For years, I did what most runners do: followed a plan, logged the miles, and hoped my body would hold together long enough to cross the finish line. It mostly worked. Until it didn't.
After nearly two decades of running, I learned that there's so much more to becoming a successful runner than just accumulating miles - including strength, mobility, fueling, and sleep. I under-ate without realizing it. Not from lack of caring, but because no one had ever connected the dots between what I was putting in and what I was asking my body to do. I wasn't reaching for donuts because I wanted a treat. I was reaching for donuts because I was starving and they were calorically dense and my body knew it. Between rotating shifts at the hospital and increasing mileage, I was living in a state of chronic fatigue that I just called normal.
For a long time, my running was fueled by toxic shame disguised as discipline. The pressure I put on myself as a woman and as an athlete to keep doing more and being more eventually led to a mental breakdown. I had to dig myself out and rebuild not just my training but my entire relationship with food, rest, and running. I know what healthy training looks like because I had to fight my way to it.
Now I help other women train smarter, get stronger, and feel confident in what their bodies can do. I believe serious training can be an expression of a life fully lived, not something you need to do to prove you're worthy of it.
Everything I coach, I live. I'm a former marathon runner turned ultrarunner, and right now that means training for a 100 mile race while working full time as a nurse in NYC. I'm in it with you.
Madison Miler
CSCS · PN1 · UESCA Certified Running Coach · RN, BSN
