RECESS: Kate Courtney's Road Cycling Takeover, Surgery Nutrition, Fueling Elite Athletes, and the Coffee Wars

In this episode of RECESS, Juliet and I open with a massive shoutout to local legend Kate Courtney — who, after winning mountain biking world championships, the Leadville 100 record, and a long course world title, has now casually taken over road cycling too.

We also get into something that came up close to home: Juliet watched the Barceloneta men's water polo team — European Champions League winners — practice on virtually no food or water, which opened up a real conversation about how you change deeply embedded fueling habits in elite sport. Spoiler: athletes have to feel the difference themselves.

Then we dig into surgery nutrition — a topic that affects way more people than elite athletes. Muscle loss after orthopedic surgery runs about 1% per day, with up to 18% loss in the quads and hamstrings within six weeks. We break down protein timing, pre-surgical carbohydrate loading, and how to protect your body going in and coming out.

Plus: Kelly's ACL and "sprain plus" knee update, Haute Route hike prep, and an ongoing domestic dispute about whether Stumptown Holler Mountain is the peak of human coffee achievement or just the beginning of the search.

New episodes of The Ready State Podcast drop every Thursday.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why Kate Courtney's move from mountain biking to road cycling is one of the most remarkable athletic pivots happening in sport right now
• How intra-session carbohydrate fueling is changing across elite sports, and why winning teams are often the hardest to convince to change
• What the research says about muscle loss after orthopedic surgery: up to 1% per day and 18% loss in six weeks
• Why protein needs jump to 1.2–2g per kilogram of bodyweight in the pre- and post-surgical window
• How consuming ~50g of carbohydrates two hours before surgery may reduce post-surgical insulin resistance by 50%
• Why "three limb training" matters during recovery and why you can't just wait for healing to happen
• How Kelly is rehabbing a torn ACL, MCL, high-grade fibular sprain, torn calf, and two menisci, and still calling it a "sprain plus"
• What the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt demands physically, and how Kelly is prepping for 10 days of mountain hiking

Key Highlights: 

(00:00) Welcome back to RECESS; Kate Courtney shoutout — local legend, mountain biking world champion, and now national road cycling champion

(01:30) How Kate Courtney broke the factory racing model, started her own team, won Leadville 100 with a course record, and took the long course world championship, and most recently the US National Road Championship

(04:43) The mutant athlete era: Kate, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Puck Pieterse, and why cyclists switching disciplines is making the sport more exciting than ever

(06:00) Water polo and intra-session fueling: watching the Barceloneta European champions practice under-fueled, and a conversation with Heather Petri about how far sport nutrition has come

(07:50) How you actually change fueling dogma in elite sport: showing athletes the data, letting them feel the difference, and why winning teams are hardest to convince

(08:25) Intra-session carb targets across sports: from 30–50g for recreational athletes to 100g+ per hour for elite endurance, and what the Tour de France taught us about gut training

(16:40) Kids and fueling: why youth athletes are chronically under-fueled and what parents can do about it

(17:30) The coffee wars: Stumptown Holler Mountain vs. the challengers — Monmouth, Kimbo, Doma Roasters Chronic, and the Aeropress experiment

(21:10) Haute Route prep: hiking Chamonix to Zermatt, 10 days, 8–10 hour hiking days, and how Kelly is training his "sprain plus" knee for the Alps

(26:55) Kelly's injury breakdown: torn ACL, torn MCL, high-grade fibular sprain, torn calf, both menisci — and why he chose to delay ACL repair to make the trip

(28:00) Surgery nutrition: the research on muscle loss post-orthopedic surgery, why protein needs spike, and the pre-surgical carbohydrate timing window

(31:20) Can we challenge the "nothing by mouth" pre-surgery protocol? Liquid carbohydrates, glucose boluses, and protecting muscle mass before you go under

(33:55) Wrap-up, Happy 4th of July, and thanks for listening