The third and final episode in our bonus series with On Running is all about recovery with professional steeplechaser Leah Falland.
The third and final episode in our series with On Running is all about recovery with professional steeplechaser Leah Falland. In combination with great training and a strategic recovery plan, in 2021 Leah has become one of the top 20 steeplechasers in the world, and this past season, she ran a personal best for the first time in five years. Leah’s success wouldn’t be possible without a big focus on recovery. She shares her story and some of her best recovery techniques in this episode.
The guests in our series with On Running are not coaches, physical therapists, or doctors. Their advice is for educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice.
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Shelby Stanger:
As a runner, I've learned that recovery is often just as important as running itself. Without resting properly, your body won't be in peak condition for your next hard run. Recovery can help us prevent and heal injuries and give us a break from the impact of our feet pounding the pavement, or even the trail. If you've listened to our last two episodes with On Running, then you've learned about nutrition and training, but your best athletic performance can't happen without recovery, both physical and mental. There are a lot of creative ways to recover. I personally, like surfing or swimming in the ocean, soaking in the salt water, going for a beach walk, taking a nap or if possible, getting a massage, to name a few. In this episode, we unlock tips, tricks and, tools to help you restore your body. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living. Remember the guests in our series with On Running are not coaches, physical therapists or doctors. Their advice is for educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice.
Shelby Stanger:
In our last episode, we talked with Ali Mac about training. One of the things she reinforced was the importance of taking a rest day. Today, we're talking to Leah Falland about rest and recovery. Leah is a professional steeplechaser with a unique career. She went pro in her early twenties, but decided to retire from running a few years ago to focus on rebuilding her mental and physical health. After she stepped away from running, Leah met a coach who convinced her to come out of retirement. In combination with great training and a strategic recovery plan, in 2021, Leah was ranked the third fastest steeplechaser in the US. She's one of the top 20 steeplechasers in the world today. And this past season, she ran a personal best for the first time in five years. Leah's incredible comeback wouldn't have been possible without a big focus on recovery. Before she shares her wisdom on the topic, Leah tells us exactly what the steeplechase is. To me, it's really a badass event. Leah Falland, welcome to one of the final episodes of Wild Ideas Worth Living for 2021.
Leah Falland:
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
Shelby Stanger:
It's been a big year. So for people who don't know you, what kind of running do you do?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I am a distance runner specifically on the track. To be more specific, I am a 3,000 meter steeplechase specialist, which is a wild event. It's almost two miles around the track and you jump over barriers and a water pit. It's very athletic and difficult and crazy. And I don't know why I got into it, but I love it.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. I am kind of curious how you got into it, but you have to have so many skills. The only other steeplechaser racer I knew from college went on to become an American Ninja Warrior.
Leah Falland:
Oh, wow. Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. So maybe that's in your future.
Leah Falland:
Maybe. Wow. I never thought about it, but when I retire, I know where I'm going.
Shelby Stanger:
So this episode is all on recovery and I know that's such an important topic for you. Can you just tell me, I'm sure you've gotten a lot of advice and learned a lot of things over the years. First, why is recovery important to you? And then what's the worst recovery advice you've ever heard?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I've gotten some interesting recovery advice over the years. The best thing that I can advice that I could give somebody about recovery is just understanding yourself and what it takes for you to get back down to normal. And so for me, I really like hanging out with my dogs and spending time with the people that I love and communicating with people. But if you're more of an introvert, taking that time to get your naps in and separate yourself and just knowing what foods you need based on what activities you're doing is really important. So connecting with a nutritionist, doing some of your own research to figure out how to give your body the best nutrition possible. And yeah, I mean just making sure that sleep is super important. I think sleep hygiene is overlooked a lot of the time, making sure that your bedroom is set up in a way that makes it so you can get the sleep that you need. Saying no to plans sometimes is difficult to do because you feel like you have to partake in everything that you commit to. But I think as an athlete, understanding your boundaries and when it's important to you shut things down and go to bed is huge.
Shelby Stanger:
So sleep, sleep is one of the best things that you've used in recovery is my guess.
Leah Falland:
Naps are the best thing in the entire world. I'm such a napper. If I have an hour or two after a really hard workout, some people I know opt to watch a movie or play video games or something, but especially the older that I've gotten so I'm 29 now. I think when I was a younger athlete, it was a bit different, but I need my naps. I can't run 70 to 80 mile weeks without getting sleep during the day. And it doesn't have to be three hours, just an hour or something to kind of reset the system, especially if I'm doubling that day. It's super, super important. And I know the difference if I'm not getting eight to nine hours of sleep during workouts, how I feel.
Shelby Stanger:
What's something else that you've heard that has really been helpful in recovery? Something someone told you that you've tried or that you're using now that you love.
Leah Falland:
Yeah. Something that's really been helpful for me, I kind of have a busy brain. So I think as a distance runner, it's kind of expected that you need to sit on your butt and rest when you are not working out. And oftentimes that means you're watching Netflix, but I find myself getting really sad and low and feeling like I'm not using all of my talents and my brain when I do that. So being a little bit more creative in my free time, picking up different hobbies, even if it doesn't mean I'm going outside of my house. I mean, the beauty of the internet is great. I study interior design. I am into video editing and just doing different types of things with my brain and just stimulating my brain in other ways, that helps me feel a little less stressed when I am on the track and I am running because I know I'm just a well rounded person. And so some people find more reprieve watching a movie or something on a day off, I will take a nap or I'll probably be up tinkering on my computer with another project or something that I'm interested in.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. That's really cool that you do interior design. That's something I could use some help with in my house. As you can see, surfboards are our art right now and they're just being stored in our living room, but it is an aesthetic. So any advice or things that you've tried that really haven't worked when it comes to recovery?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I mean, recovery in itself is when you get down to it, it's pretty simple. But I think things that I've done that haven't helped, I think if I'm really stressed, just feeling like I have to keep adding more to my plate and going out and having a couple drinks with friends, even when I don't necessarily want to. I think people always say you have to have that work life balance and that is true, but not letting other people dictate your schedule, I think is the most important thing. And being able to say no and setting those strong boundaries. Like I said, I had to learn how to do that because when you're in college and you're in early twenties, you just want to please everyone and be social, but you don't always have to do that.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay. I want to talk to you about mental recovery as well because that's such a big part, but before we get there, there's active recovery and there's passive recovery and I'm sure there's different ways you recover in season versus out of season. For us that are not pros, but maybe we have some races coming up in the new year, we have some big plans. How do we think about active recovery versus passive recovery and what that looks like?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I mean, in season I'm more likely to default to yoga or going out and getting massages and just doing stuff that it's like that mind body connection, just being able to slow my brain down and get into that place. I think when I'm in my off season, which is typically two weeks long, I'm more likely to go on hikes or go camping with my husband and my dogs or take my dogs for a long walk and spend time with them. And then just reminding myself to cultivate those other parts of myself in my downtime is super important and it really helps my brain and my body when I get back to hard training because I feel like I honored myself in different ways and it helps, A, make you hungry to come back and train more. And B, just resetting your endocrine system after you've definitely pushed your body that hard is super important. And so my coach now, Dathan Ritzenhein, he was a professional runner as well. And he does a really good job of making sure that we're taking those couple of weeks or those days that we need for active and passive recovery.
Shelby Stanger:
So how do we build active and passive recovery into our training plans with the new year coming up?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I think creating a schedule for yourself in advance because it's easy to get overwhelmed as the week progresses. And if you don't have things written down or at least I've found if I don't have things written down, it's harder for me to prioritize that recovery, even though I know that I need it. So yeah, getting a planner and saying, "On this day, I want to prioritize yoga or on this day, I'm going to go for a walk with my dogs." And there's no exceptions here. That is one of my top priorities. Like I said, it's just so easy to get acted by the dishes or feeling like you have to call a friend or do X, Y, and Z. And before you know it, it's way too late in the day and you haven't done the recovery that you plan to do. So journaling is huge.
Shelby Stanger:
I have a lot of friends that are professional surfers and a lot of them will tell me, especially the older guys, "My recovery days are active days that I planned. So if I'm getting a massage, that is a workout. I do not stack surfing on top of a massage day. A massage can take a lot out of your body. After that, I drink a lot of water and I rest." Or they'll do yoga and that's it. They do yoga. And I used to think I used to be a really competitive athlete. And so I would do yoga. I would go running and I would surfing, I would just stack, stack, stack, stack stack, but then I was never recovered.
Leah Falland:
Yeah. I think being intentional about your days and also knowing your limits and what makes you feel good and what doesn't make you feel good, but it's hard to say what everyone should do because everyone is so unique and different things click with different people. But yeah, if you're feeling like you're lacking motivation in your training or just a little bit exhausted and bogged down, that's the time where you kind of lean into different recovery sources and decide, "Hey, maybe I do like Yoga with Adriene on YouTube." It's the easiest thing in the world. You just Google it and then whatever you're feeling like you need that day. She basically has everything. If you just feel like you need to breathe or, but...
Shelby Stanger:
She even has yoga for runners, Yoga with Adriene. It's so funny that you said that because our producer is a huge Yoga with Adriene fan.
Leah Falland:
She's great.
Shelby Stanger:
Awesome. So you can free YouTube yoga sessions. That's been really helpful and I really like her yoga recovery.
Leah Falland:
Meditation is super, super helpful so Tara Brach is another. She does these wellness talks and guided meditations. And like I said, since I have a busy brain, sometimes I'll just plug one of her meditations in and go for a walk or something. And it just helps me reset and just feel a little bit more, I don't know, centered moving forward into my next activity. And I feel more capable of moving forward with my training after that.
Shelby Stanger:
I love that. So I'm actually reading her book, Radical Acceptance, right now. Tara Brach is pretty amazing.
Leah Falland:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
I do a really simple meditation that might help people listening. It's something I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh, who's a Buddhist monk. He was nominated for a nobel prize by Martin Luther King. And he does breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile. So breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile. And you say that to yourself and if I can do five minutes, I feel so centered.
Leah Falland:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
We should have done some meditation before this podcast.
Leah Falland:
Seriously.
Shelby Stanger:
So I can tell you're really well versed in this stuff. And mental recovery, I've heard you speak about before is really important to you. Depression and anxiety run in my family. I talked to you briefly, you said you're recently diagnosed with ADHD. I have a very busy brain as well so I completely relate to you. You're like a kindred spirit. Talk to me about mental recovery and how you incorporate that into your routine.
Leah Falland:
Yeah. I've had to work really, really hard at getting myself to slow down and relax. It does not come naturally to me at all. And even in college, I had to learn how to just sit and breathe because I always want to go. I always feel like I have to be doing something. And I think with ADHD, I mean the things that really have help me, first of all, when I was really struggling, because I have struggled with anxiety and depression in the past, especially when I wasn't diagnosed, just because I didn't understand what was going on. I just knew that I couldn't sleep and I was always anxious and I was having a hard time completing tasks and I started cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a lot different than just regular talk therapy. So it's like therapy with homework and really clear intention. And that really resonated with me and something clicked. And I was able to just think about the way that I was thinking as opposed to feeling like I was just at the mercy of my thoughts at all times, like I didn't have any control over it. And then from there, I discovered different meditation podcasts and different, like Headspace, different resources online and books. I think that really helped. I think understanding the way your brain is operating and also really understanding the fight or flight response and how that impacts everything in your body. I carry a lot of tension around when I don't take days sometimes or at least an hour a day where I am allowing myself to just sit and breathe. And that tension, if I let it sit for too long and build and build and build, that's when I get injured. And I was in an injury cycle for pretty much three to four years straight where I'd get back into training and then fall flat on my butt. And it wasn't until I discovered cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation, yoga, and intentional breathing, that I was able to kind of mitigate some of those symptoms and move forward with my training and have years of healthy running. But it took a long time and it took a lot of learning. And people say like, "Oh, just breathe, just meditate, just get more sleep." And for some people that really isn't as easy as it sounds or an option at all. And so learning to ask for help, which is really hard because you sometimes you don't know where to begin, but reaching out to a therapist or your doctor. And just saying like, "These are the things that I'm really struggling with, where should I look?" Or just Googling it online, go to the Googler and write like, "Why am I feeling this way?" And you'll probably find somebody else or a group of people who feel that way and then better resources from there. So it's just being your own advocate in those situations and figuring out what works for you.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, I appreciate you sharing as an athlete how improving your mental game and embracing the fact that you have anxiety and you've dealt with depression, you've dealt with ADHD, and how addressing that with therapy has actually helped you improve your running and your life, I imagined, just everything. It's a big snowball effect. In my research on you, I read that you had a really public fall in a huge meet leading up to those big games that happen in Japan every year and you're in third place and you fell, which is pretty easy to fall doing the steeplechase I feel like. But I get at an elite competition why that would be just so tragic. How did you mentally recover from that? What tactics did you use?
Leah Falland:
Yeah, so I did fall during the qualifier for Tokyo, which really sucked. I worked for years and years and then COVID hit and then you're working even more to make it to that team. And when I fell, initially there was shock. And then obviously there was sadness and I did an interview probably 15 minutes after that race, which I felt like I did a pretty good job at that point of just explaining where I was at. It's somewhere online. But after that initial shock and sadness, and then the acceptance, I was able to accept it pretty quickly just because I am 29 and I was injured in the last trials, I had a foot injury and it was a horrible experience. And so leading into these trials, I said, "I'm going to have a good time with this. I'm going to give it my best and I'm not going to leave with any regrets." And I hit that goal. So I couldn't be upset with myself at that point. But since then, I've definitely dealt with a lot of anxiety and frustration with myself. And I mean, I went to Sweden and I ran my PR a week later and I had a great race, but then I came home and my foot got a little bit sore. And there's even when you make it through something and you're really strong through it publicly and those private moments, you're still going to have those thoughts of like, "Oh, that just sucks. I wish I would've done it differently." And you're going to think about what you can improve. And actually since that race, the symptoms since the trials, I've started to realize there's something more here than just anxiety and depression and ADHD runs in my family, but I didn't do a ton of research on it. And I didn't ask a lot of questions when I first got diagnosed in 2017 with clinical anxiety. And the more I thought about it and the more I researched ADHD and understood that it is a genetic condition that runs in my family, that situation just it put me under a lot of pressure. It challenged my brain in a different way. But since then, I mean, that's what pushed me to go in and get another psychiatric evaluation and talk to an integrated psychiatrist. And I got the ADHD diagnosis and she started me on ADHD medication and it's going to change my life. It has changed my life all already and it's changing my family and it will continue to change my family. I'm one of six kids. My dad has ADHD. My oldest brother has it. And all six of us have struggled with our mental health, but have struggled to find answers. And the research on it has improved so much in the last decade. So the situation was horrible, but it pushed me to understand myself more and I continue to find ways to heal from it because it's not just one day, you don't care about something traumatic that happened to you, but you can use it as fuel to understand yourself better and move forward in a healthier and stronger way.
Shelby Stanger:
Thank you for sharing that. I didn't know if we were going to go there today and I really appreciate it.
Leah Falland:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
You're one of six kids. That's amazing. I'm impressed. We've all had this big holiday. I'm sure seasons are either coming to an end or they're in the middle of it, or people are gearing up for the new year. Any tips on just how to recover after the holidays?
Leah Falland:
I think just accepting that there are going to be days where you feel pretty exhausted. You think going home and spending time with family and traveling is just going to energize you. But realistically at the end of all it, you probably eaten a lot and stuff that you normally wouldn't eat so you feel a little bloated and blah. And then you've interacted with a lot of different people that you don't see all the time. And I think instead of getting upset with yourself, feeling like you should be handling the situation better, it's just being kind to yourself and finding those moments in those times when you can separate and check in with yourself and make sure that you're taking care of those little things that you know that you need to feel grounded and happy and not giving up on the things that give you energy and make you feel good when you're at home. So if you need exercise and you know you need to get out and you're at your in-laws or you're somewhere different, setting a goal to find a cool running path or a place that you're really excited to go explore and doing that thing for you on the holidays, because it can get a little busy and wild and just not feeling guilty about how you feel about the holidays. I think there's a lot of pressure on the holidays to be something.
Shelby Stanger:
That was the coolest answer ever. And I think that you just basically unleashed the best recovery tactic ever besides naps, which is kindness. And not just kindness to other people, but to yourself and getting rid of those shoulds, stop should-ing on yourself, especially during the holidays.
Leah Falland:
Yes.
Shelby Stanger:
Because it doesn't work. You're going to be with your crazy aunt, your crazy sisters, your crazy whatever. And people are going to say funny things that kind of trigger you. And you're just going to have to learn to do the things that make you feel good.
Leah Falland:
Heck yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
So tips on building a recovery plan going into the new year. People are starting to make the race schedules and maybe they have these big plans, like go to the gym, get fit, or do a fourteener or hike a mountain or go skiing or rock climb, or take up this new sport, or maybe some people want to learn the steeplechase, which good for them. I'd be stoked for them.
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I guess I'll go back to the goal setting that I originally learned when I was young, in college, it's to make short term, intermediate, and long term goals. So imagine yourself deep into the new year or the next five years, what you really want out of what you are attempting to accomplish. Intermediate, well, let's skip to short term. So short term, you're thinking about what do you need to do just in your surrounding right now? And what do you need to do on a daily basis to get to where you want to be? And I'm going to go back to intentionality. It's the little stuff that adds up. So writing down a goal that you know you're going to be able to hit. If you're writing something down and you know kind of in the back of your mind like, "I don't know if I'm actually going to get to that thing." Then it's probably not the right goal to start with. So those short term goals are just like, "I want to try to drink more water. I want to get to bed at 10 o'clock every night, no exceptions." If you know that you need to do more active, like brain recovery, starting a new project or something that you're really excited about because we all have those things in the back of our minds, like the shoulds. I really want to do that thing or I should do that thing. And then your intermediate goals are kind of the things that you want to accomplish in the short term or in the near future. So that's when you're writing your race plans and deciding what ideal races you'd be able to get into. So if you want to run a something in the spring, put that on your calendar for your intermediate goal. In the spring, I want to run this 5K or I want to bike at this place, or I want to swim this distance at this pace and then build your short term goals around that. So I need to drink this much water. I need to get to bed at this time. I need to run or exercise this amount during the week. And so how am I going to make my week fit into that and take care of what other obligations you have? So it's just like breaking it down in a more digestible way for your brain, as opposed to looking at, "Oh, I want to do this race in nine months." Where do I even begin? You'll get there. You just need to do the next thing and the bite size pieces first.
Shelby Stanger:
Love it. That's great advice. So any other hacks really quickly before we leave that you have for recovery, like one of your teammates had a cool foot massager, any new year's gifts that we need to go out and buy that just are a little bit easier than obviously meditation and naps are free, but anything else that we should look into?
Leah Falland:
Yeah. I think for recovery products, just finding the best stuff out there and putting it in your line of sight or our loved ones' line of sight as a gift increases the likelihood that you will do those small tasks to recover. So I recommend ROLL Recovery. They actually are a Boulder based company and our gym is in their facility. Great company, amazing people who own it, but they have this line of rollers. So yeah. ROLL Recovery, they have great stuff. And then, yeah, I did just buy a shiatsu, I have the foot massager. So I bought the foot massager on Amazon and I have a really hard time getting myself to roll my feet. I also have Raynaud's so I have really bad circulation so it has heat and compression and yeah, it's really nice.
Shelby Stanger:
So the shiatsu foot massager was you. Okay. That looks amazing and ROLL Recovery, I just looked them up. Their products look absolutely incredible. I've never seen anything like that.
Leah Falland:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
That's cool.
Leah Falland:
Yeah. Really good stuff.
Shelby Stanger:
And you're on their site so I can tell that they're lucky to have you.
Leah Falland:
We love them. It's a symbiotic relationship.
Shelby Stanger:
Awesome. You talked about a couple books and podcasts you love, can you share some of those?
Leah Falland:
Yeah. I listen to a lot of Tara Brach's meditations and talks. Jane Goodall has a book called Hope. I'm reading that, I just got into it. I really like that. Your Brain's Not Broken for any ADHDers out there is also very, very good. Alexi Pappas, who's a professional runner has a book called Bravey.
Shelby Stanger:
So good.
Leah Falland:
So good. Yeah. She's an amazing person. I just really loved reading that books. So those are the three that I'm... So ADHD. I go through books three or four at a time and finish them at different times, but that's where I'm at right now.
Shelby Stanger:
That's not very ADD. The fact that you get through books seems pretty awesome. I have 20 books on my desk right now that I'm reading parts of and trying to write one.
Leah Falland:
Well, yeah. It's just snippets of everything all the of time.
Shelby Stanger:
What are you training for next?
Leah Falland:
I am training for my indoor season. So we have indoor track and outdoor track. It's hard to really set my schedule because all of it depends, especially with COVID, but I will be hopefully doing some races indoor in January and February. And then the World Championships are in the spring in Eugene, Oregon, which if you're a running fan at all or you just want to see some really cool track, keep that in the back of your mind, the World Championships are coming to the United States, which is huge. So yeah, I'm going to try to make the team this year.
Shelby Stanger:
Wow. That's awesome. Leah, you are very cool. Thank you for your wisdom and your words. And if you're ever in San Diego, I'm happy to take you surfing.
Leah Falland:
I would love to surf.
Shelby Stanger:
You're more than welcome to redecorate our house too.
Leah Falland:
Yeah, I'd love to. My husband's Australian so if he's with me, he loves surfing and he keeps wanting to take me surfing so we might have to.
Shelby Stanger:
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and remember it's okay to take a walk alone or give yourself some extra TLC, even maybe a self massage during this time of year. Creating a habit of rest and self care now can set us up for success before the new year even begins. Thank you so much to Leah for coming on Wild Ideas Worth Living. Leah, I loved talking to you and picking your brain about all of the amazing books, resources and habits you've discovered to help you recover and perform your best. You can learn more about Leah by following her on Instagram at leah_falland. That's L-E-A-H underscore F-A-L-L-A-N-D. You can also check out her videos at Leah Falland on YouTube. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, written and edited by Annie Fassler and Sylvia Thomas, and it's produced by Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. This series on running is brought to you by On Running. As always we appreciate when you follow this show, when you rate it, and when you review it wherever you listen because we read every single one of your reviews and they mean a ton help this show get into the ears of more people. And remember some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.