The Women's Running Podcast

This episode is all about recovery! I ask Holly what she’s been doing to recover from the Paris Half and, without consulting a single google search, it sounds like Holly is doing all the best things.Resting upShe’s doing exercise for the fun of it, rather than for a goal, and she’s also been eating and drinking for pleasure and whenever she damn well wants. The trick here, however, is to view your recovery as something that’s just as important as your last few weeks’ training, because it’s your rest and recovery that will repair your body and bring you back even stronger for the next goal in your running career.We also talk about introverts and extrovert, nausea on a run, breathing exercises that actually work, and smutty books we love.LinksThis episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lushDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Read our full review of the Paris Half Marathon experience with Sports Tours Grab yourself a copy of Josie’s book, the Ten Pillars of Success, and bag some of her motivation for yourselfBook yourself a race with Sports Tours International!Join the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a very special episode indeed, so it makes sense to release it on International Women’s Day. To be fair, in a roundabout way, we celebrate women in every episode, but this one has real significance.Pod goes liveWe recorded a portion of this episode live in front of an actual audience. This was in Paris, an hour or so after we ran the Paris Half Marathon with 50 Pod Squad listeners, thanks to Sports Tours International. We gathered together with a glass of something chilled in a not very glamorous room filled with laundry, which felt very on brand, to congratulate each other and talk about our races. Here is all our excitement, our tears and our thoughts – we’ve also written our full review of the Paris Half. Race reportHolly talks through all her favourite bits and her worries - as she says herself, she was absolutely dreading it, with a run up and training regime that had been hampered by Covid and anxiety and various things that had derailed the running she had wanted to do. With only an hour’s long run in the bank, she was having a full scale wobble. So find out how each of our half marathons went, from start to finish, and discover the clever ways we kept ourselves motivated en route, thanks to the wisdom of sports psychologist Josie Perry who joined us as well.And also here, find out how bloody brilliant it was to meet up with, and run with, 50 brilliant women – we suggest you do this as soon as you can to be reminded of how wonderful we all are. LinksThis episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lushDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Read our full review of the Paris Half Marathon experience with Sports Tours Grab yourself a copy of Josie’s book, the Ten Pillars of Success, and bag some of her motivation for yourselfBook yourself a race with Sports Tours International!Join the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re covering everything from anxiety and post-covid concerns to half marathon techniques and long run disasters.Paris half marathonNew coffee addict Holly is buzzing about caffeine, but also about our Paris half marathon coming up in just a few days. We’re both enormously excited, but also extremely nervous. Holly’s training isn’t where she’d like it to be, so we figure out some easier Jeff splits for her (find out more about walk/running) and she tries to calm her anxious brain a little.Training and trotsI’m also worried about my training – London is fast approaching, and I’m not sure I’m where I need to be in terms of strength or technical training. I completed a long run at the weekend, and I’m 90% happy with it. You will have to discover if the remaining unfortunate 10% has anything to do with Runner’s Trots by listening right through, you lucky lucky people. Honestly the things we do for this podcast...LinksThis episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lushDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Drop off some food this February for Food Bank Run – there are families out there who really need our supportJoin the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Holly opens this pod giddy with a recent purchase – while I’m not entirely positive that she’s target market, I am absolutely NOT judging.JeffingMoving on to actual running, Holly has made the decision that she’s going to definitely walk/run Paris, and all her confidence has come back in droves, in no small part due to all the messages she received after the last episode. She had been feeling so stressed and so ill, and was so unsure about everything. But she has now faced up to her anxieties, and is both pragmatic and excited about Paris.Running & nutritionWe have a chat about nutrition for the half marathon – Holly does well these days at eating before she runs, but she hasn’t practised running and eating at the same time, so I’m here with all the tips on what she can practice with, without impending doom. We talk about what our A goals and B goals are for both Paris and London.We talk about the possibility of running a race while drinking booze at the same time – we’re aware food and wine races exist. But I can’t help but wonder here, does celebrating en route mean you then can’t celebrate post race? Tricky tricky.LinksHolly is loving her new BAM kitWe also talk about Revvies, Bounce and Tribe – nutrition fit for queensDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Drop off some food this February for Food Bank Run – there are families out there who really need our supportJoin the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 131 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. This episode is all about illness and recovery, because Holly is firmly in the doldrums, in terms of her physical training, but also her overall health and the impact that’s having on her mental health.Running therapySo it turns into a bit of therapy session between us, to which you are all cordially invited. Holly is finding herself enormously stressed about our impending half marathon, she’s worried about her training having taken a tumble, she’s worried about pleasing people (or not), and she’s also worried about not doing it.Because if only it was as easy as saying she didn’t need to run it – which I do say, and she needn’t, but her conflict is caring for her mental and physical self vs that part of her that really wants to be wearing her medal with the gang on the finish line. So we talk through how she encourages that first part of her to also be that second part of her. It’s tough.Running loveShe’s also worried about not being Top Form Holly when we’re in Paris. As she says: “Because I’m worried people won’t love me”. I’m positive that all of you are with me, when I say that EVERYONE will love her even more when she makes it there, but she needs a lot of convincing.LinksGo and get coached by Runna – it’s just aceEnter our competition to win entry to Ultra X Scotland and a night’s stay in a luxury hotel for twoDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Drop off some food this February for Food Bank Run – there are families out there who really need our supportJoin the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 130 of the Women’s Running Podcast, sponsored by Runna. Holly is talking health and mental health. Both have taken a bit of a pounding over the past month and it’s overwhelmed her training and exercise schedule, no matter how hashtag-be-kind she’s been to herself.MenopauseI’ve had a big old menopause symptom and it’s made me feel like SHIT, so I fess up all of it, which has taken a bit of courage because we know that not only do you lot listen but so do our bosses! Anyway. I wanted to share, because we need to talk about this stuff. The fearWe also talk about being given the fear by Martin Yelling, using the mantra “this is my race”, troughing on vegan croissants from Paul’s, Aunty Praline makes a guest appearance, there’s a little bit of Paris nonsense, and we have loads of lovely emails from listeners including one that’s a little bit shady to a competitor. And we’re keeping it in.Run for goodWe also make time for a quick mention for Food Bank Run, which would be great to do in February – link below. And also the wonderful 1% club, being run by Earth Runs (link also below), who will plant a tree for every day you’re active in 2023.Be one of us!Now. Do sign up to be a patron. If you’re in the Cheer Squad tier, you’ll be able to listen to exclusive monthly podcasts – which we’ve decided to call the Extra Mile – created specifically so you’ve always got a bit extra to listen to on your long runs, in which we promise to do our best to talk about anything *apart from* running. The latest one was released just this Tuesday, do go and have a listen.LinksGo and get coached by Runna – it’s just aceDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Drop off some food this February for Food Bank Run – there are families out there who really need our supportJoin the 1% Club and they’ll plant trees for every day you’re active – you’ve nothing to lose!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 129 of the Women’s Running Podcast. This week, we are sponsored by Runna. We have a LOT to talk about today. We’ve got to cover off training for the Paris Half, insecurities about that training, motivations for running in the first place, menopausal symptoms and, lastly, figs.Half marathon trainingSo first of all we chat about Holly’s training for the half. She’s having all the wobbles about Paris, post Covid. Her long runs haven’t quite hit the mark, although she has been doing some cross training, and she’s really worried about how things are going to go on the day. I try and soothe her fears, but I’m sure you guys can do that better than me!Menopause symptomsI talk about menopause a bit here, because I’ve realised that periods and hormones (or lack of them) have been having an effect on my training. We talk through as many symptoms as we can before we run out of time – I’m fully aware that there are more, but also that a number of these can affect our lives and our running. And that it’s important to remember that they are wildly diverse and sometimes it’s difficult to join the dots between all these different things. Have a look on Women’s Running womensrunning.co.uk for great advice on menopause and running.Lastly: are figs vegan? An expert weighs into the debate and we are, obviously, delighted. This, and more hot topics, including the ever present Veganuary wind situation, are discussed in detail. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.LinksFind out more about Runna and download the app!Do join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 128 of the Women’s Running Podcast – this episode is sponsored by Runna. We launch right into it, with some vegan nonsense, but then very quickly we move on to the National Running Show, which we attended at the weekend in Birmingham. We had an absolute blast, we saw so many of you Pod Squadders, and are just giddy with the happiness of it all. We talk here about just some of the brilliant people we met, about Holly getting the spooks in her hotel room, dog biscuits, flapjack, and lots of wine.Race trainingWe eventually get on to our own running, and how our training is going. Post-covid it’s been a bit tough for both of us. In terms of the upcoming Paris Half, Holly is really worried about where she is, and whether she’s not as strong as she was ahead of the Bath Half last Oct. BUT she’s been doing strength training and mobility, and I have a sneaking suspicion that she might actually be in a stronger place on the start line of the Paris Half.Strava badnessI’m also feeling a bit uneasy about where my running is, so I whinge about that for a bit. We also talk about Strava etiquette – which I am terrible at – and also how we shouldn’t measure ourselves by our Garmin stats. Tricky, tricky.LinksFind out more about Runna and download the app!Do join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is again bought to you by the powers of Covid. I’ve picked it up for the first time, unfashionably late to the party as ever. Apologies here for covid coughing throughout. We talk through health anxiety, symptoms, and worrying about the unknown. We also have a chat about the guilt of missing out on training through illness.VeganismMoving on from covid, we talk about our ongoing experiments with veganism, which are mostly positive with a few tofu pitfalls. This, unsurprisingly, segues into a discussion on bowel habits and then IBS – not that either of our experiences with IBS have anything to do with veganism.Food bank runSpeaking of food, we have a big old chat about a new campaign called Food Bank Run. I spoke to Sarah Donaghy recently, who set this up, and it’s genius. I’d love as many of us as possible to sign up to doing this. The idea is that we all go for a run in February, when demand is at its highest, to drop off some food at a food bank to help people who desperately need our support right now.Pod powerWhy don’t we do our first Food Bank Run as a Pod Squad thing. I suggest we all go for a run in the week beginning 6th February. So that means we’ve all got a whole week to do a run of whatever length you like and drop off one or two things to your local foodbank. My nearest food bank is just a few minutes away – it’s easy to check online if you’re not sure. There’s more information in this podcast and in the links in the show notes if you want to find out all about it.LinksThanks to Wassen for sponsoring this episode. Go to Boots to discover the full range of Wassen powders!Find out more about Food Bank RunYou can check here to see what’s needed in your areaDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 126 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. This episode is our first chat since Christmas so we’re a bit giddy with it. Hol has had a bit of a cruddy start to the new year, and it’s mostly Covid based. It’s obviously knocked her training a bit, and she’s been worried about the Paris Half as a result – something I think that will resonate, with so many of us getting bugs at this time of year. If you need help with that, we’ve got lots of info on how to get back to running after illness.Half marathon strategiesI gave her a load of advice the day before which I’ll put here even though we don’t go into it much, as I think lots of us will have woken up on the 1st a bit worried about the half marathon training ahead of us. So first of all I said she can come to Paris and not run it! Shock horror! Of course that’s fine. And the same is true of any race, from parkrun upwards. Or she could always come to Paris and Jeff like all the best runners. Running for 5mins and walking for 30 seconds is a brilliant strategy. And let’s all bear in mind the reasons WHY we’re running that half in Paris – because it’s not to knock minutes off our PBs, it’s to be a tourist and to meet up with the Squad and to have fun! It’s certainly not to get stressed about it beforehand.Running in the coldWe talk about running in Jan and Feb, and kudos goes again to RED January for keeping us moving in the most miserable of months. I talk about my running, I’ve now started my London Marathon training and I’m absolutely terrified, all over again. It doesn’t feel like a very long way away, and my training plan looks really scary right now.ChaosOn top of all of that, we talk about periods, wasps, Pilates and on-screen bums (you can find Holly’s right now on our Insta grid). We also have huge NRS gossip from last year, and Holly divulges a massive scandal that has rocked her world, and it involves pine needles.LinksDo join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!Come along to the National Running Show in January, and say hello!Thanks to Wassen for sponsoring this episode. Go to Boots to discover the full range of Wassen powders! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.