I thought it was about time I brought another Ultra runner on the show. But in an effort to make it even more information packed for you, I brought on one with serious knowledge on the topic of nutrition, as I know many of you are really interested.
We’re joined by Stephanie Marie Howe, thanks to the recommendation of our friend (and previous guest), Lauren Fleshman.
Stephanie has a PhD in Nutrition and has used running as her focus of her research along the years. She has many published papers, and has presented many times over the years about nutrition and how to fuel for runners. As for her athletic achievements, she won Western States in 2014, was the Lake Sonoma runner-up and is of course a record holder in multiple Ultra events, which is pretty impressive in itself.
Stephanie hated running growing up, but endurance sports really suited her better. That led to her be involved in everything from Nordic skiing to strength training. It’s truly an interesting story, and she explains how trail running especially was just a product of who she was.
Of course, we focus deeply today on the interaction between exercise and nutrition. And let’s face it; you can’t really focus on one without the other. Stephanie did a fascinating study about appetite suppression that I truly loved hearing about in detail.
Today’s topics included:
- How nutrition has changed her training and fueling over the years
- Being grateful and appreciative of our mistakes
- How she went from Nordic skiing to running
- Creating a healthy mindset around food
- The importance of good fueling strategies
- Learning to be intuitive and listen to your body
- Why people tend to focus on the negative side of things
- The growing connection between trail and Ultrarunning
- How lack of fueling can cause GI problems and how to train your gut
Even if at some point you can’t run, there are so many other things you can do that you’ll probably really enjoy. Life is about finding out what those are, and going through and finding out who you are when you’re not running.
In Stephanie’s case, she had to learn how to do that when she suffered a serious injury that landed her in the hospital, without the ability to do any kind of physical activity.
She explains how her experience turned into something majorly positive, and how she used different strategies to be able to truly appreciate, and learn from her injury.
We actually had Brad Beer on the show not long ago talking about that very thing: the emotional attachment with injuries. If you missed it, you can click here to take a listen.
Stephanie goes in detail about how she stays away from the running culture of needing to look a certain way, and manages to stay on the right path.
With her blog, Stephanie is essentially breaking the illusion that Elites eat healthy 100% of the time. However, the recipes on Stephanie’s blog are all delicious and nourishing. (Personally, I can’t wait to make the Coconut Chai ice cream.) She also wrote a great blog post about listening to your body that you don’t want to miss.
We really hone in today on the importance of not feeling guilty about what you do or don’t eat. When you have something you indulge in, just enjoy every bite: tt creates a healthy mindset and makes you more satisfied.
“Food nourishes both your body and soul. It’s part of who you are, and it’s not just about manipulating your diet for the performance outcome.”
Most people don’t listen to what their body intuitively needs, Stephanie explains; so when you tune in, it’s much easier to do. There’s definitely a happy medium and learning to be intuitive is really helpful in finding that balance.
Stephanie’s final words and advice:
“The less you think about diet; the better. If you can just have an uncomplicated relationship with food, eat things you enjoy, eat things that nourish your body… I think that’s the best way to think about it. Don’t take yourself too seriously, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and keep a balance in life.”
Remember that you could be one of our ten lucky winners for either a Kettlebell, Foam Rolling, or Stretching program written by RunnersConnect founder, Jeff Gaudette. Be sure you tune in to see how you can be one of our lucky winners!
Next week, I’ll be talking to the one and only Bob Larsen: Meb Keflezighi’s coach. He’ll be telling me some of the secrets that have helped make Meb such a great athlete.
Quotes:
“You have to push your limits; you have to try things.”
“I think we’re drawn to things we’re successful at.”
“Food nourishes both your body and soul.”
“Running nourishes me on so many levels…” (…that aren’t just about the end results)
[bctt tweet=”Learn to be intuitive and listen to your body in the latest @Runners_Connect #podcast” via=”no”]
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