85 | Runner and Dietitian Starla Garcia: Empowerment in Recovery
Release Date: 02/16/2023
The Injured Athletes Club
“ How can you deal with anxiety not of a specific reinjury, but a more generalized fear about your sport being taken away from you again? That fear does help me appreciate what I have now that I'm running again, but also makes disruptions to my training or race plans—whether from how I'm feeling physically, or work/life stress—harder to deal with. How can I cope?” In this episode of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from Emily regarding handling the anxiety associated with the potential permanent loss of her sport due to...
info_outline 119 | Ultrarunner Aum Gandhi: Your Inner CoachThe Injured Athletes Club
“Instead of being mean to myself and saying, ‘You’ve got nothing else outside of running,’ I said, ‘Look at all the other multi-faceted things you are. You are a son, you are a brother, you're a business owner. Humans are multi-faceted; you have an identity outside this sport. The sport may have helped you find more of your authenticity, but you're not bound to this sport. It's only a piece of the puzzle, a part of your identity.” When Merrell Professional Athlete Aum Gandhi first started running six years ago, he barely went a quarter of a mile—and he describes it now as...
info_outline 118 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Cecile’s SituationThe Injured Athletes Club
“ How can you let go of the injury? Sometimes when you spend a long time with a chronic injury, it shapes how you move, plan, and think about life and your body. How do you let go when the time has come?” In the seventh season of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, Coach Carrie delves into the complex issue posed by listener Cecile on letting go of the identity formed around a chronic injury. She points out how this attachment can make the...
info_outline 117 | Strongwoman and Author Alyssa Ages: Learning through FailureThe Injured Athletes Club
“Because I wasn't a competitive runner, I don't think I ever had to face failure in that situation … but in strength sports, when I compete, I'm doing that in front of a crowd and a judge who is just looking at me. And it's totally changed the way that I have to handle that fear of failure because it's right there in front of me. I can't escape that someone is looking directly at me and judging whether I've passed or failed. And what I've learned from that is just that it makes you, I think, a better person when you face failure in that way.” On this week’s episode of The...
info_outline 116 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Cassandra’s CocoonThe Injured Athletes Club
“ As someone in long-term recovery, likely 12 to 18 months before I'm running again, I've struggled a lot with the muscle loss and atrophy to the point it's causing identity struggles. I don't look or feel like an athlete anymore. My coach and I will have to literally rebuild my strength and my body. How can I cope?” In the seventh season of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, listener Cassandra is struggling with losing her athletic identity. Coach...
info_outline 115 | Former NCAA Basketball Player Britt Hunter: Pour Into OthersThe Injured Athletes Club
“You need to equip your young adult for how to get through it on their own. So shepherd them. Get them the tools and resources. Let them mess it up a little bit. It's natural to protect, protect, protect, and direct, direct, direct—but your child needs to explore this time on their own a little bit with the right resources and the right people around them. They're going to go through this again and again and again at different stages of their life and going through an injury at a young age, they're going to have to grow up a little bit faster. So help them, but don't control them.”...
info_outline 114 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Jennifer’s JunctionThe Injured Athletes Club
“ How do I walk the fine line between being independent and self-reliant in recovery—a positive—and opting to go it alone, which can be a negative? Separately, I’d love to know more about managing an injury in the context of a chronic condition. For example, I have epilepsy but seizure meds are not great for bone density. Flip side, reducing meds is good for bones but bad for the brain. Doctors can offer guidance but making the decisions is ours alone.” In the seventh season of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every...
info_outline 113 | Ultrarunner Amelia Boone: The Best Days Are AheadThe Injured Athletes Club
“I would tell [Amelia of four years ago] that you may not believe it, but it's gonna get better, and recovery is possible, and honestly, your best running days are to come. And that's something that I've had to tell myself now too. I actually still do believe that, especially as we're seeing women in their 40s just blossoming in distance running.” In this episode of the Injured Athletes Club, Coach Carrie and Cindy are grateful to catch up with our first guest ever—and first repeat guest—elite ultrarunner, championship obstacle course racer, and eating disorder advocate Amelia...
info_outline 112 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Amy’s InquiriesThe Injured Athletes Club
“ I have a question about the mental roadblocks when you are coming back from an injury. How can you handle the sensations you feel when you return to movement and the worry whether you made it worse; the patience to progress back slowly; and the fear that you won’t ever feel 100 percent again?” In the seventh season of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, in response to Amy’s uncertainty about her recovery, Coach Carrie outlines various...
info_outline 111 | Ballet Dancer John Lam: Open to GrowthThe Injured Athletes Club
“Dancing on a high level is—you have to be open. You have to be open that you can get injured. You have to be open that you will have to face things that you don't want to face. Because if we are not open and instead are close-minded, we cannot grow.” In this week’s episode of The Injured Athletes Club, principal dancer at the Boston Ballet, John Lam, discusses his journey from a catastrophic injury back to the stage. He details the physical and mental struggles he encountered during his recovery, emphasizing the importance of patience, personal growth, having a...
info_outline“I always felt like I was supposed to help people in general, and then I just thought, ‘Well, maybe this is actually what I'm supposed to help people with, is navigating nutrition and navigating feeling like they don't belong.’”
So many athletes who cope with injuries and other setbacks emerge with a powerful drive to give back. For Starla Garcia, that desire arose even before she’d reached the other side—when she was still a collegiate runner in the depths of an eating disorder.
Even in her darkest days, Starla knew that when she reached recovery, she would want to help other runners in the same position—especially people of color, who are underrepresented in dietetics and eating disorder treatment.
As she explains in this episode, overcoming challenges has brought her not only a fulfilling career, but the confidence to advocate for herself and others (including at the doctor’s office—something many injured athletes struggle to do, and Starla has amazing advice about this). And, it’s brought her an entirely new perspective on running, one that allows her joy and freedom even as she reaches better, faster times.
NOTE: This episode discusses eating disorders and recovery. If you are dealing with these issues right now and want support, you can call or text the National Eating Disorders Helpline at (800) 931-2237 or chat with someone online at nationaleatingdisorders.org.
Thank you so much to our sponsors for season 6:
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Fluid Running, which has revolutionized fitness by bringing running to the deep water
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IceeNOW.com, which provides innovative injury prevention and recovery solutions for athletes
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ADAM Rehabilitation, creators of the ADAM Brace System, the most stable exercise system built to save the health of your shoulders
Learn more and access exclusive discount codes for their products at buymeacoffee.com/rebound or by joining The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group.
You can subscribe to The Injured Athletes Club on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or a review in Apple podcasts. That helps other injured athletes find the show.
Resources/links:
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Link to purchase the video replay for the IAC webinar she spoke at, Eating During Injury Recovery (doing so helps support the podcast!)
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Starla Garcia is Helping Runners Embrace Their Cultural Identities Through Food, an article by Stacey Megally for Women’s Running