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Jorgen Aukland - Back on Track
Jorgen Aukland, last year’s Vasaloppet Champion, had a tough start to the training season. Despite being exhausted from a long racing season, the decorated marathon skier is already at a higher level now than he was at the same time of a year last season.  Aukland won his first Vasaloppet last March, arguably the biggest ski race in the Nordic world, as well as performing well in many of the FIS Marathon Cup races. Now he is preparing for another strong season with his teammates in the private professional race team Xtra Personall, based in northern Norway. His teammates are none other than Jens Arne Svartedal and older brother Anders Aukland, two of the best classic skiers on the international scene. “My legs started to feel good again in the beginning of May, and since then things on the training side have gone really well. I feel already that I am at a higher level than I was last year, and that promises good things to come,” Jorgen explains. After almost a flawless season last year, Aukland hasn’t changed much in his training program. Together with older brother Anders and younger brother Fredrik (now National Team Coach for Switzerland) Jorgen has put together a comprehensive but similar plan from May until the snow falls. “We learned a lot last year and will continue with the training that has worked. The overall structure is the same with just some minor adjustments. Together, we have a lot of experience with the training we are doing now. If we complete what we have planned, next season should be phenomenal!”  In August Jorgen will move back to Oslo to be closer to his teammates. The month of July will be spent training mostly at home with minimal travel days. “In the summer I will train a good deal in Oslo and Tonsberg. We won’t travel so much as in the past, but have planed some short camps where the team will train hard together. Afterwards we’ll head to Torsby and a few other camps on snow.” His training focus will place the most emphasis on roller skiing, running, biking and kayaking. Intensity workouts are running and roller skiing, and Aukland will begin to minimize his biking and kayaking in exchange for more specific methods as the summer rolls along. “I have tried to kayak a good deal this year. When the Vasaloppet comes around, and you’re at 80 kilometers, 100 training hours in the boat is much better than 100 hours on the bike,” explains the defending champion. Come August, Aukland will also be racing a fair bit. Uphill running races, the national cross country running championships and duathlon championships are just a few of the races on the plan. Source: langrenn.com
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