Vasaloppet training plan: 18 weeks to Mora

The 103rd Vasaloppet starts at 08:00 on Sunday 7 March 2027 in Berga by, Sälen, and finishes under the old portal in Mora, 90 km later. The race is classic only: free technique means disqualification. From Monday 2 November you have 18 weeks. That is enough to finish a first Vasa, break eight hours or chase six, if each week has a job.

The rules that shape your winter

• Eleven start groups line up: an elite group, groups 1 to 9 and group 10. Without a previous result you start in group 10.
• A seeding race of 40 km or more moves you up to at least group 9. A result stays valid for three years and drops one group each year.
• Group 10 opens at 05:00 and groups 1 to 9 at 05:30. Everyone outside the elite group must be in their pen by 07:45.
• You have about 12 hours to reach Mora.

Cut-offs set the floor

Seven checkpoints close at fixed times, and you must leave each one within ten minutes of its cut-off. Arrive late and your race ends there, with a bus to Mora. Distances are Vasaloppet's own.

1. Smågan, 11 km, closes 11:00
2. Mångsbodarna, 24 km, closes 12:15
3. Risberg, 36 km, closes 13:45
4. Evertsberg, 47 km, closes 15:00
5. Oxberg, 62 km, closes 16:30
6. Hökberg, 71 km, closes 17:40
7. Eldris, 81 km, closes 19:00

Smågan is the pinch point. The highest point of the course, 528 m above sea level, comes 3 km after the start, and from group 10 it takes a long time to even cross the line. For 2026 the organisers moved the Smågan cut-off from 10:30 to 11:00, mainly for the rear groups. In 2025, 12 % of starters abandoned, just over 200 of them at Smågan.

Pick a goal and do the arithmetic

• First Vasa, 9 to 12 hours. Eldris at 19:00 means 81 km in 11 hours, a little under 7.4 km/h including feed stops. Nine hours needs 10 km/h.
• Sub 8 hours. About 11.3 km/h. The mean time of every finisher since 1922 is 7:58:17, so this goal means beating the historical average.
• Sub 6 hours. 15 km/h, a start group near the front and double poling for most of the course.

Four phases

1. Base, weeks 1 to 8, 2 November to 27 December. Easy volume, strength twice a week, one interval session. Roller skis until the snow arrives.
2. Specific, weeks 9 to 14, 28 December to 7 February. Longer sessions on snow, more double poling, a race-pace session every other week.
3. Test, weeks 15 and 16, 8 to 21 February. A long race or a long tour with race food, race wax and race clothing.
4. Taper, weeks 17 and 18, 22 February to 7 March. Less volume, short fast pieces kept.

Make every fourth week roughly a third lighter.

Keep most of it easy

Seiler and Kjerland tracked eleven junior cross-country skiers and found 75 % of sessions, by heart rate, in the lowest of three zones, 8 % in the middle zone and 17 % above the lactate threshold. They called the pattern polarized. In practice:

• Ski about eight of every ten hours at a pace where you can talk in full sentences.
• Do one or two hard sessions a week, such as 5 times 4 minutes or 4 times 8 minutes on a long climb.
• Keep the easy days easy, so the hard days can be hard.

A typical week in the specific phase

First Vasa, 4 to 6 hours a week

• One easy long session at the weekend.
• One double-poling session of 45 to 60 minutes on flat track.
• One interval or fartlek session of 45 minutes.
• One 30-minute strength session for trunk, back and arms.

Sub 8, 7 to 9 hours a week

• One long session, every other week with the last 45 minutes at goal pace.
• Two double-poling sessions, one long and easy, one with intervals.
• One uphill interval session in diagonal stride.
• One or two easy sessions and one strength session.

Sub 6, 10 to 14 hours a week

• One long session of 4 to 5 hours with race-pace blocks.
• Three or four double-poling sessions, including intervals and 20-minute blocks at race pace.
• One threshold session and one short high-intensity session.
• Easy distance and two strength sessions aimed at double poling.

Build the long session

1. November: 2 hours on roller skis or hiking with poles.
2. December: 2.5 to 3 hours.
3. January: 3 to 4 hours, eating and drinking every 30 minutes as on race day.
4. February: the longest, 50 to 60 km for a first Vasa and 60 to 70 km for the sub 8 group.

Double pole more than you think

Researchers filmed the 2017 Vasaloppet at the first long climb, about 2.5 km in. There, 98 % of the top 100 double poled all the way up, against 59 % of the first 1,000 and 23 % of those placed 901 to 1,000. Double poling is the default among fast Vasa skiers, and it only pays off with an upper body trained for it.

• Double pole the flats and gentle climbs on roller skis from November.
• Run double-poling intervals, for example 6 times 4 minutes on a slight incline with 2 minutes of rest.
• Add one long double-poling session a week, 60 to 90 minutes without switching technique.
• Train trunk, lats and triceps twice a week through the base phase.
• On a first Vasa, use grip wax, stride the climbs and double pole the flats. The wax guide covers kick wax.

The test

Weeks 15 or 16 are the dress rehearsal. Either ski a seeding race of at least 40 km from Vasaloppet's seeding calendar, which also moves you out of group 10, or ski 50 to 60 km at goal pace on your race skis, race wax and race food. If seeding is the point, choose a race in January or early February and check in the calendar that it counts for 2027.

Taper

1. Ski the last long session, 2 to 3 easy hours, eight to ten days out.
2. Cut volume roughly in half over the last ten days.
3. Keep speed, for example 4 times 3 minutes at race pace five days out.
4. Ski 30 easy minutes the day before, with a few short double-poling pickups.
5. Try no new skis, gels or wax in race week.

Race day

Amateurs go out too hard. In the 2017 study, amateur heart rate peaked in the first section and fell through the race, while the elite skiers held a more even effort.

• Ski the first climb at a pace that feels too easy. The queues set the speed there anyway.
• Write a schedule against the cut-offs with at least 30 minutes in hand at each checkpoint if you aim for 10 to 12 hours.
• Eat and drink at all seven checkpoints. Each one serves drinks and energy, and offers help with grip wax.
• Aim for 60 to 90 g of carbohydrate an hour. Jeukendrup recommends up to about 90 g an hour for ultra-endurance events, with a glucose and fructose mix above 60 g. Practise that amount on long sessions.

Measure your double poling

The simplest test is the same double-poling session on the same loop every week, at the same heart rate, with lap time as the result. Skibuddy times every lap of the loop automatically and sets it against your last, best and average lap, so you can watch those sessions get faster from November to February. When the snow differs from week to week, read how snow conditions change your times.