Strong Runner Chick Radio

In this episode we interview Alex (Alexandra) Weissner, an athlete, coach, and community builder. She is the CPO at Brunch Running, a social running community that inspires sweat, meals together and making the world a better place. Since 2013, their commitment has been to create a space where everyone is welcome to sweat and eat together, while supporting local communities. In addition, Alex hosts a podcast, Behind the Sweat, a wellness podcast that answers the questions we all are thinking about when it comes to our minds and bodies. Expect light-hearted and serious discussions about physical fitness, nutrition, mental health and hopefully, insightful takeaways.

Questions we ask Alex include:

1. Alex's journey into running
2. How Alex has established inclusive communities through running, including Brunch Running and her own podcast
3. Alex's favorite routes and go-to trails in Denver / CO
4. The role of strength training, cross training, and other recovery methods Alex uses most
5. How Alex began coaching, including the most rewarding part of her coaching journey so far
6. Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?
7. What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

Connect with Alex and Brunch Running:

Dr. April Dominick practices orthopedic physical therapy and specializes in pelvic health. She is known for her spirited, dynamic, and caring approach to treatment. April’s passion lies in educating and restoring function to clients with bladder, bowel, and sexual dysfunction as well as hip and back pain. Through her practice, one of her passions is supporting women during their prenatal and postpartum journey while demystifying the crucial role of exercise during pregnancy. 

April holds a certification in manual therapy and trigger point dry needling, and earned her CAPP-Pelvic certification through the American Physical Therapy Association. Among other advanced courses, she has been trained in Treating and Training the Female Runner. April utilizes a balanced approach to treatment including manual therapy and functional strength training. She believes in problem solving with her clients to develop a treatment plan which uniquely targets their goals, empowering them to independently manage their condition.

One unique fact about April, is that she is a professional freelance harpist, she currently performs at cocktail hours, weddings and special events. She is also so grateful to explore Colorado’s beauty on foot; in running shoes, hiking boots, snowshoes or Chacos.

*Trigger Warning: This episode contains content that may be triggering to some, as it involves detailed experience with RED-S and an eating disorder.*

Today we celebrate episode 200 (woohoo!). We interview Ruby Wyles, a collegiate athlete who shares her experience with collegiate running, working through obstacles including injuries and an eating disorder, as well as what makes the running community rewarding to Ruby.

Connect with Ruby:

Instagram: @rwyles_xctf

Today, we interview Grace Korley, Registered Yoga Teacher, social justice advocate, and future mental health counselor. We dive into parallels (and differences) between running and yoga, as well as mental health and social justice in sport. With Grace's wise words, this is a powerful conversation worth listening to!

We also dive into other topics, including:

-How Grace got started in running

-What led Grace into the mental health field and into yoga

-The role that mental health plays in sport and/or running

-Yoga's healing benefits, taking a trauma-informed approach, and powerful effects on our mental wellbeing

-Inclusivity, representation, and diversity in sport/running -- especially where we have room to improve in sports like running -- and in yoga

-What is currently bringing Grace joy in life -- and what lies ahead with her career/future

-What advice Grace would give to her younger self

-What being a Strong Runner Chick means to Grace

Connect with Grace:

Background: We are joined today by Kristen Doornbos, founder of Paper Trails Greeting Co. who is spearheading a petition titled Equal Money for Equal Miles. Despite competing on the same 26.2 mile course, athletes in the Wheelchair and Para categories are awarded only a fraction of the prize money their able bodied counterparts receive. That is, if they are awarded anything at all. Kristen is using #equalmoneyforequalmiles to bring awareness to this issue and spark change.

Questions Asked in this Episode:

• What inspired you to create the Equal Money for Equal Miles petition?
• Would you mind providing the listeners with some knowledge regarding Para athletes and wheelchair athletes and the disparities in pay at US Major Marathons?
• What do you feel like are the best ways that individuals can support Para athletes, wheelchair athletes, and athletes with disabilities?
• As of the 2021 Tokyo Games, Paralympians are paid the same amount as Olympians for medaling in an event, so the argument that asking the U.S. Major Marathons to do the same is not a new concept.
  • Why do you believe that the U.S. Major Marathons are not offering the same monetary awards for Para and wheelchair athletes?
• How do you believe that these marathons would benefit from offering equal prize money?
• Why do you feel that representation is crucial for Para and wheelchair athletes?
• What do you believe participation in sport provides for Para athletes, wheelchair athletes, and athletes with disabilities?
• How can others get involved and spread awareness to create change in prize money awarded by U.S. Major Marathons?

Show notes:

If you have been around the female athlete research space, you've likely heard of Dr. Emily Kraus, M.D. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center and the Director of the new FASTR (Female Athlete) Program. We dive into research surrounding bone health/stress fractures, RED-S, and health as a foundation to performance for female athletes. Read more about Emily below.

Emily's Bio:

Dr. Emily Kraus is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. She is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) sports medicine and takes a unique approach to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sports injuries. She serves as the Director of the Stanford Female Athlete Program focused on female-specific translational research to answer fundamental physiological and sports performance questions important to improving the health and performance of girls and women, including the topics of bone health, the Female Athlete Triad, RED-S, running biomechanics, and mental health. Dr. Kraus also serves as the Medical Director of the Stanford Children’s Motion Analysis and Sports Performance Lab, focused on cutting edge biomechanics research with a strong clinical application.

She is involved in multiple Stanford IRB-approved research projects, including The Healthy Runner Project, a multi-center prospective interventional study focused on bone stress injury prevention in collegiate middle and long distance runners. She also has research and clinical interests in youth sports specialization, endurance sports medicine, injury prevention, running biomechanics, and adaptive sports.

Dr. Kraus proudly grew up a 3-sport high school athlete in small town Nebraska and is now an avid runner and cyclist, completing 9 marathons, including Boston Marathon twice and California International Marathon in 2019 with a time of 2:50. With staying physically active as one of her personal passions, she recognizes how sport participation plays a valuable role in the physical, emotional, professional, and social development of a child and adolescent and is committed to maintaining these ideals for the next generation of youth athletes.

Connect with Dr. Emily Kraus:

Natalie Robertello is a Sports Dietitian and owner of BeFueled Sports Nutrition. She has a passion for teaching runners and triathletes how to fuel practically, first as humans, and then as athletes. Natalie is an avid runner and triathlete herself. Outside of training she loves to cook and explore the outdoors.

Questions we ask Natalie include:

• Tell us a bit about your background -- how did you get started in running / triathlons -- and nutrition as a career?
• What have been a few highlights in your personal athletic journey?
• What role has community played in your running experience (and in life)? Are you part of any training groups?
• As an R.D., what are your favorite parts about your job? Any biggest challenges?
• Where do you see room to improve when it comes to our relationship with food as runners/athletes?
• RED-S in sport and ultra-endurance nutrition is a major topic these days. Are there any common patterns you see among people struggling with RED-S -- and best ways to address it?
• Do you have any tips for someone who is trying to improve their relationship with food and body as an athlete?
• What does life look like outside of career/running for you (family, career, hobbies, etc.)?
• What advice would you give to your younger self?
• What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

Kylee Van Horn, RDN is an endurance sports dietitian, who takes a balanced, sustainable approach to fueling the everyday person and athlete.  Her mission is to separate facts from fads in the nutrition space and works to provide easy nutrition solutions to help improve health and performance.  Today, Kylee is the founder and owner of her sports nutrition business Flynutrition, which helps runners, triathletes, and skiers to learn not only the ‘why’ but the ‘how’ behind fueling for performance.  She also is a freelance writer for Trail Runner Magazine and Outside Online. Beyond her work in sports nutrition, Kylee can be found running peaks near Aspen, CO with her two australian shepherds and ultra endurance husband, Sean.

Questions we ask Kylee include:

-How did you get started in running? How did this lead you (or did it lead you) into the field of nutrition?

-What led you to open up your own private practice and help athletes with nutrition?

-When it comes to fueling as an athlete (especially a female runner), do you have a philosophy, quote, or few pillars that sum up how you see fueling?

-You mention "creating a personalized nutrition roadmap" on your website as a part of working with you. Do you have any tips for an athlete on how to go about this process?

-Under fueling and RED-S... What does it mean to be under-fueled? What are the potential consequences, and how might an athlete go about making sure they are fueling enough?

-What are a few things (topics, considerations) that athletes don't consider enough? How about ones they over-stress or emphasize (that perhaps aren't as important) in the picture of fueling?

-Are there any other topics you are most interested in as they pertain to athletes and fueling?

-Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?

-What is currently bringing you joy (outside of running/work)?

-What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

-How can listeners connect with you?

How to connect with Kylee:

Andrea Toppin is a Chiropractor, an elite runner for Oiselle, a 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, and a dog mom to a lovely, yet mischievous little shiba pup – Hazel. A true midwestern girl, she grew up in Clear Lake, IA – a small town in northern Iowa, went on to Iowa State University for college earning her Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology, and then moved to Minneapolis for 3.5 years earning her Doctor of Chiropractic while competing as an elite marathoner for Oiselle. Andrea moved to Colorado last fall for her final chiropractic internship in Denver. She now works at Washington Park Chiropractic in central Denver – specializing in women’s health, pediatrics, and sports medicine.

Much of her inspiration to become a sports and women’s health chiropractor came from her experience as a collegiate distance runner at Iowa State where she ran cross country and track for the cyclones. Throughout her time at Iowa State, she helped lead her team to many Big 12 Cross Country titles, regional titles, and national championship berths. She had a lot of success as a student athlete at Iowa State, but she also had a lot of injuries leading to body image issues creating a whirlwind of anxiety and depression throughout her five years there. In her redshirt junior year, she was diagnosed with a pretty severe and rare stress fracture that the orthopedist called “career ending.” She refused to get surgery and decided to take control of her life by going to a sports psychologist to address her emotional and mental health. She also saw a dietician to help her with her disordered eating and body image issues- learning to see food as fuel. With the help of her coach, physical therapist, psychologist, dietician, friends, and family – Andrea came back that next fall to earn All-Region in Cross Country and helped lead her team to another national championship berth in cross country. She states the impact her physical therapist had on her in college saved her running career and quite frankly herself. As a chiropractor she wants to make that same impact for each and every one of her patients.

Connect with Andrea:

Dr. A'nna Roby is on a mission to change the athletic culture to support physical and mental wellbeing in pursuit of personal bests. She is passionate about helping athletes better understand their bodies and how to fuel them to get the most out of sports and life. As the only combined PhD/Registered Dietitian in the world with all Ivy League degrees specializing in sports performance nutrition, Dr. A'nna understands how training, nutrition and recovery impact athletic performance and health. She is the Chief Research Officer of Athlete Blood Test and works with athletes, scientists, and coaches to progress sports performance research, particularly female-specific studies. Dr. A'nna also enjoys working with clients  through her private practice where she helps athletes confidently fuel their body by leveraging their physiology and nutrition to achieve what they never thought was possible.

Topics we discuss with Dr. A'nna include:

-Her background in athletics and into nutrition

-The signs and symptoms of RED-S and underfueling in female athletes

-Fasting (including Intermittent Fasting) and why it isn’t the best choice for female athletes

-Top biomarkers athletes should be on the lookout for

-Ways to address biomarkers through fueling

-Food reframing (thoughts around food, fad diets, etc.)

-Advice she would give to a young athlete or runner

-What being a Strong Runner Chick means to her

-How you can work with Dr. A'nna

Connect with Dr. A'nna:

Chloe Ang has been running since 2012. She’s a mother runner, pace leader, a road and ultra runner that loves the running community and is grateful that running saved her life. A couple of years ago when she felt lost & on autopilot, she realized that she needed to find herself again. She started training for her first ultra marathon and it was during those training runs that she remembered her strengths & in the process found a stronger and better version of herself.

She discusses how she got into running, her running journey, mom life, her training schedule, opens up a bit about postpartum depression/anxiety, and how running helped her get through those tough moments.

Connect with Chloe:

In this minisode with Megan, she addresses the hotly debated topic, "Should runners lift heavy?" We outline pros and cons of strength training for runners, including injury risk/prevention, specificity, hormone levels, time spent training, and much more. Tune in, and be sure to let us know if you enjoyed this episode!

Stacey Gross is an avid runner, running coach, and the creator of the IG famous "Runs on Iced Coffee" pint glasses! In this episode, we dive into her running journey, setbacks she has overcome, as well as more about building her career in the running industry.

Questions we ask Stacey include:

• Tell us a bit about your background -- how did you get started in running and/or athletics?
• What have been a few highlights in your running journey?
• What role has community played in your running experience (and in life)?
• As a certified run coach (RRCA and Run to the Finish), what is your favorite part about working with athletes? Do you have a favorite distance to help others train for?
• You're well known for your "Runs on Iced Coffee" glass and hashtag! How did this get started (and what is your favorite way to take your iced coffee)?
• Do you have any tips for someone just getting started with running? How about with coaching and/or building a social media presence?
• What does life look like outside of running for you (family, career, hobbies, etc.)?
• What advice would you give to your younger self?
• What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

Connect with Stacey:

WE ARE BACK!! After a bit of a hiatus (September-October), we're starting to record episodes again and making big plans for 2022.

Meet Jocelyn Rivas, the new Guinness World Record Holder for Being the Youngest Person to Run 100 Marathons, as of November 2021! We have been following Jocelyn's journey for a while now, and are so excited to welcome her on the show.

Questions we ask Jocelyn include:

- You have quite the list of accomplishments, including setting the Guinness World Record for the youngest person to run 100 marathons! What are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

- What sparked interest to work in the STEM / computer science field?- E

- How did you get started in running?

- What has running and the community taught you?

- What are areas of the running community/sport that you’d like to see change?

- Along your 100 marathon journey, what were some of the highlights? Low points?

-With having 30 marathons canceled during the pandemic, how did you adjust and adapt to continue to meet your goal before your 25th birthday?

- What was one of the best races that you ran during your 100 marathon journey?

- What’s a race you hope to run in the future?

- Is there any advice you would give your younger self?

- What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

Bailey Kowalczyk fell in love with running and racing at a very young age. Taking the classical route into competition, she ran track and cross country throughout middle school, high school, and eventually at Clemson University. Post-collegiately, she competed in the road racing circuit, primarily in the 5k-15k disciplines, until she fell head-over-heels in love with trail running. Trail running has opened a world of opportunity and a lifetime of adventures! Notable achievements include runner-up at the North American Sky Running Championships, Spartan Trail 10k Champion, Mesa Trail FKT, and Bear Peak FKT. She is now training with SWAP Adventure Team, and is supported by Salomon USA and Inside Tracker as she chases her dreams.

Bailey is passionate about advocating for females in sport, and promoting a healthy relationship with food and body. Interests outside of running include Partner-in-Crime Mowgli (pictured below), any animal that has fur, all varieties of apple, cycling, skiing, reading and learning about the human body. In time, she aspires to enter the medical field as a Physician’s Assistant, while continuing to pursue her running goals.

Connect with Bailey:

Devin Turner is a mom and stepmom of 6. After going through a traumatic divorce while pregnant with her second child, she eventually remarried a man who had 3 kids. After having two more, she started having serious health complications from years of a vegan diet that didn’t work for her, and not long after, totally overwhelmed by being a mom and stepmom to so many kids and dealing with those aforementioned health issues, she herniated 4 discs in her back all at once. What followed became the two most difficult years of her life, with surgeries and just about every intervention possible to try and get better. 

Devin writes, "I’ve felt like an athlete stuck inside a broken body for so long. Having experimented with a marathon before, and realizing I may never “get better”, I decided to get back into running and it has been challenging but amazing. Running is one of my greatest loves and passions. I’m passionate about health and injury prevention, and the fact that health and diet look SO different for every person and there is no one sized fits all approach. I’m passionate about doing hard things and challenging myself, and also love talking all things pregnancy, childbirth, and women’s health."

Questions we ask Devin include:

-How did you get started in running?

-Body image and working with your body, even when it feels like it's working against you

-Life challenges and how running has helped you overcome them

-Advice you would give your younger self

-What does being a Strong Runner Chick mean to you?

Connect with Devin: