Bjoergen has been coming to Val Senales, Italy for 15 years and as she enters her 16th year on the FIS World Cup tour she is still motivated and focused on her pursuit of excellence. Bjoergen's Norwegian team coach Egil Kristiansen is impressed by what he has seen from the skiing star during a mix of high intensity intervals on snow and interspersed roller skiing.

Bjoergen: "I come here for 15 years and this is a place I like. During my preparation I have not encountered any problems, except for two or three days during the month of August."

In June, the Norwegian program started off with a lighter training load than that of last year. Despite the 'slow' start to the offseason Bjoergen still has her sights set on reaching around 950 hours of training for the year - the same total as her preparation of Sochi.

"I'm still very motivated. Despite a 15 year long career, I like to get up every morning and concentrate on the sport," states Bjoergen. "I hope to have a strong start to the season and then turn my attention to the Tour de Ski, I would like to win that event. In January, I will probably skip a few races to be able to prepare for the VM in Falun."