Latest / C Tolle Run / 449: Elyse Kopecky - I Felt Stronger, Happier, and Healthier

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449: Elyse Kopecky - I Felt Stronger, Happier, and Healthier · C Tolle Run

• Carrie Tollefson: This episode is brought to you by Tailwind Nutrition. My training has just been sort of get out and go lately, but I was sent some Tailwind last year and I have used it here and there and I love the taste. I love that my stomach handles it really well and I love that so many people that I trust and follow use it as well. Hi Lis, I'm so excited to have you on T Tally Run! Elyse: Hi Carrie, it's awesome to connect with you. I love your podcast. Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ thanks. I mean, I feel like I know you because it's just we have so many people in the same circle that we know, but I think this is like the first time we're ever gonna have like a full on. Maybe not just like, ⁓ there's Elise Kopeki over there. You know, like I think we're actually gonna get some time to chat. So I appreciate your time. When Tailwind sent me some product last year, I shared it with my dad right away. He was getting ready to bike across Iowa in a ride called the Rag Bri. He was training a lot more and doing way longer endurance rides than I was, and he swore by it. And he will again be tackling the 400-mile ride with my sister Stacy and my husband Charlie this year. And yep, they will be fueled by Tailwind. They are all different athletes, and so am I. But this is an easy product on the stomach, it gives steady energy. It's an Elyse: Thank you, it's an honor. I yeah, I can't believe we haven't crossed paths at any races yet in the last two decades, but Carrie Tollefson: I know. It's wild. It's wild. But it's been kind of fun because I mean obviously Shillane Flanagan and I raced against each other. We're friends and you know I've I know her well. And you obviously are very tight with Shallane. But now you have Jessie Diggins on board too. You've been working with her. And so just all these like Shalane's mom was she spent some time in Minnesota, Jesse Diggins from Minnesota. You were here in Minnesota for Shred to She last year with the Berkey. Like there's just a bunch of Minnesota connections. So I was excited to hear all about them. So thank All-in-one fuel that combines calories, hydration, and electrolytes in one drink. So runners, cyclists, skiers, I mean, even my little basketball players can focus on what they're doing instead of worrying about the fueling plan. Whether you're training for your next race, heading out for a long adventure, or simply looking to stay hydrated throughout the day, Tailwind makes it easy to fuel and hydrate with confidence. Thanks so much to Tailwind and to all of our listeners. Please visit tailwindnutrition.com and use the code TOLLY20. Thanks for your time. Elyse: Yeah, it's crazy. We have a huge fan base in the Midwest and especially Minnesota. I'm like, wow, this I need to spend more time in ⁓ in the Midwest 'cause I mean, we see so much traffic to our site coming specifically from Minnesota. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. ⁓ That's great. I mean, you have had so many fun things going on. I mean, I first got to know you when you and Shallane started writing your cookbooks. And so I have a I think I have two of the three. And you know, it's just it they're they're easy cookbooks, they're they're good. I actually love to like my one of my favorite recipes was the breakfast burritos. I would put them in the freezer as you guys recommended and you know get them out. And so I mean there was just like it was just fun to see that you were doing things that we all could do. For 20% off your order. That's T-O-L-L-E 20 for 20% off at tailwindnutrition.com. Hey everyone, I'm Olympian Carrie Tulofson, and welcome to the C Tolly Run Podcast. This week on the pod, super excited. We are gonna have Superhero Muffin Mix founder and mastermind behind this ever-growing business, Elise Kopecki. She explains herself as a busy mom, runner, and business owner, and I'd say she's that and so much more. Her bio reads like this: Elise Kopecki is a three-time New York Times best-selling author. She's an educator, an entrepreneur, and a speaker. But yet you're still like very normal. Like you're a runner, you're a mom, you're a speaker, you have you have running retreats or wellness retreats. You do all these fun things besides doing these awesome cookbooks. And now your superhero muffins are for like everywhere. Like we can go and find them wherever we want them in stores. Like, how cool is this, Elise? She is also the co-author of Run Fast, Eat Slow, Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow, and Rise and Run, with four-time Olympian and New York City Marathon champion Shelly Flanagan. Elyse: Yeah, it's been quite the journey from cookbooks to launching a company this past year. the Superhero Muffin Mixes, I just saw such a need in the running community for something time saving because everywhere I went, like I started to just be called the superhero muffin mom. And ⁓ I started to become like more known for superhero muffins than anything else. But time and again people told me like how much time like it takes a lot of time to make ⁓ from scratch. So ⁓ a year ago I told my husband, like, I really think I need to do this as like my next project. ⁓ Carrie Tollefson: Elise is also the founder of Superhero Muffin Mixes. It's a line of wholesome, time-saving baking mixes on a mission to help busy people choose freshly baked fuel over ultra-processed convenience foods. I love this. So we talk all about that. We talk all about her running journey, her fueling journey, having kids, starting a business, so much more. So let's get after it. Mm. Elyse: People keep asking me to write another cookbook, but I wasn't feeling that. And I was feeling like drawn to to launching this company and seeing how it would go. And it's been amazing to put something out there that is as healthy and nourishing as our cookbook recipes, but takes just five minutes of prep time to to bake a fresh batch. Carrie Tollefson: Thanks so much for joining me today on CTALIRON. My guest was Elise Kopecki. You can find her on social media at Elise Kopecky. Before we go, a big shout out to Rundot for supporting the show and to Andrew Harley and Sarah Bernie, the amazing producers behind the Try Dot, Run Dot, and CTALIRUN podcasts. Also, thanks to Tailwind Nutrition for supporting this episode as well. If you'd like to try it out or if you want to order, please use a code TOLLY20 for 20% off at tailwindnutrition.com. And if you're a fan of the pod, we'd love your Yeah. That's what I think I love. I mean, yeah, there are some tedious things in some of the recipes that you have, but they always come out and taste so good that it's worth it. But I really think that now that you have your children and you're busy as well, you kind of are like, I I need it probably easier too. I can't be doing all of this stuff. So tell me that process of like how you actually figure out where to go and bring your product and then have them, you know, do it in bulk and all that stuff. How did you figure this all out? Elyse: Yeah. Carrie Tollefson: support please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and share the show with your friends it really helps others discover the podcast Elyse: I'm still figuring out. I'm figuring it out as we go. ⁓ we just launched ⁓ the end of last year, so it hasn't even been a full year yet. But ⁓ I think if I had known what I know now, like a year ago, I probably never would have started this company. But it's just one of those things like you jump in and then you're like in deep and you gotta just keep going every day. ⁓ the grocery channel has been like very complicated for us to to crack. So we're just staying in our first year, we're just focusing on. Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ And you can head on over to CTallyRun if you want to watch some more videos. You head on over to YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram. We're everywhere. Thank you so much for joining us today. And don't forget to get after it. Elyse: direct to consumer and then run specialty stores ⁓ and like outdoor shops. ⁓ we are dabbling, we'll be launching on Thrive Market, but other than that, we're gonna just like pump the brakes. I was like, go, go, go, let's get into like all the major like Whole Foods type stores. But we realized ⁓ we want to just stay true to our roots and focus on serving the running community. So now we're just focusing on ⁓ launching and run specialty shops in the next couple months. ⁓ and we're local we're local to Bend Oregon. So we're in the foot zone in Bend and Carrie Tollefson: Yep. Elyse: ⁓ a local market here, but otherwise just ⁓ direct to consumer on our website. ⁓ but yeah it's been a long road to go through like the recipe development and all the approvals and the packaging design and then working with a co-packer in Denver who's making the product and sourcing all the ingredients and focusing on ⁓ the highest quality ingredients we can source and then ⁓ every production run we make like fifteen thousand bags of mix. So it's a big, a big undertaking. Carrie Tollefson: Denver, okay. Hmm, that's wow. I know that's what I was wondering. Like where do you have to go? And is it like, okay fam, see you, I'll be back in a month, I'll be back in three days? Like what is that kind of process like when you have to go to Denver then and help with that processing? Elyse: I've only gone to Denver once to meet our Copacker. We've been really lucky to find someone amazing from the beginning. ⁓ he does all of our manufacturing and all of our fulfillment. So everything is shipped from Denver, which is great because best shipping product from Bend is like well, shipping product in general is very expensive, but shipping from Bend takes a really long time. We have a lot of fans in the Midwest, a lot of fans on the East Coast. So being in Denver is great for being able to fulfill orders quickly and and get them out there. ⁓ Yeah, and people keep coming back and ordering ⁓ more and we have five star reviews on our website, so that's reassuring. Carrie Tollefson: So good. Yeah, that is really cool. What I love is I mean, I I just saw this post that you had and it was so funny. It was like, you know, what do I do in a day? And you're like, I'm a CEO, I'm a founder, I'm in sales, I'm ops, I'm in product development, marketing, design, finance assistant, like all of these things. Like, you guys gotta go and check out that post. But it is so true. When you have your own business like this, you are doing things 24-7. And I think that's what's so neat about following along in your journey. And also the way that you do social media, like it was so pretty to see how they actually feel. the bags with the muffin mix. I was like mesmerized by that. Elyse: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So I'm a solo founder. My husband helps me behind the scenes, but he has a full time job also. So I'm I'm literally doing I have a couple consultants and contractors on the side that are awesome and a team of all women, which has been amazing to work with. ⁓ but otherwise I'm like the sole founder and I do everything, you know, from the marketing to working on content for the website to like developing the recipes and the product and managing Our production team. And then also, if someone emails me and tells me that their muffin mix got stolen from their porch by a bear, I'm the one replying or like dealing with like resending product. But that literally just happened last week where someone emailed us and was like, A bear took my muffin mix from my porch. Can you resend it? Carrie Tollefson: Of course a bear loved it. I mean they smelled blueberries, I'm sure, or you know, chocolate banana, whatever. That's amazing. What is that called when you put a bunch of different it's like a you had all your muffins showcased, sort of. And I thought that was in a bigger store. Elyse: ⁓ yeah, that's a local grocery store in Bend that we've Yeah. Yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Okay, okay. So you put them there. Otherwise, like you said, you can go through the website or find them at a lot of the running stores. Soon. Okay. ⁓ I got lots of ideas there for sure. Well, tell me a little bit about your running journey and and how you got into this, because the run came before Elyse: Yeah, soon, soon, soon, soon. Any running stores in the Midwest that you recommend, let me know and we'll reach out to them. Carrie Tollefson: you know, your your love of nutrition and food. I mean, obviously we all love food, but it kind of evolved from your run. Elyse: Yes. Yeah, so I've been a runner since I was 12 years old. ⁓ so I'm 44 now, so that's a long time to call myself a runner. ⁓ but I love it. I love just this morning being outside at sunrise on the trails, especially in Bend. Like we have trail access right out our door. ⁓ I went to I ran in college at UNC Chapel Hill. ⁓ my roommate Shallane Flanagan was ⁓ my claim to fame from college. I got injured a lot. In high school I didn't really train. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Nice. Elyse: And I grew up in the 80s and it was low-fat everything. And I suffered from athletic amenorrhea. I didn't get my period. I had low bone density density and I suffered from back-to-back stress fractures in college. ⁓ after college, I got an amazing job with Nike running, moved out to Portland to work for Nike. And during my time, my cr ten year career working at Nike, I had the chance to live abroad in Europe and work abroad, and that's when my entire pr approach to nutrition changed. My time living in Switzerland, I discovered. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Elyse: indulge what I call indulgent nourishment, so healthy fats. ⁓ so I'd grown up on all this low fat stuff and once I got to Switzerland and I was eating butter and cheeses and full fat like grass fed ground beef versus like light and lean and low fat everything, my health immediately changed. ⁓ I felt stronger and happier and healthier and I started running stronger and I didn't have the digestion issues and I didn't have the ⁓ the missed periods and so my bone density got better and I got stronger. ⁓ and I knew once we moved back to the US that I wanted to leave the corporate world and do something completely different. So I took the plunge after working for 10 years and went back to school and studied culinary nutrition in New York and then went back to Portland and reunited with Shelane. And she was the f my first friend that I worked with to help revamp her nutrition. And meanwhile she's in the midst of making the transition from the 10K to the marathon. And she was telling me how she felt hungry all the time. And I just told her, like, maybe you need to eat butter. And her mind was like, what? And so I started introducing to her, like eating all the healthy fats. And she started running better and feeling less that constant hunger where you're just like snacking on sugary cereal, but you're never like really satisfied. So once I got her to eat all these indulgent rich foods that we had not grown up on, ⁓ she was training better and racing better as well. So Carrie Tollefson: Uh-huh. Elyse: That's when we had the idea to write our first cookbook together and I can't believe it, but that was in two thousand and sixteen. So it's exactly a decade. ⁓ August two thousand and sixteen, so exactly a decade since our first book came out. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. I mean that is so cool. Do you know that ⁓ she stayed or she I took her around campus? I think she stayed with me on her recruiting trip to Villanova. I know. I didn't win her over enough. Elyse: okay. Yeah, I guess ⁓ we're like the same. Are you an eighty one? Carrie Tollefson: No, well I'm a seventy seven, so I'm older, so I was I think a fifth fourth or fifth year there. And so she came and Yes, I know, but you got lucky, you got to room with her. Elyse: ⁓ okay. ⁓ okay. I don't I never knew that story. That's awesome. Small world. I love our I love our generation of all the amazing women that were racing during that period of graduating around, you know, two thousand to two thousand and four. I feel like there were so many amazing runners that I still connect with. and that like I went on to like maintain relationships with when Carrie Tollefson: I know. Yeah. Yeah. Elyse: various runners were at different sports companies th ⁓ through my first career. So Carrie Tollefson: Yeah, I agree. I think it's a a really nice group of people and maybe we need to do a running retreat, you and I, with all those people. Cause I know they're just a lot of people and it'd be fun to see where everyone's at and what they're doing. Now you have children. So let's talk a little bit about that. And then I still wanna hear how your running journey is nowadays. But you know, you went from not having your period, you said, for many, many years. So then you d obviously got it back and you were able to have children pretty quick after. Elyse: Yeah, sounds good. Yes, so I had ⁓ years and years of doctors telling me I would have trouble getting pregnant someday, but not one doctor ever told me to change my diet. ⁓ they told me like, ⁓ once you're ready to have kids, we'll put you on this hormone and this and you'll be fine. ⁓ but I didn't need to do any of that. I just needed to eat ⁓ all these wholesome, indulgent, healthy fats. and I got pregnant very quickly with my first this as soon as we decided to to start trying. And same with my second. So I feel really lucky that I discovered nutrition and I really want to inspire other women who are athletic, ⁓ who think that like pregnancy is gonna be a really difficult journey to just focus on, you know, nutrition and not stressing and and it will it will happen. ⁓ I mean there's a time and a place obviously for the medical intervention as with everything, but I feel really grateful. And now it's crazy. My ⁓ daughter's going off to middle school, she's 12. So ⁓ I have an eight year old and a twelve year old. Carrie Tollefson: Mm-hmm. Elyse: twelve year old and they still keep me really busy. So my I always joke that I'm like a stay-at-home mom with a full-time job or multiple full-time jobs because I'm the one who works from home. So I'm doing all the like juggling. ⁓ so yeah, like right now my son is at tutoring, but he'll be hanging out with me while I work the rest of the day. ⁓ I used to feel a lot of mom guilt for being a working mom ⁓ and not being able to be as involved with like volunteering at school and various things. Carrie Tollefson: Yes. Yep. Yeah. Elyse: But now I realize as my kids are older, like they have just grown up to be so independent and they ⁓ have figured out how to do things like my son makes his own own breakfast every morning because I'm out on a run and ⁓ squeezing that in before, you know, they leave for school. My kids are just like very self sufficient and confident and independent and I attribute that to being like I just couldn't do everything for them. It was just not possible. Carrie Tollefson: I really need to hear that right now. Because my kids So I Ruby just turned sixteen and then our boys are thirteen and ten. And Elyse: Helder Helda yours. Carrie Tollefson: They're getting there. I mean, they're, you know, older than your kids, but I think too, like, even I I need to get back in the gym and I'm like, but I wanna be home after my run to make them breakfast and to see them off on the bus. But it it takes time to the away, not it's not time away from me, but it does take time to be home and to wait for them to get on a bus or whatever. And so it's good to hear that You are gonna get your run in, even if they have to make breakfast, but you'll probably see them off on the bus. Like I just need to remember that it's okay to do that for ourselves. Elyse: Yes. Yeah, so my eight year old, he is obsessed with we also have superhero waffle mix. So I make a double batch of superhero waffles literally twice a week because he loves them so much. And so I have ⁓ already like pre cooked and they're in the fridge. ⁓ so I just leave him a note. Like my husband travels a lot for work, so he's really like on his own. Like, ⁓ and his sister his sister sleeps in, she sleeps till eight. But if there was like something urgent, he could wake her up. I'm not leaving an eight year old completely alone. But Carrie Tollefson: Yep. Yeah. He has her, yeah. Elyse: Yeah, he just I leave him a note and he loves my little notes because then he wakes up and he knows like he's gonna take his waffle out of the fridge and put it in the toaster and when I'm gone he can p pour as much maple syrup as he wants, like maple syrup everywhere, but he gets his own like water and makes his breakfast and he's really proud of it. Like when I come back, he's like tells me, like, Mom, I fed the dog, I did my fifteen minutes of reading, and now I'm watching a show. So like he knows he has to like get dressed, brush his teeth, eat breakfast, feed the dog, ⁓ before he can wipe. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Yeah. Elyse: watch a show and then yeah, it's summer's different because we don't start as early during the school year. ⁓ I'm home in time to to walk them to the bus stop. Carrie Tollefson: Sure. That's nice. I know. It that's something about routine. And it seems like that's how you are as well. Like do you normally get up right away and go for your run? Elyse: Yeah, I mean I ⁓ don't run every day. ⁓ I'm a big believer. probably right now I'm training to get ready for the Alps. ⁓ we have a retreat coming up in Switzerland next month. So I'm running like, you know, four or five days a week. ⁓ and I do yoga one one day a week and I'm trying to strength train, but I'm much better at strength training in the winter than in the summer. So and I mount mountain bike like once a week. ⁓ but my strength training has kind of fallen Carrie Tollefson: Okay. What do you run? How many times a week do you run? Yeah. Elyse: the side with like trying to just get in some more run days. But in the winter I maybe only run like three days a week ⁓ because I'm just doing other stuff like Nordic skiing and strength training and yoga. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Hm. Elyse: So I'm ⁓ very much a morning person. I'm up early. I set my alarm but I'm usually up before ⁓ my alarm goes off. So I like to be up at like five or five thirty. Not Actually I would rather sleep, but I just I've always been that way. Like I've just am wide awake. ⁓ so I like to I have to eat before running. I think a lot of women think that they don't want to eat breakfast or anything before running because they're afraid it's gonna upset their digestion. But for me it's the other way around. So I always have coffee and coconut water with lemon and one superhero muffin. And like it's so important to eat before running just to feel energized and eat something like light and easy to digest. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Get up and go. Elyse: ⁓ but that also like wakes up your metabolism, wakes up your digestion, gets things moving. ⁓ and I feel a lot better running. If I don't eat something before running, I just don't have the energy when I'm out there and I'll always cut my workout short. So yeah, I love like again superhero muffins because I don't have to think think what am I gonna eat. I just like same routine every single day of having a muffin, coffee, my electrolytes, and then I'm do s ⁓ like a fifteen minute yoga stretching because I'm forty four and my body is Carrie Tollefson: Ha ha. Elyse: like stiff, ⁓ and then I'm out the door. But I'm also at the same time that I'm like eating the muffin and I'm not like sitting there sipping my coffee. I'm like packing lunches for school and I'm, you know, leaving the note for my son or he's or sometimes he's already up 'cause he's up early too. So ⁓ yeah, it's just the mornings I I don't have time to like sit down and eat. So it's like muffin in hand, coffee in hand, running around the house and trying to get out the door. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I love it. And it's such a good reminder that we need a little something in there. You can have a little coffee and whatever else, but make sure. So do you how do you do it? Like, you know, obviously you are the creator of the superhero muffin. So do you have superhero muffins like every Sunday you make a bunch of them? Or how do how do you fit that in that you can just grab one here or there every day? Elyse: Yeah, so I I my I use our like I live and breathe what I preach. ⁓ so like we s cook ninety percent of our recipes from the cookbooks. My kids won't even it's kind of become a problem. Like my son went to a sleepaway camp for the first time and he literally didn't eat anything for five days. Like he hated the food. And when we travel it's a problem, but like my kids only wanna eat what they're used to, which is like run fast, eat slow recipes from both of the cookbooks and like on repeat. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Elyse: So we live and breed the recipes from the cookbook. That's what my family eats. And we do a lot of really simple, like if people came and ate dinner at my house, they would be like after a week, they'd be This is so boring. Why do you guys cook like the same things like the turkey meatballs and the bolognese and you know, but yeah, and like we've been making the lemon miso dressing with the kale salad like literally for a decade, you know. Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ that's so good. ⁓ they're so good. I've cooked those. Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm. Yeah. Elyse: Like we eat kind of the same, like simple. I just don't have time. And when I do try to experiment with new recipes, like my kids won't even eat it. So I'm like, I'm not gonna cook separate meals. ⁓ but same with the superhero muffins. We now that we have the mix and the waffles, I'm just making a double batch of waffles and a batch of the muffins every Sunday. But then also like usually midweek, because I give them away, we have like the kids' friends come over and then they're gone. So like I'm making another batch, or I just had a bunch of running friends in town this weekend. So Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Uh-huh. Elyse: The day they arrived I made a triple batch and then they were gone by like two days. So then I made another batch and you know, I'm giving them away to neighbors and ⁓ right now I'm recipe testing. Yeah. Carrie Tollefson: And you're like you're also giving it away at ⁓ races. Elyse: Yeah. So yeah, we baked my assistant and I baked 300 muffins for a local Ben race. ⁓ and that took us like much longer than we expected because my oven is actually pretty small and we can only bake one batch at a time. When we tried to load we tried to load the rack with like multiple batches, they weren't baking as evenly. So that took us like all day the day before. ⁓ I like to bake them fresh for events ⁓ and for like giving to people, but Also you can store them in the fridge and then they're nice to reheat. ⁓ you can store them in the fridge or the freezer and then pop it in the toaster oven or pop it in the microwave. ⁓ they're so much better if you take the time to just quickly reheat it for, you know, twenty seconds in the microwave. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Mm. At least it sounds so fun, but it's a lot. It's a lot, as you said, and you you do have your kiddos and your husband travels and you do all these things, but I mean, is it is this really becoming kind of like a dream come true for you? Elyse: Yeah, I mean there's definitely days where I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, like this is just not as sustainable. ⁓ so yeah, ask me once we're like a full year into this. I'm still like learning so much as we go. And I'm really grateful we brought on a ⁓ CEO consultant ⁓ just this past month. And I'm so she's amazing and I'm so ⁓ honored that she's like so excited to, you know. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Yeah. Elyse: work for work with us and she's a big fan of the brand and understands the whole running space because she's been working for other amazing companies in the running space and ⁓ she's just helping us like a few hours a week and that's making a huge difference. But I hope to be able to hire more help. ⁓ once like we're not even we're the company is self funded so we haven't started paying ourselves yet. ⁓ we're just everything we make gets reinvested into the business. and so that feels crazy to like work these long hours and just Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Elyse: the grind of it and not not ever pay yourself, so Carrie Tollefson: Right. That is hard. What do you have any other running races on the calendar? Are you doing any trail races or anything coming up? I know you said you're getting ready for the Alps for Elyse: Yeah. No, just the couple retreats. Yeah. Yeah. So we have our ⁓ Alps retreat in Switzerland coming up in August. And then the last weekend of September is our Ben retreat. So also with the muffin company, I'm still running my previous job. So I'm still doing like speaking engagements and traveling with brands and doing retreats. So that's like a separate whole other job. ⁓ so yeah, we have ⁓ yeah, I would love to get you to our Ben retreat. It's so fun. Carrie Tollefson: Okay. ⁓ it'd be so f I've never been to bend. I've always wanted to go. Elyse: ⁓ it's yeah, it's such the trails here are just my favorite place to run in the whole world is like right out my door. So I'm I I tell my kids every day, I'm like, You guys don't even realize how lucky you are. You live in this like utopia and you have no idea. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. I know my husband, if I bring him out there, ⁓ we probably won't come back. He would just love it out there. It sounds so cool. ⁓ tell me a little bit about your treat your retreat in the Alps. How long will you be there? Elyse: Yeah. Yes. So it's ⁓ a week, so seven days. And ⁓ every I partner with Run the Alps ⁓ every year. This I think will be my my seventh retreat with them. ⁓ so they, you know, take care of all the logistics. This sh when we go to a different location in the Alps every year. So we've done, you know, Italy, we've done Switzerland twice, we've done ⁓ Chamony and France locations. ⁓ but this year we're doing the Bernese Oberlin region and I've never been to that region in Switzerland, even though I lived in Carrie Tollefson: Okay. Elyse: Geneva for two years. So I'm really excited to explore. ⁓ it's less like steep trail running and more like runnable. ⁓ which in some way is actually harder. Like I'm a I'm a total climber. Like I love really steep terrain and like hike, you know, hike running, climbing uphill. But this will be like running the whole time. So Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ nice. ⁓ really? Okay. Hmm. That is so cool. I mean, I have done these retreats but more local. I haven't gone overseas and I've really liked to, but how do you even plan out the runs? They obviously go and scope it out for you. Elyse: Yeah, I ⁓ yeah, I'm working on the plans for a retreat next year in Patagonia, ⁓ Chile. So I've been lucky to find like really good international partners. I would never well actually I did my first year of planning a retreat in France in Chamonix, ⁓ I did it all myself and it was just the logistics were impossible with ⁓ just like even the exchange rate of like, you know, renting a chalet for twenty people and having to rent it a year out and send like Carrie Tollefson: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Elyse: you know, Euros over there like wiring money to some random place. So it was just too stressful. So I'm so lucky that I realized like partnering with international partners is the way to go. ⁓ so yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. Yeah. I have some ⁓ rundat rapid fire questions to ask you. But before we go, I think this would be really interesting for anybody that's out there thinking of maybe taking a leap outside of the corporate world like you did. ⁓ and you know, someone that, you know, wants to have children but has these other big goals and big ideas, someone that wants to still have physical fitness in their life. Like how how or what would you recommend to someone that's like, I got this idea, I'm very passionate about it, but I'm nervous to to take the leap. Yeah. Elyse: I would say like you just have to go for it before you know what you're doing and you'll you'll learn as you go. Like when I started writing cookbooks, I had no idea how to write a cookbook and ⁓ like I just l I learned the process as I went. I've never been an expert on anything before I've started it. ⁓ even like my first job at Nike right out of school, like I had no clue what I was doing. Every single job or career or project I've ever said yes to, I've figured it out as I go. You'll n you'll never be the expert until you like dive in and just do it. Yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. ⁓ I love that. Okay. Well, thank you so much for coming to Minnesota. Well, I guess it's Wisconsin, but it's ⁓ you know, the Midwest. ⁓ and being at the Berkey and also we're gonna be there this weekend for stride to she, like I said, we're gonna be eating your the superhero muffins on Sunday morning, I believe it is, but ⁓ just really Yeah, it's gonna be so good. Elyse: Yes. Yeah, the lemon blueberry. It's my favorite. ⁓ it's our new new flavor. Actually I have it right here. Our new Carrie Tollefson: Yeah, well I love the packaging too. Everything's so pretty. So cute. Elyse: It just launched. ⁓ it's lemon chia blueberry and this was requested by our community. It's the number one fan favorite recipe from the Rise and Run cookbook. So everyone kept emailing me and messaging me and saying like we did a survey too and this was the number one requested new mix to launch. So it this one took me the longest to develop. I started working on it a a year ago and then I gave up on it and then I came back to it when we got so many requests. So Carrie Tollefson: Ooh. Okay. 'Cause you just didn't like how it was coming out. Elyse: Yeah, it was really hard to work with the lemon powder. It kept ⁓ like I just couldn't get the right the lemon to come across. It would like the batter would smell really good and and then once you baked it, the lemon flavor just like disappeared. So it took a lot of different iterations to get to get it just right. And so I hope you enjoy the muffins at at your retreat this weekend. I can't wait to see photos and I hope the weather's not as cold as it was when I was there in the winter in Wisconsin. ⁓ Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. ⁓ We can't wait. Yeah. Yeah, ⁓ yeah. Tell me about that real quick before we do this. You went to s ski dachy, which is obviously the skiing portion of these dashi events, and I went the year before and spoke and it was freezing. And I'm not a skier. Like I think you're more of a skier than I am. So Elyse: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ no, I'm not a I'm not a skier. I did my so yeah, I it was my first time ever being in Wisconsin, my first time ever eating cheese curds and fried cheese curds. And I I mean, I think with the wind chill, it was negative something. I don't remember exactly, but it was like so cold. I did the race on Saturday. I I did my first skate ski race. It was a 10K. And I like bundled up so much because I was like, ⁓ my gosh, it's so cold. But then of course, after like the first lap, the first 5K, I was like, Carrie Tollefson: Ha ha. Yeah. Elyse: dripping sweat and I was like, ⁓ my gosh, this is harder than the New York City Marathon. Like, how do I like I was so overdressed, so I'm like stripping layers because we did it was two laps. ⁓ and my second lap was like way slower. But ⁓ but I finished and but then the next day they had clinics outside and I was like 10 minutes into it. I was like I'll be inside the rest of the day. Like I can't I'm gonna lose a finger. Carrie Tollefson: Hot, yes. Hmm. Just yeah. That is a cold time of the year to go, but the skiers are hearty and they like to get out there and it's almost like they know that the snow is good and all this stuff. But I I couldn't even do the race. I was like, I'll be, I'll be inside because I am so scared now. I have really nice skate skis. I've got everything. Everyone has set me up and I'm deathly afraid of it still. Elyse: Yeah. Yeah, I I was scared of the downhills. I felt bad for anyone behind me on the uphills or the downhills. Like Carrie Tollefson: I know ⁓ we're gonna have to get out there again someday, but do you ski normally? Elyse: Yeah. I'm just learning like it I classic Nordic ski and I like backcountry skiing and I've been taking lessons to skate ski. Actually I've been taking lessons now like three years, but I still call myself a beginner. It's skate skiing is like actually takes real technique and I'm not a very coordinated person. That's why I became a runner. So it's been hard for me to learn. ⁓ and it I take the lessons and then I kind of give up every year halfway through the season. But yeah, I'm trying trying. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. I know, I know. We we'll do it. We can do it. I promise I'm gonna get back out there, everybody listening. All the skiers were like, here you gotta get the skate skis 'cause we know you got speed, we got you got endurance, you're gonna love that. And I'm like, ⁓ I'm scared of it. Yeah. Nope. Elyse: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's everyone tells me like you're such a good runner, you're gonna be so good at skate skiing and I'm yeah, I'm just not picking it up. But I I'm working harder than anyone else out there because my form is so bad. So it is like the best it's the hardest workout I've ever done is skate skiing. Carrie Tollefson: I know. ⁓ Yeah, I don't even know if I've actually gotten a workout in because I'm like so scared. I just kind of like But anywho, okay, well let's do these rapid ra run dot rapid fire questions. They're my faves. Go for a long trail run or nope, I prefer prefer the roads. Elyse: Yeah. Okay. Troll always I don't run on roads. Carrie Tollefson: Figured. Chocolate banana superhero muffins or your new lemon chai chai b blueberry? Elyse: Lemon blueberry is my favorite, but I make the chocolate banana every week for my kids 'cause it's their favorite. Carrie Tollefson: They love it. Okay. I'm sh do they ever put a little scoop of ice cream on it? Elyse: ⁓ we haven't tried that. That's a great idea. They have put fr they do make homemade we have made ⁓ superhero cupcakes. We put homemade frosting on top. Carrie Tollefson: I know, it would be good. ⁓ my gosh, that is a definite must. Okay, we're doing that. Mile repeats or long tempos. Elyse: Neither. He'll work out. Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ okay. Meal plan or wing it? I know some of these answers, but Elyse: Yeah, so I don't actually meal plan anymore 'cause we make kind of the same things every week, but I do meal prep on Sundays. I like to have s at least a couple of things pre ba pre made so like dinners can be pulled off in fifteen minutes. Carrie Tollefson: Mm-hmm. I love that. I need to get going on this. I just need to do it. But okay, I'm gonna tune in. And also, by the way, everybody, you have like education. You do some I don't know, have you been doing your Zoom or your your Elyse: Yeah, we did on our our old website, runfastysoul.com, we have recorded cooking classes. So you can find the class with Jesse Diggins, which is an amazing class. And actually I make the recipes from the Jesse Diggins class on repeat. ⁓ so if you go to Yeah. So we still make the I have it printed right there on my counter because we make the Jesse Diggins recipe packet over and over again. ⁓ but but yeah, I'm not teaching right now online. It just I don't haven't had the time. Carrie Tollefson: Okay. S the pesto looks just so good. I'm gonna try that. That's great. Okay. But not to say it's gonna go away forever. Okay. Okay. Half tights or split shorts? Elyse: Right, yeah. Split shorts. Carrie Tollefson: Really? Okay. More marathons or maybe some ultras? Elyse: ⁓ gosh. ⁓ I have only run people are shocked by this, but the only marathon I've ever run is the New York City Marathon and I had such a great race. It was the fifth what was it the fifth fiftieth? No, the ⁓ it was it was the year that Shallane ran all six marathons back to back. Carrie Tollefson: Was it two years ago? ⁓ so what year was that? Yeah, I think it was twenty twenty four. I think. Maybe twenty twenty three. Yeah. Maybe don't have data. Yeah. Elyse: Okay. I'm like I can't even I think it was three three years ago. It feels like it was fr it feels like it was a decade ago. ⁓ but I had such a great time starting the race with Shallane and had such a great race. And I just wanna end on a high note. So my first and last marathon is New York City Marathon. I just can't yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Okay. So no marathons, no ultras. Okay, moving on. Elyse: I mean, may I won't say no but right now in my life I don't have time to train. My workouts have to be under an hour, like less forty five minutes hour max for my runtime, ⁓ because like of my kids and I could see myself getting a second wind in my fifties when my kids are, you know, driving themselves to camp and school and whatever. Once my kids have their license, maybe I'll have more time to train. But yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah. I hear you. Yep. Hmm. Yeah. Yes. I agree. I'm with you on that. I I don't mind 20, 30 minute runs right now, but those like two hour runs, just a little bit too much to do at home. I get I get anxious. Okay, would you rather go on a running retreat or be home writing cookbooks? You like those. I know, right? It seems like cookbooks would be it's not a story necessarily. I mean, even though yours has these, you know, it flows through it and there's I love some of the the beginning of your cookbooks, but Elyse: Right. Running retreat. Carrie Tollefson: It it's a it's tedious. There's lots of things that you have to, you know, go through. Plus you're prepping and you're you're figuring out the recipes. It's a lot. Elyse: Yeah. I like the cookbook writing process because I am an introvert, which is funny that I do retreats. Like I love working from home in my pajamas and like typing and being on my laptop. ⁓ but it's awesome to go to these incredible places and the community behind Run Fast Eat Slow is just the most inspiring group of women. Like I've met women who are doing incredible things, ⁓ you know, and I've met them all through this community. So I've never, yeah. Carrie Tollefson: Okay. Yeah. For sure. Elyse: of every retreat group. I'm like, ⁓ this is the best retreat group we've ever had. And then the next retreat, I'm like, No, you guys are the best. Carrie Tollefson: I know. I know. I love running retreats too. They're just so fun. And you you gain new friends and lifelong friends, right? So. Elyse: Yes, yeah, yeah. We just had a retreat reunion actually in Bend with a group of like five of us who have become really close friends. Like some of the women have come on five retreats that were here this weekend and one of the gals threw it she flew in from Switzerland to Bend for this little mini reunion. ⁓ so that was really special. Carrie Tollefson: ⁓ fun. ⁓ cool. Well let's talk about having a reunion with all the girls from the early two thousands. And thank you so much for all that you do for the running community. We're gonna make sure to get you some awesome like running stores here in the Twin Cities. We need to have we need to have the packages here. We need it because so yes. Elyse: Yeah, yeah. Yes, please send me your favorite running stores and I'll send them packets to try and they'll love it. And then we'll be on shelves in the Midwest where we have honestly the biggest following and people coming to our website. Yeah. So excited. All right. Carrie Tollefson: Okay. I got you. I got you. Thanks for doing everything and on ⁓ keep it up. Get after it. Congratulations. Elyse: Thank you, Carrie, and have so much fun at your running retreat this weekend. I love the Berkey team. They're awesome. Carrie Tollefson: Yeah, we will.