Our questions this week are around coaching the female athlete. We chat about the challenges for male coaches and ask are females the preferred option? Also, should National or World Governing Bodies be expected to take on the responsibility of educating their athletes or should it fall to parents?  We discuss how we can ensure coaches and clubs are educated on the various topics of female athlete health.  Plus, we answer a question on the culture of running and weight and the concept of a “race weight”. We ask whether athletics is beginning to break away from this sometimes damagi ..read more

In our second episode back, we're chatting through more listener questions and we're focussing on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). We cover what RED-S is, how it may present, how to deal with RED-S when returning from having a baby and the difference between RED-S and Overtraining Syndrome. Send in your questions for future episodes here. Helpful resources: Returning to running postnatal guidelines Project Red-S: Pippa Woolven ..read more

We're back for Series 5 and answering your questions! In this episode we catch up with all the happenings of the past six months, highlights include travels to New Zealand, getting married, buying a house and competing in the World Championships to name a few! But enough about us, we're back to answer our listener questions around female athlete health. This episode sees us chat about the menstrual cycle and training, how to adapt in different phases, plus how injury and illness may be impacted by the phase of your cycle you're in and why stress, illness, injury and under fuelling may cause ..read more

We're back for Series 5 and answering your questions! In this episode we catch up with all the happenings of the past six months, highlights include travels to New Zealand, getting married, buying a house and competing in the World Championships to name a few! But enough about us, we're back to answer our listener questions around female athlete health. This episode sees us chat about the menstrual cycle and training, how to adapt in different phases, plus how injury and illness may be impacted by the phase of your cycle you're in and why stress, illness, injury and under fuelling may cause ..read more

And just like that we’re back for season 2! We’re kicking off the new season with a truly awe-inspiring woman and athlete; adventurist and ultra-endurance specialist Jenny Tough. Jenny Tough is currently involved in a project to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every populated continent. Jenny was the first woman to win the Silk Road Mountain Race and Atlas Mountain Race.   Jenny’s profile was raised when she started filming herself completing expeditions and adventures and posting on social media to spread awareness that this sport isn’t just for one demographic (white ..read more

In this episode we speak about a topic close to our hearts: how to get more people speaking openly about the menstrual cycle and why it is so important the area becomes less stigmatised. We ask when is it the right time to bring it up with your coach as an athlete and vice versa or as a parent. We give our top tips for starting this conversation both at home and in a sports setting and more generally with your friends and colleagues. We speak to ten time Olympic swimming medalist Allison Schmitt who tells us about her experiences and anxiety of being on her period when competing in the pool ..read more

How about we cover all stages of the female life cycle in one episode? Let's do it! From puberty, menarche and menstruation, to pregnancy, peri-menopause and beyond, in this episode we discuss the physiology, hormonal changes, nutrition and exercise requirements of the female life cycle. We also touch on bone health through the different stages and the wellness and mental health aspects of going through puberty and peri-menopause. Plus we chat about the research relevant to the various stages- it's a bit of a whirlwind tour but we enjoyed covering the whole lot in one episode, hope you do t ..read more

We're back with another episode to begin series 4! We speak with superstar sisters Dr Natalie Brown and Beky Williams (Director of Stride Active) about the state of menstrual cycle education in UK schools. Recently Natalie and Beky, along with our co-hosts Georgie and Jess and Dr Laura Forrest collected some very powerful data that details the current lie of the land with regards to menstrual cycle education in the schooling system and the findings unfortunately weren't too encouraging. As a podcast team we are particularly passionate about this topic and providing young women and girls with ..read more

For this special episode we talk to co-host Dr Jess Piasecki about her recent marathon performance. Jess completed the Seville marathon in February and achieved a 3 minute personal best time of 2.22.25, to put her second on the British all time list for the marathon, only Paula Radcliffe has run faster!  In this episode we hear from Jess about the race itself and how she put together all the little things in order to achieve her personal best. We chat through things like a typical training week, her fuelling in the build up and during the race, tapering, chafing, race tactics and much mo ..read more

It's a topic which doesn't get a lot of air time but as women we believe it's vitally important to have an awareness of this under-discussed and under-reported area: Menstrual dysfunctions.  In fact, we believe this topic is so important we've dedicated two episodes to it.  In 'Part I' we talk about endometriosis: What is is, symptoms, treatment options and why awareness is key to helping diagnosis. In two very honest interviews we speak to elite athletes Elinor Barker and Sarah McDonald who share their stories with the condition, from their struggles and symptoms before being diag ..read more