Sports dietitian and runner Meghann Featherstun discusses the importance of carb loading for endurance athletes, covering topics such as when to carb load, why it's beneficial, and common challenges. Personal stories of marathon experiences and nutrition insights are shared, highlighting the role of carbohydrates in optimizing performance. Strategies for effective carb intake, hydration practices, and balancing nutrition with personal life are also discussed.

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to episode 75 of the Eat for Endurance podcast, featuring fellow Sports Dietitian Stevie Smith (MS RD CSSD). Today we’re discussing performance nutrition for triathlon, specifically for the 70.3 and 140.6 distances. Stevie is not only an experienced dietitian, but she has also finished ten full ironman distance triathlons and numerous 70.3 races, so I knew she would be a great RD to cover this topic with me. Many of the sports nutrition principles that we discuss for long distance running, cycling, or other endurance sports like triathlon are the same. We aim for a certain number of grams of carbs per hour, we have to replace sweat losses with water and electrolytes, train the gut, eat adequately day to day, and so much more. But we DO need to change our specific nutrition strategies from sport to sport, and this episode addresses the nutrition challenges that are unique to long-course triathlon.   I realize this episode is coming out right as the tri season is wrapping up and with Kona in a couple days, but hopefully you find it useful and have some things to think about for your training next year.  Links & Resources:Stevie’s Website: https://stevielynrd.com/Follow on Instagram (@stevielynlyn)Announcements:Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to episode 74 of the Eat for Endurance podcast, featuring recreational distance runner and screen writer, Alice Rosso. I love showcasing a variety of voices and have been trying to include more recreational athlete episodes, so I was excited when Alice reached out as a fan of the show who wanted to share her story. We recorded in early August, just after she completed the Speedgoat 50k. Alice talks about growing up in Italy, living and training in her current home of Salt Lake City, her struggles with disordered eating and how it nearly destroyed her relationship with her Italian family, her ongoing work with a Registered Dietitian, her career as a screen writer, and a life-threatening accident she recently had out on the trails.I hope you all enjoy this one, and if any of you would like to be considered for a recreational athlete nutrition profile, please email me at Claire@eatforendurance.com with some details about yourself and why you would like to share your story on the show.Links & Announcements:Follow Alice on Instagram, and follow her cookbook account on InstagramHave a guest or topic request or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to Episode 73 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring fellow Sports Dietitian Heidi Strickler, MS RD CSSD. Heidi is a trail runner and self-proclaimed outdoor junkie based in Seattle. I got a listener request to do a show on relative energy deficiency in sport - also known as RED-S (soon to be REDS) - around the same time I heard Heidi’s interview on the Trail Society podcast, and knew she’d be a great dietitian to tackle this topic with me. I have covered this topic before but it’s been over two years, so it was time to do an updated deep-dive.We cover the basics of REDS including warning signs, the normalization of disordered eating especially among endurance athletes, intentional versus unintentional under-fueling, the importance of nutrient timing versus end of day nutrient adequacy, practical advice on how to make sure you’re eating enough and not just relying on hunger cues, menstrual dysfunction, what treatment to regain a period may look like, and SO much more. Please note - just like eating disorders do not have a specific "look," underfueled athletes may or may not show the clear warning signs of REDS that we discuss. For example, they may still have a normal period or they may have normal bloodwork. Pay attention to how you feel during the day, your bowel habits, your sleep, your appetite, how you're recovering from workouts, and the overall picture of your eating and training patterns.I hope you enjoy this episode and find it helpful! Links & Announcements:Follow Heidi on Instagram (@hkstrickler_sportsrd)Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to episode 72 of The Eat for Endurance Podcast! Today’s guest is sports dietitian Dina Griffin, MS, RDN, CSSD, CISSN, who I invited on the show to chat about Peri- and Postmenopause nutrition for female athletes. Dina is the Owner and Founder of The Nutrition Mechanic, and she also co-hosts the Inside Sports Nutrition podcast with fellow sports RD, Bob Seebohar. Some of Dina’s specialities include endurance sports nutrition, women’s health and athletes in peri- and postmenopause, so I knew she’d be a great match for this topic!I’m not in perimenopause yet, but I certainly will be at some point in the not-so-distant future, so this topic is of great personal interest to me. Peri- and postmenopause also is so important for us active women to speak openly about. Much more nutrition research is needed in this area, but there are some strategies that we can adopt both before and during perimenopause to mitigate some of the changes that may occur later on. Dina and I go into all the details, but it's worth mentioning that eating ENOUGH everyday is one of the most important nutrition considerations for these phases of life (do you see a common theme here in these episodes?!). I hope you give this one a listen, even if you feel like perimenopause is far away for you, because what you're doing with your nutrition RIGHT NOW will have an impact years down the line. As 53 and 41 year olds, respectively, Dina and I both have a lot to say about nutrition to our younger selves!Thanks Dina for a great chat, and wishing you the best of luck in your upcoming 100 miler!  Links & Resources, and Announcements:Dina’s Website: https://nutritionmechanic.com/Follow on Instagram and FacebookDina’s podcast, Inside Sports NutritionHer program for 40+ women ultrarunnersInternational society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athleteHave nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to Episode of 71 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring pro-runner, coach, and plant-based athlete, Sage Canaday. Sage has been running for over 20 years, and is known for his “any surface any distance” motto. He started out his professional career on the roads, and is a 2-time US Olympic Trials qualifier in the Marathon and a top 20 overall finisher at both the Boston and Chicago Marathons. In 2012, he pivoted to mountain ultra trail running, with many wins and podiums in the years that followed.Sage was raised as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. He experimented with adding meat, poultry and fish to his diet at various points throughout his life, but he found that this “foreign cuisine”  didn’t appeal to his tastebuds or seem to offer any noticeable performance benefits in his N=1 experiment. So he concluded that it wasn’t for him, and ultimately decided to became a vegan instead. We discuss what led him to take this next step, and how he has fueled his long and diverse running career while following a vegetarian/vegan diet. You’ll hear him talk about a typical day of eating, his go-to performance nutrition strategies,  how all of this has evolved over his 20+ years of running, and much more.And lastly, because I always like to put things in context, we recorded this interview in early June. He’s had a busy summer of training, and will be running TDS by UTMB on Aug 28th. We hope you have an amazing time in Chamonix, Sage!Links & Resources:Sage’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Vo2maxProductionsSage’s coaching business: https://higherrunning.com/Follow Sage on Instagram, Facebook, and TwitterAnnouncements:Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to Episode 70 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring Corrine Malcolm. Corrine is a professional ultrarunner, run and ski coach, co-host of the Trail Society podcast, and Editor-in-Chief at Freetrail. There's so much I didn't get to ask her even in a 90-min episode, but we did go real deep into her history as a high school and collegiate athlete, specifically as a high level nordic skier and biathlete who also dipped her toes into the running world. Corrine shares her experience with overtraining in biathlon, slowly clawing her way back to health, how she got into ultrarunning, and how her experience of chasing the Olympics as a biathlete affected her mindset as an ultrarunner. I was really amazed to hear that she was “winging it” with her nutrition up until a couple of years ago.We of course dig into her nutrition background and how it evolved over time, and we also veer off course quite a bit too. That’s okay though - I loved hearing her unique story and I think you will as well. FYI, we recorded this episode on May 31st, and since then Corrine placed third at the Cascade Crest 100! You can head over to the Trail Society podcast if you would like to hear all the details about that race. Congrats Corrine and thanks for the fun chat!Links & Resources:Corrine’s Website: https://corrinemalcolm.com/Corrine’s Coaching site: https://foothillsendurance.com/Follow Corrine on Instagram and Twitter (@corrinemalcolm)Trail Society Podcast: https://freetrail.com/podcasts/trail-society/Announcements:Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please show your support by subscribing to the show, giving it a 5 star rating and review, and sharing it with your friends!If you can afford to support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page to make a donationYou can also shop my Amazon storefront or use this affiliate homepage link to do your usual Amazon shoppingMusic Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendationsSupport the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to episode 69 of the Eat for Endurance podcast! Today’s topic is Performance Nutrition for Ultrarunners, and features fellow Registered Dietitian and ultrarunner, Julie Shobe MS RD. Julie and I cover all the building blocks to creating a successful race day nutrition plan, such as:Hourly carb and protein goals during long training runs and ultra racesPopular sports nutrition products and foods that you can incorporate into your planHow to train the gut to reach recommended carb and protein amounts per hourHow to identify and hit individualized fluid and sodium targetsHow to incorporate caffeine into your fueling plan based on race distanceHow to prevent GI issues on long training runs and on race dayOther nutrition considerations (extreme temperatures, altitude, stage races, etc)We also occasionally stop to compare notes and approaches as Sports Dietitians, which often is one of my favorite parts about having my colleagues on the show. There are a lot of recommendations in here that can be used more broadly for endurance athletes, but this episode really is for all my ultrarunners out there. I hope you find it helpful, and if you have any follow up questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!Lastly, a heads up - I had a total mic fail and my voice quality is below my usual standards. My apologies!Links and Announcements:Follow Julie Shobe on Instagram (@ultra.running.nutrition)Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Please SUBSCRIBE to and rate/review the show if you haven’t already! If you can afford to donate a few bucks to help support the show financially, please visit my Patreon page!You can also visit my Amazon Storefront.Music Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendations.Support the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to Episode 68 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring Dylan Bowman, a professional trail runner, co-founder of Freetrail, and host of the Freetrail Podcast.Dylan has had a long and impressive career as a trail and ultra runner, with too many wins and podiums from the past 14 years to mention here. These days, he’s at least as well known for his company Freetrail as he is for his success as a pro-runner. And that’s exactly how I connected with him, as he was providing livestream coverage of the Canyons Endurance Runs with fellow pro-runner and Freetrail team member, Corrine Malcolm. On top of his media company, Dylan became a parent within the last year, which adds yet another dimension to the demands on his time. But that doesn’t mean he’s not still competing - this year, he recommitted to getting back out on the trails and on the racing scene. We had a great chat about how he has been balancing it all, and how for awhile, he had to deprioritize his running. We of course get into the highlights of Dylan’s training and racing nutrition throughout the different stages of his career, and we explore how his diet and performance nutrition have evolved over time. I love that he approaches his fueling strategies not just from the perspective of what works well with his gut, but also thinking about what works with his personality and overall approach to life.  Okay, let’s get into it. And just an FYI that this interview was recorded in mid-May. Dylan is now running the Hardrock 100 next week, and we wish him the best of luck!So without further ado, please enjoy my discussion with pro trail runner and co-founder of Freetrail, Dylan Bowman!  Links & Resources:Dylan’s website: http://www.dylanbowman.com/The Freetrail Website: https://freetrail.com/Follow on Dylan on Instagram and Twitter (@dylanbo)Follow Freetrail on Instagram (@runfreetrail) and Youtube (@Freetrail)Photo credit: Ryan ThrowerAnnouncements:Please subscribe to and rate/review the show if you have a minute!If you can afford to donate a few bucks to help support the show financially, please visit my Patreon pageYou can also support me by visiting my Amazon storefront  Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.Music Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendations. If you'd like to work with me for individualized nutrition support, please reach out!Support the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).

Want to get in touch? Send Claire a message!Welcome to Episode 67 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring Performance Dietitian Kirsten Screen, MPH RD LD. Today's topic is  functional nutrition for endurance athletes, and let me tell you - it is a jam-packed 90 minutes that you do not want to miss!  Kirsten specializes in Integrative Performance Nutrition and has been in the nutrition world for over 20 years. I took a couple of courses with her recently - a longer, more in-depth one on functional nutrition, as well as a shorter course on Ferritin - and immediately knew she would be an amazing guest on the show. Kirsten is a wealth of knowledge, a great teacher, and incredibly entertaining. I know you guys will get so much out of this interview, especially if you are new to functional or integrative nutrition! FYI this is a huge topic - far too much to cover in one episode - but we touched on the key gut, hormonal, and micronutrient issues that we often see in our clients, and how we go about addressing these issues. More specifically, we cover the following: What is Functional or Integrative Nutrition?Gut health in endurance athletes - common symptoms, findings, and treatment protocolsWhat is the GI-Map / PCR stool test and who should do it?Key takeaways re: gut health for athletesHormonal health in endurance athletes - common symptoms, findings, and treatment protocolsWhat is the DUTCH test, and why is it so controversial? Key takeaways re: hormonal health for athletesMicronutrient concerns in endurance athletes, with a focus on Magnesium and FerritinMicronutrient blood testingThank you Kirsten for being so generous with your time and sharing your passion for functional nutrition with my audience. So - grab a pen and paper and please enjoy my discussion with Integrative Performance Dietitian, Kirsten Screen.Links & Resources:Kirsten’s Website: www.screennutrition.comContact Screen Nutrition: hello@screennutrition.comFollow Screen Nutrition on Instagram and Facebook (@screennutrition)For fellow RDs, here are her Integrate and Ferritin coursesAnnouncements:Please help me grow the show by SUBSCRIBING if you're enjoying these episodes, and rate/review if you have a minute!Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.If you can afford to donate a few bucks to help support the show financially, given I do not currently have sponsors and podcasting is very very time consuming, please visit my Patreon pageYou can also support me by visiting my Amazon storefront  Music Credit: Joseph McDadeDisclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendations. If you'd like to work with Kirsten or with myself for individualized nutrition support, please reach out!Support the showThanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (@eatforendurance).