a respectable athlete, and that was my biggest fear and frustration. There were little snippets from here and there put together that made it sound worse, but it wasn’t all fabricated. I need something outside of training racing and sports, going out and being able to put skiing and racing aside temporarily; this is an outlet.” Laukli was disappointed that she was portrayed as partying to excess. “It’s hard to be off the rails and also be competing at this level. The only message I want to send is that training and racing doesn’t have to be everything. For me, it’s important to express that and have more to my life than just that.”
For Sophia Laukli she will continue what she sees as the symbiotic relationship between being a professional runner and professional skier. Though her path may be unconventional, so far, her results confirm her career choices. For Laukli, the longer the race the better, and the more career challenges; well, that’s just fine also.
FasterSkier thanks Sophia Laukli for taking the time from her busy schedule to talk to our reporter while she was traveling in Japan.
