Colleen Quigley

Money can’t buy happiness… but it can buy a Leica M10 Monochrom and an APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 which together will take the most amazing pics of you and bae enjoying Mexico for 2 days 🇲🇽 ☀️ 🏝️ 🌊

This setup makes me want to get into my photography era 📷

I’ve been keeping a secret 🤐

On March 4th I got a CT scan that gave me the answers I’ve been looking for about my foot. At some point, a long time ago, I tore my Lisfranc ligament and it didn’t heal properly. I believe this is the root cause of all the stress fractures I’ve gotten in that foot for years. It caused me to change my gait which brought a cascade of issues.

On March 30th I got an injection of exosomes in my foot and ankle to promote my body’s own healing of that area. I don’t know if this treatment will work, but I’m so grateful to finally just know what’s even wrong.

I took over the Substack on Monday and shared more info on how this all went down and how I’m doing now.

The outpouring of responses from that has been so incredible. Yall get it. I’m so grateful.

I’ve felt so much shame over the years about not being able to stay healthy and confusion as to why such a healthy person keeps breaking down. But I never gave up. I kept searching for answers. And after reading all the responses I realized that you all didn’t give up on me either. 💕

I’ve already had 6 weeks to process** all this and at this point I feel a calm excitement for my future. I feel like I can finally move forward with my life.

Now that im in a better place mentally I’m gonna start sharing more here and on my own personal Substack about what the rehab and recovery process looks like.

** I still want to drop kick every doctor who missed this, soooo there’s probably more processing I need to do 😅

Hope is a drug and my wish is that my story can be that little bit of hope for someone else who is in it right now. Keep trying, question everything that medical professionals tell you, and never give up.

RHR 32?!? After all these years, it still shocks me when I drop down to sea level after training at high altitude and my HRV 🚀 to the 🌙 and my resting heart rate plummets below 35 😳

This is exactly why athletes train at high altitude. The tricky part is writing that line between training stimulus and OVERtraining. Recovery is so key up here.

For me, Boulder has been such a good home because we sit at 5,430 feet of elevation, which has proven to be just enough of a challenge! I still take one day off every week, resting on Saturdays and focusing on doggo snuggles, going to the farmers market, and doing house projects.

We also adjust paces and workouts to accommodate for the altitude. Basically, our bodies are working hard harder even at rest. I find that I have a hard time eating enough to keep up, and I am putting food in my body every two hours at least.

Nutritionally, I focus on getting enough carbohydrates for fuel as well as fat for sustained energy and protein for muscle recovery. I never count calories, but I listen to my hunger, cues and know that it’s always best to error on the side of a little bit more fuel. I don’t use hormonal birth control and I get a period every month, a good indicator that I’m keeping up with my energy needs.

Sleep is a huge factor. Sometimes I sleep 10 hours a night! I don’t nap very often anymore, I have so much going on with my team, but I have cut back on the amount of cross training that I do and I usually opt to just rest in the afternoons instead of doing a second workout.

I wanted to share some more about this because I think it’s something that is super interesting for my data and science perspective and hopefully it’s entertaining for anyone who is following along!

What questions do you have about altitude data, or recovery tips?
Leave your Qs in the comments 👇🏻

Probably the most fun I’ve had traveling for a track meet I didn’t even race at 🙃

All the good photos accredited to 😘

All the good vibes accredited to and the California ☀️

So grateful we got to have this weekend together 💕