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A stress fracture does not automatically mean you trained too much—or trained badly.

For endurance athletes, bone stress injuries often develop when training load begins to outpace the body’s ability to recover, rebuild and adapt. In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down the bigger picture behind stress fractures, including training progression, underfueling, low energy availability, aging, hormones, nutrient intake and strength training.

If you are increasing mileage, returning to running, training through weight loss or simply wondering how a fit athlete can still end up with a bone injury, this conversation will help you understand what may be happening beneath the surface.

What You’ll Learn

• Why a well-designed training progression can still lead to problems when fueling and recovery do not keep pace
• How low energy availability, rapid weight loss and hormonal changes can affect bone health
• Why cardiovascular fitness and strength do not automatically mean your bones are ready for running impact
• How strength training, progressive loading and key nutrients can help support long-term bone durability

Timestamps

00:00 Why stress fractures are more complicated than “too much training”
06:05 How bone adapts, remodels and responds to load
15:15 Training load, recovery and nutrition: finding the cause
20:21 Rapid weight loss, GLP-1s and bone-health risk
26:25 Calcium, vitamin D, iron and other nutrients that matter
40:05 Low energy availability, RED-S and underfueling
45:32 Aging athletes, hormones and declining bone density
48:08 Strength training and loading bones as you age
54:27 Why running, cycling and swimming affect bones differently
56:05 Why being fit does not mean your bones are ready to run
1:03:34 High-volume training is not the real problem
1:05:44 Stress-fracture location and what it may tell you

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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Highway to HYROX: Starting a New Training Journey

What happens when a longtime runner and endurance athlete decides to step outside her comfort zone and train for something completely new?

In this episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey, Katie kicks off a new series: Highway to HYROX. She’s training for her first HYROX race in Denver and taking listeners along for the entire experience—from figuring out what HYROX actually involves to learning how to balance running, strength training, recovery, and all of the unique demands of hybrid racing.

Katie breaks down the HYROX format, including the running and functional fitness stations, and shares her initial thoughts about pacing, race strategy, and what makes HYROX so different from a traditional running race. She also walks through her current training week and the challenge of fitting two HYROX workouts, running workouts, a long run, strength training, and recovery into a busy schedule.

But this series isn't about having all the answers. Katie is very intentionally approaching this as a learning experience. She doesn't consider herself a HYROX expert, and she isn't presenting her training plan as the right way to prepare. Instead, she's sharing what she's trying, what's working, what's challenging, and what she's learning along the way.

If you've ever been curious about HYROX, wondered what it's like for a runner to transition into hybrid training, or simply enjoy following an athlete through the highs and lows of preparing for a new challenge, come along for the ride.

The Highway to HYROX has officially begun!

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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If one hard workout makes you wonder whether you’re actually ready for race day, you’re not alone. The mistake is assuming training should prove what you’ll be capable of when the race finally arrives.

In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down why race-specific work can create doubt, how accumulated fatigue can distort your perception of fitness, and why chasing certainty can lead athletes to do too much. The goal isn’t to eliminate uncertainty—it’s to arrive prepared enough to perform when it matters.

What You’ll Learn

•  Why a difficult workout does not automatically mean your race goal is unrealistic 
•  How trying to “prove” your fitness in training can create unnecessary fatigue and risk 
•  Why preparedness matters more than confidence or certainty on race morning 
•  How training for discomfort helps prevent doubt from taking over when racing gets hard 

Timestamps

00:00 When training creates insecurity about race day
04:43 Justin’s own doubts about race-specific bike power and fitness
15:31 How fear feeds insecurity during a training build
17:00 Why one hard workout can make athletes question everything
21:58 Why training should not be used to prove race-day fitness
27:51 The danger of doing too much just to feel confident
37:49 Confidence vs. preparedness
41:22 “We don’t train to make race day easy”
45:31 Learning to suffer well and preparing for discomfort
54:10 Why comfortable training alone won’t prepare you to race hard
1:03:35 How a coach protects athletes from themselves
1:09:48 Managing doubt when it inevitably shows up

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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What if you knew this might be your last race?

Jim Logan was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer and told he might have six months to two years to live. Instead of stepping away from endurance sport, he kept training. Now, after chemotherapy, radiation, major surgeries, an ostomy, and repeated Ironman setbacks, he is preparing to race the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

But this episode is about more than cancer or Kona. Jim challenges endurance athletes to stop assuming there will always be another race, another season, or another chance—and to recognize that the real value of this sport is often found long before the finish line.

What You’ll Learn

• Why Jim believes you shouldn't wait for a crisis to start treating your time like it matters
• How endurance training prepared him for the “uninvited pain” of cancer, treatment, and surgery
• Why a DNF or disappointing race doesn't erase everything you gained through the pursuit
• How “Just Keep Tri-ing” became more than a mantra as Jim prepares for Kona with stage 4 cancer

Timestamps

00:00 Meet Jim Logan: Stage 4 cancer and the road to Kona
07:02 Ironman DNFs, second chances, and the question that changes everything
10:22 What cancer taught Jim about today, tomorrow, and priorities
13:31 The symptoms he almost dismissed as normal training fatigue
16:33 Finish line → start line → the daily pursuit
22:03 “Cancer has my body. It cannot have my heart, mind, or soul.”
24:18 How endurance training prepared him for chemo, radiation, and surgery
30:16 Why performance isn't what ultimately defines the athlete
37:00 Faith, purpose, and finding meaning inside the diagnosis
43:22 Training is a privilege—and you may not always get to do it
51:55 Why worrying about race day can steal the joy from today
1:12:07 Jim's story changes Coach Justin's perspective on returning to racing

Connect With & Support James Logan

Want to follow James’ journey to Kona or support the mission behind it?

Follow James on Instagram:
@stage42025
Instagram – @stage42025

Support James’ IRONMAN Foundation fundraising:
James is racing the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona while raising funds for the IRONMAN Foundation.
Donate to James’ IRONMAN Foundation campaign

Get James’ book, Just Keep TRI-ING:
Just Keep TRI-ING: The Faith-Fueled Formula to Push Through Pain, Face Your Fears, and Finish Your Race
Buy Just Keep TRI-ING on Amazon

Proceeds from the book support James’ IRONMAN Foundation fundraising efforts.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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If you’re an endurance athlete getting older, the goal isn’t to preserve the training you used to do. The goal is to preserve your ability to perform.

In Part 3 of our aging athlete series, we look at what happens when an experienced athlete still wants to get faster, stronger, and more competitive—but their body no longer responds to training exactly the way it once did. We cover body composition, strength, speed work, recovery, and why the best training plan may be the one you can consistently absorb for years to come.

What You’ll Learn

• Why changing body composition doesn’t automatically mean you need to lose weight
• How masters athletes can adjust volume, intensity, and recovery without giving up performance
• Why strength and consistency become increasingly important as you age
• How to keep pursuing ambitious goals without sacrificing long-term durability

Timestamps

00:00 – Training updates and learning to let go of pace
14:24 – Body composition vs. body weight as you age
19:30 – Why being lighter doesn’t automatically mean performing better
29:05 – Stop trying to recreate what worked when you were younger
34:02 – Building muscle, losing fat, and the endurance training tradeoff
41:52 – Is improving body composition worth sacrificing aerobic training?
46:01 – Performance vs. longevity: Do masters athletes have to choose?
49:00 – Why a 7-day training week may not work for every aging athlete
53:58 – Consistency, injury prevention, and protecting future performance
56:00 – Sleep, stress, nutrition, and the recovery factors outside your training plan
1:03:33 – How strength training and speed work should change with age
1:19:25 – Bringing joy back into training as a masters athlete

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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Your body may not recover the way it used to—but the harder part may be accepting what that means for the athlete you still expect yourself to be.

In Part 2 of our series on aging as an endurance athlete, we look at why recovery takes longer, injury risk becomes harder to manage, and sleep, strength, fueling, hydration, and nutrition matter more as you get older. We also get into the mental side of that transition: feeling like changing or missing a workout is failure, comparing yourself to other athletes or your younger self, and carrying fear forward from past injuries.

The goal isn’t to lower your standards. It’s to adapt your training so you can keep pursuing performance without constantly fighting your body—or yourself.

What You’ll Learn

• Why the margin between productive training stress and too much stress gets smaller as you age
• How recovery, sleep, strength, fueling, hydration, and protein become more important for masters athletes
• Why changing your training can feel like failure, even when it is the smarter decision
• How comparison, changing goals, and past injuries can affect the way you train and recover

Timestamps

00:00 – Listener reviews and introducing Part 2
03:31 – Hormone therapy and bone-health clarification from Part 1
07:01 – Are “normal” lab ranges optimal for endurance athletes?
14:13 – Food sensitivities, gut health, and changes that can come with age
34:30 – Why recovery gets harder as you get older
39:21 – Sleep, aging, and the recovery cost you can’t ignore
46:06 – When needing more recovery feels like failure
51:01 – Comparison, changing goals, and accepting where you are
54:13 – How injury risk changes for masters athletes
1:03:11 – Strength training and the shrinking margin for error
1:10:15 – Strength, speed, and changing performance priorities
1:16:51 – Recovery nutrition: protein, hydration, carbs, and fueling

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

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Your motivation is still there—but your body may not respond to training, stress, and recovery the way it once did. Is that simply part of aging, a warning sign that deserves attention, or something you can actively manage?

In the first episode of this masters athlete series, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine the hormonal, bone-health, sleep, fueling, and lifestyle changes endurance athletes may face as they get older. They also confront a difficult reality: preserving health and performance may require new strategies, medical guidance, and a willingness to stop treating every setback as something harder training can fix.

What You’ll Learn

•  How hormonal changes can affect sleep, recovery, bone health, body composition, and the ability to train consistently 
•  Why underfueling becomes especially risky for aging runners, triathletes, and endurance athletes 
•  The complicated line between hormone replacement, healthy aging, and competitive fairness 
•  How experience and self-awareness can become genuine performance advantages as physical resilience changes 

Timestamps

00:00 – Training updates and the start of a masters athlete series
09:17 – What changes as endurance athletes get older?
10:49 – Perimenopause, menopause, and hormonal fluctuations
18:47 – Hormone replacement and competitive fairness
25:11 – Declining testosterone and what male athletes can do
33:38 – Bone health concerns for masters athletes
34:47 – Underfueling, calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium
39:07 – Strength training, plyometrics, and DEXA scans
47:39 – Why sleep quality can change with age
50:32 – Caffeine, sleep routines, and training after a poor night
1:04:43 – Career, family, and the changing burden of life stress
1:09:24 – The advantage aging athletes should not overlook

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

The most confident advice is not always the right advice for you.

Endurance athletes are surrounded by rigid rules about training, race goals, indoor workouts, and fueling. But what happens when the accepted formula does not fit your fitness, experience, body, or life?

In this listener Q&A episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie explain how to evaluate common endurance recommendations, apply them with context, and make decisions based on the athlete in front of you—not a one-size-fits-all prescription.

What You’ll Learn

• How to recognize credible training advice—and the red flags behind overly certain claims
• When your race goal should guide training and when completed training should reset the goal
• What treadmills and indoor bike trainers do exceptionally well—and what they cannot prepare you for
• Why carbohydrate targets require more nuance than body weight, age, or a universal grams-per-hour formula

Timestamps

00:00 – Listener Q&A and training-life updates
12:13 – How do you know which training advice to trust?
22:26 – The difference between textbook knowledge and athlete-specific coaching
25:49 – Why elite-athlete advice may not apply to you
31:24 – Should race goals dictate training—or should training dictate race goals?
39:39 – How fixed goals can limit performance
44:56 – When race expectations should change during a training cycle
47:38 – Can you prepare for a race on a treadmill or indoor trainer?
50:20 – The strengths and limitations of indoor bike training
53:22 – Why treadmill training can be highly effective
57:47 – How should endurance athletes calculate carbohydrate needs?
1:13:35 – Carb targets, gut training, athlete size, and age

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

You gave months of your life to a race—but the day you imagined never happened. Now you are left deciding what the result means, what went wrong, and whether another race will bring redemption or deepen the disappointment.

In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie share their own difficult race experiences and explain how to process a disappointing performance before making your next decision. Because the healthiest response is not always another registration—it is understanding whether you still want the training process or simply want a different result.

What You’ll Learn

• How to separate a disappointing result from your identity and ability as an athlete
• Why illness, missed training, and panic training can turn one setback into a larger problem
• How to tell whether a redemption race is driven by genuine motivation or the need to prove yourself
• Why returning to the process—not chasing validation—creates greater enjoyment and longevity in endurance sports

Timestamps

0:00 – What to Do After a Disappointing Race
2:21 – Katie’s Experience at Grandma’s Marathon
5:17 – Justin’s Difficult Return at IRONMAN Florida 70.3
9:14 – The Emotional Recovery After a Race
14:11 – Wanting Another Race vs. Wanting Another Result
20:13 – When Outcome Pressure Ruins the Process
23:39 – Panic Training After Illness or Missed Workouts
28:43 – Why Athletes Struggle to Coach Themselves
38:10 – How Difficult Races Can Make Better Coaches
47:37 – Why Finishing Times Never Tell the Whole Story
1:09:51 – Shifting From Outcome Goals to the Training Process
1:15:50 – Should You Sign Up for a Redemption Race?

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

What if reaching your race weight is the very thing that ruins your race?

GLP-1 medications may help an athlete lose weight, but using them during race-specific training can also reduce fueling, impair recovery, accelerate muscle loss, and limit the fitness needed to perform. You could arrive at the starting line lighter—but less prepared.

In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine where GLP-1 medications may fit for endurance athletes, when the risks can outweigh the benefits, and why significant weight loss should be treated as its own strategic phase rather than forced into a marathon, triathlon, or cycling build.

What You’ll Learn

• Why a lower race weight does not guarantee better performance
• How GLP-1s can affect fueling, muscle retention, recovery, and training quality
• Why rapid weight loss during a race build increases RED-S and injury risk
• When a separate, medically supported weight-loss phase may make more sense

Timestamps

00:00 – GLP-1 medications and the pursuit of race weight
06:52 – How GLP-1 medications work
14:12 – Benefits, side effects, and unanswered safety questions
25:26 – Why GLP-1 medications produce weight loss
35:15 – An athlete losing weight while training for a 70.3
44:19 – When race-weight goals become a warning sign
56:13 – Who may benefit from GLP-1 medications
1:05:47 – RED-S, muscle loss, and impaired recovery
1:17:43 – GI symptoms and the challenge of fueling endurance training
1:27:24 – Why reaching race weight may cost more fitness than it creates
1:31:15 – A better time and strategy for athlete weight loss
1:46:24 – Finding a better reason than chasing a number

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → [email protected]