Kristin Stoermer Steira, 33, once played with the idea of retiring from professional skiing. That was back in 2011, after the World Championships in Oslo.
But then she concluded that there are still some goals she’d like to chase. Like an individual gold from a major championship. Steira has three gold medals from the World Championships and one Olympic gold medal, all in the women’s 4x5km relay.
“After the 2011 World Championships on home turf, I was pretty ready to retire,” Steira says to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
“I was starting to think I had enough. And the next Olympics seemed so far away,” she explains.
But then things got better. She moved to Oslo, found new motivation and recharged. Steira headed for the 2014 Olympics in Sotchi. Now she’s gearing up for the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. And she doesn’t want to take any final decision on retirement.
But the seasoned 33-year-old is changing a few things about her training this season.
“I’ve trained a lot for over 15 years. I think I will reduce the overall volume a bit and focus on having enough energy for every workout, all the time,” Steira says.
She is also focusing more on strength and power.
“There are a lot of mass start races, and I need to be there and ready when the surge happens. I love training, but it can easily turn into a lot of long distance workouts. I need to shorter workouts and include some speedwork every time,” Steira explains, adding that she feels lucky.
“I get to train twice a day and call it work,” she says with a grin.