Kristen Arnold and Team

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Kristen Arnold and Team

Empowering Women Athletes through Evidence-Based Sports Nutrition Coaching

I am passionate about inspiring and guiding individuals and teams to cultivate their personal bests through nutrition and coaching

-Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
-Master's of Science in Human Nutrition
-Category 1 Road Racer
-racer for domestic elite women's racing team: VeloClassic p/b Stan's NoTubes
-coach with Red Kite Coaching

For my coaching services: visit http://redkite.cc/

For my nutrition services: visit arnoldrdn.com

08/27/2026

Friends don’t let friends go underfueled and underhydrated. 🚴‍♀️

The thing about bonking and getting dehydrated? Most of the time, it’s 100% avoidable.

Bring extra snacks. Pre-plan your water stops. And don’t wait until you’re completely depleted to start fueling and drinking.

It’s not just about whether you will have a good ride—it’s about everyone around you, too. 😉

One thing I hear all the time is, “I don’t need it” or “I didn’t need it.”

But deciding whether to eat a bar, gel, gummies, or drink mix based on whether you feel like you need it doesn’t necessarily set you up for a strong final few hours.

Remember: You’re fueling in the first half of the ride for the second half of the ride.

You’re not fueling in the last hour for the last hour. The carbohydrates you consume during that final hour are mostly contributing to recovery once the ride is over.

So take care of yourself. Fuel early. Hydrate consistently. Bring more than you think you’ll need.

And, most importantly, actually try to have a good ride the whole time! 🙌

08/25/2026

The body needs stress to adapt. That’s the fundamental purpose of training: We intentionally stress the body so it can adapt, ultimately improving performance and, in many cases, health.

But there’s an important distinction between acute stress and chronic stress—and cortisol doesn’t always tell us the difference.

Cortisol is often a reflection of acute stress. An athlete may have elevated cortisol simply because they trained earlier that day or are currently in a high-volume or high-intensity training block. That doesn’t necessarily indicate that anything is wrong; it may simply reflect the intentional stress being placed on the body to drive adaptation.

Acute stress can be productive. Chronic, unresolved stress can be detrimental.

The challenge is that we rarely test cortisol frequently enough to determine whether levels are truly chronically elevated. And even when cortisol is elevated, there are many factors that can influence it.

For this reason, cortisol is rarely the single marker I look at to determine whether an athlete is struggling with chronic stress or inadequate recovery. Other blood markers, symptoms, training load, sleep, nutrition, and performance trends can often provide much more useful context.

Some of my colleagues and I don’t routinely recommend blood cortisol testing because, in many cases, it doesn’t provide as much actionable information as other markers—and it can be expensive.

That doesn’t mean cortisol is useless. It can add another piece to the puzzle. But it’s just one piece, and interpreting it without the bigger picture can be misleading.

08/20/2026

What happens at the cellular level doesn’t necessarily translate to real-world performance.

Researchers are constantly exploring strategies to manipulate training adaptation and metabolic function. But a physiological change observed in a lab doesn’t automatically mean it will enhance performance—whether that’s strength, endurance, power, agility, or mental acuity.

Fortunately, the idea of cutting carbs to improve “fat adaptation” is largely considered outdated in the endurance community. We still occasionally get athletes asking about keto or low-carb approaches to enhance fat adaptation, but these questions are far less common than they used to be.

Why? Because currently, the research shows that the training itself is the most effective ways to improve fat oxidation and metabolic efficiency—not cutting carbohydrates.

Carbohydrate timing to support performance and recovery is a huge part of what we do with our athletes.

The goal is to create a personalized nutrition strategy that provides enough fuel to perform well during each training session while also supporting recovery and readiness for the next one.

The best nutrition strategy isn’t necessarily the one that creates the biggest change in a lab—it’s the one that helps you perform better in the real world.

08/05/2026

Link in bio to work with Brooke!
We are super excited to welcome Brooke Darby to our practitioner team. As Brooke finishes her studies Kristen will be directly supervising and supporting all clients who work with Brooke. If you are interested in working with us for nutrition coaching and need a lower cost plan, working with Brooke is a great option! She is fresh in her knowledge and passionate about helping athletes excel in their sport while maintaining optimal health. Welcome Brooke!

04/07/2026

Throughout Elisabeth’s time working through the SNFW E-Course, she asked a handful of great questions to me. I always love answering questions and engaging with athletes who are excited to learn and apply sports nutrition knowledge for their sport and life. We have a private Facebook group where SNFW E-Course students can ask questions and learn from each other!

It is a privilege to have the opportunity to educate athletes all over the world about the what/how/when/why of sports nutrition.

Have any questions about the Sports Nutrition for Women E-Course before you get started? Ask them in the comments!

04/06/2026

Hi there! If you’re new here, thanks for stopping by! Swipe to see my abbreviated story (updated April 2026 with a few exciting changes 😃).

Why I’m passionate about providing sports nutrition services to active folks (recreational to Olympians):

I strive to understand the intersection between food, athleticism, body image, and self-worth.

I believe when we cultivate balanced and healthy relationships with our bodies and food, we are liberated. We are liberated to be active, we are understanding of what our bodies and minds need, and we are drawn to support one another.

Through food and exploring both evidence-based performance nutrition strategies and how we think about food and our bodies we can begin to better ourselves and our communities. We better ourselves physically through physical performance and being in tune with our bodies and minds. We better our communities through empathetic and empowered communication.

When I started college to become a Registered Dietitian, I originally wanted to go into public health and women’s health. I wanted to help moms, kids, pregnant women, and low-income populations through food and nutrition education and programming.

4 years into a 5 year undergraduate degree I picked up cycling. With rapid speed bike racing became a way of life for me. My community, my income, my time, and my passion centered around racing my bike. With this came a passion for sports nutrition.

Not only do I love the nitty gritty of the research, I love working with athletes and active individuals to find creative and practical ways to integrate all of the knowledge the sports nutrition research is constantly teaching us.

I am passionate about helping individuals and teams enhance their performance and showing them that through food they can do more than they ever thought was possible of themselves.

04/02/2026

Dietary nitrates might not be as trendy as they once were—but the research supporting their performance and health benefits has only grown stronger over time.

If you’re new to ergogenic aids, this is a great place to start. Dietary nitrates (from juice) are closer to a food than a supplement, making them a simple, effective addition to your routine.

My go-to recommendation: fresh-pressed beetroot juice. You can usually find it in the shelf-stable juice aisle (glass bottles) or in the refrigerated section with fresh juices.

Around 16oz of beetroot juice typically provides the ~6–8 mmol of nitrates needed to see a performance benefit. Plus, you’re getting beneficial carbs, antioxidants, potassium, iron, manganese, and folate.

Use it before training or racing to support performance—or after, to aid recovery.

03/31/2026

You are not just fueling for your sport now, you are fueling for the longterm health and function of your one-and-only body.

We know that reproductive function is often one of the first things to go when athletes aren’t eating enough calories. Their body’s need to reduce the number of functions in order to survive on less calories. What this study is telling us, is that it may not just be short-term consequences with sub-optimal fertility, but that there’s the potential for long-term consequences with pregnancy complications.

Another important note is that low energy availability (not eating enough calories relative to training energy expenditure) exists on a spectrum. It’s not as simple as having RED-S one day and not the next—there are varying degrees, timelines, and individual impacts that look different for everyone with regards to complications and also recovery.

What we do know: properly fueling with enough energy supports performance, daily function, and long-term health. Your body needs adequate fuel—not just to compete, but to thrive in whatever longterm plans you have in life.

03/26/2026

And remember….always make sure your supplements are third party certified.

We typically recommend NSF Certified for Sport and Informed Sport products and brands.

03/24/2026

Ultra sports are becoming more popular every day. This study included 531 ultra endurance athlete participants. Our team works with as many as 30 ultra athletes a month, competing in events ranging from 100mile trail running races to 25 day ultra endurance cycling events.

We help athletes to make sure they are meeting their body’s energy and nutrient needs across the training week, not just the day. Fueling during training is important, but meeting the body’s daily energy needs should be the highest priority.

Many of the athletes we work with come to us unintentionally underfueling by thousands of calories per week. While training underfueled may feel okay in the moment, or skipping lunch is a regular habit because work is so busy, over time these habits can develop into unhealthy long-term consequences and thought patterns.

As ultra endurance sports become more popular, educating athletes, parents, and coaches on the risks associated with high volume training and the best methods to stay healthy and strong while executing them are imperative.

FuelDontPunish

Address

Columbus, OH

Telephone

+16142184702

Website

https://sportsnutritionforwomen.com/

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