📍 copper mountain, co

Inside Ryan's Alpine Training Camp

6:00 am: Wake up / Foam roll

At the ripe ski racer age of 32, my body takes a little bit longer than it used to for getting warmed up and loose. That’s why I like to start the day out slow, putting on a podcast or audiobook and foam-rolling my muscles, addressing the more tender spots that deserve a little more attention for that day.

6:45 am: Breakfast & coffee

I love a strong brew in the early morning to get things rolling. I usually fry up a couple of eggs and toast them with butter to lightly fuel for the day’s training. It’s best not to overdo it, as you don’t want an overfed stomach slowing you down during high-intensity speed training.

7:15 am: Walk to lodge / Warm-up

When I have the time, I typically go through another more dynamic warm-up that includes a light 10-minute spin, active stretching, and muscle activation to be tuned up and ready for skiing.

7:45 am: Put skis out & get ready

When training downhill and super g, I’ll typically have 4 pairs of skis out to get all the skis in our quiver enough “time on snow.” This means going through the ski-wax-scrape-ski cycle 10+ times before any of them will be close to race-ready. There’s also an additional warm-up pair for inspecting and freeskiing on beforehand that gets brought out, so it usually takes a few minutes walking back and forth between the ski room and where we stage our equipment at the base of the lift. Shout out to my serviceman Stefan for all the work he puts into getting the skis ready each day!

8:10 am: Lift

We only have a limited time to inspect the course and then get in a run or maybe two before we start training, so it’s super important to use the time efficiently and make the most out of every minute. The lift we use at Copper is a long 11-minute ride which adds to the time crunch.

9:00 am: Downhill training starts

The downhill course at Copper is fairly friendly, with a lot of gliding to work on up top, then the track slowly breaks into more dynamic turns with a couple of jumps and eventually sweeps into the steep “lights out” technical section for the last 20 seconds or so before coming through the finish. It usually runs about 90 seconds which is a really great length for downhill training, but at a start altitude of over 12,000ft means we usually can only take 4 runs each day unless we’re really pushing for a 5th.

11:00 am: End of training and recovery

The legs and lungs can get pretty well cooked after each day of training, so it’s always important to get a post-recovery spin in. I like to go for between 20-25 minutes at a light to medium zone and throw in a couple of short effort pulses to try to flush out any remaining lactic acid. Also, during this block of time, there is usually a little reflection between athletes and servicemen as we come off the hill to come up with a good strategy regarding equipment for the following day.

Noon: Lunch

As I always like to say, “tank needs fuel” and this is the time to replenish the fuel burned off during the morning. Our team is very fortunate to have cooks provided for us during this camp, so all lunch and dinner meals are prepared by them. They do a good job offering tasty food while maintaining a healthy balance of nutrients and nourishing ingredients, and it’s always all you can eat which is great for the downhiller diet.

1:00 pm: 30min nap

Post-lunch is usually followed up by a good food-induced coma nap, which I have a hard time resisting. I love to get in a good afternoon snooze when I can, especially when I feel there’s some sleep to get caught up on. This is also one of the best ways for your body and mind to recover, so I use it to my advantage.

2:30 pm: PT

Getting in daily treatment keeps my knee moving well and feeling good. We are very fortunate to have a great medical staff that travels with us to keep our bodies healthy and skiing fast. Thank you, Martina, Caitlin, and Tiitu! I also do a daily routine of icing and leg compression to push as much fluid out that gets deposited during heavy loads.

3:00 pm: Dryland

Gotta stay up on our fitness off the hill as well! On the days that we plan to ski the following day, we will go through some agility, core work, and balance-type stuff. If there is a planned day off, then we get a strength workout in so we can try to maintain the work we already put in over the summer.

4:00 pm: Video analysis

This is the time to reflect on what the daily training goal was and whether it was executed well or not. Each of us is usually focused on 1 or 2 things we’re trying to improve with our technique in training, so watching videos can be the best way to see weaknesses to be further improved on. We can also look at what other skiers may have been doing that was faster based on the timing report and try to adjust with line and tactics for the next day.

4:30 pm: Shower, chill, try to catch up on emails

These couple of hours are a little bit of respite from the otherwise full hours over the rest of the day. I like getting some quiet time and finding ways to be productive off the hill. This fall I’ve been taking a remote college course through the University of Vermont, so it’s also a good time to get caught up with any schoolwork and reading that I’ve probably been procrastinating.

6:45 pm: Team meeting

Our coach Burki goes over the day of training and then updates us on the next day’s schedule. Usually, these are pretty straightforward once we are established at a training venue, but there are changes and logistical updates from time to time that come up so it’s always important to give full attention.

7:00 pm: Dinner

Time to eat! The best nights are the ones where they have apple crisp and vanilla ice cream for dessert. This is also a good time to sit and catch up with some of the other US team’s that are training in Copper during November, that we otherwise don’t get a chance to overlap with the rest of the season.

7:30 pm: Hang with condo buddies

If I’m lucky the Celtics are playing so I can watch that. Otherwise, we take it pretty easy by this time of night, hanging out on the couch and watching tv.

9:00 pm: Bedtime

Lights out with some reading until my eyes get heavy and it’s time to fall asleep.