We recently caught up with Jacob Dilling, a recipient of the 2019/20 SYNC Athlete Fund, to hear about how his early season training has been and what he's looking ahead to this season.
Q: Jacob, how is your season going so far?
A: Good, I just got back on snow 6 days ago and I’m skiing fast. I broke my collar bone over at Training Camp skiing indoors in Germany and they put a hefty plate and five screws in there, so I am pretty good now.
Q: Ouch, collar bones hurt.
A: Yeah, I didn’t know it was broken initially and just kept pushing it back into place but it hurt a lot, so I four days later I said, "something isn’t right," and then they discovered I’d broken it. It was a brutal camp. Kyle (Negomir) fell and hurt himself, Isaiah (Nelson) fractured his leg, all at the same camp.
Q: Good to hear that you are back…. how do you like the upgrades over at Copper?
A: I love it. The new tech venue lives up to the hype and is definitely one of the best in the country, the snow has been perfect.
Copper Mountain
Q: What do you like so much about the tech venue? How's the snow been?
A: The tech venue is a steep challenging run and the surface couldn't be better. There are not many like this anymore. As far as perfect snow? I like chalky, grippy, hard snow that’s a bit icy. I dull my tips and tails and keep my underfoot sharp and it just feels great.
Q: Of course, love that chalky and grippy Colorado snow! What would you like to accomplish this season?
I’d like to get a top 3 NorAm overall. I trained hard all summer and I’m starting the season off well and in a good place to do that. If all goes as planned, I’ll get a World Cup start. That’s the logical next step for me.
Q: Right on. Feeling good about your effort this summer? What did your summer training look like?
A: We were in Park City the whole summer doing double strength sessions (Core Endurance, and Strength Endurance) six days a week followed up with a 1-2 hour bike ride each day. I basically spent the whole summer in the gym.
Q: Wow, beast mode. What was your focus while your collar bone was broken and how did you cope with the injury on verge of the season?
A: More strength, I couldn’t lift anything or put a bar on my back obviously, so some strength endurance. An example was 30 Leg Presses, followed by 20 Bell Squats, followed by 20 Leg Presses, followed by 20 Lunges. That’s one set.
Q: What's next after Copper?
A: I’ll follow the NorAm circuit. I probably won’t do the Lake Louise downhill since if I crash, I am out. But I will forerun the Beaver Creek GS. I am in the National Performance Series a few days later in Beaver Creek. Then I am off to Canada until Christmas, Steamboat Springs for the Holiday classic and then it is off to Europe.
But for now, we’ve got two more days in this training block and then three days off. We’re going to head to Grand Junction and ride bikes and forget about skiing a bit. We’ll return from that, warm up the legs with a few runs and then race the next day.
About the SYNC Athlete Fund
In the Fall of 2019, The SYNC Athlete Fund awarded $50,000 worth of individual grants to athletes for 2019/2020 season via the 501(c)3 Team America Foundation. For more information on the Athlete fund, click here.