Running Minds

This episode features a good friend of mine and a phenomenal athlete, Lily Taylor! Lily began playing squash at the age of 6 and experienced a lot of success at junior level. Lily has represented England many times and she was the top ranked under 19 player in the country. She continued her junior level success into her time at the University of the West of England from which she graduated with a degree in Business and Accounting last year. During her time at university, she became the World University Championships Women's Singles and team winner in 2018. A few months later she beat the #62 best player in the world to win the British University Championships. Following her graduation in the summer of 2019, Lily began her PSA, Professional Squash Association world tour in October 2019 which got off to a great start with her PSA title win in Norway that November. Earlier this year she reached her highest world senior ranking of 75th in the world and hopes to improve on that in the years to come. 

Listen to Lily talk about her journey into this under-appreciated sport, how she wants it to develop and how her family, who lives and breathes squash has helped her into her professional journey. We talk about what it is like having her Dad as her coach, balancing sport and socialising, her battles with injury and overcoming mental health struggles to become the athlete she is today.

In this episode I have gone solo to share my experience with body image and disordered eating and how this has affected my athletic performance and self-confidence over the years. I talk about recent news on body shaming in running and how the phrases “freshman 15” and “cheat day,” should be banned. I share some of the techniques I have used to grow a healthy mindset towards food and my body, including mindful and intuitive eating.

In this episode I am joined by Ben Dijkstra, an international triathlete who is studying Sport Technology part time at Loughborough University.

Ben started off as a competitive runner before he transitioned to triathlon. He is a multiple English Schools cross country and track champion and has represented the Great Britain team at the European Cross Country Championships twice. 

At the age of 15, Ben won double gold for Team GB at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in triathlon and in this episode he talks about how the individual race came down to a close photo finish! Since then, he has won multiple International Triathlon Union World Series Podiums and in 2019 he won gold in both the Mixed U23 Relay at the Grand Final in Lausanne and the U23 Men's race at the ETU in Valencia.

Listen to Ben discuss his love for the sport, his journey so far and how he balances his time between studying, training and developing a positive mental attitude. 

Sit back and listen to the life and mindset of an amazing woman, coach, mother, wife and mentor. Erin Howarth has been the head distance running coach at Eastern Illinois University for 10 years. During my time running at EIU, she won the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2019. 

Prior to her time at EIU, she was a successful distance runner and student at Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She held the 5km record there for 6 years! At Butler University, she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Spanish and competed in cross country and track from 1996-2000. Following her graduation, she was drawn back to Indianapolis to assist Coach Joe Franklin for 2 years, then moved across the country to coach at the University of New Mexico for 3 years.   

After her collegiate career, she moved from cross country and the 5km and 3km steeplechase, to the marathon distance. She holds a personal best of 2:57 in the event! Today she still runs with the team and loves to read and listen to psychology, coaching and running related content.

Tune in for an insight into the world of NCAA Division 1 running, coaching, recruiting and a deeper look into how athletes’ mental health and personalities are an integral part to team success. 

Today we kick off the Honest Conversations series with Emily Hollis! Emily and I met some time ago whilst representing Leicestershire in cross country. Now ten plus years on, we have sat down to discuss the ups and downs of running, exercise, self-care and eating habits! Today, Emily works as a Talent Executive for the nutrition brand Huel. She has been running since the age of six, inspiring others with her fashion choices since her teens and more recently, has started to share her weight training progress.

Tune in, to hear how exercising has helped Emily both physically and mentally.