By Teemu Virtanen
The month of May is just a stone’s throw away, and many cross-country skiers are enjoying their well-deserved break from racing and heavy training. There is still time before the actual dryland season kicks in and the serious training occupies our long summer days.
The calendar for the Visma Ski Classics Season X will be launched in a couple of weeks, and that will certainly serve as an inspiration boost for many since it will be a reminder of those great things to come later in the future.
One of the pro skiers setting his sights on the magical number of the two twenties is Petter Eliassen, the runner-up for the Hertz Champion title. He has seen two of his former teams go defunct; Team LeasePlan and now Team BN Bank, but he has now found a safe haven in the ranks of Team Ragde Eiendom. In the Aukland brothers’ team, he will go side-by-side with his friend and training ”buddy” Andreas Nygaard, the current Hertz Champion.
Petter has taken it quite easy since Ylläs-Levi, but he knows that there is not much time to rest on his laurels as the hard training for the new season awaits. He is no stranger to tough workouts, but he also likes easy running or roller-skiing in the warmth of the summer. He is fond of pizza, Norwegian salmon, good acoustic guitar music while the ”Gladiator” is his favorite film and Bjørn Dæhlie his greatest hero.
Since the summer is coming very soon, let’s start our interview with some summer related questions. When asked about his fondest childhood memories, Petter takes trip down memorylane and tells me about the time when he was 10 years old.
”One of my greatest recollections from my childhood is the time spent in a cabin on a small Island outside Kragerø with my family. Last summer we had a week outside Luleå in a small cabin, with a family from Alta in the next one. That was such a great holiday much thanks to the great weather.”
We move from the comfort and cozyness of a mountain cabin to the business at hand, which is of course long distance skiing. Petter is a professional athlete now even if he tried his hands on a regular job as a physiotherapist in Alta. But cross-country skiing is his true calling, and this winter turned out to be very successful for him even if the yellow champion bib slipped through his fingers in the last race.
”My highlights of the season were the three victories I managed to gain, especially to win Marcialonga that I had never done before. It was such a great feeling. My low point was Ylläs-Levi because I wasn’t in great shape any more and lost both the Nordic trophy and the yellow bib. But I think, or at least hope, that I’ve learned a lot from this season. Some things that I did well, like doing a lot of specific short workouts in the summer and focusing on increasing my aerobic limits. In the last half of the season, I think I could have done a few things smarter. I trained too much with many long workouts with maybe too high intensity, which killed my best shape.”
Petter admits that it felt great to be back after his year-long hiatus because people welcomed him with open arms, and he realized how much he had been missing the excitement of racing and being in the game. Naturally losing his team and the great camaraderie he had with his teammates makes him feel a bit sad, but the life goes on and there are new challenges to be faced.
“In Ragde Eiendom, I have more skiers in the team and we can share some of the prize money, but I don’t know if it is any easier for me to win. My tactic will stay the same and I will get my team’s support assuming I keep performing as I did this season. I also expect to get great skis, good service and professionally organized activities within the team.”
One advantage of being part of the team is training with Andreas Nygaard, his toughest rival and a good friend. Petter feels that they can push each other much more knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but he also knows that a lot of his work needs to be in a solo mode.
“This summer, I will do lots of low intensity training, either two shorter workouts or one longer per day and I will continue to develop my aerobic threshold and take lactate measurements to control the intensity on interval sessions. A good example of a great interval training on roller-ski treadmill is 10 x 5 min on the 7% incline with the speed of 15-17 km per hour with the lactate levels of 2-4 mmol. And I should also have a bit more focus on maximum strength on a weekly basis.”
As the new season will be an interesting one with the 10th anniversary and a possibility of having more World Cup skiers in the mix, it will be much harder to stay on top. This season Petter was titled as the “comeback king”, but next year he wants to be more than a returning sensation.
“I hope to develop my physique even further and be at my best in the most prestigious races and also win the yellow bib. And I hope it will be fun to race and travel with my team. And I hope that my family can live happily with me being a pro skier.
Before letting Petter go and spend quality time with his family, we should end the interview by gazing upon the future frontiers of our beloved sport. Some wise men have claimed that the sky is the limit when trying to achieve greater things, but how does Petter feel about reaching the potential that long distance skiing has in store for us.
“I hope that long distance skiing will always be an appealing sport for both elite and amateurs alike. I think it is important for many people to have a clear goal in mind when they start training, and we must make sure that skiing stays attainable for any man on the street. Our sport needs to be generous and allow people to join easily without any hassle. Of course, TV broadcast is very crucial and we need the exposure so that skiing can grow. I think we are heading towards a great future if we work together and keep an open mind!”
Great words indeed! Let’s unite and work hand in hand for the future of our sport. Long live long distance skiing and we all shall be the champions of the sport even if we may not wear that particular yellow bib that both Nygaard and Eliassen tend to wear with pride and honor.
