Redefining Success: On Burnout and Doing What You Love with Corey Buhay
08/02/24 • 62 min
Corey Buhay has made a life out of doing what she loves. That’s not to say it’s been easy.
Known as the go-to reporter for all things drytooling ⛏️, Corey quickly built a career as a freelance journalist regularly contributing to Climbing 🧗♀️, Backpacker 🥾, Smithsonian 🗿, and the like. Around the time she started writing full-time, she also started drytooling. Again, she quickly established herself, rising to the top of the rankings for comp ice climbing in North America. But, shortly thereafter, she decided to walk away. How come?
In today’s chat we talk about:
- 🧊 The assignment that changed everything
- 🧊 Going all in on things that give you happiness
- 🧊 Struggles with expectations, perfectionism and anxiety
- 🧊 Revitalizing Team USA and competitive pressures
- 🧊 Burnout and taking a break
- 🧊 Rediscovering balance and joy in climbing
I want to say that I really appreciated Corey’s openness and willingness to discuss difficult topics and her ability to infuse humor into the conversation. Further, if you’re struggling with mental health, know that you’re not alone and that there are folks and resources who can help, some of which we share in the show notes.
Resources and links:
If you’d like to follow Corey’s latest writings, her website is coreybuhay.com.
Some of my personal favorite articles of hers are:
- Russia’s World Cup Ice Climbing Scene is as Hardcore as it Gets
- The Strange Underworld of Competition Ice Climbing
- Years After My Mentor Died in the Backcountry, I Retraced His Final Footsteps
Mental health resources:
- Mental Health in Athletes: Breaking the Stigma
- Resources for Athletes with Eating Disorders
- Athletes Against Anxiety and Depression Foundation (who offer a free therapy option)
- Managing Stress in Sports: Quieting the Mind and the Body
...
📸: Cover photo by Mike Thurk (@mthurk)
Credits:
- Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).
- This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
- And of course, a big thanks to our sponsors, Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries!
Become a member:
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the conversation and want to help us do many more episodes like this, please consider becoming a member.
(For less than the price of a bougie beer per month!).
🗣️ Leave us a review!:
You can also help us out by subscribing to the podcast and leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice. Reviews are helpful for new listeners that come across the show, and a good rating means Spotify, Apple, and other platforms are more likely to recommend it to others.
Corey Buhay has made a life out of doing what she loves. That’s not to say it’s been easy.
Known as the go-to reporter for all things drytooling ⛏️, Corey quickly built a career as a freelance journalist regularly contributing to Climbing 🧗♀️, Backpacker 🥾, Smithsonian 🗿, and the like. Around the time she started writing full-time, she also started drytooling. Again, she quickly established herself, rising to the top of the rankings for comp ice climbing in North America. But, shortly thereafter, she decided to walk away. How come?
In today’s chat we talk about:
- 🧊 The assignment that changed everything
- 🧊 Going all in on things that give you happiness
- 🧊 Struggles with expectations, perfectionism and anxiety
- 🧊 Revitalizing Team USA and competitive pressures
- 🧊 Burnout and taking a break
- 🧊 Rediscovering balance and joy in climbing
I want to say that I really appreciated Corey’s openness and willingness to discuss difficult topics and her ability to infuse humor into the conversation. Further, if you’re struggling with mental health, know that you’re not alone and that there are folks and resources who can help, some of which we share in the show notes.
Resources and links:
If you’d like to follow Corey’s latest writings, her website is coreybuhay.com.
Some of my personal favorite articles of hers are:
- Russia’s World Cup Ice Climbing Scene is as Hardcore as it Gets
- The Strange Underworld of Competition Ice Climbing
- Years After My Mentor Died in the Backcountry, I Retraced His Final Footsteps
Mental health resources:
- Mental Health in Athletes: Breaking the Stigma
- Resources for Athletes with Eating Disorders
- Athletes Against Anxiety and Depression Foundation (who offer a free therapy option)
- Managing Stress in Sports: Quieting the Mind and the Body
...
📸: Cover photo by Mike Thurk (@mthurk)
Credits:
- Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).
- This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
- And of course, a big thanks to our sponsors, Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries!
Become a member:
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the conversation and want to help us do many more episodes like this, please consider becoming a member.
(For less than the price of a bougie beer per month!).
🗣️ Leave us a review!:
You can also help us out by subscribing to the podcast and leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice. Reviews are helpful for new listeners that come across the show, and a good rating means Spotify, Apple, and other platforms are more likely to recommend it to others.
Previous Episode
Training and Empowerment as a Female Athlete with Carolyn Parker
I’m sure Carolyn Parker could have become a household name if she had wanted. In her 20s and 30s, Carolyn was one of the most talented all-around mountain athletes in the U.S. — she was one of the first women to become an AMGA certified Rock Guide, climbed 5.12 trad at altitude 🧗♀️, went on 8,000-meter peak expeditions 🏔️, sent M8, skied 50-degree couloirrs⛷️ and regularly ran mountain ultras. Or as Sarah Hudson, our co-host for this episode puts it, “Carolyn is a boss”.
Climbing was only half the story, though. After flirting with the limelight, Carolyn found that she derived as much, if not more, satisfaction from helping others achieve their objectives as she did in accomplishing her own 🙌. As a result, climbing and guiding eventually transitioned into training and coaching. More than 35 years later, Carolyn has worked with 1,000s of athletes in the pursuit of their dreams.
In this episode, we chat about:
- 🧊 The life, times and challenges of being a female climber in the 90s
- 🧊 Choosing to stay just under the radar
- 🧊 Her philosophy and approach to running a coaching business
- 🧊 Mental and physical aspects of strength training for female athletes
- 🧊 How the hormonal cycle and nutrition impact athletic performance
- 🧊 Navigating menopause
Resources and links:
If you’d like to learn more about Ripple Effect Athlete Training Center or coaching with Carolyn, you can visit their company website, rippleffectraining.com. To follow along with Carolyn’s latest endeavors, her IG account is @blitzkriegbarbie.
To learn more about Carolyn’s coaching journey, there is a great article on Uphill Athlete. Further, UA has a lot of useful resources for training as a female athlete, including a general overview, strength training, and hormones.
If you’d like to dive deeper, Carolyn has shared quite a few resources as well:
Books:
- Dr. Stacy Sims: ROAR, Next Level
- Dr. Lisa Mosconi: The Menopause Brain
Research papers:
- Effect of Estrogen on Musculoskeletal Performance and Injury Risk
- The Effect of Menstrual Cycle and Contraceptives on ACL Injuries and Laxity: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- The Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Exercise Performance in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- Kelly McNulty also has a pdocast on the subject, “the period of the period.”
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy for cardiovascular health: the evolving data
Articles:
- Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport - A Cautionary Tale
- Hormones for menopause are safe, study finds. Here's what changed
...
📸: Cover photo by Angela Hawse (@alpinist007), courtesy of Carolyn.
🙏 And a big thanks to Sarah Hudson (@sarahferocity) for joining as co-host!
Credits:
- Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).
- This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
- And of course, a big thanks to our sponsors, Aniiu Gloves and
Next Episode
Training for Ice Climbing, Mixed, Drytooling, and Speed with Kevin Lindlau, Aneta Loužecká, and Zac St. Jules
This episode is all about training for ice climbing, mixed, drytooling and speed.
To discuss these diverse disciplines, we’re joined by Kevin Lindlau, Aneta Loužecká, and Zac St. Jules and dive into how they think about and structure their training for their respective specialties.
Kevin is a leading roof-climbing drytooler and the first American to send D16, Aneta was last year's World Cup Champion in speed, and Zac is a strong all-around ice and mixed climber who manages to send hard while also working full-time and raising 4 kids.
In this episode, we discuss:
- 🧊 Each climber’s unique journey and some surprisingly common training mistakes
- 🧊 Why defining your goals is so important
- 🧊 How to break things down to first principles in order to structure your training
- 🧊 Why mastering technique matters as much as being strong
- 🧊 Mental tricks and tips for getting in the right head space
- 🧊 Cost-effective training solutions if access to drytooling is hard to come by
Resources and links:
To see how Kevin, Aneta, and Zac are training, you can follow them on IG:
- Kevin: @lindlaukevin
- Aneta: @anetkalouzecka
- Zac: @zacst.jules
Be sure to send them a thank you message if you found their advice useful.
A few other useful resources:
- Uphill Athlete has an article about Training for Ice and Mixed Climbing that I’ve personally used
- Furnace Industries has a series about Training for Ice Climbing
- We also had an episode about training for drytooling specifically last season, with Eli Ellis
- Lastly, if you don’t have access to a drytooling gym or crag, Furnace Industries' wooden tools are climbing gym safe and also make for great options for training at home. And if you do want to build out your home wall, they also have the largest selection of drytooling-specific holds in the U.S.
...
📸: Episode cover photo courtesy of Aneta
Credits:
- Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).
- This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.
- And of course, a big thanks to our sponsors, Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries!
Become a member:
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the conversation and want to help us do many more episodes like this, please consider becoming a member.
(For less than the price of a bougie beer per month!).
🗣️ Leave us a review!:
You can also help us out by subscribing to the podcast and leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice. Reviews are helpful for new listeners that come across the show, and a good rating means Spotify, Apple, and other platforms are more likely to recommend it to others.
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