Downhill skiing while training

New trainer road user (and new cyclist in general) here. I got my first bike last August while recovering from an ACL tear, and fell in love! As usual, my competitive side took over quickly, and I jumped into structured training about a month and a half ago.

I’m a former competitive runner and know that I have a high capacity for training stress, so I just did a ramp test and jumped into the SSB high volume. So far so good, and I feel like the workouts are getting easier. Problem is, I’m also a fairly dedicated downhill skier (note, not talented, dedicated, haha). I do enjoy it a lot though and am fortunate to live about 25 min from a great mountain.

I’m going to cut back on the skiing this winter for many reasons including a creaky ACL, but really I have to admit that I don’t want to cut back on the cycling training at all! However, I’m realizing that after a full day of skiing it’s going to be hard to get on the bike for a 2-hour sweet spot session, and possibly counterproductive.

Anyone have experience combining these two sports? Since I still plan on skiing probably 1-2x a week, cycling as much as possible, and preferably keeping my job, I know that I’ll probably have to cut back on some of the high volume workouts. Would it be more productive to just edit workouts on the fly (on ski days), or perhaps switch to the mid-volume base, and build plans?

Thanks for any insight, and for all trainerroad employees who see this, your product rocks and keep up the good work!

I live in the mountains and my job is to be on hill riding the terrain park testing features. It’s a tiring job, but I get home, relax, eat a bit, and hop on the bike and bang out the workout. You’ll be fine.
Do your workouts before you go skiing unless you have to drive/get up early to get to the mountains like I don’t know, people in Denver.

Yeah, I think before the mountain is probably the way to go. Just got done listening to the podcast episode about morning vs evening workouts. I strongly prefer the afternoon/evening, but that might have to change on ski days. Good to hear that other skiers also train though!

We actually talked about this on the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast two weeks ago! You can check this discussion out here:

Great episode, and did listen. I thought that discussion was mostly about nordic skiing, but I was in the middle of a stressful commute and may need to listen again. For now, think the plan will be to modify the intensity down a bit so I don’t come out completely smashed, try to get the workouts done early, and enjoy the mountain! I’m lucky to live so close. (VT, not CO, but we have good mountains too :wink:)

We talked about alpine and backcountry as well but that sounds like a great plan!

You could also do either a mid or low volume plan during the week days and ski on the weekends. :slight_smile:

Consider the Concept2 SkiErg is you want to keep the front conditioning going without being hard on your knees.