Autumn training for skiers: try these three sessions

Two World Championship medals and a new coach

Pia Fink has two World Championship medals, both from the relay: one silver and one bronze. She is now coached by Norwegian Torstein Dagestad, who coached the private team Team Swix until he became a German national team coach in 2026.

We asked her to share her autumn favourites, and got three very different sessions back.

1. Uphill running with poles: 8 x 8 minutes at threshold

"I really like running, especially when it starts to get colder in autumn. It's an easy way for me to spend a long time in the right intensity zone," says Pia Fink.

Eight reps of eight minutes adds up to 64 minutes at threshold. Threshold is roughly the pace or intensity you can hold before lactate starts to build up faster than your body clears it. That is why threshold work has become so popular in recent years: it lets you work fairly hard for a long time.

More than an hour at threshold is a lot of time in a zone that is hard to hit on the flat, where speed and surface keep changing under you. The hill solves it. The gradient holds the intensity up without you having to force the pace, and the poles keep the movement ski-specific.

In short: Let the terrain set the intensity. Find a hill long enough, and it does the work for you.

2. Rollerskis: 6 x 6 minutes at zone 4

"It's good to do this session on the treadmill, as it allows better control of the intensity. This should be a harder session to help me finally get into race shape," says Fink, who of course uses Swix poles for this one.

This is the hard session in the set, and Pia takes it indoors to make sure it stays that way. It can still be done outdoors, on a rollerski track for instance.

3. Long and easy rollerskis with 6 x 30 seconds at the end

A long, easy rollerski session, and six all-out sprints of 30 seconds right at the end.

"I often try to keep it simple and concentrate on the important things."

The sprints come when you already have hours in your legs. That is the whole point. The rest of the session stays easy enough that it costs you nothing the following day.

In short: Don't turn an easy session into a half-hard one. Keep it easy, and put the speed where it belongs.

Three sessions, three jobs

Look at how the three fit together. One builds volume in the right zone. One is the hard one. One is long and easy, with speed right at the end.

None of them overlap. That is why they hold up week after week through the autumn, without one stealing from the other.

Try Pia's three sessions

1. 8 x 8 minutes at threshold. Uphill running with poles. Find a hill long enough that you don't have to turn around mid-rep.

2. 6 x 6 minutes at zone 4 on rollerskis. On a treadmill if you can, for better control of the intensity.

3. A long, easy rollerski session. Finish with 6 x 30 seconds all out.

Closing

Your best winter starts with autumn training. You don't feel it on the day. You feel it when the snow arrives, you're behind the start line, and you know that what you put in holds.

Enjoy the training.

→ See the full autumn campaign [campaign page]