More Than Miles Kate M Edwards & Kacy Seynders

In episode #55 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Dr. Kayla Balcom, PhD, a clinical psychologist and sports psychologist for the Atlanta Track Club, Georgia Tech Athletics, and her own private practice clients. You may remember Dr. Balcom from her interview on More Than Miles in Episode #32: Vulnerability is not a weakness, where she discussed her early sports experiences as a figure skater and later as a recreational runner. She also talked about ways to cultivate more positive mental health as individuals including a discussion of improving our self-talk, being vulnerable, and the unfortunate barriers of accessing mental health services. In this second interview, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Dr. Balcom and pick her brain on sports psychology and how mental health can influence performance as an endurance athlete.

Dr. Balcom some of the strategies that she uses to improve performance with her athletes including dealing with fear of failure, maximizing an individuals’ best performance level of arousal, leveraging reliable routine (aka “superstitions”), and the power of mental imagery and visualization. She discusses how positive self-talk and belifes take work and why this is partly due to our “survival brain” that fixates on the negative experiences as a protective strategy. She also talks about the importance of mental rehearsal or visualization to improve performance and the factors that can make this most effective (HINT: imagery is best performed in “real time” to mimic an actual event or race). Dr. Balcom also talks about optimal mental states to maximize performance including ways to try to find an athlete’s best arousal level to perform well (i.e., not too relaxed, but not overly anxious or stressed out). She also explains some of the nuances of “flow” state and how this may be a great “feel good,” or subjective experience, but may not actually correlate to a high performing state.

Dr. Balcom shares some neat insight into why athletes may experience fear of failure and how to overcome these self-limiting beliefs and fears. She also shares some tips and tricks to reframe a less than ideal race and how to overcome disappointing performances and move on to future race success and enjoyment. You will not want to miss this rich discussion with Dr. Balcom and some of the keys to cultivating great mental health for your performance as an endurance athlete! But also, as Dr. Kacy says, “people come in the door for the performance benefits and stay for the overall health benefits.” This episode can provide a great perspective on improving overall mental health as well!

In Episode #54 of the More Than Miles Podcast, physical therapists Dr. Kate Mihevc Edwards and Dr. Kacy Seynders interview sports dietician, mom, and runner, Meghann Featherstun, MS, RD, CSSD. Meghann has been a dietician for 15 years and started out as a dietician in a hospital setting before transitioning and becoming certified as a sports dietician to focus her efforts on working with endurance athletes and runners! She first took up running after graduate school and since has completed 12 marathons with a marathon PR of 2:50 in 2022 and a recent Boston Marathon PR of 2:52:14 in 2023. Meghann loves the work she does and has helped over a thousand runners and endurance athletes in the last four years to trouble shoot and maximize their nutrition to support their health and sports performance.

During the interview, Dr. Kate and Kacy talk to Meghann about her transition to being a small business owner in owning her own nutrition consulting business, Featherstone Nutrition. As part of her services, she offers one-on-one and group nutrition coaching and regularly posts recipes and fueling tips on her blog and social media channels like Instagram @featherstonenutrition. They also talk about some of her fueling strategies for runners and the timing of this nutrition before, during, and after workouts and races. Meghann regularly tests out fueling strategies within her own training and has been known to put together some interesting combinations of “toast” breakfasts including a recent Instagram post of peanut butter, pickles, veggie sausage, and sriracha hot sauce on toast! She also has a self-professed love of bagels and graham crackers, both to fuel workouts and as carb loading strategies going into a marathon race (checkout her website for a free Carb Load Guide).

Meghann also talks about some “myth busting” that she regularly does in educating clients how to deal with issues such as GI issues, hydration, and timing of nutrition (HINT: not all gels are created equal!). She also talks about some of the misconceptions that arise from some nutrition tactics that are often passed around (but ineffective) in endurance athlete culture. She also talks about some of the research on coffee and caffeine’s influence on performance including the pros and cons of caffeinated energy gels.

We know you will love the nutrition tips and tricks that Meghann talks about in this episode, so give it a listen!

In Episode #53 of the More Than Miles Podcast, physical therapists Dr. Kate Mihevc Edwards and Dr. Kacy Seynders interview former collegiate runner turned running comedian, Laura Green. Laura started running in middle school and says that running has been interwoven into her life ever since then. She went on to compete in high school and collegiate track and cross country and since college has been involved in the running scene training for road races from 5k to marathon distances and trail races. She is trained as a physical therapist, and worked in this field for a while, but has more recently transitioned into a career as a social media influencer and comedian. You can now find Laura posting videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube and gaining sponsorships from various running brands and companies. During the interview, Laura talks about some of the factors she finds so funny (and easy to poke fun at) about running culture such as gear, race superstitions, running moms, and runner nutrition.

Dr. Kate and Kacy talk to Laura about some of her transition from PT to professional joke teller and what a “typical day looks like” in the life of Laura Green (HINT: the recap of this line of questioning is HILARIOUS!). They also talk about some of her upcoming adventures including her preference for races that are NOT the marathon. She talks about some of the marathon destination races that she has been sponsored to participate in and the locations that she says she could be bribed into going to (HINT: it is NOT Chicago or New York). They also talk about the very real phenomenon of increasing shoe size after having children and Dr. Kate and Laura bond over their often hard to find running shoe sizes.

As her YouTube channel description suggests, Laura is “Just here trying to get people to laugh at themselves more often.” Laura does not take herself too seriously and part of the draw of her humor is the often self-directed jokes and lighthearted look at running culture. Laura also talks about how she gets inspiration for her jokes and her brief foray into standup comedy. One of her popular skits is: “We’re all just running around…” We could not stop laughing during the interview with Laura and we think you will LOVE this episode too!

Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Boston Marathon Race Director, Dave McGillivray, about all things Boston Marathon and beyond. Dave tells his story of his first Boston Marathon and how the race is intertwined with his grandfather.

Dave takes a deep dive into the history of the Boston Marathon and how it has evolved over the years, given that this year's race is the 127th running. He talks about the unique challenge of coordinating a point to point race and accommodating 30,000 runners on the narrow neighborhood streets leading to Boston.

Dave is an impressive athlete himself, completing several Ironmans, feats of endurance, and marathons, including 51 Boston Marathons. He explains the logistics of going back to the start to complete his race, long after thousands of participants have already crossed the finish line. If you want to feel inspired, give this episode a listen!

In Episode #50 of the More Than Miles Podcast, physical therapists Dr. Kate Mihevc Edwards and Dr. Kacy Seynders interview professional runner, mom, and owner of the coaching business, “Running Joyfully,” Kaitlin Goodman. Kaitlin is a 4-time Olympic Trials Qualifier, competing in the 5,000meters, 10,000 meters and marathon distances. In addition to competing at a professional level, Kaitlin has coached hundreds of runners to achieve their own running PRs and goals through her business “Running Joyfully.” Kaitlin is also Dr. Kacy’s running coach!

During the interview, Kaitlin talks about her early introductions to competitive running including running for her father at Davis Senior High school and how inspiring he has been as a positive influence on her career and mindset towards running. Kaitlin was originally drawn to running because of her father’s coaching in the sport and passion for running, though she did also play other sports, such as soccer before focusing more on her running career. After high school, Kaitlin went on to compete for the University of California at Davis track and cross-country teams and shortly following that moved to San Francisco to pursue her professional running career. She went on to race multiple distances from the 5K and 10k races all the way up to the marathon and has found success at each of these distances. While talking about her running clearly lights her up during this conversation, Kaitlin is equally excited about her coaching business and helping others succeed in their running goals and journeys. Kaitlin also talks about some of the lessons that she has learned coming back (but not “making a comeback”) to running after her recent pregnancy and birth of her son.

Dr. Kate also adds to the discussion with tips for those returning to running post-partum including having realistic expectations, the individual nature of how and when to get back to running, and ways to transition back to running safely. Check out the episode as these women share their combined wisdom! Kaitlin sincerely wants each of her runners to experience the joy that she has found in running as a lifetime activity and sporting pursuit. From her “Running Joyfully,” website, she states, “I’m the runner who finds the joy in every mile.” She also contributes immensely to how the runners she coaches relate to running and as Kacy can attest to, inspires this joy of running in many others! The interview also includes some of Kaitlin’s tips on how to have a positive mindset and relationship with running and more!

Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interiview Dr. Amber Zimmerman, PhD., sleep researcher and elite runner. They talk all about Amber's approach to running and the "little things" that have turned in to big things. She is the 2022 Philadelphia Marathon winner and owner of PR's of 15:37 in the 5k and 2:31 in the marathon.

In this conversation, Amber discusses everything from her research on the genetic contribution to sleep and physchiatric disorders to how slowing down on easy runs have helped her make leaps and bounds in her improvements as a runner. She emphasizes the importance of recovery, particularly sleep, for getting the most out of your training and the most out of your body. She uses her own research and science background to provide some key tips on how to improve your sleep quality and quantity.

Amber already has her 2024 Olympic Trials Qualifier and is chasing the Olympic Standard for Paris. Her advice to runners seeking high performance: Don't talk yourself too seriously and eat the donuts.