Two of four competition locations are completed in the national roller skiing cup, Svenska Spel Summer Tour. After the premiere in Ulricehamn and the Swedish Championships week in Västerås, Karl-Johan Westberg tops the standings. This is mainly due to his double silver medals during the Swedish Championships week.

“It’s a nice mix in the cup this year. This is partly due to different distances, but also really tough courses mixed with flat and more tactical ones, like it was at the SM (Swedish Championships). The competitions in the cup are both good training and nice breaks in the summer training,” says Karl-Johan Westberg to Langd.se.

Svenska Spel Summer Tour continues in Trollhättan and the Alliansloppet weekend at the end of August and concludes in Falun at the beginning of October. But before that, there is, as mentioned, a lot of training to be done. And for the Borås native Westberg, there will be a clear change in the training plan:

“I am not satisfied with my achievements in the last two seasons. It has been sluggish, and I have not reached the level I want to be at. In the last few seasons, I have done a lot of volume and a lot of threshold training. This is based on the “Norwegian approach.” But it has not worked. Now, I will return to how I trained about five years ago. This means less total volume and a bit more tough speed. Then I will put extra focus on strength training. And the plan is also to “move a bit more clearly” towards sprint training,” says Westberg.

What didn’t work with the “Norwegian training model”?

“It’s something I’ve thought about often, and there is probably no simple answer. But finding the right load level in skiing feels harder than running. For example, if you run the roller ski track at Lugnet, finding an even and “appropriate” level is difficult. So, I think the total load has become too great, and recovery has suffered. I want to feel that I get better and better from June to November. That hasn’t been the case in recent years.”

What are your goals for the upcoming winter?

“I want to ski at the highest level. And the highest level for the upcoming winter is the World Championships in Trondheim. And above all, I want to feel that I am getting better. I spend much time and training on this, so I want to improve. So, if I ski at the same level this winter as in recent years, it will be difficult to continue motivating myself forward. So, this will be an important season. It is time to turn this around again and to perform,” says Westberg.

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