FOUNDER | COACH
krissy mae harclerode
she/her
Coaching Experience: 20 years
I love helping runners, climbers, and skiers eat smarter and recover better so they can handle bigger, harder days and objectives. I help my athletes eat well without treating every meal like a test to pass, because good performance nutrition shouldn't cost a ton of mental energy. My favorite part of coaching is watching someone chase a goal that felt a little too big at first, then pull it off, especially when they figure out how to HAVE FUN with the process.
Hi, I’m Krissy
I've been in fitness and nutrition for 20 years, but my enthusiasm for movement started long before coaching became my career.
I grew up in a family of competitive triathletes, so being active was just part of life. I ran my first 5K with my dad at six, did my first triathlon with my parents at eight, and played team sports through my childhood. My mom taught me to lift as a freshman, an by senior year, I was lifting a heavy barbell in a weightlifting class I took to get out of PE, training in the football team's weight room.
At 18, I became a personal trainer, thinking it would just be a temporary college job while I got my degrees in criminal justice and psychology. It didn't take long to realize this was what I actually wanted to do, not just use it as a way to pay for school.
I tried to run in college, then stepped away from it for almost a decade after developing an unhealthy relationship with the sport, food, and my body. I was also battling some nasty substance abuse demons at this time.
I moved to Southern California after college in 2012, and immediately got pulled into strength sports and functional fitness, a huge departure from the more bodybuilding style of lifting I was used to doing. Being around more experienced coaches and athletes who took things far more seriously than I ever had pushed me to get better, both as an athlete and as a coach.
In 2013 I got clean and sober after a decade-long battle with substance abuse. That experience changed how I think about resilience and what people are capable of. My newfound sobriety led me to compete in strength sports from 2013-2016.
After briefly living in NYC, I decided “Home Means Nevada”. I moved back to Reno in 2015, closer to my family and the mountains, and to open Black Iron Gym. When my remote nutrition client roster grew to a size I could no longer handle on my own in 2016, I brought my client Kels Kiel on as my assistant coach, which was when Black Iron Nutrition was officially founded.
In 2017, my own health took an unexpected turn when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, then gastroparesis. Recovering took more than a year and completely reshaped the way I think about health. This is when I pivoted to spending more time training outdoors and less time indoors.
In 2019-2020, I got into alpine rock climbing, mountaineering, and backcountry skiing, which all eventually led to ski mountaineering. After nearly ten years away from running, I returned to it in 2021, completing Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim in 2022, then my first 100K in 2023. Today you’ll find me balancing goals across running, climbing, skiing, and mountain adventures, including chasing the occasional fastest-known-time (FKT). Through it all, food, sleep, and stress management remain the foundations that support everything I love to do.
who I LOVE WORKING WITh
I love helping busy, driven people manage the whole picture (sleep, stress, nutrition, and how you feel in your body) while chasing big athletic goals on top of demanding careers.
✔️ Trail runners training for anything between 50km and 250mi, either in the race setting or self-supported “fun runs”
✔️ Year round multi-sport athletes trying to balance eating for and recovering from several different sports
✔️ Folks preparing for multi-day or multi-week expeditions, especially outside of the USA
✔️ Folks preparing for “light and fast” objectives on foot or skis: big car-to-car days or mountain FKTs
CREDENTIALS & certs
NUTRITION CERTIFICATIONS
PN Advanced Certificate in Nutrition Coaching for Athletes
PN Sleep, Stress Management, & Recovery
UESCA Endurance Sports Nutrition Coach
UESCA Ultra Endurance Sports Nutrition Coach (in progress)
Centre for Integrative Sports Nutrition RED-S Speciality Course
Precision Nutrition L1
OTHER CERTIFICATIONS
UESCA Ultrarunning Coach
UESCA Physiological Adaptations to Endurance Training
Wilderness First Responder
Leave No Trace Educator
OTHER RANDOM stuff about me
FUN FACT
When I was 19, my boyfriend took me to Alaska for a month to live and work on his fishing boat that summer. I ended up getting sea sick, so I was put to work at the airfield. I got to go on resupply flights and learn about flying small airplanes.
NON-FITNESS HOBBY
After talking about it for literal years, I finally started a stained glass hobby that I’m really enjoying right now. It’s a very involved process, so the end result feels super rewarding for me… even though my pieces aren’t super pretty yet!
FAVORITE THINGS
Dogs, quesabirria tacos, sunrises, used bookstores, wildflowers, carrot cake, thunderstorms, Shakespeare, disposable cameras, snow falling, chips & guac, bear hugs, dad jokes, foreign languages, vinyl records, space, disco balls.
WHAT MY CLIENTS ARE SAYING
“I've been ultrarunning for a few years and following all the advice pretty well. Krissy helped clean up the last little bit of nutrition work I needed and helped me really dial in my race nutrition. We realized that my "training" nutrition didn't carry over well to racing despite following all the advice out there. She was able to help me figure out what will work and it has been a game changer. Not only has Krissy helped me be a better ultrarunner, she has also been a wealth of knowledge in incorporating my other sports (backcountry skiing, rock climbing, etc) into daily and performance nutrition. Having weekly check ins and able to bounce ideas off her has been awesome. I learned so much and cemented my performance nutrition knowledge even more. 10/10 would recommend working with Krissy if you have multiple sports you want to work on with performance nutrition. You never know what you might uncover and be able to improve even more! Thanks Krissy!”
Molly MacDonald
MY FAVORITE EPISODES OF BLACK IRON RADIO
