Feisty favorite Peloton Instructor Christine D’Ercole is back on the show this week for a candid conversation about how she’s managing a high profile athletic career while also in the throes of perimenopause. Through her ups–winning three more National titles since we last spoke–and her downs–peeing herself in the gym as she struggles with pelvic floor dysfunction–Christine is simply open, honest, and real about navigating the emotional terrain of being a midlife, menopausal athlete. We dive into it all including her new Sprint Interval Training (SIT) Collection at Peloton, which is designed especially to help midlife women maintain their power.

Christine D’Ercole is a speaker, writer, decorated competitive cyclist and an original Peloton Cycling Instructor who inspires thousands daily with her work on and off the bike. She is also the founder of Wordshop: a workshop in self-talk, providing practical tools for navigating our negative self-talk towards more productive narratives. For over a decade she has provided Wordshops for private events and for major corporations. When she is not writing or speaking, Christine is racing her bike at Velodromes across the country. She is a Masters World Champion, holds 18 National titles, and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Christine is currently working on a new book, Talking to Myself, a practical guidebook to help you rework your inner dialogue to transform your life. For more information go to christinedercole.com and @iamicaniwillido on instagram. Check out her CDE Menopause Playlist here on Spotify

Resources

I Am I Can I Will I Do in Menopause with Christine D’Ercole (Episode 159)

World Championships 2024

National Championships 2024

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Like many women, Dena Lewis planned on “fighting through” menopause. She thought she could outrun, out-nutrition, and out-supplement menopause. Menopause–which came swiftly through surgery–had other ideas. Through mood swings, soaking night sweats, hair loss, and a relentless barrage of symptoms, Dena did keep running–10+ miles a day–but she also sought hormone therapy that made the rest better. A lifelong runner and breast cancer survivor, Dena shares how she’s navigated her health and menopause journey. She also speaks candidly about surviving two assaults while running, and how those experiences led her to create Running Mate, a safety-focused app that pairs verified runners with compatible partners based on pace, distance, and time of day.

Dena Lewis is the passionate force behind Running Mate, an innovative app revolutionizing runner safety. After enduring two assaults while running, she embarked on a mission to create a safer environment for all runners. Through Running Mate, Dena offers a reliable platform where runners and mates undergo thorough background checks, ensuring peace of mind for all involved. Think of Running Mate as the Uber for runners, providing a groundbreaking solution to enjoy runs without fear. Before founding Running Mate, Dena forged a successful career in Medical Device Sales and Management, holding various leadership roles over 15 years. You can learn more about her and her work at www.getrunningmate.com

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Welcome to The Feist — your favorite sports, with your feistiest friends.

Hosted by Sara Gross and Kelly O’Mara, Feisty's newest podcast is here to celebrate the unstoppable rise of women’s sports. Every week they'll cover what you need to know in women's sports: from running to basketball to everything in between. The Feist will bring you the untold stories of female athletes, interviews with those athletes and behind-the-scenes experts, and the feisty analysis you need to be a fan.

This is the women's sports podcast that covers the sports that don't always get covered from voices that don't always get heard.

In a special live launch episode, they kick off with a panel on what's next and where women's sports go from here. Joining us for the live event are:

• Scott Lake – Newly minted co-owner of the Toronto Tempo, Canada’s first WNBA team, co-founder of Shopify, and an investor in girls' and women's sports.
• Hilary Stellingwerff – Two-time Canadian Olympian, multi-time national champion in the 1500m, and now head track & cross-country coach at the University of Victoria.
• Krista Thompson – Former national team field hockey player and award-winning coach with 20+ years of experience at the provincial, regional, national and international level.

Together, they dive into:

• The massive economic upside of investing in women’s sports
• Why female role models and maternity support matter more than ever
• The coaching and performance knowledge gaps rooted in outdated research
• The lessons they wish they’d known earlier
• And what’s exciting them most about the future

Whether you're a seasoned fan or want to learn more, The Feist is your front-row seat to this women's sports revolution. Because women’s sports aren’t just having a moment—they’re building a movement. And they need fans like you.

Follow The Feist

Subscribe to weekly Feist newsletter

Pelvic floor disorders can wreak havoc on your well-being, especially as a woman who wants to run, jump, hike, bike, and otherwise enjoy an active life. Unfortunately, pelvic floor dysfunction is extremely common, with about half of us experiencing urinary incontinence alone (let alone painful sex, constipation, prolapse, and so forth). But we don’t have to live with all these pelvic floor problems that are sometimes painted as just “normal aging.” This week we take an illuminating deep dive into what you need to know about pelvic floor health and function (spoiler: it’s way more than Kegels) with Ingrid Harm-Ernandes, PT, author The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How to Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms. 

Ingrid Harm-Ernandes, PT, WCS, BCB-PMD, is a board-certified women’s health physical therapist with over 40 years of experience, including nearly three decades specializing in pelvic health. During her tenure at Duke University Health System, she treated patients across urogynecology and physical therapy clinics, co-directed the Women’s Health Residency Program, and contributed to national pelvic floor research through the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network. A recognized leader in her field, Ingrid has served on committees for the APTA and AUGS, is a Medical Advisory Committee member for the National Menopause Foundation, and authored both scholarly articles and the book The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How to Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms. Through her clinical work, writing, speaking, and “The Pelvic Detective” YouTube presence, she’s helped demystify pelvic floor dysfunction—addressing conditions like incontinence, prolapse, pain with sex, and menopause-related changes—while empowering people with the knowledge to advocate for better care.

Resources

The Musculoskeletal Mystery: How To Solve Your Pelvic Floor Symptoms here

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Edie Perkins was a 46-year-old elite runner and cyclist when a catastrophic accident left her paralyzed from the chest down—just as she was entering menopause. In this candid conversation, Edie reveals how her hormonal changes intersected with her spinal cord injury recovery, leaving her with misdiagnosed UTIs, sheet-soaking night sweats she blamed on her injury, declining bone density, and a huge struggle to sort through her challenges and get quality care. Yet, through all of it, Edie continues to race (finishing second place in the handcycle division of this year’s Boston Marathon), ski, and live an active life. We talk about it all and more this week.  

Edie Perkins served as Executive Director of the Kelly Brush Foundation from 2021 to 2025. She previously spent over twenty years managing businesses and developing curriculum products for Pre-K-12 schools. In 2017, Edie was struck by a driver while riding her bike and suffered a spinal cord injury (SCI). She is now paralyzed from the chest down. Always an athlete and active in the running and cycling communities, she sought out support after her injury and is now a competitive handcyclist and finished second at the 2025 Boston Marathon. She is thrilled to bring together her professional background, passion for sports, and new experience living with an SCI to help others thrive.

Resources:

The Kelly Brush Foundation

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“The person who wins is often the one who is fending off the menopause the best!” Those were words of advice a fellow competitor once gave this week’s guest, physiotherapist and competitive cyclist Nicole Oh. That would be something Nicole would come to learn firsthand just a few short years later, as she found herself navigating mysterious joint pain, hot spells, and concerning bone loss. This week Nicole  talks candidly about how she preserved performance during the transition, why she now champions DEXA scans for midlife athletes, and the role of plyometrics in protecting bone health. She also discusses the importance of being proactive—not reactive—when it comes to training, recovery, and maintaining power, and her personal mission to crack 1000 watts. 

Nicole Oh is a physiotherapist from Sydney who specializes in the management of cyclists and triathletes. Nicole combines her cycling knowledge and physiotherapy skills to offer bike fitting services for all levels of riders. She also writes for the UK magazine Cycling Weekly on bike fitting, health and injury. Nicole was a late comer to endurance sports, starting as a triathlete, then switching to road racing in 2012 at the age of 35, racing in the UK, Europe, and now Australia. She has won National Masters titles in road and criterium racing, time trialling and cyclocross. You can learn more about her and her work at thebodymechanic.com.au/nicole-oh

Resources:

At 46 menopause took me by surprise - here’s how I’ve coped with the changes and adapted my training. Cycling Weekly

I hit menopause and found I was osteopenic - this is what cyclists (male and female) need to know. Cycling Weekly

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Over the past eight years, Feisty Media has grown into a go-to resource for women’s health and performance education.

In this special episode, Feisty CEO Sara Gross and Hit Play Not Pause host Selene Yeager reflect on how Feisty’s content has evolved to meet the real-life needs of active women. From menopause and nutrition to strength training and brain health, Feisty is offering more than ever—including a new suite of comprehensive, on-demand courses.

In a world overflowing with wellness advice, Feisty stays grounded in science. With trusted experts and evidence-based content, their goal is to give women clear, practical guidance for every stage of their health journey.

Now, for the first time, all Feisty courses are available on-demand—including our three brand-new offerings:

• A Perimenopause Starter Pack (All New!)
• Your Quick-Start Guide to Hormone Therapy (All New!)
• Brain Power: Understand, Protect, and Optimize Your Brain Health (All New!)
• Fueled: The Science, Psychology, and Strategy of Nutrition for Active Women
• Strong: The Complete Strength Training Course for Women
• Navigate Menopause: A Menopause Guide Built for Active Women

Whether you’re training, transitioning through menopause, or simply looking to take charge of your well-being, these courses deliver the knowledge and support you need—when and where you need it.

Get 25% off all courses through the end of June 2025! Purchase a Feisty On-Demand Course: learning.feisty.co

When some of the biggest names in menopause medicine want to learn to lift heavy, they turn to this week’s guest, Nike Master Trainer and midlife fitness advocate Holly Rilinger, founder of the LIFTED Method. Because Holly gets it. She’s been through her own journey with damaging diet culture, body image issues, and a challenging perimenopause that has left her navigating sheet soaking night sweats, brain fog, and fatigue. Through a midlife-specific training plan and tailored hormone therapy regimen (including testosterone), she’s been able to reclaim her energy and power and is devoted to helping others do the same. This week we dive into the science and strategy behind Holly’s Lifted Method and her Blueprint programs designed specifically for women in midlife, as well as for those using GLP-1 medications. This conversation is packed with insight, honesty, and a lot of muscle. You can learn more about Holly and her programs at www.theliftedmethodcoaching.com

Holly Rilinger is a Nike Master Trainer, author, and founder of the LIFTED Method: An in-person and virtual platform with the focus of empowering people at all levels to strength train. Holly is dedicated to delivering innovative, science-backed training methods in an environment that prioritizes growth, resilience, and a lifelong passion for fitness. Holly coaches in her East Hampton studio and on her virtual platform. She is also the founder of LIFTED Blueprint, formerly Menopause Bootcamp, a program designed specifically to help women in midlife get stronger, feel more energized, and gain confidence as they navigate this powerful phase of life. She is also the creator of LIFTED’s newest program for SLP-1 patients–GLP-1 Blueprint in partnership with Dr. Alexandra Sowa of So Well.

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At the start of 2024, 55-year-old ultrarunner Hilde Dosogne set out to achieve the female World Record for the most consecutive days to run a marathon distance run by completing a marathon every day for a year. On December 31st of last year, she clocked her 366th 26.2 mile run (it was a leap year, which means she had one extra day to run) and her record was verified by Guinness in March. And we had questions, mostly how? How did she stay healthy? (Spoiler, she didn’t, but kept going.) Is she managing menopause symptoms? (Yep.) What does she want others to take from her feat? (The power of the mind and so much more.) This week we share our conversation about her journey to set that Guinness World Record.

Hilde Dosogne is a Belgian ultrarunner who started running at 41 and found her stride as a world-class endurance athlete quickly thereafter. Her career highlights include 100km Race Belgian Champion in 2023; 4th place in Ultrabalaton, a 210km race around Lake Balaton in Hungary; finishing Spartathlon in 2022 and 2023, and Marathon Des Sables, a 250km stage race in the Moroccan desert in 2021. She is also a mother of four and a bio-engineer. In 2024, she set a Guinness World Record by running 366 consecutive marathons in support of breast cancer research. Hilde is dedicated to pushing the limits of human endurance and proving what we’re capable of when we set our mind to it. You can learn more about her and her accomplishments at www.hildedosogne.be/en

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As estrogen drops, our midlife brains go through a lot of changes. The activity in our dopamine network declines, which can leave us going from highly motivated to “meh.” We can experience bigger cortisol spikes and have elevated levels of the stress hormone longer. We can end up feeling constantly stressed out and in a doom spiral we can’t quite escape. And it doesn’t exactly help that many of us are also firmly entrenched in the most demanding period of our lives. This week’s guest, cognitive neuroscientist Therese Huston, PhD, is coming to the rescue with a host of simple–and quick–ways to boost our dopamine, keep cortisol in check, and help our midlife brains be their best.

Therese Huston, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist at Seattle University and the author of four books. She’s always asking, “How can we remove the pesky obstacles that get in the way of smart people?” Her latest book, Sharp:  14 Simple Ways to Improve Your Life with Brain Science, offers science-backed actionable strategies, many of which take 5 minutes or less, to help you make the most of the brain you’ve got.  Therese received her MS and PhD in cognitive psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.  She completed a prestigious post-doc in cognitive neuroscience at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and earned a degree in Organizational Leadership at Oxford University.  She frequently gives talks and runs workshops for organizations like Microsoft, Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Strava, and the Cleveland Clinic.  She also loves a good 5K, especially when the rain takes a pause in her hometown of Seattle. You can learn more about her, her work, and her books at www.theresehuston.com.

Resources: 

The Healthy Minds Program app here

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