Vasaloppet is fast approaching. Here, Anton Järnberg, Lager 157 Ski Team Pro Team Director, shares his best advice for hitting peak form by the first Sunday in March.

This Sunday marks one week until the year’s major highlight for many skiers: Vasaloppet. Have you trained enough, or what should you do in the final week leading up to the race?

For the past three years, Lager 157 Ski Team has won Vasaloppet in the men’s category. Here, Pro Team Director Anton Järnberg offers his top tips for the final week.

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Don’t rest to get fit

The biggest mistake most people make, according to Anton, is to “rest” to get fit in the final week. Instead, he believes one should continue training as they have throughout the winter.

“What I always emphasize is to keep doing what you have been doing. I find that many do their last long session the weekend before. Then they think they can rest for a week to get fit. That’s the worst thing you can do; instead, maintain your training load,” says Anton Järnberg to Langd.se.

Instead, Anton suggests reducing the length of the training sessions.

“I usually say to keep the number of sessions, but shorten their duration and make them a bit easier to create a surplus. But continuing to train is, I believe, the most important thing.”

“The body is used to it”

Maintaining training, according to Anton, is key to being in good shape for Vasaloppet.

“If you are used to doing five or six sessions a week, perhaps with a couple of interval sessions, then I definitely think you should continue with something similar and train a couple or three times during the week. Maybe one interval session, maybe a bit easier, but still keep up the training.”

“The body is used to it, and that’s what we are accustomed to doing. This way, we ensure that we get the most out of what we have. What you absolutely should not do is rest to get fit,” he concludes.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XVII (2025/2026)

Season XVII consists of 13 events across nine event weekends in six countries, from Bad Gastein in December 2025 to the Grand Finale Summit 2 Senja in March 2026.

• Event 1: December 13, 2025 – Bad Gastein Pro Team Tempo – Sportgastein, Austria, 7km
• Event 2: December 14, 2025 – Bad Gastein Criterium – Sportgastein, Austria, 36km
• Event 3: January 17, 2026 – Engadin La Diagonela – Pontresina-Zuoz, Switzerland, 47km
• Event 4: January 25, 2026 – Marcialonga – Moena-Cavalese, Italy, 70km
• Event 5: January 30, 2026 – Bedřichov Sprint – Bedřichov, Czech Republic, 1.5km
• Event 6: February 1, 2026 – Jizerská50 – Bedřichov, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 7: March 1, 2026 – Vasaloppet – Sälen-Mora, Sweden, 90km
• Event 8: March 7, 2026 – Orsa Grönklitt 50k ITT Women – Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 9: March 8, 2026 – Orsa Grönklitt 50k ITT Men – Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: March 14, 2026 – Birkebeinerrennet – Rena-Lillehammer, Norway, 54km
• Event 11: March 21, 2026 – Marcialonga Bodø – Bodø, Norway, 50km
• Event 12: March 28, 2026 – Reistadløpet – Setermoen-Bardufoss, Norway, 35km
• Event 13: March 29, 2026 – Grand Finale Summit 2 Senja – Bardufoss-Finnsnes, Norway, 60km

For more updates and detailed information about the Ski Classics Pro Tour, make sure to visit skiclassics.com