A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CHARLIE GUEST

Wednesday 27th May 2020

Ever wondered what a professional skier gets up to when they’re not skiing? GB Snowsport alpine slalom skier Charlie Guest joined us for an Instagram takeover and gave us an exclusive insight into what she gets up to when she’s not flying down a mountain at top speed.

The Scottish World Cup alpine ski racer started her day right with the breakfast of champions: a bowl of porridge topped with strawberries, banana, peanut butter and chia seeds, accompanied by coffee and grapefruit segments.

Next up for Charlie was a mobility routine, with a focus on hips and back, in preparation for her morning strength session. 

Charlie said: “It keeps all my niggles at bay and makes me feel really good.”

Then it was on to the strength session, which wouldn’t be complete without motivational tunes blasting from the speakers.

The session kicked off with some front squats, one of Charlie’s favourite lifts, followed by single leg Romanian deadlifts, which are great for hamstring strength to protect the knees when skiing. If you want to feel the burn in your abs, try Charlie’s variation on the mountain climber.

Charlie has an impressive gym setup at home, which is no surprise for a professional athlete, but you can check out her at home workout routine using normal household items on our Staying Fit with GB Snowsport blog.

After the morning workout, it was time to refuel with some lunch. Charlie admitted that, like the rest of us, the good weather might mean procrastination from her uni studies…

Proving that even pro athletes struggle with motivation sometimes, Charlie gave herself a pep talk before she could brave her daily 5km run in the 24 degree heat.

Charlie’s post-run afternoon snack was an energy-packed smoothie consisting of peanut butter, banana, strawberries, oats, Greek yoghurt and strawberry yoghurt.

Putting lockdown to good use, Charlie is now the proud owner of an impressive homegrown herb garden, including basil, coriander and parsley.

Before dinner, Charlie did a feel-good hip mobility session to help loosen up after a weight session and 5km run earlier in the day.

Dinner was an impressive looking homemade meal of courgette tuna cakes, peas, paprika skin-on mash and lemon and dill yoghurt sauce. According to Charlie they are her “absolute favourite lockdown find for a high protein, super nutritious (and very easy) dinner”.

Charlie rounded up the day with a Q&A session to answer some of your questions.

What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you during a race?

“Funniest thing that’s happened to me during a race would be my first race looking back on it, it wasn’t funny at the time. I finished my first children’s race and I got awarded the prize for second boy.”

Are you more motivated by your little or large goals?

“I would say that I am definitely motivated more by my large goals. All of my small goals are there to culminate in the large one, which is ideally winning an Olympic medal one day.”

How does your lockdown training routine differ to your normal one?

“My lockdown routine is actually very similar to my normal one. I’m very lucky to have access to weights and everything so that I can keep training as normal as possible. But I’ve actually just got so much more time to focus on doing all the little things right as well around the training.”

How have you found your motivation during lockdown?

“This is a good question, because quite often my motivation comes from coaches and peers that are directly around me in a trainng environment. But now it’s just knowing that this time I’m missing on snow needs to be put to good use and I want to be in the best shape possible when I can ski.” 

What advice do you have for aspiring skiers around off-snow/physical work?

“I would say the biggest thing, especially right now, is that it doesn’t have to be fancy and focus on the small things. You can still work on your flexibiliy at the moment, you can still work on your cardio and you can definitely still work on your core stuff and that will set you up really nicely.”

Any tips for carving?

“For carving you need to get the ski to bend, and to get the ski to bend your ankles need to be moving well. It’s all about the ankles. And to get your ankles to move well you need a pair of boots that fit. So that’s my top tip, boots, good boots.”

Check out our Ski Boot Buying Guide for some expert tips.

Fellow GB Snowsport athlete Leonie Gerken Schofield had a question for her colleague: Can you teach me slalom skiing and I’ll teach you moguls?

“I can definitely teach you slalom skiing but I don’t know if my knees and back can handle the moguls. But yeah, let’s give it a go, why not?!”

What is your favouite ever win?

“That would be my first ever Europa Cup win. I’d just come off the back of a lot of injuries and everything so to stand on top of the podium at that point in time was awesome.”

Is your back back to normal yet or are you still in rehab?

“Everything, fingers crossed, is going perfectly this summer so all healthy.”

Thank you Charlie!