The Fueling Forward Podcast

This episode is an interview with professional runner for Saucony, Vanessa Fraser. Vanessa grew up in Northern California where she discovered and fell in love with running through Girls on the Run. She went on to run at Stanford University where she became a 10x All-American and the PAC-12 champion in the 10k. While at Stanford, she received her bachelor's degree in symbolic systems and her master’s degree management science and engineering. After college, she went on to run professionally, signing a contract with Nike and joining Bowerman Track Club right out of college. Vanessa has competed in multiple US championships in the 5k and 10k, and has a 5k time of 14:48. In addition to running professionally, she also works full time as a partnerships manager at a health care tech company.
In this episode, we talk about:
How she found the sport of running through Girls on the Run and what her progression looked like
How an assignment to track calories from a middle school health teacher led to hospitalization, and what she learned from the experience
What it was like going through periods of weight restoration and why she’s thankful her coaches, parents and doctors put her health first
How she ended up running for Stanford, her dream school, despite not earning a scholarship right away
Her transition to becoming a pro runner and advice for being patient during periods of lack of progress and injuries
How increasing her carb intake has been instrumental to her success, and why fueling on long runs has been a big part of that
Why working in addition to being a pro runner has helped her mindset around the sport and finding life balance
You can keep up with Vanessa on Instagram or TikTok @nessafraser.

This episode is a Q&A episode where I answer questions that have been submitted by listeners.
Questions for today’s episode include:
As a pre-med student, I feel like I’ve turned to running and training as a coping mechanism to handle stress. How do you know if a training load is too high and inching towards overtraining?
I’m a high school senior who runs track and xc and I’ve been working on getting my period back for over a year. I’ve gotten one cycle, but haven’t had any since. I feel like I’m doing all the right things, but also feel like I can’t stop gaining weight. Do you have any tips or advice for how to get and keep my period?
I’m a high school track athlete and mostly compete in field events, but I will also do the 800. How would my fueling differ from an endurance runner?
I’m a former collegiate runner and current dietitian working in an athletic department with the track/xc teams. My body has changed over the past year since I’m no longer training at a high level, and I find myself struggling with comparison and body image. Do you have any advice on how to navigate this?
Thanks so much to everyone who has submitted questions so far! If you would like to submit a question for future episodes, you can do so on my website HERE or email me at fuelingforwardpodcast@gmail.com.

This episode is an interview with the food blogger and recipe developer behind Recipe Runner, Danae Halliday. Danae grew up in Arizona, where she discovered running through her older sister. She ran throughout high school, but found herself burnt out and took a break from the sport when she went to Arizona State University. When her sister started training for marathons, Danae found herself inspired to pick it up again and fell in love with the longer distance.
Despite her love of food and recipe developing, Danae found herself struggling with an eating disorder. This led to a vicious injury cycle that she couldn’t find her way out of. She eventually reached out for help, and has been in treatment and active recovery since 2022. She hopes to get healthy enough to line up to race again soon!
In this episode, we talk about:
How her sister inspired her to start running in high school
Why she took a break from the sport in college and how she found her way back to running
How a comment from a coworker about her body led to restriction around food that resulted in an eating disorder
Why she finally decided to seek help and what that has looked like for her
Advice on how to be there for someone in your life struggling with an eating disorder
Why it’s important to approach recovery and treatment from a way that works for you
How she founded Recipe Runner and why developing recipes has been a healing tool for her throughout her eating disorder recovery
You can keep up with Danae on Instagram at @reciperunner, and you can find her recipes and food blog on her website https://reciperunner.com/

***A trigger warning for this episode: we do talk about an active eating disorder and eating disorder behaviors. If you are not in a place to hear that, you may want to skip this episode***

This episode is a Q&A episode where I answer questions that have been submitted by listeners.
Questions for today’s episode include:
A running influencer that I follow recently got a stress fracture but blamed it on biomechanics. This got me wondering if bone stress injuries are ever not related to fueling and overtraining in some way? Do you have any thoughts on this in the running culture?
I’m a collegiate runner running 50-55 miles per week and am trying to put on weight. I’ve been drinking ensure drinks, but do you have any other tips for meals and snacks for weight gain?
I recently experienced my first bone stress injury and I’ve also been dealing with chronically low ferritin. I’m in a healthcare system that is reluctant to provide more care than they deem necessary. How do I make sure that I’m getting all of the information I need to treat my injury with limited access to tests and treatment? How do I know which tests are important and worth advocating for?
What are your thoughts on meal kits and how to navigate healthier options?
Thanks so much to everyone who has submitted questions so far! If you would like to submit a question for future episodes, you can do so on my website HERE or email me at fuelingforwardpodcast@gmail.com.

This episode is an interview with sports psychologist and former professional runner, Lennie Waite.
Lennie grew up abroad, where she primarily played soccer. She was recruited to play D1 soccer at Rice University, but after her sophomore year ended up switching to running and became a 2x All-American. She went on to run post-collegiately and represented Great Britain at 3 Commonwealth Games, the World Championships in 2017, and the 2016 Olympic Games in the steeplechase.
Lennie did all of this while completing her PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and becoming a Certified Mental Performance Consultant. She currently works with athletes and is also the chief science officer at Hite EQ, while being a mom to her 2 daughters.
In this episode, we talk about:
What it was like growing up abroad and how different the rhetoric is around food and sport
How being good at a sport from a young age automatically creates pressure and expectations, and how she dealt with this
Why she decided to pursue soccer instead of running initially in college and what led her to make that shift
Her tips for helping athletes navigate pressure and comparison when it comes to racing
What she sees athletes struggle with when it comes to fueling as a sports psych and some tips to work through those emotions
If you would like to learn more about Lennie's and her services as a sports psychologist, you can go to her website HERE.