It’s episode 10, series 2 of the Women’s Running podcast! This is our third Women’s Running Workshop. In this episode, Esther chats with Holly, the Women’s Running digital editor about her running, as she builds towards running a virtual half marathon in March 2021. If you’d like to do this with us, it would be great to hear from you – do please email Esther with any questions you have – address below. Over the next few workshops, we’re going to be chatting about how she’s going to increase her long run at the weekends, and the things she can do during the week to increase her strength and endurance.

 Workshop 3 is all about form. Before we launch that on her, we chat about Holly’s running and how it’s been over the last few weeks. If you remember, she’d been tasked with a few technical runs, which she gamely took on. She’s been doing some hill sprints, and – as we suspected – avoiding the fartlekking. This is very much a usual state of affairs: the thing with running homework is that while it’s good to see it as a structure, there’s no point making yourself do stuff that will eventually put you off running altogether

With her training for the half, she will continue to run three times a week – these runs include a longer run at weekends, and that now needs to be in the region of 6-8K, an easy run a few days later, and a technical run – that’s hills or sprints. While she’s doing this, she’s going to think about form. 

It can be weird to change the way you run. And can feel quite alien, but tiny adjustments in the way that you hold yourself, and the way in which you move your arms and legs, can have a massively positive effect on your running – especially in terms of injury reduction but also in terms of performance. 

Here’s your good running form checklist:

Head: Hold your head up high, think about someone pulling your ponytail skywards. Keep your chin tucked in.

Shoulders: Keep your shoulders down and back.

Arms: Hold your arms parallel to your body at 90 degrees and pump them forwards and backwards. Don’t let your hands cross your body.

Core: Hold your tummy in just a little bit, to help keep your posture upright and your back in a neutral, rather than curved, position.

Legs. Cycle your legs behind you. Push backwards, drawing a circle with your feet, picking your heels up at the end of a stride and landing with your feet directly beneath you rather than in front. This will make you lean forward, and it makes you run a little faster. It also makes your feet land mid-foot, rather than heel or toe. 

Feet: Keep your feet on train tracks – so your feet place parallel to each other, and don’t cross over an invisible middle line.

That’s it. Head, Shoulders, Arms, Core, Legs, Feet. It’s a lot to think about, so worth starting off thinking about it on one of your easy runs, and just check the points off one by one from head to toe.

Remember, email Esther here with any questions, and we’ll talk about them in the next podcast.

 And here’s some good news: you can now become a member of Women’s Running? For the teeny tiny price of just £8.75 every three months – that’s a whopping 35% off – you can join Women’s Running and you’ll get our beautiful magazine delivered direct to your door, plus tons of other benefits, such as FREE access to digital back issues, A free month’s subscription to Move GB Move At Home, discounts off This Mum Runs merchandise and to Girls Run The World training videos. And loads more besides. Just enter WRPOD at checkout to get your exclusive 35% discount and join us today! We’d love to have you with us.

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In this episode, we speak to the very lovely Jenni Falconer, TV presenter, radio broadcaster and avid London marathoner. We had a chat last October, just before Halloween and the second lockdown kicked in. She was as charming as she sounds on the radio and on her podcast: enthusiastically talking about her great love of running while brushing away her recent stress fracture. We chatted about her very first on screen appearance – on Blind Date, no less, just after she’d completed her A Levels. And how that appearance lead to a fascination and love for broadcasting. At around the same time she discovered her love for running, too, and chats about how she started, and taking on her first – and subsequent – London Marathons, an experience she loves every single year. She also talks about being papped on the way to work, how getting up at 4.30am is “a bit of a lie in”, and how she has inspired her daughter to also love exercise. In between her busy radio schedule at Smooth, Jenni has also found time to launch a podcast (about running), an app (also about running) and a collagen supplement, aimed squarely at runners. You could say she was a bit of a running fan. What’s next? Well, if she’s launching the Jenni Falconer run kit, put us first in line, please.

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Welcome to episode 8, series 2 of the Women’s Running podcast. In this episode we speak to Leanne Davies, the founder of Run Mummy Run. Run Mummy Run have just reached their 8-birthday milestone, and we spoke to Leanne just beforehand, and her passion for women’s health and wellbeing is extraordinary. From an initial group of just three runners, Run Mummy Run has grown into a unique community that supports and nurtures thousands of members, all abiding by Leanne’s overriding ethos, which has kindness at its heart. While running is the theme that connects these women, Run Mummy Run, as Leanne explains, has become so much more than that: its ever-present support network has become nothing less than an emergency service for all women – not just mothers – who seek advice and friendship on everything from running to relationships, providing emotional support during times of hardship as well as celebrating each other's successes. Leanne is so passionate about her community which has, she told us, supported her just as much as she has sought to support it. For many, Run Mummy Run isn’t just about wearing the beautiful kit - it’s nothing short of a lifeline. We can’t wait to find out what they're going to get up to next! 

This episode is sponsored by Asics. It’s so important to make sure you’re running in the right type of shoe to avoid the risk of injury and to improve performance. But apparently 81% of runners are running in the wrong type of shoe. Don’t be part of that 81%. Just head over to an Asics store or visit their online shoe finder at asics.tv/shoes and speak to an expert who’ll be able to analyse your foot and stride, which is a service they offer completely free of charge, and they will help you find the right shoe for you. Just go to asics.tv/shoes to find out all about Europe’s no 1 running brand.

ASICS


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This is the second podcast in our series for beginner runners, or for those getting back into it, or just if you’re interested in unbefuddling some of the weirder running lingo. In this episode, Esther and Holly have a chat about how Holly's running has been over the past couple of weeks. We also talk about her current warm -up routine, and the sort of moves she can do to warm her muscles and joints up a bit more than, as she says, “putting her leggings on and going downstairs”. We talk about warm up mobilisation exercises that we can all fit in to our running. These are just recommendations, as how you warm up is a very personal thing, but it’s worth building a few in, especially if you’re an early morning runner, to warm up your joints and muscles before setting out. Try this great warm up routine here for starters.

We also talk about introducing a third run. The technical runs we talk about are hill runs and fartleks, which of course we have a little snigger about. And the idea here is for us to work on Holly’s cardiovascular fitness to build up her endurance.  We chat through both types of technical running, and how Holly can easily fit them into her week - the good thing about 'technical' runs is that they can be quick! And the rewards are massive: running faster and running up hills work wonders for your strength and fitness, in ways that our usual plodding run will not. In the next episode we'll find our what effect these runs have had on Holly’s weekend running, and we'll be talking about running form, and how tiny adjustments can have a huge impact.

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In this episode we speak to Gabby Logan. Gabby is a mainstay on our TV, presenting Match of the Day and Question of Sport, as well as reporting on the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, and the London Marathon. Coming from a very sporty family, it’s perhaps not surprising that Gabby excelled at sport as a child, becoming an accomplished gymnast in her teens. Injury put an end to her gymnastic career, but an appearance on Blue Peter tapped into her ambition to launch a career in broadcasting, which she swiftly did once out of university. She talks to us here about how she launched her career, how she's shrugged off discrimination, the snarly comments in newspapers, and the disparity in the financing of men’s and women’s sports which, she explains, begins at grassroots level. She also talks about her running, how her teenage son now overtakes her, and how she’s chuffed to bits with her recent MBE, but because of covid she still hasn’t had her audience with the queen. Yet.

Gabby is an ambassador for  TYG, a gut health sports drinks packed with functional ingredients and live bio cultures to help optimise your performance.

This episode is sponsored by Runderwear. Women’s Running listeners can still get an exclusive 20% off all full-priced items online using the code WR20 at www.runderwear.co.uk

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Welcome to the Women’s Running Workshop. This is the first in a new series of podcasts for beginner runners. In our first episode I have a chat with Holly, our Women’s Running digital editor. She’s eyeing up the virtual Bath Half in spring 2021, and I want to help her get there. So we got together to talk about her training, to figure out where she thinks she is running-wise, and to chat about what she can do in the next few weeks to get her fitness levels up. This is the perfect opportunity to join in with us if you’re starting to run, or you’re getting back into it. Over the next few episodes I’ll be coaching Holly every fortnight to a comfortable 5K, then to her first 10K, and up to the half marathon in March. We will discuss an easy running schedule, some strength and conditioning moves she can do at home, and some simple drills. Listen in to the end, and I’ll give you a little bit of running homework too – don’t worry, I promise it’s easy, it’s for all abilities, and it doesn’t matter if you’re not quite where Holly is right now. Give it a go, and let me know how you get on. Next episode, we’re talking technical running, so tune in then for an update from Holly, and to get your next batch of running homework!

Email me with your questions.

And find out how to prepare for your first run.

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Welcome to episode 4, series 2 of the Women’s Running podcast. In this episode we speak to Sabrina Pace-Humphreys. We weren’t sure what to expect by the time we spoke to her: at that time she had garnered quite a bit of interest partially because she’s one of the founders of Black Trail Runners, and had already been a cover star on a different running magazine. What we didn’t expect was just how inspiring, how brilliant, how funny she was: in many ways, Sabrina has been one of the most fun conversations we’ve had but also one of the most revealing. She challenges us to have the balls to get out there and actually do something. Not just listen, not just act surprised when we’re told that few black runners are taking up trail running (or even running), and to not just accept the lack of diversity at the start line of races. She wants us to demand change from event directors, and to question decisions, and to question our own motives. She is so passionate, so wonderful, and incredibly moving. She talks here not just about setting up Black Trail Runners, but also her history with running, taking on the Marathon des Sables (and besting it), and how “small steps lead to massive change”.

@sabrunsmiles

@blacktrailrunners

Read more about Sabrina in our interview with her.

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It’s episode 3 series 2 of the Women’s Running podcast! And in this episode we speak to Jess Piasecki, the winner of the Florence Marathon in 2019. We like to talk about journeys at Women’s Running – we’re much like Strictly Come Dancing in that respect – and Jess’s journey in particular is compelling. She came to our attention when she won that marathon in 2019, in so doing becoming the third fastest GB woman of all time. But how she got to that startline in the first place is a rollercoaster journey through injury after injury. She talks to us here about her ultra sporty start at school, and then how her career weaved in and out of dramatic injuries, including multiple spine fractures, and how she built back from that. She also talks very honestly here about how she didn’t have a proper period until she was 27, the importance of oestrogen on bone health, and how important periods are as an indicator of overall women’s health. Jess is a presenter on the Female Athlete podcast, which is well worth a listen, and she’s also a brand champion for the excellent FitrWoman app. She speaks eloquently here about how important it is for young athletes to learn what their bodies are going through.

This episode is sponsored by Runderwear. Women’s Running listeners can get an exclusive 20% off all full-priced items online using the code WR20 at runderwear.co.uk. 

This episode, the Runderwear team is giving one lucky listener the chance to win a Runderwear ‘Winners Bundle’, including a base-layer, a sports bra, a pair of chafe-free underwear and a pair of socks. The winner can choose the colour and style of each item included in their bundle! To enter, just need to enter your details at Runderwear. 

Listen to The Female Athlete here.

Find out more about how FitrWoman can help your training.

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In this episode, we talk to Tasha Thompson, the founder of the online community and running group Black Girls Do Run. She set her group up a year ago to inspire black women to run for their fitness, their health and their mental wellbeing. Tasha’s always been a runner, but she had noticed that very few other black women were joining her at the start line of races, and she quickly realised that there were a ton of barriers that prevented black women from taking up running. She set up Black Girls Do Run to help support more women to access running and to enjoy it, and to help educate wider society about the presence of these barriers. She talked to me here about her own running, setting up the group, the issues that her community faces, and how within just a few months the group came face to face with racism at the Harrow Half. But Tasha is a woman to be reckoned with: since then her group has grown, both in size and in reputation, and she has secured support from Runderwear and recognition in the press. You know that lovely feminist phrase, “Nevertheless she persisted”? That’s Tasha: her unwavering positivity and optimism are palpable: and this is reflected by the support and loyalty of her group. 

This episode is sponsored by Runderwear, a small brand in Dorset which makes technical performance underwear to prevent chafing. Women’s Running listeners can get an exclusive 20% off all full-priced items online using the code WR20 at www.runderwear.co.uk. 

In this episode, one lucky listener has the chance to win a Runderwear Winners Bundle. The bundle will include everything you need to start your running journey with Runderwear, including a base layer, a sports bra, a pair of chafe-free underwear and a pair of socks. The winner can choose the colour and style of each item included in their bundle.
Go here to enter this amazing competition!

For an exclusive 20% off all full-priced items at Runderwear use the code WR20 at the checkout. 

Follow Black Girls Do Run

And give them a wave when you see them on a run!

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In episode one of season two of the Women’s Running podcast, we talk to Susie Chan. Susie is a hugely inspirational ultrarunner, having taken on dozens of endurance challenges across the globe. She’s a popular woman in the running industry, and you might have seen her popping up on your TVs or at the National Running Show interviewing other runners and commenting on races. We talked to her about exploring her local area during lockdown, going from a “few half marathons” to the running the Marathon des Sables, heat training, her rollercoaster journey from chasing PBs to a shock cancer diagnosis, and dealing with that diagnosis by entering a LOT of races. She also talks about battling the Jungle Ultra after her husband had almost died, tripping over an alligator during a hundred-miler in Florida, running with her pal Sophie Raworth, and her love of craft beer. And if you want to know what the best food to take on a desert ultra, she knows just the thing. Spoiler: it involves the words Pot and Noodle.
This episode is sponsored by Brooks, who have a brilliant competition to win one of two full Run Visible outfits worth £400. You just need to go to womensrunning.co.uk/runvisible and answer a very simple question. Good luck!

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