Allie Kieffer stormed back onto the running scene by coming in as the second US woman, and fifth overall, in the 2017 NY Marathon with a 15 minute personal best.  She became a runner for Oiselle early this year and selected them because of the focus on women and community.  Allie ran in college for Wake Forest, made the 2012 10k Olympic Trials but retired in 2013 after injury.  Because of her love of running she self-coached her way back, which is amazing it its own right.

Allie and I cover a wide range of subjects: how she focused on what effort she felt she could sustain in order to smash 15 minutes off her personal best to take everyone by surprise in that 2017 marathon,  her advocacy for positive body image and setting a goal of good healthy living and balance in her life and what she is currently doing to heal a stress fracture in her foot.

Allie and I cover whether you should strive for a race weight and what that could mean for your performance overall and your ability to give your body what it needs to perform at it.

What you will learn about

• How Allie took 15 min off her PR in the 2017 NYC Marathon, finishing in 5th place and the second American woman
• How your race should be about the effort you can sustain, how you are feeling, and not any end result
• How weight training and having more muscle has made her a better runnerHow Allie ran a 2016 marathon on a 200 meter indoor track (211 laps) as the only woman and set a new world record
• To be healthy, eat mostly vegetables, whole foods, and don’t eat too much.  Be sure to get regular exercise.  Don’t have to say no to anything.  
• If you are under-eating to get to a “race weight” it is likely not healthy for you.  How would you know what an ideal race weight might be anyway?  Some runners are being told they are too small, some too big.  You have to figure out what your body needs and listen to it.
• How she came to be an advocate/spokesperson for positive body image and taking ownership of yourself and doing what is right and healthy for you
• How she is dealing with a stress fracture in the second metatarsal of her foot causing her to have to drop out of the NYC Half and London Marathon. How she has been using cross training on an elliptical (and ElliptiGO) and pool running to stay in condition.

Inspirational Quotes:

Don’t box yourself in by putting limits on what you think you are capable of. Set yourself up for success, not failure.

If you can’t eat out at a restaurant or have anxiety about it, you are not being healthy.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell

Running for Real Strength Training Program

Running4Real Podcast Series on Marathon Training

Rest of the Podcast Series

• Beginners
• Mental Toughness Training
• Marathon Training
• Coming Back From Injuries
• Running Nutrition
• Running Through and After Pregnancy

Podcast episode on Orthorexia (obsession with healthy eating)

Allie on Instagram

Allie on Twitter

Thank you to BodyHealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

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Thank you to Allie, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.