Endurance Eats

Your race season is over, your training volume has dropped, and suddenly you're wondering if you should still be eating the same way you did during peak training.If you're struggling to figure out how to adjust your nutrition during the off-season, you're not alone.

In this Mid-Season Fuel episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, I'm sharing four practical strategies I use with endurance athletes to help them transition from race season to off-season fueling without feeling deprived, losing their routine, or cutting out carbohydrates altogether.

After months of long rides, brick workouts, and carb loading, your body doesn't need the same amount of fuel when training slows down. But your appetite, portions, and eating habits don't always adjust as quickly as your training schedule.

The goal isn't to overhaul your diet overnight. It's to make intentional, sustainable adjustments that support recovery, maintain healthy habits, and prepare you for your next training cycle.

What You'll Learn

• Why off-season fueling feels so challenging: How changes in training volume affect your carbohydrate needs, appetite, and eating habits.

• Why weight maintenance is a win: How to approach the final months of the year without feeling like you need to start over in January.

Fuel Your Training with TrainingPeaks

This season's podcast partner is TrainingPeaks!

I use TrainingPeaks to look ahead at my training volume, training stress, and hardest workouts so I can adjust my carbohydrate intake and recovery accordingly. I love having the data to compare against how I'm actually feeling, because the numbers should support listening to your body, not replace it.

You can create a free account and get two weeks of Premium access when you sign up.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Have a question about plant-based sports nutrition? Reach out and let me know! There is plenty more we can cover in a future episode. Send me a message.

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

Work With Our Team

Need help building an off-season nutrition plan that supports your training, recovery, and body composition goals?Hannah, Mary, and I work one-on-one with endurance athletes to create personalized nutrition strategies that fit their training schedules and everyday lives.And you don't need to be a professional athlete to work with us! Most of our clients are everyday athletes balancing training with work, family, and everything else life throws their way.

Learn more about one-on-one nutrition coaching:https://alexlarsonnutrition.com

Enjoyed This Episode?

Share this episode with a training buddy who's navigating their off-season, and leave a review of the Endurance Eats Podcast to help more endurance athletes find the show.

You’re tired all day, your workouts feel harder than they should, and making dinner somehow feels like the toughest workout of all.

Sound familiar?

In this episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, my sports dietitian teammates Hanna and Mary join me to talk about what happens when endurance athletes find themselves stuck in a cycle of exhaustion. We’re unpacking the difference between overtraining, underfueling, and under-recovery and why it’s not always easy to tell them apart.We also share the signs we see in our athletes, how stress outside of training affects recovery, and practical ways to start feeling like yourself again. Because you deserve to have energy for your workouts and the rest of your life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The signs that your fatigue might be more than a tough training week
• How overtraining and underfueling can overlap—and what might point to each one
• Why work stress, disrupted sleep, and family life all count when it comes to recovery
• The questions to ask if you’re fueling well but your workouts still feel flat
• Why getting enough carbohydrates throughout the day matters, even when your protein intake is on point
• How to make a fueling plan work with a busy schedule, even if your meals don’t look “traditional”
• When to talk with your healthcare provider about ongoing fatigue
• How to communicate with your coach when you need more recovery
• What each of us does to protect recovery in our own training

 Resources Mentioned

•  Our episode with Rebecca McConville about RED-S 
• Alex’s favorite puzzles 

Fuel Your Training with TrainingPeaks

This season's podcast partner is TrainingPeaks!

I use TrainingPeaks to look ahead at my training volume, training stress, and hardest workouts so I can adjust my carbohydrate intake and recovery accordingly. I love having the data to compare against how I'm actually feeling, because the numbers should support listening to your body, not replace it.

You can create a free account and get two weeks of Premium access when you sign up.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• If you’re feeling exhausted, struggling through workouts, or unsure whether you’re fueling enough, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Our team has openings in our one-on-one nutrition coaching program. Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/nutrition-services 

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

There is plenty more we can cover in a future episode. Send me a message.

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

Can you really fuel marathon training, recover well, and perform your best on a plant-based diet? Absolutely. But just because you're eating more plants doesn't automatically mean you're fueling your body well.

There's a little more to think about than simply swapping meat for beans.

In this episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, I'm joined by my sports dietitian teammates, Hanna and Mary, to talk about what it actually takes to thrive as a plant-based endurance athlete.

Whether you're vegan, vegetarian, mostly plant-based, or just trying to eat more plants, we're breaking down how to get enough calories and protein, which nutrients deserve extra attention, and how to adjust your nutrition during race week so your gut doesn't stage a protest at mile 18.

We also dig into one of the biggest challenges I see with plant-based athletes: unintentional underfueling.

We're sharing practical plant-based protein sources, including soy and non-soy options, and how to combine foods throughout the day to support muscle recovery.

Plus, we're talking about iron deficiency, ferritin testing, vitamin B12, calcium, omega-3s, and why taking an iron supplement isn't necessarily the same as absorbing it effectively.

What You'll Learn

• Can plant-based athletes perform just as well?
• How to get enough protein without eating meat.
• Why your protein consistency matters.
• The hidden risk of underfueling.
• Which vitamins and minerals deserve extra attention.
• Why ferritin levels matter for runners.
• How to carb load on a plant-based diet.
• How to avoid race-day GI disasters.
• Are sports gels and hydration mixes vegan?
• Why plant-based doesn't have to mean all-or-nothing.

Resources Mentioned

• Endurance Eats Podcast, Episode 71 — Iron deficiency conversation with researcher Dr. Corey Dugan
• American Society of Hematology — Iron deficiency guidance discussed in the episode 

Fuel Your Training with TrainingPeaks

This season's podcast partner is TrainingPeaks!

I use TrainingPeaks to look ahead at my training volume, training stress, and hardest workouts so I can adjust my carbohydrate intake and recovery accordingly. I love having the data to compare against how I'm actually feeling, because the numbers should support listening to your body, not replace it.

You can create a free account and get two weeks of Premium access when you sign up.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• If you're eating plant-based and struggling to get enough protein, manage your energy, improve recovery, or figure out your race-day fueling strategy, you don't have to figure it all out on your own. My team and I work one-on-one with endurance athletes to build personalized fueling plans that support their training, performance goals, food preferences, and lifestyle. Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/nutrition-services 

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Have a question about plant-based sports nutrition? Reach out and let me know! There is plenty more we can cover in a future episode. Send me a message.

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

What happens when you start taking men's Strava crowns, talking a little smack, and posting the whole thing on Instagram? Apparently, you go from 300 followers to more than 229,000! But there's a lot more to Laini Bones than viral cycling videos, and I couldn't wait to get her on the podcast.

In this episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, I'm joined by Laini Bones, the cyclist behind the hilarious Taking Men's Strava Crowns series and CFO of Carbs Fuel, the company behind one of my favorite affordable 50-gram carbohydrate gels.

We talk about how her Strava series unexpectedly took off, what it's like dealing with internet trolls, and why she believes cycling should be fun. But we also get into one of my favorite topics: fueling!

Laini shares how she went from running marathons on just one or two gels and barely any water to embracing high-carb fueling and finishing her hardest cycling workouts feeling stronger than when she started. We also get into how she and her husband, Gabe, built Carbs Fuel to make high-carb fueling more accessible and affordable for everyday endurance athletes.

And of course, we talk about why missing a workout, ordering takeout, or not following your training plan perfectly doesn't mean you're failing as an athlete.

What You'll Learn

• How Laini's Taking Men's Strava Crowns series went viral and attracted more than 229,000 Instagram followers.

• Why Strava segments can be a fun way to push yourself without taking competition too seriously.

• How Laini handles negative comments, internet trolls, and the unexpected pressures of social media fame.

• Why underfueling left Laini completely exhausted during her marathon-running days.

• How increasing her carbohydrate intake transformed her cycling workouts and helped her finish strong.

• Why letting go of a scarcity mindset around sports fuel can change your entire training experience.

• 
  

• Resources Mentioned:

• Laini Bones on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lainibones/?hl=en 

• Laini Bones on Strava:  https://strava.app.link/Mx5aaNdx66b

• Carbs Fuel: https://carbsfuel.com/

  
  

  Fuel Your Training with TrainingPeaks

This season's podcast partner is TrainingPeaks!

I use TrainingPeaks to look ahead at my training volume, training stress, and hardest workouts so I can adjust my carbohydrate intake and recovery accordingly. I love having the data to compare against how I'm actually feeling, because the numbers should support listening to your body, not replace it.

You can create a free account and get two weeks of Premium access when you sign up.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Ready to stop second-guessing your fueling and start getting more out of your training? At Alex Larson Nutrition, my team and I help endurance athletes build practical nutrition strategies that support their workouts, recovery, and performance without unnecessary food rules or complicated meal plans. Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/nutrition-services 

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

What happens when you combine professional gravel racing, race directing, fatherhood, a LOT of carbs, and an impressive knowledge of Midwest gas stations? You get Chase Wark.

Chase and I have worked together on his nutrition over the past year, so this conversation was especially fun because we get to pull back the curtain on what fueling actually looks like for a high-volume gravel cyclist and why getting it right often has less to do with perfection and more to do with planning ahead.

Chase is a professional gravel cyclist, co-founder of Lunchbox Racing, coach, race director, and community builder. His impact goes well beyond his own racing, and in 2026 he received the inaugural Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Community Impact Award for his contributions to the sport.

In this episode, Chase and I talk about how he went from biking to hockey practice as a kid to competing at the elite level, why giving back to the gravel community matters so much to him, and what it takes to balance training with being a dad, race director, and team leader.

And, of course, we talk nutrition.

When Chase first reached out to me, nutrition wasn't necessarily a disaster. The bigger challenge was consistency when life got chaotic. Travel, race directing, long training days, and stress could quickly throw his normal eating routine off.

Instead of making radical changes, we focused on small adjustments that made his nutrition easier to execute in real life.

That meant meal prepping before busy race weekends, packing coolers for travel, keeping easy meals and snacks available, prioritizing protein around massive training days, and being more intentional about carb loading before races.

We also get into Chase's approach to fueling on the bike, including why gummy worms have replaced some of his beloved gas station donuts, his ability to take in around 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour during races, and why he thinks more endurance athletes need to get comfortable eating carbs while they train.

What You'll Learn

• Why Chase believes building the cycling community matters just as much as his own race results

• How becoming a dad changed his approach to training, recovery, sleep, and planning

• The nutrition challenges that finally pushed him to ask for help

• Why we focused on consistency instead of completely overhauling his diet

• Chase Wark / Chase the Biker Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chasethebiker

• Chase the Biker YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chasethebiker

• Lunchbox Racing: https://lunchboxracing.com/

• Gravel Underdogs Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grvl-undrdgs/id1879702903 

• Granny's Gravel Grinder - Registration 

  
  

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

• Want to take the guesswork out of your endurance nutrition and learn how to fuel your training, racing, and everyday life with more confidence? Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

You can know exactly what you’re supposed to do as an endurance athlete… and still get it wrong.

I’m a dietitian, but I’m also human first. And after years of triathlon, running, gravel racing, and now mountain biking, I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. So have Hanna and Mary.

In this episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, Team HAM is back! Hanna, Alex, and Mary are looking back at years of training and racing to answer one question: If we could do it all over again, what would we do differently?

We’re talking about everything from running a first marathon on basically no fuel (yes, really) to underfueling Ironman training, learning how to fuel a finicky gut, and realizing that sometimes the biggest thing holding you back has nothing to do with fitness.

Because endurance sports teach you a lot. Fueling matters. Recovery matters. Mental preparation matters. But so does knowing when to push, when to back off, and how to keep the sport you love actually enjoyable.

What You’ll Learn

• What I would completely change about how I trained and fueled for Ironman Wisconsin

• Why knowing how to fuel and actually practicing your fueling are two very different things

• How endurance fueling has changed since our early racing days

• Why Hanna once felt like taking fuel during training was almost “cheating”

• The fueling mistake that can happen when you’re feeling too good during a race

• Why your recovery nutrition can determine what you get out of your next workout

• How Mary learned what works for her finicky gut through years of trial and error

• Why Hanna says her biggest do-over might actually be mental preparation—not nutrition

• How we think about training during busy, stressful, or ridiculously hot seasons of life

• Why “maintenance is a win” can be one of the smartest approaches to long-term training

• The importance of focusing on what you can control on race day

• Why preserving the joy of your sport might matter more than forcing yourself through another training block

And yes, somehow we also get into mountain biking, slow walkers, candy corn, and whether mellowcreme pumpkins count as endurance fuel. It’s Team HAM. What did you expect?

Want to fuel your training and racing with more confidence? Explore Alex Larson Nutrition programs and one-on-one support: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

• Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

This episode is brought to you by Thorne. 

Shop Thorne Supplements and get 15% off  https://www.thorne.com/u/alexlarsonnutrition

Stress is higher. Life feels heavier. And if your training, recovery, nutrition, or patience feels different lately…you’re probably not imagining it.

In this episode of the Endurance Eats Podcast, I’m sitting down in person with returning guest Erin Ayala of Skadi Sport Psychology to talk about what increased stress actually does to us as athletes and why trying to simply “push through” isn’t always the answer.

Erin and I recorded this one during a mini work-and-riding retreat in Cuyuna, Minnesota, after putting in plenty of miles on the bike (and after I got a very unexpected new max heart rate on some beginner singletrack 😅).

But the real reason I wanted to have this conversation is something I’ve been noticing in my own work: this year feels different.

I’ve seen more athletes dealing with stress, uncertainty, disrupted routines, and situations that make nutrition and training harder than usual. Erin has been seeing it too.

So we’re digging into what happens when life stress piles on top of training stress and, more importantly, what you can actually do about it.

We talk about adjusting expectations during high-stress seasons, why self-compassion isn’t the same as “going soft,” and how social connection can play a major role in resilience.

Then we nerd out on heart rate variability (HRV): what it actually measures, why you shouldn’t compare your HRV to someone else’s, and how Erin is using HRV biofeedback and breathing techniques to help athletes train their nervous systems.

If you love data, endurance training, recovery, or understanding why your body is doing what it’s doing, you’re going to love this conversation.

What You'll Learn

• Why increased life stress can change how you show up in training, nutrition, work, and relationships

• The connection between stress, loneliness, and recovery

• Why your usual training load might suddenly feel harder even when the workouts haven’t changed

• How to recalibrate your expectations instead of assuming you need more discipline or willpower

• The three pieces of self-compassion Erin wants athletes to understand

• Why social support can be a powerful tool for managing stress

• How coaches and providers can better support athletes during high-stress seasons

• What heart rate variability (HRV) actually tells you about your nervous system

• Why your personal HRV trends matter more than comparing your number to someone else’s

• How sleep, alcohol, training, illness, nutrition, and life stress can influence HRV

• Skadi Sport Psychology: https://skadisportpsychology.com

• American Psychological Association Stress in America survey 

• Follow Skadi Sport Psychology on Instagram 

  
  

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

• Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

This episode is brought to you by Thorne. 

Shop Thorne Supplements and get 15% off  https://www.thorne.com/u/alexlarsonnutrition

Your labs came back “normal”… but you’re exhausted, your training feels harder than it should, and something still feels off.

Iron deficiency is incredibly common in female endurance athletes and if ferritin isn’t being checked, you could be missing a really important piece of the puzzle.

Today on the Endurance Eats Podcast, we’re talking about iron deficiency in endurance athletes, particularly female athletes.

I’m joined by Dr. Cory Dugan, a postdoctoral research fellow at the LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center and a researcher in iron deficiency and women’s health. Cory earned his PhD from the University of Western Australia, where his work focused on iron deficiency management and treatment in active females.

My goal with this episode, along with my three-part ferritin series on Substack, is to give you the knowledge and language you need to better advocate for yourself at your doctor’s office.

We’re breaking down what ferritin actually tells us, why hemoglobin alone doesn’t give us the full picture, why female endurance athletes are especially vulnerable to low iron stores, and what we actually know about iron deficiency, fatigue, and athletic performance.

Because being exhausted all the time shouldn’t automatically get written off as “normal.”

What You’ll Learn

• The difference between iron deficiency, iron deficiency without anemia, and iron deficiency anemia and why knowing the difference matters

• Why your hemoglobin can look completely normal while your iron stores are already running low

• Why ferritin is one of the most important numbers to understand when you’re looking at iron status

• Why there’s still so much disagreement around what counts as “low” ferritin

• Why Cory advocates for looking beyond the traditional ferritin cutoff, especially in athletes

• How hard training and inflammation can affect ferritin and potentially make your results harder to interpret

• Why female endurance athletes have so many overlapping risk factors for iron deficiency, including menstrual blood loss, GI blood loss, sweat losses, foot-strike hemolysis, and exercise-induced changes in iron absorption

And if you’ve ever been told your labs are “fine” while you’re still wondering why you feel so tired, this is an episode I really want you to hear.

Resources Mentioned

•  My three-part ferritin series on Substack

• PART 1: Ferritin: The Number No One Agrees On

• PAR 2: Ferritin Low, Everything Else Normal: Now What?

• PART 3: Iron and Ferritin - Supplementing Smart

• Dr. Cory Dugan’s website 

• Dr. Cory Dugan on Instagram 

• Dr. Cory Dugan on LinkedIn 

• Dr. Cory Dugan’s free iron risk questionnaire 

• Dr. Cory Dugan’s plain-language iron guide for women 

• “The Misogyny of Iron Deficiency” by Dr. Cory Dugan 

  
  

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

• Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources 

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes. Leave a quick review to help more endurance athletes find the show

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message, and I might cover it in a future episode!

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with saying that endurance athletes just get!

This episode is brought to you by Thorne. 

Shop Thorne Supplements and get 15% off  https://www.thorne.com/u/alexlarsonnutrition

What does it actually mean to be a woman in endurance sports right now?

I’ve been thinking about this episode for more than a year, and I knew I didn’t want it to be another conversation focused only on the challenges women face. So I asked three incredible professional female endurance athletes the same four questions and their answers went in directions I think we all need to hear.

Because what our bodies can do is a whole lot more interesting than what they look like.

In this special episode of the Endurance Eats podcast, I’m bringing together three professional athletes from three different corners of endurance sport: Olympic marathoner Dakota Popane, 2022 IRONMAN World Champion Chelsea Sodaro, and professional gravel cyclist Cecile Lejeune.

We talk about what they love about being women in sport, how they wish we talked about female athletes differently, the conversations our sports still aren’t having enough, and what they want the next generation of girls and women to know about performance and body image.

We also get into the media’s fixation on female athletes’ bodies, the need for more women-specific sports research, motherhood and professional sport, athletic longevity, and why preserving the joy of sport matters.

These are three very different perspectives and that’s exactly what makes this conversation so good.

What You’ll Learn

• Why getting beaten by a woman should never be treated as an insult and what that attitude says about the way we still view women’s performance

• What Dakota, Chelsea, and Cecile genuinely love about being women in endurance sports

• Why the conversation around female athletes needs to move beyond weight and appearance and toward performance, preparation, tactics, and mindset

• What the coverage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes revealed about the way we talk about women’s bodies in elite sport

• Why women-specific research still has a long way to go and why better research matters for athletes at every level

• How pregnancy, motherhood, sponsorships, and professional sport collide in ways we still aren’t talking about enough

• Why longevity shouldn’t mean only staying physically healthy, it should include protecting your mental health and your joy in sport

• What some of the best women in endurance sports want younger female athletes to understand about their bodies

• Why helping the next generation develop a healthier relationship with food and body image starts with what we model for them

• The reminder I hope every athlete takes from this episode: being strong, powerful, and capable matters so much more than chasing a certain appearance

  
  

  Resources Mentioned

• Dakota Popane — Endurance Eats Episode 47

• Chelsea Sodaro — Endurance Eats Episode 56 

• Cecile Lejeune — Endurance Eats Episode 33 

• Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan — Endurance Eats Episodes 25 & 26: 

• Follow Dakota Popane 

• Follow Chelsea Sodaro 

• Follow Cecile Lejeune 

  
  

Connect with Me:

• Follow along for more practical sports nutrition and fueling support: Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

• Work with Alex Larson Nutrition: https://alexlarsonnutrition.com/

• Check out our endurance nutrition tools and resources

  
  

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

Click that follow button to stay updated on future episodes packed with actionable insights and expert advice for endurance athletes.

Have Questions or Suggestions?

Send me a message

This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

This Episode is Brought to You By Carb Culture Shop

Grab your merch from the shop with sayings that endurance athletes just get!

This episode is brought to you by Thorne. 

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What if eating better could actually help you sleep better and sleeping better could make it easier to fuel your body well?

It turns out these two things are way more connected than most athletes realize. And if you’ve ever noticed that you’re absolutely ravenous after a terrible night of sleep…there’s a reason for that.

In this episode, I’m joined by nutrition and sleep researcher Marie-Pierre St-Onge to dig into the fascinating, bi-directional relationship between sleep and nutrition.

Marie-Pierre’s background is in nutrition, and her research explores how sleep duration, diet quality, meal timing, and other lifestyle factors influence energy balance and cardiometabolic health. She’s also the co-author of Eat Better, Sleep Better.

And I loved this conversation because it confirms something my team and I see with our endurance athletes all the time: when we improve how an athlete fuels during the day, sleep often improves right along with it.

We talk about what happens to hunger when you’re sleep deprived, why eating more earlier in the day may benefit both sleep and metabolic health, and what athletes with evening workouts can do when training and bedtime are uncomfortably close together.

We also get into magnesium, tart cherry juice, melatonin, sleep trackers, women’s hormonal changes, and why your watch’s sleep score shouldn’t necessarily dictate how you feel about your day.

What You’ll Learn

• Why sleep and nutrition have a bi-directional relationship, meaning poor sleep can change how you eat, while what you eat may also affect how well you sleep

• What happens to hunger and satiety hormones when you’re sleep deprived and why you may legitimately feel hungrier after a rough night

• Why overeating after several nights of poor sleep isn’t necessarily a willpower problem and what I want you to get curious about instead

• What researchers found when people restricted their sleep by about 90 minutes for six weeks

• Why a higher-quality diet with more fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, nuts, and seeds is associated with better sleep

• The fascinating connection between eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and less fragmented sleep

• Why I’m such a fan of front-loading nutrition

• How eating later in the day may affect your body’s ability to wind down for sleep

• What the research actually says about magnesium, tart cherry juice, melatonin, and GABA for sleep

• Why consistent bedtimes and wake times matter and how “social jet lag” can affect your health and eating patterns

• How hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle and the menopause transition may influence women’s sleep

• Why your Garmin, Apple Watch, Oura Ring, or other sleep tracker can be useful data but shouldn’t override how you actually feel

  
  

  Resources Mentioned

• Marie-Pierre St-Onge’s website

• Marie-Pierre St-Onge on LinkedIn 

• Eat Better, Sleep Better by Marie-Pierre St-Onge and Kat Craddock 

• Marie-Pierre St-Onge’s interview on the Huberman Lab podcast 

Connect with Me:

• Instagram: @alexlarsonnutrition

• Website: alexlarsonnutrition.com

  
  

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Have Questions or Suggestions?

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This episode of Endurance Eats is brought to you by Alex Larson’s 1:1 Nutrition Coaching.

If you’ve ever wondered, Am I eating enough? Am I fueling this right? Why do I still feel tired? you’re not alone. Alex Larson Nutrition helps endurance athletes cut through the confusion and build a fueling plan that actually works for their training, lifestyle, and goals.

You can learn more at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 

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