Nutritional Revolution Podcast · Kyla Channell, MSc Nutrition & Human Performance

Mind Over Miles: Pro Gravel Cyclist Haley Smith on Fueling Smart and Racing Strong

·51 min·2 clips

Kyla Chanel opens by framing the show around science-based sports nutrition, athlete experience, and race-day reality. She introduces Haley Smith as a professional off-road cyclist and Olympian from Canada. Haley's background includes an elite mountain bike World Cup podium, a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, multiple national championship titles, and a win at the inaugural Lifetime Grand Prix. The interview gives space to Haley's story before moving into the nutritional and psychological details that matter most for endurance athletes. A central thread is the link between fueling, anxiety, and performance. The discussion notes that caffeine can raise anxiety for some athletes, and that genetic differences may help explain why certain stimulants feel useful for one person and draining for another. Haley and Kyla talk through whether those differences can be tested, and the conversation turns to consumer genetics and nutrigenomics tools. The episode then shifts to the broader problem of under-fueling. Kyla explains how persistent fatigue, recurring injuries, and plateaued performance can point to low energy availability or RED-S. She stresses that many standard medical checks miss the deeper hormonal and metabolic markers needed to see the full picture. The practical side includes thyroid markers, reproductive hormones, IGF-1, inflammation, iron, vitamin D, and metabolic labs. The tone stays conversational rather than clinical. Haley's academic interests also come through, especially her master's in sports psychology and her PhD work in the same discipline. The episode ties those studies back to the day-to-day reality of racing and recovering as an athlete. It moves cleanly from biography to mechanism to application, without losing the interview feel. That structure keeps the nutritional guidance grounded in lived experience instead of theory alone. The result is a clear conversation about how endurance performance is shaped by both physiology and the mind. It ends with Haley describing a future in a university environment as a professor and performance consultant.

As heard by us

Practical fueling talk with athlete perspective and mental-health context.

Haley Smith grounds the conversation in athlete experience, giving the discussion real texture around fueling, anxiety, RED-S, caffeine tolerance, genetic testing, recovery signals, and low energy availability.

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Why you'd press play

Want a practical look at fueling, RED-S, and race-day reality with a pro cyclist?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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