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When every moment becomes a metric.
Published about 4 hours ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, Some weekends remind me why we do this work in the first place. Last month, Staci, Billy, & I spent the day at Drop Deadlift Gorgeous, Solcana Fitness’s annual charity deadlift event here in the Twin Cities. We were in full costume to get in the Halloween spirit, obviously, with Billy charming the entire venue, as he usually does. Athletes, first-time lifters, volunteers, and spectators loaded bars, cheered each other on, and raised $140,000 for trans+ and gender-expansive communities across the Midwest. That brings their total over the past 4 years to over $500,000! It’s difficult to describe the energy of this event, aside from me noting that a long nap was necessary afterward and we’ll definitely return again next year.
And in other exciting news. 🔥 I’ve often joked that you don’t need to know football or hockey to be a successful sport psychologist. That recently changed for me, and I will officially be learning football over the next few months, because Skadi is officially the new sport psychology provider for the Minnesota Minx, a local professional women’s tackle football team! To kick off the partnership, we joined the team’s orientation last week to meet the players and coaches. I’ve never been so excited about football in my life. These are women and non-binary folks holding down careers, families, and a professional sport at the same time. They already know the mental game matters. Our job is to help them play it well, and to remind them they don’t have to do it all alone.
NEW ON SUBSTACK
This week's new piece is called The Optimization Tax, and it answers a question I hear every single week: you're doing all the things, so how much are they actually buying you? You know the routine. Meditate before the morning ride. Visualize the swim start on the drive to work. Rehearse your self-talk during intervals. Track HRV, sleep eight to nine hours, lift 2-3x a week, match your protein grams, skip the champagne at your best friend's wedding, sit in the ice bath, book the massage. Every item on that list is reasonable, but stacked together, they turn into a second job you never applied for, and one that pays out in moderate effects. So I went back to the research to see what it actually supports.
And the piece doesn't stop at the diagnosis. It hands you the tool I use with clients to do something about it: a three-question audit that sorts the habits earning their place from the ones quietly costing you more than they're worth. You can put it to work before the week is out. Pull up your list of habits, routines, and non-negotiables, run each one through the three questions, and see what falls away. Five minutes, and you'll know what to keep, what to drop, and how to let go of the rest without guilt.
To keep up on the latest research, hot takes, and sport psychology for women and gender-expansive athletes, from someone who’s also standing in the parking lot after the race.
🎙️This week on the Feisty Women’s Performance Podcast, Rach McBride shows how turning race‑day nerves into a signal of care and embracing self‑compassion can sustain a 15‑year pro career without burning out. Discover the mindset shift that allows high‑performing athletes to race smarter, not harder. Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
🎤 And speaking of showing up on podcasts: our very own Avery Nelson recently joined The Inner Scoreboard to talk about something we don't say out loud enough: coach mental health. Whether you're coaching youth sport, working at the competitive level, or supporting athletes in another capacity, this one's worth your ears.
📅 On Tuesday, November 17th at 7:00 PM EST, I’ll be joining Woven Endurance (Ironman’s new initiative to grow the women’s fields) for a webinar on Heart Rate Variability. I’ll be breaking down what HRV actually is, and how it serves as a live readout of your nervous system’s health. Poor sleep, a hard training block, work pressure, and hormonal shifts all affect this number, but it’s hard to know how much to pay attention to it, let alone how to improve it.
📅 Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 19 at 2:30–4:00 PM EST where I’ll be joining WomenSport International for their upcoming webinar, “The Personal Is Political, and So Is Your Business Model.” I’ve been asked a lot of questions about Skadi’s business model over the past few years:
Why did you decide to start Skadi?
How do you determine how much and how often to give back, and to whom?
Why do you pay your interns and practicum students, knowing it’s not required?
Why are you so outspoken about supporting trans+ athletes?
What does your community service actually look like?
I don’t see any photos of male athletes on your website or in your social media. Do you work with them, too? (or only girls & women)?
I’ll be sharing answers to many of the above questions during this upcoming webinar with
On November 18, join us for a live hour-long conversation with Chrissy King, writer, speaker, and author of The Body Liberation Project. We’ll explore body liberation vs. body positivity, how racism and other —isms shape beauty standards, and practical first steps toward reclaiming your body as something to honor, not fix.
Interested in joining, join the Skadi Community for the month to gain access to this and so much more!
Ready to connect with fellow athletes who get it? Join the Skadi Community, and access expert-led discussions, mental skills resources, and peer support that fits your life.
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Hi Reader,When you think about your body, where does your mind go first?For most athletes I work with, it goes straight to how we see ourselves. How your body looks in the race photo. How it compares to everyone else on the start line. Whether it looks the way it “should” for someone who trains as much as you do.Researcher Niva Piran has a name for what happens when we get stuck in that evaluator seat: disrupted embodiment. Viewing your body through everyone else’s eyes instead of...
Hi Reader,Ironman launched Woven a few weeks ago, which their new initiative to grow women’s participation in triathlon, with a headline goal of a start line that’s (eventually) 50% women.For context: in 2025, women made up 18% of full-distance Ironman starters. That’s fewer than one woman for every four men at the swim.If you’re a female cyclist reading this, you’re already nodding. You’ve done this math at a start line before.I spent launch night in the comments sections of social media...
Hi Reader,Rest day on the calendar. Your bike stayed in the garage, you slept in, and maybe even felt a little smug about it. 😌Then Tuesday’s easy spin rolled around, and your legs felt like wet cement.If you’ve ever had that moment, standing in the parking lot, legs heavy, wondering what more you could possibly have done, I want to offer you a reframe.Rest and recovery are not the same thing.A rest day removes training stress, but recovery requires your nervous system to actively shift into...
