Welcome to episode 101 of the Women’s Running podcast. We have a special guest with us this episode, Sophie Coldwell, Team GB triathlete and all-round good egg. She’s also going to be a Women’s Running cover star in August. But before we talk to her we have some important things to discuss, such as the many holidays we’re going on this summer. We also talk about the trainers we’re currently running in, the start of my marathon training, and the nutrition that we’re using on our long runs. I’m a big fan of having electrolytes in my water, something I’m trying to persuade Holly to do. If you’re either a salty sweater or a high volume sweater, in weather like we’re seeing this week, it's really important to consider what you take with you on a run. For my long weekend runs at the moment, I have a litre of electrolytes, and I use Precision Hydration’s highest concentration, and I make sure I drink more of it before and after the run as well. I might even pop a salt tablet if it’s very hot. 

Then we shift gears to talk to Sophie about the appeal of triathlon, what it’s like to perform in front of a crowd, and her hopes for the Paris Olympics. You’ll be pleased to know we’ve devised a little quiz for her too, and it involves squirrels.

We come back after that conversation to chat about the stuff we eat, and the weirdness of people who don’t like food very much, and a tiny bit about our actual running.

Links

Sophie is supported by the very brilliant SportsShoes who have the very best running gear

My favourite drinks are from Precision Fuel and Hydration

Holly has been very much enjoying Veloforte

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Right now, it’s our summer sale, which means you can get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running for just £1! Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

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Welcome to the hundredth episode of the award-winning Women’s Running Podcast! It’s our hundredth episode! We are so thrilled, so we’re having a celebration – this is our second plonkcast, and this time it’s thoroughly In Person. In the actual same room! We pop the cork on a rather lovely bottle of English sparkling, and we start off by chatting through our very favourite episodes. We talk about Josie Perry our most favourite psychotherapistwho made us cry in episode 97, the wonderful Scummy Mummies in episode 90, the legendary Paula Radcliffein episode 77, the astonishing Eddie Izzard in episode 23, the brilliant Tasha Thompson in episode 13, and the hugely missed Deb James in Episode 9. 

Rather shortly after this, Holly gets too drunk and tells us all that she loves us, which is nice, but might have something to do with the fact that her champagne flutes are actually buckets, and by this point she’s on her second.

Then we have two fun things for Holly to do: the podcast in numbers followed by a Podcast Quiz, which we would love you to join in with. If you’ve been counting and are able to tell us the exact number of swearwords that Holly has dropped since her first episode, then do please let us know.

Thank you for being wonderful listeners and for joining us on our journey so far. Do please let us know what you’d like to hear more – you can also tell us what you’d like to hear less of, although if that’s less drinking, swearing and stuff that’s not about running, I can’t 100% promise that we’ll comply. Happy hundredth episode to us, and happy running!

LINKS

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Get your hands on your first issue for £1 by entering WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Do please email us at [email protected] with any questions or running stories. 

For just £2 a month you can become one of our supporters on Patreon, and we’re working hard to add more rewards for you very soon. 

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Welcome to episode 99 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and Holly Taylor is the other one. In this episode, Holly and I are talking about the night before. We were out last Tuesday at the BSME Talent Awards, in which we had been shortlisted for two awards. We didn’t win the one for our podcast (boo) but we DID win the Diversity and Inclusion Award. We got very very drunk, and we are giddy with our win here. Especially as I got to meet my Cbeebies hero Dr Ranj who was presenting the awards. Not just meet – hug. We talk about bowl food, and we talk about booze, and we talk about drunken interviews that don’t really go to plan.

After a little while, we start talking about running. I talk about doing accidental tempo runs, and we chat about the companionship of running with people side by side, and being able to talk like that rather than having to make eye contact, and how that can be so much easier in terms of sharing personal stuff. We talk about the first week or so of my marathon training which is going well, despite my massive hangover, and we discuss Holly having to start thinking about her base half marathon training plan. We also have an email from a listener about a fabulous embarrassing moment that involves actual manure.

Please email us with your embarrassing moments and also famous people you might have seen at parkrun at [email protected]. Speaking of famous people, it’s so worth listening in right to the end when Holly tells us about the most famous person she’s ever met. Be prepared to be utterly whelmed. I think, on reflection, we were still drunk.

Links

We’ve won an award!

Marathon training plans

Half marathon training plans

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Right now, you can get your hands on your first issue for just £1! Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Do please email us at [email protected] with any questions or running stories. 

For just £2 a month you can become one of our supporters on Patreon, and we’re working hard to add more rewards for you very soon. 

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Welcome to episode 98 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your co-host, that’s Holly Taylor. We recorded this on that super hot Friday a week or so ago, so you’ll have to forgive us for kicking off proceedings by discussing underboob sweat and cold showers. This week we have a special guest on the show, Anna Harding from The Running Channel, who we’ve had on before, along with a very special appearance by Ralphie the interrupting dog. I wanted to get her on again because she has run many, many marathons. I’m kicking off my London Marathon training, Holly’s kicking off her half marathon training, and I suspect a number of you are in the same boat (or at least I hope so!). I’m having collywobbles about my training – I need tips about how to ramp up, and good things to do mid-week, and what I shouldn’t be doing. I wanted to pick Anna’s brains about what she’s learnt in the course of all her training – and what I can learn from her. I ask her about her mistakes, and what a training plan should look like for someone like me. We also talk about half marathon training, and get her practical advice on what we should be doing, how often, and how far. So we’re doing all that, and we have a special treat for her at the end as we invite her on as our very first proper guest on the Women’s Running Quiz! And we’re not going to stop doing this, by the way, until we’ve had actual complaints, and so far you’ve all been very silent on the matter, so we’re going to Quiz Away!

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Right now, you can get your hands on your first issue for just £1! Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Do please email us at [email protected] with any questions or running stories. 

For just £2 a month you can become one of our supporters on Patreon, and we’re working hard to add more rewards for you very soon. 

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In this episode, Holly and I are delving into the psychology of running and nutrition. We have a special guest with us for much of the episode, Josephine Perry, a sports psychologist who has genuinely blown our tiny minds. Josie got into sports psychology after doing an Ironman, while facing a scary ocean for the swim section. The tannoy shouted out to the assembled athletes: “You guys can’t change those waves, but you can change the way you feel about them” and it switched her brain into gear, gave her a triathlon PB, and motivated a change in career. And it’s lucky for us that she has. We have so many questions for Josie, and she talks to us here about how the brain is connected to our bodies, and she explains the part of the brain, the Amygdala, which is the bit that notifies us about threats. We talk about how this can affect us on the start line of races (a lot, it turns out). And we also talk about sports and exercise addiction, and the unhealthy attachment of sport and food. Holly and I both found this chat extremely revealing, and a little bit emotional if I’m honest. What Josie reveals about the dynamic between exercise, food, and historical unhelpful behaviours and thinking feels like a light switching on. What we need to be doing, it turns out, is discovering what our values are, and making sure we run for those things, rather than as a negative punishment. Sounds obvious – often isn’t. This feels like a really illuminating and important podcast – I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Please take care here, there are some potentially triggering mentions of eating disorders and sporting addiction.

Links

Do please email us at [email protected]!

Josie’s book The Ten Pillars of Success

You can get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running for just £1! Holly and I are VERY excited about this. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout. 

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In this episode Holly and I have a bit of a confession to make, because my Mac crashed halfway through this and we had to re-record what was actually a ludicrously funny half an hour talking about wine drinking. So we hastily recorded another podcast and the first half of this is the result. We start off talking about various skin conditions – and let us know if you can sympathise here. Moving on we chat about afternoon drinking, adapting training plans, and running when we shouldn’t really run. We also talk about running for charity – how it offers us an additional goal but can also give us that additional pressure. And then it’s time for Part 2 of our Esther and Holly quiz. And we are utterly giddy with joy about this, so apologies for our excitement. Holly goes all Paxo on me and is the quizmaster, and is testing my very slack knowledge on everything from running records to running history, and I have to say now, I’m not sure I did very well. Please do the quiz along with me, and let us know who you want us to quiz next on [email protected], because this has been my most favourite episode of all time. We also talk a little bit about the next podcast, in which we’re going to be discussing overtraining and sports addiction. 

Links

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Right now, it’s our summer sale – hurrah! That means if you become a member of Women’s Running Plus right now, you can get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running for just £1! Holly and I are VERY excited about this. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout. 

For just £2 a month you can become one of our supporters on Patreon, and we’re working hard to add more rewards for you very soon. For the price of a coffee, you’ll join our gang and be first to know. 

Here’s that University Challenge answer that cracks Holly up.

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In this episode Holly and I are talking training plans. Well, first of all, we’re talking about Holly’s very big life decision, of which I will say no more – you’ll just have to listen in to find out more. And *then* we’re talking training plans and running diaries. We talk about how to manage your training and your own expectations when things go slightly off the rails, and we talk about some of the fundamental issues that can affect our running – in this instance, it's sleep. For those of us signed up to an autumn marathon we’re staring the beginning of our training plans in the face – mine starts next week. And Holly’s half marathon training starts just a few weeks further on. Both of us are equally nervous about this – and would love to hear from you if you’re also starting your next training block too. We’re all in this together, right? We talk about how to manage our training plans so that they work around us, rather than being slaves to them, and – just for Holly – I introduce the concept of a reward chart around her training plan, and I’m fully contemplating buying her some gold star stickers to get her started. We also have the pleasure of another embarrassing moment from lovely podder Louise who had an issue with her trousers which again I shall leave you to discover. Oh and there’s yet ANOTHER big revelation from Holly at the end of the podcast – What pleasures await!

Links

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Then have a look at how dirt cheap it is to become a member of Women’s Running Plus

Run for an hour and we’ll plant 60 trees. 60!

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This week we have something truly special for you. Firstly, we have a bit of a pooey story to start us off, with which I know we’re truly spoiling you (and it’s not even anything to do with Runner’s Trots), but the main event here is our very first Big Running Quiz. Holly is in the hotseat, while I’m doing my very best quizmaster impression, possibly channelling Anne Robinson. But it’s all for a good reason – running is jam packed with weird lingo and we’re here to demystify with the help of some very silly sound effects and some very rapid googling on my part. Tempo run? We’ve got that covered. Jeffing? That too. We’ve even got a spot of fartlekking in there. Everything you could ever want to know about running, aside from all the stuff you actually really wanted to know, basically. 

We finish on a high with a fabulous embarrassing moment, which is actually a bit of a running annoyance. Do please keep sending these in, along with your embarrassing moments, and the stuff that you listen to on your runs.

Links

Join our lovely Patreon gang!

Then have a look at how dirt cheap it is to become a member of Women’s Running Plus

Run for an hour and we’ll plant 60 trees. 60!

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In this episode, Holly and I begin with a rather burning issue. We’re talking about the dreaded chafe here, and Hol is giving her all in this podcast so we must be supportive, even if her choice of running pants is questionable. We chat through our running, and we’re both on the up in that regard. 

Then, today, we want to talk about the stuff that entertains us while we’re running – in my running career, I’ve moved from music, to radio, to podcasts to audiobooks and I have a LOT of opinions about all of them. Holly seems to have moved in a slightly different direction, but we both utterly love the spoken word, and we chat through some of our favourite things to keep us going during a run. This is the start of something – we would love to hear what you listen to, so we can share that, and so we can selfishly have a few more things to line up on Audible and Spotify. Books, music, podcasts – what does it for you? 

Listen right through to the end because we have what we think is the very best running annoyance so far – a total corker involving parkrun and an MP. I’m saying no more...

Links

Join our lovely Patreon gang!

Then have a look at how dirt cheap it is to become a member of Women’s Running Plus

Run for an hour and we’ll plant 60 trees. 60!

Everyone must read Georgia Pritchett’s My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life

Or, alternatively, listen to it on a run

Holly’s favourite podcast, Serial

And my favourite, Adam Buxton

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In this episode Holly and I start by chatting about her very brilliant mug. So it’s all very standard really. Honestly, we go on about it for AGES, so if you want informed running chat you have definitely come to the wrong place. Try that boring podcast over there.  There is a bit of running, I promise, but I’m afraid we then quickly disappear into a little Eurovision love-fest.

But then we have a very special guest – the brilliant Dr Juliet McGrattan, who is a runner AND a doctor, two good things in one. I wanted to talk to her specifically about the perimenopause, and HRT, and running because I’ve been bitten by the Davina bug. I wanted to involve Holly this time cos I wish I’d had this sort of information when I was in my 20s, it’s so important for us to educate our younger girls and women about the menopause in just the same way as we do periods and pregnancy. So we have a lovely in depth convo about symptoms, about running and managing those symptoms, and we talk about HRT – of which I feel very much in the dark and I really wanted to find out more about what it can offer my perimenopausal self. We also talk about what’s great about the menopause, because it’s important to acknowledge that while many of us will have struggles, there are a whole bunch of upsides which Juliet details and which I, for one, intend to embrace wholeheartedly.

Holly and I come back after our meno chat to discuss really important things such as hugely embarrassing moments and whether or not I should do a track half marathon. But more importantly, we have a belter of an embarrassing running story – one that involves a children’s game and A&E. Send us yours please!

 
Tree Hour

Sunday 5th June is Global Environment Day, a day where if you simply sign up through Earth Runs for a 1-hour challenge, to run, walk, cycle or roll for 60 minutes, then for every minute you are moving forward, a tree will be planted for you. Join us to plant as many trees as we can!

Women’s Running magazine

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. Right now, you can read each issue every month right on your phone for just £2.99 a month. Just use the code WRSPR22POD at the checkout.

Patreon

We’ve launched ourselves on to Patreon as we need your help to keep going. Please support us with whatever you can and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks. 

 Links

Get more of a Dr Juliet fix 

Check out her brilliant book, Run Well: Essential health questions and answers for runners

Sign up to a virtual marathon like Holly!

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