Welcome to Real Fuel with SLS! Here’s more about me and why I’m stoked to have you “join” the conversations to make endurance sports and sports nutrition a better place.

Danielle has a unique background for which she has become known as a unicorn in the women’s health space. After ten years practicing conventional medicine she shifted her focus + pursued certification as a FDN-P where she now helps women (+ some men) optimize their health through lifestyle + deep dives into their health.

She is also a certified fertility educator, masters level mental health therapist, PNL1 certified nutrition coach + in a prior life spent five years as a personal trainer. You can see where the unicorn term comes from. She specializes in helping women understand where they are + helps guide them to see the steps they need to take to get where they want to be + feel the way they want to feel.

She is the founder of her company, Empowered Mind + Body as well as co-founder of Unconventional Collaborative, a virtual mastermind to help anyone in the health + wellness space elevate their practice.

She is a human of authentic chaos, lover of dogs, all things outdoors, movement, an enneagram 8w7 + avid trip planner. She is perpetually in search of the optimal health. And what she can tell you is that definition will continually change through seasons of life, but will likely continually include regulating your nervous system, quality connection, play, movement + good sleep.

In this episode we chat about:

• Who Danielle is and her jump from conventional medicine to functional medicine
• Her background as an athlete and how it helps her support her clients
• Common misconceptions about birth control in female athletes
• Importance of regular periods for long-term health going beyond bone health
• Her work in the Unconventional Collaborative and creating a space for practitioners to continue to learn and grown
• Coach/practitioner red and green flags
• And more!

Follow Danielle: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.kepics/

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/

Emma loves all things cats, cows, and chocolate milk. Her passion for dairy and animals for dairy started while growing up on EL-Vi Farms in Newark, NY. She stays involved to this day at the farm by helping with community relations works like running the social media page and being the race director for the Dairy Discovery 5k that the farm and 3 other local farms host. When she is not working her day job in milk promotion at American Dairy Association North East, she can be found competing for Team Milk in Full distance Ironman triathlons and half & full marathons. Her training and racing allows her to reach the triathlon community online with the benefits of refueling with chocolate milk and make a beautiful community of friends.

In this episode we chat about:

• Food systems, misconceptions about cows/dairy farming, stress is stress even for cows– just like us!
• Getting into sports as an adult from dancing to racing ironman
• Finding euphoria in an Ironman marathon
• Learning about give and take during training for big goals/life– still having fun with the why behind sport
• Learning that your value is not tied to the outcome of sport, work, etc.
• Racing with your period; what’s normal what’s not
• You can still achieve with your period– how can we adapt and overcome and train to be ready
• Health over everything in longevity in sport
• How to respect the training adaptation process and adjusting expectations and goals
• And more!

Follow Emma: https://www.instagram.com/emmaluvcow/ + https://www.instagram.com/elvifarmsllc/

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/

Nick Klastava is a runner and running coach who loves to help athletes balance their training with their life and to focus less on the numbers.

In this episode we talk about:

• Training through the different seasons of life
• Comparing to past life training to current self
• Working through the phases of injury recovery with athletes, getting out of the grind and self-doubt
• Helping athletes find their growth & progress
• Celebrate the little moments and gain perspective
• Relying less on numbers how it helped me as an athlete to be less anxious and have less performance anxiety and how I help athletes as a coach
• Having tools in the toolbox to show up for yourself in training
• Moving through race day anxiety and stress
• Breaking the stigma around pace or BQ what it takes to be a good coach
• Being flexible as an adult runner and finding joy in it and bring running along with it
• And more!

Follow Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nklastava/ + https://www.instagram.com/liftrunperform/

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/

As a mother of 2 and 3 time Ironman finisher with countless other athletic pursuits under my belt, Katie created pursuit endurance after going through pregnancy as a triathlete and navigating the challenges of being a new mother when she re-entered the sport.

She wants to be the person she wished she had: to give better resources and guidance to mothers who are pregnant and postpartum and want to stay active in their sport.

Katie is a Native Washingtonian originally from Burke, VA. She's a mother to six year old, Elias, and three year old, Emett. She is a three-time Ironman triathlete, 15-time marathoner, and avid cyclist who enjoys clipping into all sorts of adventures on the road, has dabbled a bit in off road riding, and is often indoors on Zwift!

When she's not teaching mothers about cycling & pregnancy and postpartum fitness, she works for DC SCORES as the Senior Director of Development Operations & Events. She lives in the Michigan Park neighborhood of Washington, DC with her husband and two boys, and her first two furbabies, a dog and a cat!

She has numerous multisport certifications under her belt, and is a pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach!

In this episode we chat about:

• Top myths of working out pregnant
• The pregnancy comparison trap– how to avoid it and meet yourself where you are at
• Return to sport postpartum– should you have a ‘comeback’ race?
• What is your WHY as a pregnant athlete?
• How to avoid overdoing it during pregnancy and PP
• Nutrition in pregnancy & postpartum
• LEA risks PP
• What questions to ask to ask your provider PP
• Making sense of your body’s feedback as a pregnant/PP athlete
• And more!

Jonathan is a runner, cyclist, and podcast host from Boston, MA now living in Boulder, Colorado. He works at InsideTracker on groups/enterprise sales. He also hosts a podcast, For The Long Run, aimed at exploring the Why and understanding what keeps runners running long, strong, and motivated. You can find him running around the trails of Boulder or at Skratch Labs Cafe eating a breakfast burrito.

In this episode we chat about:

• Podcasting and learning to use your voice
• What makes us all unique and showing up for communities
• Using social media for good and inspiring for others and when you might need to take a break from it
• Imposter syndrome and the comparison comparison trap
• Overcoming injury
• Importance of mental health and how to advocate for yourself
• Supporting each other in athletics; finding joy, loving the process, having gratitude, and exploring curiosity
• And more!

Follow Jonathan here: https://www.instagram.com/jwlevitt/
Listen to Jonathan's Podcast here: https://www.instagram.com/forthelrpod/

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/

Cody Beals is a Canadian professional triathlete and 12× IRONMAN and 70.3 Champion. Cody self-coached his way to the professional ranks in 2014 by applying an analytical, data-driven approach drawing on his background in physics. After several years of successful middle distance racing, Cody found his forte in the full distance. Debuting at Mont Tremblant in 2018, he dominated his first three IRONMAN races in the span of a year. Cody is now devoted to long course racing on the world stage while openly sharing his journey. You can also get to know more about Cody here, here and here.

In this episode we talk about:

• Identifying and overcoming RED-s and disordered eating
• What it REALLY looks like to eat to support high volume triathlon training
• The four cornerstones that has kept Cody performing well in the professional field for 10+ years
• The importance of longevity in sport
• Recognizing burnout and how to adapt
• How prioritizing mental health has helped both and in and outside of sport
• Balancing life and enjoying triathlon at a high level
• And more!

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/

Amanda Katz is a full-time fitness professional. She's a certified personal trainer, RRCA certified run coach and serves as a group fitness instructor specializing in indoor cycling, treadmill running and total body conditioning formats at Equinox in New York City. Her philosophy is based on the notion that all bodies deserve a fitness experience without punishment, guilt or shame. She approaches her craft with humor, real talk and ultimately, wants her clients to feel stronger and confident in their bodies through movement.

In this episode we chat about (*TW: disordered eating):

• Red and green flags in coaches (run/strength world)
• Common misconceptions with strength training + runners
• Body neutrality vs. body positivity in fitness and in life
• Exercising without motivation- how to navigate this
• Unplanned rest days
• Toxic fitness culture and the comparison trap
• Sustainability in fitness through different seasons of life
• Running to gelato and bread
• And so much more!

Follow Amanda: https://www.instagram.com/amanda_katzz/

Follow Stevie: https://www.instagram.com/stevielynlyn/
Learn More About Stevie: https://stevielynrd.com/