Ep 97. Running as punishment, sport addiction, disordered eating, psychology

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.

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Josie’s book The Ten Pillars of Success

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