77: Why Am I Always Tired? Under-Recovery in Endurance Athletes

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 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 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.

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.

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.