We’re back! And we’re kicking off the New Year with the perfect introspective conversation with former pro athlete turned entrepreneur and life adventurer, Nicole DeBoom. Nicole recently turned 50 and is in the thick of perimenopause, which for her has manifested in brain fog, night sweats, body composition changes, and more. She’s also recently had spinal fusion for spondylolisthesis, a spinal condition that causes instability and slips in the vertebrae in the spinal column, which is as awful as it sounds, all while navigating her perimenopause journey. We have a deep, wide-sweeping conversation about all of it, including her internal debate about hormone therapy, how our identities evolve during this time of life, and much more. 

A world-class swimmer as a teen, Nicole turned pro as a triathlete in 1999 and won Ironman Wisconsin in 2004 wearing a prototype of the first-ever running skirt. Three days later she incorporated Skirt Sports Inc, which she sold in 2020 before launching her new company Aesop, where she records interviews with people to create audio memories for loved ones. She also has a podcast, including a menopause series, called Run This World. You can learn more about her, her enterprises, and her life’s journey at www.nicoledeboom.com

 

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Since we started this podcast, many women have gone from being afraid to take hormone therapy to being afraid not to take hormone therapy, as some in the menopause field are saying that menopause is really a “hormone deficiency” and we can’t age well without it. This week we dive in on what hormone therapy is; what it can do (especially for performance and health); what it can’t do, and what we’re still learning about all of it with Dr. Carla DiGirolamo.

Carla is a Double Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Obstetrician/Gynecologist specializing in infertility and menopausal medicine. She is also a Crossfit Level 1 trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach, and member of CrossFit Health. She runs an online personal training and nutrition coaching business, FitforLifeMD, specializing in the care of women in all age groups, but with a special interest in the comprehensive care of peri/postmenopausal women. She also writes a regular blog on Athletic Aging. Carla has the distinction of being the only repeat (and now threepeat!) guest on Hit Play Not Pause.

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The good news: we are finally talking about menopause! The not so good news: we still have a long way to go, especially in the realm of research, says this week’s guest Dr. Stephanie Faubion, who is on the tip of the spear leading the way forward as the Medical Director of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). When it comes to dealing with menopause openly in our culture, especially in the workplace, Dr. Faubion believes we are where we were with pregnancy 30 years ago. And she has some ideas on how we can all help accelerate progress and bring our doctors and culture up to speed. 

Along with her role as Medical Director of NAMS, Dr. Faubion is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health. Her expertise is in women’s health, clinical research, education, and clinical practice. You can learn more about her and her work at mayo.edu.

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Dr. Google is often our first stop when we want to understand a symptom we’re experiencing and find out what we can do about it. But the internet is a bottomless well of information–and disinformation. Even when we dig into actual research studies, the conclusions aren’t always reliable or consistent, which is why it’s hard to get a straight answer on complex issues like hormone therapy. It can be frustrating and confusing, but there are ways you can evaluate the information you find to determine how much confidence to put into any given conclusion, which is where this week’s guest biostatistician Leslie McClure, PhD, comes in. Leslie explains how to do your own research and how to assess the information you find, including what makes a good study, causation versus correlation, features of information you can trust, and much more. Leslie also talks about her own menopause experience, which started when she was 39 and has continued for 9 years and how it has impacted her own training and fitness. 

Leslie is the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, where she works with other scientists to help them better formulate, design, analyze, and present their science. She is currently the Director of the Coordinating Center for the Diabetes LEAD Network, and the Director of the Data Coordinating Center for the Connecting the Dots: Autism Center of Excellence. Dr. McClure is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Society for Clinical Trials, and of the American Heart Association.

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At age 42, off-road triathlete Deanna McCurdy was crushing it, including clocking the fastest female amateur time at XTERRA National Championships, and was ready to turn pro when—perimenopause. Out of the blue, her performance tanked and she found herself in tears through a key race. Deanna, who’s also a mom of a special needs daughter, was forced to rest, research, reset, and make some training and lifestyle changes. It worked and she roared back to racing as a pro by age 45, winning XTERRA Fruita and getting second at XTERRA Quebec. But those ups were followed by more hormonally-driven downs, as she became plagued by symptoms including aches and injuries, sleepless nights, and headaches earlier this year as she was preparing for Breck Epic, a six-day mountain bike stage race. With the help of hormone therapy, she got back on track and crushed the race. This week she shares that journey and how, though the path is still rocky, and training isn’t perfect, she has found the tools she needs to navigate this challenging time.

 Deanna McCurdy is a USAT Level I and USAC Level II certified coach. She is also the founder and head coach of Team Miles for Smiles-Wings to Fly Racing. Miles for Smiles is a training team created to help raise funds for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (F.A.S.T.), a not-for-profit whose sole purpose is to fund research, and ultimately a cure for, Angelman Syndrome (AS). USA Triathlon awarded Deanna Off-road Triathlete of the Year honors in 2017, 2018, and 2021. You can learn more about her and F.A.S.T. at cureangelman.org/fast-athletes and her USA Triathlon blog.



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Women have been taught incontinence is our destiny–that we should just accept it and wear pads. Pelvic floor issues like prolapse are often normalized–we should just stop running, jumping, and lifting heavy sh*t. This week’s guest The Vagina Coach, Kim Vopni, is having none of it, and she dives into all the therapies and tools available to help remedy prolapse, incontinence, and other pelvic floor issues so you can continue doing the activities you love. And she should know, Kim has dealt with her share of pelvic floor issues, including experiencing a stage 2 uterine prolapse, which she ultimately resolved through a series of special pelvic floor exercises. 

Kim is the founder of Pelvienne Wellness Inc - a company offering pelvic health programs, products, and coaching for women in pregnancy, motherhood, and menopause. Kim also certifies other fitness and movement professionals to work with women with core and pelvic floor challenges through her Core Confidence Specialist Certification and Pre/Postnatal Fitness Specialist Certification. She is the author of the best selling book, Your Pelvic Floor. She also runs Buff Muff Challenges to help women learn and get in the habit of training their pelvic floor. You can find her on-line at www.vaginacoach.com and on social media @vaginacoach.

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Ultrarunner Kamm Prongay is clear: she did not sign up for the Menopause 200. Her ovaries did. And when they did, she eventually found herself on the start line, unable to run. Kamm has been chronicling her journey through menopause in a series of essays in Ultrarunner.com, including one titled the Menopause 200, in which she shares her anxiety, brain fog, drenching night sweats, and ultimately performance decline and lack of drive to do the sport she loved. And this week, she shares that journey with us, as well as how she turned it around to regain her mojo, tame her symptoms, and get back on the trails.

Kamm Prongay is a writer, ultrarunner, and veterinarian whose essays intertwine science, nature, people, and place. A child of the South, raised in the Pacific Northwest, Kamm spent time at sea as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer before coming ashore to pursue veterinary school, clinical practice, teaching, and research. She has contributed to four books, along with essays published in scientific journals and UltraRunning magazine. When not running or supporting trail races, Kamm lives with her wife, Liz, and two curious cats in Portland, Oregon.

Resources

The Menopause 200, and Kamm’s other essays at ultrarunning.com

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More than diet, exercise, the money in your bank account, your cholesterol levels, or even your genes, it’s your relationships that matter most when it comes to being happier and healthier in midlife and into old age. That’s important because midlife and menopause are inextricably intertwined, and how we experience one impacts how we experience the other. We dig into all of that and so much more with this week’s guest, gerontologist Zora Benhamou, who encourages women in midlife to find positive, nurturing people–their menopause five, if you will–to share their journey through menopause and beyond. 

Zora is a gerontologist passionate about aging and longevity. She is on a mission to disrupt ageist stereotypes in social media and is host of the Hack My Age podcast and the website HackMyAge.com focusing on biohacking for women over 50. She is the author of the Longevity Master Plan and the Eating For Longevity cookbook. Zora is also a certified sports nutrition coach and an Oxygen Advantage Advanced Breathwork Instructor. She is a digital nomad who has traveled to over 50 countries, has lived in 8, and speaks 6 languages. You can learn more about her and her work at https://hackmyage.com/

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Research links:

 Harvard article on the Study of Adult Development

 Adult Development Study website

 Social Isolation and Loneliness In Older People Pose Health Risks

 Human Development In The Second Half Of Life - Gene Cohen

 Demography of Menopause

 Menopause - Related Symptoms and Influencing Factors in Mosuo, Yi and Han Middle-Aged Women in China

 Menopause in Cultural Context

 Perception of Menopause Among Women of Sarawak, Malaysia

 Menopause Is A Natural Stage of Aging : A Qualitative Study

 Premature Menopause Among Women In India

 Menopause Specific Quality of Life Among Emirati Women

 Symptoms of Menopause - Global Prevalence, Physiology and Implications

 Epidemiology of the symptoms of menopause

 Menopause in Asian Women - International Menopause Society

 Menopause Specific Quality of Life among Emirati Women

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Want to challenge yourself without the pressure that comes with traditional competition? Feel like trying something new that won’t have you comparing your former self to your current self? This week’s guests Teri Smith and Dana Katz suggest trying an FKT, or fastest known time, a challenge where you run, hike, or in some cases bike or “multi-sport” along a route as quickly as you can to try and set an FKT. When perimenopause upended Teri’s competitive identity as an ultrarunner, her friend Dana coached her to complete an FKT—nearly 190 miles of traversing the Olympic Peninsula of Washington—and it transformed her life, as you’ll hear in her own words in this week’s show.

 

Dana is the owner and coach at UltraU in Portland and also coaches with Women who FKT. Teri is an avid backpacker, trail runner, cross country skier, and mom. They are both part of the Women Who FKT Project, a group of women who are on a mission to help more women and underserved minorities have meaningful adventures in the outdoors. You can learn more about them and their work at Women Who FKT.

 

Resources

Fastest Known Time Official Website 

Women who FKT Instagram 

Teri Smith and Stacey Lee’s FKT story

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Nothing stops you in your tracks like chronic pain and nagging, seemingly endless injuries, both of which can become more common during the menopause transition and beyond. The sports medicine world is brimming with cutting-edge, regenerative medicine treatments promising relief, but it can be hard to cut through the marketing jargon to figure out what really works. This week we sat down with sports medicine-certified orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright of the Hughston Clinic for detailed explanations of TenJet rehabilitation, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), stem cells, orthobiologic injections, and other regenerative medicine treatments, as well as the impact of diet and lifestyle on joint health. 

Dr. Wright is a double board-certified orthopedic surgeon, researcher, and team doctor. Her pioneering research in mobility and musculoskeletal aging is changing the way we view and treat the aging process, and her passion for advancing her field is evident in her expertise with cutting-edge orthobiologics techniques, including PRP for arthritis. She has experience caring for athletes and active people of all ages and skill levels, including the Division I Georgia State Panthers, Penguins Elite developmental hockey teams, University of Pittsburgh Division I athletes, World Rugby 7’s, Olympic track and field athletes, and the Atlanta Ballet. You can learn more about her and her work at https://www.surgeon.drvondawright.com/

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