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 wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk 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 wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk. 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 wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk 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 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 wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk 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 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.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

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Welcome to episode 102 of the Women’s Running podcast. I am your host, Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. We start today chatting nutrition and supplements. I’m a bit of a fan of things that promise the earth, but I also enjoy taking things that I *know* will help me recover quicker and potentially help me to prevent injuries – along with my strength work of course. So that leads us to discuss all things turmeric and collagen.

We also talk about the shoes that we’re running in, which range from everyday road shoes to brand new, interesting stuff that I just learnt from a company I’d met the week before.

We also talk about something a little bit controversial. This is surrounding the news about Eilish McColgan running the London Marathon. We are extremely excited about the news that she’s joining the elites, but what we found interesting were the comments about the news in more male-specific channels

This leads into a bit of a man slag off, which we thoroughly enjoy, but it is not a general observance so sorry to men everywhere (and here). We also chat about swallowing flies and over-reacting. We end on a miniature quiz, and what’s brilliant here is that Holly reckons that more people run the GNR than the entire population of Newcastle.

Links

If you like this podcast, you will love Women’s Running magazine. 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! Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

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Welcome to episode 103 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. In this episode of the podcast, we’re talking to the very lovely Sabrina Pace-Humphreys. But before that, Holly and I chat about ultrarunning and the races we’d be keen to take on. Then we chat to Sabrina, who we’ve had on the pod before but wanted to get on again because of three huge things. Firstly, she’s just completed the very brutal Spine Race and we want to find out ALL about it. No spoilers here, although I wil let you into a little quote she says, which is: “The Spine race makes the Marathon des Sables look like a picnic on a summer’s day” and that’s probably all you need to know. Secondly, we want to talk to her about her book, Black Sheep, which has just been published, in which among other things details the racism she experienced as the only black kid in a tiny village in England. Thirdly, we want to talk to her about the event she’s holding on September 11th this year, Black To The Trails, a day that she has created to encourage more black and brown people to run on trails. She’s encouraging everyone to attend if you’re interested in running trails for the first time, and it’s going to be a brilliant celebration of trail running, with lots of music, food and facepainting, as well as guided runs. Then Holly and I come back at the end to do the quiz that we didn’t have enough time to hold for Sab – Holly is in the hotseat and the theme is ultrarunning...

Links

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Join us at Black to the Trails

Pick up Sab’s brilliant book Black Sheep here

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Welcome to episode 104 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I’m your host, Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. We start off by catching up after Holly’s holiday. Has she run while in Italy? I am firmly bating my breath, obviously. We then catch up on everything we’ve been doing in the huge heat that we’ve just experienced. I’ve been running as usual, but I’ve made sure to adjust my running to allow for the heat – taking walking breaks up the hills, and drinking way more water, and so far it’s working for me. But of course we have to talk about sweat because that’s a huge issue right now! And never was a sweat wicking top more needed than around me during the summer.

We also talk about sports and schools, nudged into it by an email from a lovely listener. As neither of us had the best experience at school in terms of team sports, this is a hugely emotive subject for us, and I know we won’t be alone. While tons of you will have had enormously positive experiences at school in PE, there are many of us that haven’t – so many of us were picked last, and felt unequal and unable to compete with the best of them. Thankfully, quite a lot has changed in PE since I was at school, but we still need to consider young girls in whom there is a massive drop off in engagement with sport when they hit puberty. Body shaming, self confidence, and simple practicalities all have their part to play. But so do we! We need to be encouraging our girls to enjoy the feeling of participating – not for the end goal of winning something, but for enjoyment itself. Just like we do. At the end we have a bonus section on a new animal that we hate on our running!

Links

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

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Welcome to episode 105 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m Esther Newman your host, and she’s Holly Taylor your other host. We’re both in the thick of our training this episode. Holly is a few weeks into her half marathon training, and it’s going well, albeit hampered slightly by the glorious weather we’ve been having. I’ve been holiday running, which has had its ups and downs. We’re both finding the temperature a struggle, and it’s made me question my fitness and whether I’m entirely ready for this marathon at all. We also talk about our brushes with anxiety recently, and how for the first time in my life it seems, running isn’t quite cutting it in terms of helping minimise my catastrophising, but I have a feeling that the dull book I’m listening to at the moment on Audible has something to do with it. We chat though general anxiety and running, and what we’ve been doing to combat the spiralling. We also take a swerve and chat about hydration and how best to keep on top of that in this weather, and when to start running with a hydration pack. Once we’ve got through that, we also have a chat about heckling, and how it can completely derail our running. In between all that it’s the usual nonsense so hold on to your running caps.

Links

Claim your three whole, proper sized full bottles of wine from Wine 52, and you just have to pay 8.95 to cover the cost of postage.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

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Welcome to episode 106 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. We’re started recording this at 2.30 in the afternoon, but we immediately start talking about cocktails. Turns out we’re nowhere near as sophisticated as we thought we were. After an enormous ramble on the perfect way to mix a Margarita we eventually get on to running. Holly’s in the thick of her half marathon training, and she’s having issues with DOMs (that’s Delayed Onset Muscle soreness to you and me). And so am I! So we talk about that a bit, and how to recover.

We also talk about the kit we’ve been wearing during the heatwave – I’m still firmly in my leggings and want to know what you wear if you also prefer to run covered up. Meanwhile, Hol talks about her adventures in finding the perfect pair of running shorts.

Then we launch into a controversial topic; weight loss and running. We chat about this because of a stupid thing I heard a fitness instructor suggesting about losing weight before beginning to run. We talk about damaging theories about weight and exercise, how we’ve both been affected by it, and how we need to combat crap advice like this and help encourage EVERYONE to run. Listen here – you do NOT need to lose weight to run!

Then we have just enough time to talk about managing parenting, school holidays and running  and we end with a rant about how we divvy up housework, because it seemed relevant at the time.

Links

This episode is sponsored by SportsShoes! SportShoes’ Running Hub is filled with the best expert advice, from training and nutrition, as well as news on the latest kit. They hope to inspire you to run stronger, better and happier – because it’s no fun standing still.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive weekly newsletter from me and Holly! 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

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Welcome to episode 107 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host, Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. So in this episode it’s a bit of a game of two halves – despite our podcast dropping every week as normal, we’ve actually had a bit of a break, it being the summer holidays and all. But while I’ve been not-eating Cornish pasties, Holly has had a very different time of it. As candid as ever, she talks about the swerve in mental health she’s suffered over the past fortnight, and the tools she’s using to help bump her back up again. She also talks about how while she had once used running as one of those tools, this time around it’s been less helpful for her (all that said, we know that generally speaking running can be a brilliant support for our mental health). On my side of things, I’ve been training for the Great North Run in September and the London Marathon in October – I’ve just about kept up with my plan while on holiday, but I’ve found the change in terrain and the second heat wave very challenging. And while ostensibly I’m on track, my mind is spiralling with all the things that *could* go wrong, and also all the reasons why the bad runs were bad, and why the good runs were good, and how all these things are going to affect my races negatively one way or another. Please tell us how your training is going! We also talk about some emails we’ve had in on the back of our chats about heckling, and they’re really shocking. And again, do please let us know if you’ve had experiences like this – I think talking about it like we began to do during our We Will campaign is one of the best things we can do to raise awareness that this happens and how we feel as a result.

Links

This episode is sponsored by SportsShoes! Search London Marathon at sportsshoes.com and use the code WRPOD on all orders over £50 claim 10% off.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 108 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. Holly’s half marathon training is going well, and she’s tentatively enthusiastic about tackling longer distances with her running buddy, and considering potentially a bit of walk running.

We talk here about strength training, and the stuff we can do to support our running, and make everything easier. I talk to Holly about some simple bits of strength training she can do – and all of them are bodyweight (so no equipment required) and she can do them at home. Equally if she fancies a trip to the gym, she could easily do this using weights or machines at the gym to get a bigger session in. The trick here is to simplify strength training – it doesn’t need to be a billion different moves, and it doesn’t need to be complicated. Divvy yourself up into three sections: arms and shoulders, core (stomach, back and hips), and legs. Then think of three exercises – something like press ups, crunches and lunges. Do them 10 times, and repeat three times. And Bob is most firmly your uncle. Running will be, progressively more easy. And after a few weeks you can add in weights, up your reps, change up the exercises, whatever you like – you’ll find LOADS of strength training on our website.

I talk about my worries about running a half (the Great North Run) when I’m supposed to be running  20+ miles in training for the London Marathon, not 13.1, so I’m having to add a few miles on to it before or after. I want to know if anyone is doing something similar in the lead up to the marathon.

We finish up by talking about the dreaded chafe, and in this instance, specifically boob chafe. As Holly says, “you don’t want your tits to ruin your marathon”. Somehow she makes this an issue that she lays firmly at the door of the patriarchy, and who are we to disagree?

Links

Start your running journey or find inspiration for beating your personal best with Forestry England. 

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 109 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m Esther Newman, your host, and she’s Holly Taylor, your other host. We kick off this week’s episode by talking about corrective eyewear, as you would probably expect. This segment finishes (finally) with Holly explaining how we can all get a “Beers For Life” token from her family. 

We finally get on to running and then chat about distraction techniques on longer runs, which Holly has been using as she’s upping her mileage in her half marathon training. At this point I was still worried about upweighting the Great North Run into a longer run, but that will be all over and done with by the time this comes out, so fingers crossed it all went to plan!

We talk strength training again, as a result of the workout that Holly did this week, which destroyed her slightly. So our main focus here is the dreaded DOMs and how to minimise them, and recover from them.

We also talk about what it’s like to live with people who aren’t as enthusiastic about your running as you are – we’d love to know your thoughts on this. We hope your training and running is going well as we head into Autumn! I personally love Autumn because there’s no danger of me having to wear a vest, so there we have it.

Links:

Find your new favourite bra at Maaree.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly! 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

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In this episode we welcome back Friend of the Pod, Anna Harding, a woman who has knocked out a number of marathons and ultras. I wanted to get her back to pick her brains about tapering. However, turns out she’s an old hand at the Great North Run, which I’ve just run, so we kick off by talking about that... We talk about the brilliance of the great north run – the crowds, the route, the atmosphere – it was all such an incredible day, and it’s lovely to reminisce.

Then I pick her brains about the taper that we’re in the middle of right now before the London Marathon. Holly is also ramping up her miles towards her half marathon, so we talk about the goals we need to be thinking about on the days of our races, and strategies to keep us sane and moving on those tricky miles. Anna has some fantastic advice on how to tick through the miles, and also some spot on practical advice for these last days before the marathon, with exactly what sort of running and mileage we should be doing in the last two weeks, and what we also need to be doing to give ourselves the best chance on the start line. Two big takeaways here – wash your hands lots to avoid catching any bugs in these last precious days, and get lots of sleep!

At the end of the chat, Anna has some Big News about her next goal race – put it this way, the Loch Ness Marathon is in a week or so, and she’s running it as one of her training long runs. So it’s not that. It’s a teensy bit longer....

Links

Holly and I are doing our first Women’s Running Podcast Live event on Zoom on Thursday 29th September! The small catch is that it’s exclusively for patrons, but the massive upside here is that it’s only 2 quid a month to become one of our patrons. Our Live event is at 7pm on Thursday 29th September, we’d love you to join us. Join us on Patreon, and we’ll send you a link to join us next Thursday. We can’t wait to meet you!

Follow Anna on Instagram.

Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them in a future podcast. 

Get your hands on your first issue of Women’s Running magazine for just £1. Just enter WRSS22POD at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 111 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host, Esther Newman, and she’s your other host, Holly Taylor. We start this podcast just as you might imagine, with a full debrief of the first episode of Bake Off. Then we’re on to the boring running bits:  we talk about preparing for the long runs, and the psychological tricks our minds play on us.

I am SO proud of Holly, her long runs have been going spectacularly and she’s surprised herself with how brilliant she’s felt during them, and after them, recovering quickly and well. We talk about pace – we still haven’t quite got to grips with this yet! And we remind ourselves to focus on our ‘why’ – which is very different from our goals. My goal is to run all the way round without stopping for any considerable amount of time. But the why is why I’m doing it in the first place – and mostly it’s to prove that I can do it. And in order to do it, that doesn’t have a focus on time, that has a focus on getting to the finish line, no matter what the time is. So I’m going to work really really hard in those first few miles to keep  an eye on my pace and bring it right down, so that I have an easy first half (hopefully an easy first three quarters) so that the last bit isn’t that awful.

We talk about our first ever Podcast Live, taking place this Thursday 29th September, which I just have to get in there. It’s free for patrons, so head over to patreon.com/womensrunning to sign up.

We chat too about the pros and cons of a running coach – and discuss whether they’re for the rest of us and not just for elites. And we talk through a reader email who has some nerves ahead of a race – and we truly empathise with all of that! Next podcast will be recorded the DAY AFTER the London Marathon. Oh em gee, wish me luck!

Links

This episode is sponsored by Maaree, makers of the most wonderful running bras in the whole wide world. Fact.

Please support us on Patreon and you can join us on Thursday 29th September for a chat on Zoom!

Get your hands on Women’s Running magazine for half price, and bag yourself a pair of exclusive Monkey Sox running socks! Just enter X22WRP at the checkout.

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This episode is about one thing and one thing only (with a few tangents): the London Marathon! We’re speaking here at 10.30am on a Monday morning, the day after the London Marathon and this is the first chance I’ve had to talk to Holly about it all. There is so much to discuss! We talk about the sleepless night beforehand, the famous people I had pep talks from, and the surprises along the way. The actual running was almost just a secondary part to a day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I had specifically downloaded an audiobook purely for its distraction techniques, but as I divulge here, I didn’t listen to any of it (aside from the sexy bits). Instead I was entirely distracted by the experience itself – the sights, the crowds, and managing my running. Please bear with me here: I’m extremely sweary, but emotions are high, and mostly high because I’ve finished it, but also because I loved it. I can’t wait to do it again. And a very big shout out to you, our wonderful podcast crew: I had so many messages of support and so many donations to my sponsorship page, that I felt lifted by all of you. You made me cry, but in a very good way. We also, in this episode, discuss Holly’s latest running adventures. Two weeks out from her half marathon, she’s had a little wobble over the weekend, but I hope I’ve seen her right. Finally, it’s been the third episode of Bake Off and we have had a few thoughts about that, which we have to talk about now that we are the unofficial Bake Off podcast (with a bit of running on the side).

Links

This episode is sponsored by Maaree, makers of the most wonderful running bras in the whole wide world. Fact.

Please support us on Patreon for exclusive weekly newsletters!

Get your hands on Women’s Running magazine for half price, and bag yourself a pair of exclusive Monkey Sox running socks! Just enter X22WRP at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First things first – I need to give you a big old trigger warning here, as we’re chatting about pregnancy and I also bring up the topic miscarriage. Please stop here, if this chat isn’t for you.

This episode we welcome our third, very beautiful, wheel in the form of Kate, who works with us on Women’s Running and is – SPOILER – up the duff. We wanted to bring her on as she is a personal trainer and a runner and a pregnant person, and we thought it would be wonderful to combine all those things and talk about running and pregnancy.

Kate talks us through her experiences with training and pregnancy through the first and second trimester. Her experiences will not be applicable for everyone – they’re certainly not the same as mine – so I’m not asking her about these as guidance for pregnant people, it’s just what she has experienced and how she has managed her training. As a sensible woman and through her experience working in fitness, it turns out that her saving grace was the trusty Couch to 5K app, which she used when she started running again after her morning sickness had subsided.

I talk about the miscarriages I went through before having children – so if this is triggering for you, do please avoid this episode. I only wanted to bring this up because my experience was that I gave up running and exercise immediately when I got pregnant because of having those miscarriages and wrongly assuming one had something to do with the other, while Kate has continued to exercise and is reaping the rewards from that.

Kate has also some sensible words on eating and pregnancy, and how that it has actually been a refreshing thing for her, to be able to see food as fuel.

Speaking of fuel, we end with Bake Off. Obvs. Oh and we start with conkers. Standard.

Links

This episode is sponsored by Merrell! Use OUTOUT20 at the checkout at SportsShoes.com on any Merrell order over £50 to receive an exclusive 20% off. 

Please support us on Patreon and you can join us for our SECOND Live event on Thursday 20th October for a chat on Zoom!

Get your hands on Women’s Running magazine for half price, and bag yourself a pair of exclusive Monkey Sox running socks! Just enter X22WRP at the checkout.

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Today we have a very special guest in the shape of Charlie Watson, who you might know better as Runner Beans. Charlie was one of the first runners I followed on Instagram many, many years ago, and her enthusiasm and realism when it came to training, goals and nutrition have been fundamental to my own running journey, so we were thrilled to speak to her here. Charlie has had an adventurous journey so far, from aspiring marathon runner, to NHS employee in the face of the pandemic, and she has also very honestly documented her journey to parenthood, of which she touches on at the end of this podcast. To begin with I ask her, now that she’s just completed her 16th marathon, does she still have the fear when she steps on the start line? We also talk about how she got into running in the first place, and how she moved into her new career as an NHS dietition – a sidestep that is in fact entirely linked to her running. Both Holly and I are desperate for advice ahead of Holly’s half marathon, so we quiz her here on training and nutrition, and if there are any shortcuts we can take ahead of our next goals. I think you all know the answer to that one...

Next episode: Holly's half marathon debrief!

Links

This episode is sponsored by Merrell! All podcast listeners can get an exclusive 20% discount off all Merrell Orders over £50 at SportsShoes.com. Just use the code OUTOUT20 at the checkout on any Merrell products.

Sign up to Charlie’s free, monthly Rise & Run from the Westin. 

Both Charlie and I stayed at the Westin London City ahead of the marathon – you can’t get a better location! Check it out if you’re running in April, or just planning a visit to the Big Smoke.]

Follow Charlie on Instagram.

Check out her brilliant book, Cook Eat Run – the best cookbook for runners.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by Wine52, which is thoroughly appropriate. Today’s episode is about one thing, and one thing only – and that’s Holly’s half. Mine too, but mine is nowhere near as important. We start this conversation the day after the Bath Half talking about French school songs and novelty loungewear. But then we’re into the meat of it, with Holly talking through her nerves, her carb strategy and how she felt on the morning of the race. She was really nervous ahead of the day, but she used all the mental strategies that we’ve been talking about over the past few weeks. There’s a lot to talk about in terms of race days throwing curve balls at us – the weather was warm! And that had an impact on our running and our hydration, so there are a lot of learns there, but not least that you have to expect the unexpected. She is so proud of herself, and I am so proud of her. It’s my first race after the London Marathon, and it was actually okay – slightly painful but okay.

It’s also time for our Big Announcement about what we’re going to be doing in March 2023, and we’d like to involve you. I was hoping to share a discount code here, as you’ll hear on the pod, but we’re not quite there yet – next week, we’ll have it for sure, and it’s better than I thought! More details to come. And of *course* we finish up with some intense Bake Off chat.

Links

Claim your three whole, proper sized full bottles of wine from Wine 52, and you just have to pay 8.95 to cover the cost of postage.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly, and invites to patron-only zoom chats with us too!

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by Sweaty Betty. We start off by talking about herbal teas and Hoovers, because that’s the way we are. We then move reluctantly on to running. Holly is planning her first 5K post half marathon, and I have some ideas about keeping her running oar in so to speak. At this point we chat about the Paris Half on March 5th 2023, as this will be her biggest motivator when it comes to winter running. This is big for us as we want you to join us! We’ve partnered with Sports Tours to organise a nice discount and a load of other benefits to try and get as many of you along with us as possible. All you have to do is pre-register for just £50 – that £50 is then fully refundable against the price of the package. Full details of the packages will be released on November 24th, but as a guide package prices start from £219, based on two sharing, without flights (but flights are super cheap at the mo). The package includes accommodation in central Paris, support from expert Sports Tours reps, a shake-down run, a pasta party, and post-event drinks with us featuring – we hope - a live podcast recording! Plus everyone that joins us will receive a limited edition Women’s Running Sports Tours hoody! It’s almost too exciting. Link below!

We also talk about other things we can do to keep our fitness up through the winter. I touch on SAD and depression, so please be aware of that if it’s triggering for you. Full disclosure, I find winter very hard in terms of my mental health, but one thing I found extremely helpful this year was signing up to RED January – having a calendar to tick things off was very grounding, and helped move me through the month. And I truly believe that building new habits in terms of my fitness has prevented injuries and has made me a better runner. I reckon you should all do that with Holly and me, too, and this is a bit easier as it’s free. Sign up below.

We finish with the obvious bake off chat.

Links

This episode is sponsored by the very lovely Sweaty Betty

Pre-register for the Women’s Running Podcast Paris Half Marathon (aka Pod Squad Go Mad in Paris) right here. Come join us! We can’t wait!

Join Holly and me this January by taking on RED January – you dn’t have to run every day, you just have to MOVE ever day, and you can print out a lovely calendar to pop on your fridge and tick off as the month goes on.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly, and invites to patron-only zoom chats with us too!

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by Sweaty Betty. In this episode, it’s the morning after I’ve been out-out. I’ve been to see the Scummy Mummies and begin this episode retelling a joke that’s too rude to repeat here. After a long section on hair removal, for which I make no apology, we have a bit of a chat about what we’re up to. And then we decide to go back to the beginning to discuss where we’ve come from and where we’re going. This is a little bit like one of those Insta squares where people go, “ooh I’ve got a million new followers, I should introduce who I am!” – and that’s exactly what it is, without the million followers. We want to properly introduce ourselves and explain how we’ve got to where we’ve got with our running and our lives and how we view sport and our bodies. All of this colours what we want to do next – our goals and ambitions with running, so there are a lot of uncovered secrets and honesty in this episode about how we felt about exercise and all sorts through school, university and beyond. We end with the advice we’d give our younger selves, and how we’ve devised our own life philosophies, which we’re obviously extremely pleased about.

Links

Pre-register for the Women’s Running Podcast Paris Half Marathon (aka Pod Squad Go Mad in Paris) right here. Come join us! We can’t wait!

Join Holly and me this January by taking on RED January – you dn’t have to run every day, you just have to MOVE ever day, and you can print out a lovely calendar to pop on your fridge and tick off as the month goes on.

Please support us on Patreon and you’ll get some lovely patron-only perks, including an exclusive newsletter from me and Holly, and invites to patron-only zoom chats with us too!

Thank you for listening. Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories, as we’d love to include them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BIG shout out to join us on Patreon to chat to us on our Podcast LIVE on Wednesday 23rd November at 7pm (GMT), exclusive to patrons on all levels. 

We start with Bake Off, obviously, but the issue here is that Holly hasn’t seen the most recent episode, and so I have to lie to her and tell her that everything is okay and Janush is definitely still in it. She knows now, it’s fine, but I just needed to make sure *you* knew that she knows and I’m not being a bad person for mentioning it here. She’s fine, by the way, although we’re both firmly in denial. Then we’re on to the main meat of the podcast, which is the kit we’re loving right now. We do this every year around this time to give you some ideas of kit that we like in case you might want to circle a few things for your own Christmas lists. So we talk through our favourite tights, tops, bras, shoes, and various other bits and pieces. Please note: this episode is not sponsored by any of these brands, they are genuinely the bits that we have loved running in, working out in, and just slobbing about it.

Links

Ful:ki leggings, the hoody from Thought, the brilliant On Cloudneo, get a pair of Monkey Sox! (Better still, get a FREE pair when you subscribe to Women’s Running), I swear by these pants by Nixibody,  this brilliant top by BAM, the Maaree Solidarity, the Shokz headphones 

The Sweaty Betty Powers, leggings from Salomon, the HOKA Kawana, running tee from Runr, good value headphones from Edifier, holly’s bra from Sportjock 

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This episode we have a special guest in the shape of Claire Maxted, co-founder and formed editor of Trail Running magazine, the owner of the Wild Ginger Running YouTube channel, and the author of the Ultimate Trail Running Handbook, so she knows a thing or two about trail running! 

We talk here about PE days again, because I’m slightly obsessed with them, and how they can give us such a negative experience of sport and movement, and as we chat about here, it’s not necessarily the sport itself that makes us hate it, but all the other peripheral stuff  like communal showers. 

The big reason I got Claire on here was to try and persuade pavement pounder Holly on to the trails. If you’ve never randomly decided to head down an unknown footpath, it takes a lot of courage to tread the path less travelled. Claire is here to instill us all with a bit of trail confidence, and my favourite tip she gives us here is about navigation which can feel like a bit of a dark art, but as she said the easy way to discover a path is to run down it and then we can run back again! Claire is a joyful, enthusiastic trail runner, and it doesn’t take long to persuade Holly to try something new, and hopefully you’ll get some of that enthusiasm too.

And then we eventually discuss Bake Off and what actually constitutes a flan. We get in a bit of a muddle about summer pudding, bread pudding and bread-and-butter pudding. No haters, please.

Links 

Join us on Patreon for an exclusive podcast

Watch Claire’s fab films on trail running

And you can also buy her brilliant book from the same place

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Welcome to episode 120 of the multi-award winning Women’s Running Podcast. We don’t scream about it here, because we recorded before we knew, but we have won Podcast of the Year at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards last Friday – for the second year in a row! We are giddy with it, and will chat about it to DEATH in the next podcast. For now, we’re talking about being ill, not washing our duvets, and how marvellous our Podcast Live was last week. New date for the next one coming soon!

Running in winter

We talk about Raynaud’s (which I suffer from), and running in the cold and dark. We asked our lovely patrons on the Live about how to motivate ourselves to run in the winter, and they came up with some ace suggestions which we go through here. We start talking too about when we need to start our training for the Paris half marathon, which is slightly sooner than Holly thinks.

TW:  eating disorders

We’ve had an email in that we’d like to discuss from a listener who is recovering from anorexia, so we chat about that – not from a medical perspective, but we chat about injury, strength training and overtraining, touching a little bit on RED-S, more of which in a future episode.

This leads us on to chats about our own struggles with body neutrality, and body. We end by confessing our favourite body parts – and this is where you will instantly (because I will) be googling the phrase Thigh Brow.

Links

Join us on Patreon for exclusive episodes and newsletters from me and Hol!

Use this to train for a half marathon by time rather than distance

It’s not too late to join us in Paris!

Buy yourself the best Chrimbo present in the shape of a Women’s Running membership

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 121 of the award-winning Women’s Running podcast! I am your host Esther Newman, and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We recorded this on the 1st December, so we’re in the middle of some strong Advent content. We then slowly move on to our very excitable chat about our big award win. We are chuffed to bits that the Women’s Running Podcast – this podcast you’re currently listening to - has been voted Podcast of the Year for the second year in a row, and we have a lovely pink award, and two very large hangovers to show for it.

Running a 5K

Then we finally move on to running. We talk about running a 5K round Battersea Park, which we did last Wednesday evening for SportsShoes at the RunThrough Chase The Moon event, which we thoroughly recommend, with lots of high vis and bright lights and nice snacks. We also talk about our slightly epic journey back to Bath afterwards. 

New year’s resolutions

I talk about a big fat new year’s resolution with my running here, but it’s not what you might think – it’s not distance or pace or number of races or anything like that. Holly is also gearing up for her new year’s resolution, and it’s also not what you might think either. Lots of surprises here today.

Running vegan

And then we have a bloody huge announcement about food, because we’re going to do Veganuary with our friends over on the Simply Vegan podcast, and we’re a bit scared about it, because Holly loves her cheese, and I love my bacon. But we’re getting our own back by helping them train for a half marathon, which is around the same time as Paris, so we’re all going to be training together, powered by Shroomdogs and  Facon. What larks.

Links

Join us on Patreon for exclusive episodes and newsletters from me and Hol!

Use this to train for a half marathon by time rather than distance

It’s not too late to join us in Paris!

Buy yourself the best Chrimbo present in the shape of a Women’s Running membership

Interested in the Simply Vegan podcast? You should be! It’s here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 122 of the Women’s Running podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We’re kicking off with some advent calendar content, just so Hol can eat some chocolate live on the pod.

Injuries

Meanwhile, I’m being a Moaning Myrtle cos I’ve done my back in, and take the opportunity to talk about it here at great length (Anna McNuff did something similar last year and has brilliant advice about injury prevention). While it’s not a running injury per se, it’s worthwhile bringing up because it has stopped me in my tracks. And while one part of injury is how you recover best from it and prevent it from happening again, the other part is the mental distress from not being able to run, and I’ve got the latter half of that for sure. So lots of Injury Sadness.

Food and body image

But the main part of this pod is about food, as we’re staring January in the face, and lots of us will be having thoughts around this. We are getting our lovely nutritionist Laura Barnhouse on to talk to us about food, fuel and body image in the first week of January, so there will be actual expertise then.

Body neutrality

Quick content warning here, as we talk about food, control and disorders at length here. We talk about the food we should be eating, and how we’re supposed to get our heads around the whole body neutrality thing, so we pre-empt all of that by talking through our histories with eating and diets. We talk about food and control, body image, and the complex relationship between food and emotions and relationships. I think we discover quite a bit about ourselves in this episode. More expertise in January. Next week, we have the Women's Running Podcast Christmas quiz! Hurrah!

Links

Win a pair of Brooks Ghost 14 GTX, worth £140 by entering this podcast-only compo!

Do 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 123 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I am your host Esther Newman and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We start today with Bake Off, which might seem like a bit old hat, but we’re talking about new things, I promise. Then, obviously, we move on to favourite TV comedies, before eventually settling on Christmas. Because, like it or not, it’s Christmas and there is no rest for the wicked. Or the runners.

Running Quiz

While we loosely chat about the running we’ve been doing (which adds up to very little indeed because of various injuries and tattoos, for some reason), we are giddy with excitement about the main event, which is our Great Big Christmas Quiz! We’ve drawn up a set of Mr & Mrs questions for each other – and get this, some of them include actual references to running! To be clear, neither of us are drinking in this episode, even though it sounds like we have been. Copiously.

Running show

A quick reminder here that we’re going to be at the National Running Show in January in Birmingham at the end of January. Do please come – it would be lovely to see a friendly face or two. We’re on stand P20 right in front of the Inspiration Stage, on which I’ll be chairing some menopausal chat at 11.30 on the Saturday. I mean advice-drive menopausal chat, rather than just general chat from menopausal women... So that just leaves me to say, have a very happy Christmas, enjoy all the fun and festivities that it brings, and we shall see you on the other side!

Links

Win a pair of Brooks Ghost 14 GTX, worth £140 by entering this podcast-only compo!

Do 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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we have the wonderful Molly from the Simply Vegan podcast (and also from our company, so we know her well and have got hugely drunk with her – we are mates!) to chat to us about all things plant-based before we head into Veganuary. We start off by discussing our past drunkenness, but quickly move on to actual food.

Running food

We discuss what we’re eating for Christmas – even though this is, as we all know, what Holly refers to as our ‘perineum episode’. So our tenses are all over the place while we discuss the stuff we eat, which allows me to talk through the legendary reason why I love sprouts so much. But it also means we can ask what actual vegans eat for Christmas, and – whisper it – it doesn’t actually sound that bad.

Vegan running food

Then we cover a ton of must-know topics for those of us facing Veganuary: such as, can we eat figs? And is vegan cheese any good? Molly then explains how to make tuna out of chickpeas, which blows our tiny minds, and talks us through her favourite vegan meals to give us a bit of inspiration. Importantly, she tells us what puddings and sweet things are intentionally vegan or accidentally so.

Vegan runners!

But we also have a small ulterior motive here, as Molly joins us because she is going to be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March, and she wants our advice on running, so we eventually get on to some running chat, answering a few of her worries and questions about her training up to that first half marathon. And for podcast keeners, you’ll be able to hear me and Holly over on the Simply Vegan podcast at some point in January gassing on at length with a load of training tricks and tips for our favourite vegans.

Links

Listen to the Simply Vegan podcast for more of Molly!

Check the Vegan Food and Living website for tons of recipes and fun vegan stuff

Chris Packham discusses the importance of wasps

How to check if your booze is vegan on Barnivore

Win a pair of Brooks Ghost 14 GTX, worth £140 by entering this podcast-only compo!

Do 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!

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Happy new year to all you lovely listeners! We start off today as usual, with me complaining – this time it’s about my back pain, which went a bit crazy just before Christmas. All good now, though. Aside from that, it’s a corker of an episode as today we’re talking to Laura Barnhouse, nutritionist, PT and friend of the pod.

Diet culture

We’re after a bit of a health rejig in January, even if we are all perfect already (which we are), so we hauled Laura in to help us do exactly that, and to talk about this January diet culture, and body image generally.

Weight loss

We talk about the whole concept of women and weightloss – the feeling of taking up too much space in the world, and feeling like we have to address that. We talk about how times have changed in terms of the pandemic, and what that’s done to our sense of self and our looks and weight. Again, we talk about school experiences having such a negative effect, both on our perception of exercise and also how we perceive food and our bodies.

Healthy relationship

The really useful bit here is that we ask Laura’s advice on how to have a healthy relationship with food and eating, which leads her on to talk about our motivations for getting healthier, and where those motivations come from, and how important it is to figure that bit out first if you’re striving for a healthier life and attitude. Really clever stuff that will help all of us this January, no matter what our goals are.

Links

Win a pair of Brooks Ghost 14 GTX, worth £140 by entering this podcast-only compo!

Do 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!

Follow lovely Laura on Facebook  

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 strategies

I 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 cold

We 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.

Chaos

On 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.

Links

Do 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.

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.

Veganism

Moving 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 run

Speaking 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 power

Why 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.

Links

Thanks to Wassen for sponsoring this episode. Go to Boots to discover the full range of Wassen powders!

Find out more about Food Bank Run

You can check here to see what’s needed in your area

Do 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 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 training

We 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 badness

I’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.

Links

Find 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 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 training

So 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 symptoms

I 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.

Links

Find 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 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.

Menopause

I’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 fear

We 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 good

We 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.

Links

Go and get coached by Runna – it’s just ace

Do 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 support

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.

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 therapy

So 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 love

She’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.

Links

Go and get coached by Runna – it’s just ace

Enter our competition to win entry to Ultra X Scotland and a night’s stay in a luxury hotel for two

Do 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 support

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.

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.

Jeffing

Moving 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 & nutrition

We 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.

Links

Holly is loving her new BAM kit

We also talk about Revvies, Bounce and Tribe – nutrition fit for queens

Do 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 support

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 marathon

New 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 trots

I’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...

Links

This episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lush

Do 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 support

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 live

We 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 report

Holly 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. 

Links

This episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lush

Do 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 yourself

Book 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 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 up

She’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.

Links

This episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lush

Do 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 yourself

Book 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.

We launch into this episode with a dabble in what Holly’s been doing with her running, but then swiftly into a controversial topic: and that’s parkrun. And we want to know what you think: do you love it? Or are you a little more ambivalent?

Parkrun ponderings

Don’t get me wrong here, we both know how brilliant parkrun is, it’s bloody wonderful and it has singlehandedly persuaded countless people to move their bodies and to enjoy the feeling of running who wouldn’t otherwise have done so – and it’s a great way to celebrate running your first 5K. But, the run-not-a-race thing is the bit I have an issue with, as it can feel really competitive – and that’s great for a lot of people, but not necessarily for all of us. Holly, for one, didn’t like having stats sent to her – she suggests an option to opt in and out of those stats. Maybe that could be a thing.

Weird personalities

We then talk about our different personality types AGAIN (this is endlessly fascinating for us, I’m afraid) and the ways in which we fulfil smalltalk. We end on magnesium (one of the supplements it’s often suggested we take), something I’ve been researching for whole actual minutes, so that you don’t have to. We talk about the benefits for women and runners. Yes it’s nice to have a bath in it, but what does it actually do?

Come and join us!

Before I forget to say, we’ve just released a new Extra Mile podcast on Patreon, which is full of additional silliness just for patrons on the Cheer Squad tier. Join us to listen to it, and to access lots of other lovely bits besides, all from just two quid a month. Total bargain.

Links

This episode is sponsored by the lovely people at Yeo Valley: try the Organic Kefir, it’s proper lush

Do join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!

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.

Welcome to episode 137 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. We’ve got a lot to get through this episode, not least because of the reaction to my controversial parkrun comments last episode, so of course that means we spend the first 20 minutes discussing Oodies for kids and British Summer Time.

London Marathon

Then we truck on with some dedicated running chat. I’ve just completed my penultimate long run before the London Marathon – so we have thoughts about that, and there’s a small tangent off into stress incontinence. If you know, you know.

New goals

Holly discusses what she should train for next – should this be a 10K? Or a virtual thing? Or a cumulative thing? At the moment, she’s enjoying no pressure training, but we know that goals are our friend, so there are a few things to ponder here.

Parkrun

And then, of course, the parkrun controversy continues: we had a full mailbag this week with plenty of you weighing in on the debate. So we talk about your thoughts, and how we can create more of a non-competitive atmosphere for our weekly meet ups.

Links

Do join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!

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.

I start with the chaos in my life at the moment, and because that’s included a trip to A&E, I have a little weep within about five minutes. While it isn’t directly running related, it is something I wanted to talk about in the context of the emotional mental load that women so often carry. I’d be really interested to hear what you think about with. But It’s an important topic to discuss because the fact remains that we are the ones that carry the majority of that load, and how on earth do we train for a race, whether it’s 10K or a marathon, if we’re doing all of that?

Reality

But because I’ve had a rubbish week you have to forgive us as we then have a delicious conversation about reality TV. Holly is at pains to tell me that EVERYONE wants me to watch Love is Blind.

Fasted running

We also talk about fasted running. We’re both guilty of accidental fasted running, but we get into the logistics here, based on some very quick google research, on whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to do. Obviously if it works for you, then that’s great, do let us know your thoughts please on this, and any other topics at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk.

Links

This episode is sponsored by Higher State! Head to their partner SportsShoes.com and use the code

HSTWR20 to get yourself 20% off when you buy 2 Higher State things!

Do join us on Patreon for exclusive newsletters, free monthly Live chats, and Patreon-only episodes!

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.

Today, we’ve got a couple of things to get off our respective chests, running-wise. We talk about how running with other people can be “unexpectedly good” for those of us who tend not to. We also chat about time management and my favourite topic, emotional load. You can get a lot more of this sort of thing if you subscribe to Women’s Running magazine btw, currently with a stupendous offer of 3 issues for the price of 2. Bargain.

Running hates

We also return to one of favourite ever previous sections on the podcast that we’ve not discussed for ages. It’s pet running peeves! Hurrah! This is only because I was stopped while I was out running by a tourist asking for directions. This drives me absolutely nuts! Possibly because I run around a tourist hotspot, and I’m more likely to be running around it than walking around, but it seems to me that I’m way more often asked for directions while I’m running than while I’m walking. I’ve even had cars stop alongside me to ask for directions while I’ve been running! It makes me so cross! So because we loved having that chat, we want more of your pet peeves please!

Tapering

We also talk about tapering, cos I’ve got London in about 9 days time and it’s filling all my waking thoughts, and all of my googling. There is some sensible advice about what we need to be doing in the last week before a marathon on the website, as Holly points out, thankfully.

And very quickly, do come and join us over on Patreon, as we’ve got our next Women’s Running Live next Wednesday 19th April at 7pm, exclusively for patrons. Come for chats!

Links

This episode is sponsored by Higher State! Head to their partner SportsShoes.com and use the code HSTWR20 to get yourself 20% off when you buy 2 Higher State things!

Do join us on Patreon to come along to our next Live event on Wednesday 19th April!

Find out what to do in the last week before a marathon

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.

Welcome to episode 140 of the Women's Running Podcast, hosted by Esther Newman and Holly Taylor. In this episode, we discuss Holly's exciting weekend and hanxiety which leads us to talk about our usual state of generalised anxiety in the face of challenges, especially with the London Marathon just around the corner.

London Marathon Taper and Dealing with Anxiety

Esther shares her nervousness about the upcoming London Marathon and being in the taper phase, which involves less running and more eating (and more sleep, which she just remembered!). She talks about her fears and classic maranoia, trying to learn from last year's marathon mistakes, such as not thinking about food until a couple of days before the race. Esther also looks forward to post-marathon fun exercise, taking inspiration from Holly's approach.

Menopause Symptoms and Their Impact on Running

We also dive into the topic of perimenopausal symptoms and how they are affecting Esther's stress levels ahead of the London Marathon, particularly heavy periods and frequency. We discuss symptoms, periods, and tactics for managing them, sharing new insights that are news to both of us.

Sponsorship and useful links

This episode is sponsored by Precision Fuel and Hydration! Need help with your fuelling and hydration? Don’t we all! That’s where their Fuel & Hydration Planner comes in. Also they have the answer as to whether female athletes’ carbohydrate needs are different to mens’. AND while you’re thinking about it, you can get 15% off Precision Fuel & Hydration with the code WR2023 Boom.

Do join us on Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes newsletters and extra podcasts!

Find out what to do in the last week before a marathon

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.

It’s time for the London Marathon debrief. At time of recording, it’s the morning after the day before, and Esther feels a bit broken.

London Marathon and recovery

We need to talk about marathon recovery here, which we’ll go into more next episode of the Women’s Running podcast, bearing in mind how blue many of us will feel in the days after a big race, for so many reasons.

Periods and hormones

And then, hormones. Because of one thing and another, Esther was running the day before her period. This, as we all know, is the very worst day of the month, and has at least served to answer questions around why she didn’t enjoy the day as much as she had wanted to. What are your experiences of running, periods and hormones?

Mental strategies

On the plus side, Esther had a lovely stay at the Westin London City the night before, and managed to actually sleep this time round. And another thing that worked was the mental strategies that she used during the race – it turns out it isn’t just your legs that get you round.

Links

This episode is sponsored by Precision Fuel & Hydration. You can Get 15% off Precision Fuel & Hydration using the code WR2023

Go here too, with fuelling questions, such as are you fueling adequately to maintain health and performance?

And make sure you check out The Fuel & Hydration Planner

Esther stayed at the Weston London City: a beautiful, centrally located hotel perfect for runners!

Do join us on Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes newsletters and extra podcasts!

Find out what to do in the last week before a marathon

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 episode 142 of the Women’s Running Podcast, Esther and Holly talk about recovery and finding new joy in exercise regimes.

It’s a week after the London Marathon, and this episode is a load more joyful than episode 141, because Esther is no longer in huge physical and emotional pain! We talk about running and routines and how we discover ourselves again after we’ve achieving huge running goals like, for instance, a marathon.

Muscle soreness

We also discuss marathon recovery – you have to listen to Holly explain exactly how she goes to the loo after a race when the DOMs mean lowering on to a loo seat is the worst pain in the world.

Goals

We also chat about the concept of “one and done”. Just because you’ve run a big goal distance or race, that doesn’t mean you need to go on and do more of them, or longer distances. You can just stop! But if you’re able to, and you fancy it – it’s a great thing to continue to do. However you don’t have to carry on chasing goals if you don’t want to.

Community

Come and join us on Patreon so that you can join our lovely Pod Squad community in our exclusive chat room -which we’ve made just for you, so we can all chat about running and races, health and nutrition, and also all of that non-running stuff too (the important stuff).

Links

This episode is sponsored by Precision Fuel & Hydration! You can get 15% off using the code WR2023! Go get ‘em.

Head over there, too, to find out How to carb load before your next race and to sort out all your nutrition with the clever Fuel & Hydration planner.

Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we’ve moved on from training for a marathon, to recovery from that marathon, and ploughed straight into injuries.

Injury prevention

Esther has got a catalogue of them, and what we’re discussing here is, is it common to fall prey to injuries once you’ve completed a marathon – not in your training block, and not on the day itself, but afterwards, when you’re slowly beginning to start running again.

And it sounds like it’s a resounding yes, as many of you have already responded to on Instagram to say you’d had something similar – but we thought it was surprising that there doesn’t seem to be a lot online about it as a Thing.

Healing injuries

We talk about one method of healing post injury, which has been suggested – and that’s going to a chiropractor. We will of course report back, as we've now been persuaded that this might be the way to go in terms of preventing injuries in the future, particularly if they stem from bad backs.

Cross training

Speaking of backs and cross training, we chat about yoga and bootcamps and strength and mobility, all of which we need to upweight in order to prevent those annoying injuries.

Community

By the way do please subscribe and leave us a lovely review if you can, cos the last one that’s up there is MEAN – we discuss in detail.

Come and join us on Patreon so that you can join our lovely Pod Squad community in our exclusive chat room - which we’ve made just for you, so we can all discuss running and races, health and nutrition, and also all of that non-running stuff too.

Links

This episode is sponsored by Precision Fuel & Hydration!

Get 15% off Precision Fuel & Hydration

The Fuel & Hydration Planner

How to measure your sweat rate

How to estimate how salty your sweat is

Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 144 of the Women’s Running Podcast with your hosts Esther Newman and Holly Taylor. In this episode, we delve into various topics, including Eurovision, running injuries, mental health, weight and running, and finding the balance between gentle and punishing running practices.

Eurovision Debrief

We start with Eurovision, because that’s the way we roll. Yes, we’re going to talk about running, but we need to prioritise here. Of *course* Holly is hugely invested in this, but it may come as a bit of a surprise that Esther is also a Mega Fan. We debrief the best bits from the weekend, and Holly gets a chance to do her very best “douze points”.

Running Injuries and Post-Marathon Recovery

Esther shares her struggle with a persistent running injury that has persisted since completing the London marathon. We explore the importance of post-race rest and care for our bodies.

The Impact of Running on Mental Health

Continuing the discussion, we delve into the relationship between running and mental health. Esther opens up about feeling down due to her running injury, emphasising the emotional toll it can take. We reflect on the need to prioritize mental well-being alongside physical fitness.

Weight, Body Image, and Anticipating Changes

One of the effects of not being able to run is the feeling of a lack of control and an increased tendency toward self-loathing as we anticipate changes in our bodies. We discuss strategies for maintaining a healthy mindset.

Running as Punishment and Finding Balance

We explore the concept of running as punishment and using food as a reward. Finding the right balance is essential, and and how we need to try and find that sweet spot between being too gentle and too punishing.

Links

• Subscribe to Women’s Running now and save one-third off the cover price!
• Join us on Patreon and become a member of our new Pod Squad community on Discord!
• Run 5K and donate 5K on May 28th, World Hunger Day. Join us in supporting this meaningful cause.
• We'd love to hear from you! 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 145 of the Women’s Running podcast. We start this issue talking injuries! A runner’s favourite subject, right?

Running injuries

We’re chatting about all the injuries that we’re suffering from, and most of them have been on Esther’s hit list: from runner’s knee to ITB irritations, weird toe things, and a pulled quad. Plus, also, as ever, lower back issues. A catalogue of running disasters.

Running injury cures

But we come bearing good news, because Esther has been to the chiropractor and feels like a new woman. Perhaps not 100% cured but almost nearly, so we have lots of thoughts and feelings about that, exploring the concept of traditional vs alternative medicine.

Mental health and running

Then along with all the different physical injuries we’ve been suffering from, we’ve also got a bit of anxiety chat cos Holly’s been having a bit of a crappy week as far as that’s concerned.

We also, you’ll be pleased to hear, manage to segue between how much we love routine into some pretty decent Harry Potter impressions. Really, honestly, there’s an enormous bit of content on Harry Potter here. Enjoy!

Get more from the Women's Running podcast!

Subscribe to Women’s Running now and you’ll save a third off the cover price!

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord!

Run 5K and donate 5K on May 28th, World Hunger Day

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 brought to you by the triple whammy that is hot running, half term juggling and booze.

Running in the summer

Now that the sun's out, we talk about sunscreen and sweat, and finding the elusive sun block that doesn’t sting. We also talk about dehydration in the heat, and how to prevent that, which brings us neatly to our next point.

Running and alcohol

We talk about managing moderate drinking and training, and how that’s tricky especially in the summer when you may have more social engagements. We also talk about the effect that booze can have on our health and our lifestyles, and also on our running. We also touch on running and anxiety and depression, and that link between alcohol and our mental health.

Running and juggling

I then have a small whinge about running and juggling time, as it’s half term and it is HARD to do these things. Esther copes a little bit by planning ahead and putting timed slots in my diary. That’s just one way of doing it, there are others! Also, as Holly says, you don’t have to run!

London Vitality 10,000

Lastly, we have a big announcement. We want you to come and run with us at the London Vitality 10,000 this year on Sunday September 24th. We want you to come and run with us – and we have our very own Women’s Running Wave, which means we can all run together, and there’s enough space for everyone. There’ll be a special meet and greet area just for us in the park, so we’ll be able to chat with you before and after the run, and we can all celebrate together.

We can’t wait to run with you!

Links

Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!

Big long clicky link here just in case:

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/checkout/ticket?eventId=18139&reservationCode=re_w37-cc3zed54&utm_organiser_id=29443

Subscribe to Women’s Running now and you’ll save a third off the cover price!

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord!

Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford.

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 147 of the Women’s Running Podcast. We get straight into it this week with a spot of imposter syndrome, which is something both Esther and Holly feel a *lot*, especially when it comes to running.

Slow running

We then charge into the idea of slow running and how it can affect our pace and endurance and our health much more positively than the usual running we do, which tends to be staying vaguely in heart rates zone 3 and 4. We discuss how hard this it is to run slower.

Better recovery

And we also discuss the concept of slow running making our harder/faster running better – because if we’ve recovered well, we can basically put in more effort on those technical sessions.

Wild swimming

Other than that, Holly has been exploring wild swimming as a cross training activity and thoroughly enjoyed herself, but the end result has been less than brilliant.

London Vitality 10,000

And here’s a quick reminder for the event of the year. We want you to come and run with us at the London Vitality 10,000 this year on Sunday September 24th. We have our very own Women’s Running Wave, which means we can all run together, and there’s enough space for everyone. There’ll be a special meet and greet area just for us in the park, so we’ll be able to chat with you before and after the run, and we can all celebrate together.

We can’t wait to run with you!

Links

Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!

Big long clicky link here just in case:

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/checkout/ticket?eventId=18139&reservationCode=re_w37-cc3zed54&utm_organiser_id=29443

Subscribe to Women’s Running now and you’ll save a third off the cover price!

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord!

Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford.

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 148 of the Women’s Running podcast. Because it’s pretty hot right now, and layers are being discarded, we launch into body positivity – or at least the wish for body neutrality that we both want.

Slow running

We’re also still talking about slow running, as that’s been a topic of interest since our last podcast. Esther has attempted to follow an 80/20 plan this past week, and she has some thoughts on that.

Garmin hacks

After our usual random chat, we introduce the lovely Anne Quick, Business Development Manager for Garmin. We asked her on because we wanted to ask her loads of sports watch related questions including, what is V02 max, how does Garmin work it out, and what are the things that can impact the score. We also chatted about a bunch of other clever bits that can help our running and wider lives, from the Training Readiness feature to breathing exercises.

The 80/20 method

Once we’re back in the room, we get back to our running efforts over the past week or so, and what we’re going to do going forwards to try and improve that Vo2 max score. Plus we’ve got a lovely listener email, some exciting new SPF bits to try (that don’t sting), and we’re very naughty on Instagram Stories.

Women's Running wave at London Vitality 10,000

Do join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!

Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!

Lovely extra running bits

Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!

Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!

Subscribe to Women’s Running now and you’ll save a third off the cover price! That’s at shop.womensrunning.co.uk

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning

Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Fabulous non-stinging SPF perfect for runners here https://colorescienceuk.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 149 of the Women’s Running Podcast, hosted by Esther Newman and Holly Taylor. We have a lot to talk about this episode, not least a bunch of unrelated stuff about online shopping and game shows that we’ve packed off into an extra podcast for everyone on the Cheer Squad tier on Patreon (patreon.co.uk/womensrunning). Coming soon!

80/20 running

For the rest of us, we’re talking about the 80/20 method and how that’s working out for us – again we’re finding the easier running very lovely indeed, but the hard stuff a bit too much like hard work. We clearly need a goal!

Parkrun

We also talk about our return to parkrun, and what that experience was like while we were running it, and also on receipt of our parkrun email a little later on.

Shorts

And we address the elephant in the room, and the fuss we kicked up in the last episode about people who wear (or don’t wear) shorts. There’s a bit to discuss here, and some body appreciation and neutrality and loathing to unpack and unpick.

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our exclusive Discord chat room, there are free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Women's Running wave at London Vitality 10,000

And do please join the Women’s Running Wave this September 24th and run London Vitality 10,000 with us!

Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave to run a gorgeous 10K with us by your side and cheering you on! We can’t wait!

Lovely extra running bits

This episode is sponsored by the NSPCC. Join TeamNSPCC and take on the legendary Cardiff Half Marathon on 1st October. Join today at nspcc.org.uk/cardiffhalf and enter RADIO when prompted to register for just £1.

Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!

Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!

Subscribe to Women’s Running now and you’ll save a third off the cover price! That’s at shop.womensrunning.co.uk

Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning

Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 150 of the Women’s Running podcast. Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, your hosts, begin this episode talking about parenting guilt, self care, trying to impress our other halves with taking the bins out, and feminism.

10K training

We also talk about training for a 10K. Holly is concerned it might be harder than a half – as it’s supposedly faster than a half marathon. And she’s never run a 10K race! So we launch into how we should train for it, and how we should frame it in order to not give us any worries beforehand.

London Vitality 10K

We talk about the London Vitality 10,000 and how we can all run it together and meet up afterwards, and how we can successfully run it and celebrate each other without any pressure.

Come and join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our exclusive Discord chat room, there are free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

99p bargain

And BIG NEWS. You know we also do a very brilliant actual magazine? Well you can get your hands on your very first copy for just 99p – 99p! Because you’re our pod squad and we love you. Just go to shop.womensrunning.co.uk, and enter PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code, and there you go. Isn’t that lovely?

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 151 of the Women’s Running podcast with your hosts Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. This is a sandwich episode, with the usual chats either side a chunk of something else. This time, the chunk is our crossover podcast with David Hellard and Jody Rainsford from the Bad Boy Running Podcast., who we were invited to drink beers with and record a chaotic podcast with. This, you’ll be pleased to hear, is part 1 of 2!

Decision running

Before we chat to them however, we’ve got lots to discuss by ourselves. Esther brings up the idea of going on a “make a decision” run. Did it work? Yes it did. A decision has been made.

Menopause

Possibly related to that, we have a bit of menopausal chat – in this instance, it’s about symptoms, and not knowing if we have enough of them.

Hay fever

And then after fun chats with Bad Boy Running, we are back in the room with an email from a listener, who asks us about Hay Fever and running, which is a huge thing for many of us at the moment, and that also leads on to some asthma chat. We would love to know your thoughts and experiences with both these conditions – is it bad for you too this year?

Come and join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our exclusive Discord chat room, there are free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning. Now, let’s get on with it...

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Go and listen to the Bad Boy Running podcast! They are FUN!
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 152 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she is your other host, Holly Taylor. We have a sandwich episode for you, in the shape of a second chunk of Bad Boy Running nonsense in the middle of the usual chat.

Bad Boy Running

David and Jody join us to talk about the things that happen in men’s loos (because we all want to know) as well as things that men can do to not make women runners feel anxious. It’s a very sweary mary section, and I’m too scared for this to be the moment we drop a C-bomb, so granny can stay in the room.

Perimenopause

With Holly and I, we start with a brief foray into the world of Boules – I mean, it’s still a sport, right? I’ve got an update with the whole HRT thing so I talk about lovely GPs and starting on the beginner journey as a baby perimenopausal person.

Running apps

After a Bad Boy pause and some evil swan discussion, we focus on running coaches and whether we should give ourselves up to a greater being, and chat about using something like Garmin Connect or Runna to help us get to the finish line of our next races.

We also return to a couple of issues we’ve talked about on previous eps: namely, headphones and hay fever, with updates on both, including a link between hay fever symptoms and hormones. Who’d be a woman, eh?

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Go and listen to the Bad Boy Running podcast! They are FUN!
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 153 of the Women’s Running podcast. Holly has just completed her first run on the Couch to 5K app, and she is giddy with it. She had felt some trepidation to begin with, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to all her next runs.

Mental health

Because it’s us, we talk about mental health and anxiety, just cos that’s the way we roll, and it wouldn’t be a proper episode if we didn’t.

HRT updates

Then there are some more HRT updates, courtesy of me, my lovely GP, and all the bits I’ve been prescribed, plus reactions to those. I would love to know if this resonates with any of you! I’ve moved from patches to gel, and will obviously report back on my findings!

Sex education

And then in our new pop culture section, we get hot under the collar about some things in the news recently about sex education in schools. We also have a chat about Caitlin Moran and potentially problematic interviews that she’s been giving, and so we have a bit of a rant about that, and feel hugely better as a result.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our exclusive Discord chat room, there are free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning. Now, let’s get on with it...

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 154 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We’ve got a menopause special this episode, with a smashing chat with our resident health expert Dr Juliet McGrattan at the halfway point about all things menopause and running.

Menopause

We chat to her about the good things about menopause, and also what happens to us and our fitness during perimenopause and beyond. We also chat about nutrition and RED-S, as something we should all be aware of.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Before and after that bit of essential listening, Holly and I chat randomly, as ever, about anxiety, CBT, and which character in Harry Potter we are - we value your opinions on this, but if truth be told, suggesting Crabbe and Goyle may not win you many house points. Fred and George will get you 50, obviously.

Big running goals

We also have an update on Holly’s Couch to 5K journey, taking on a big goal when you’re heading for an important birthday, and I get to sound off about being sensorial assaults, if that’s even a thing. I’ve just made it a thing. Do other runners have this, or is it just me?

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our exclusive Discord chat room, there are free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning. Now, let’s get on with it...

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• Buy Juliet McGrattan’s book Run Well – honestly, it’s the only book about running injuries and niggles you’ll ever need
• 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’s had a lovely non-running weekend, because why not, and the discussion of which moves on to the necessity of chub rub shorts in warmer weather, and for posh dos. Holly’s favourites are Snag, we can also recommend Runderwear for both running in, and wearing under posh frocks.

Running and periods

TW: Miscarriage, pregnancy and fertility. This episode, we talk to the lovely Dr Juliet McGrattan, our resident health expert, about periods, fertility and running, including some super valuable stuff on training to your period cycle.

Media representation

After Juliet, we discuss a lovely letter by an actual MAN. But then I want to talk about a controversy that’s potentially of my making. On the hunt for some info about specific runners, I made the realisation that our running world is unfairly reported on in the media. We discuss this and get ourselves properly cross in the process.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. From just £2 a month, you’ll have access to our Discord chat room, free chats on zoom with me and Hol, weekly newsletters and silly videos and all sorts. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning. Now, let’s get on with it...

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• Buy Juliet McGrattan’s book Run Well – honestly, it’s the only book about running injuries and niggles you’ll ever need
• 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 156 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

IBS, hay fever, endo

In this episode, we have a super useful chat with our resident health expert Juliet McGrattan who answers all our questions about IBS, hay fever and endometriosis.

Anxiety management

Before and after that little Woman in Stem section, Holly and I talk about CBT (that’s cognitive behavioural therapy), and some of the things that Holly has been doing to manage her anxiety. We also talk about unexpected wildlife in Hyde Park, and favourite underground lines. Somehow this moves into some very shaky knowledge of history, so we need to stop talking a long time before we do.

Racing solo

Plus, there’s some stuff on awkward poo situations, sunscreen and running races solo – something that’s been popping off on our Discord chat. As soon as you’re a patron you can hop on that chat and find out what everyone’s talking about!

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Fancy that! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• Buy Juliet McGrattan’s book Run Well – honestly, it’s the only book about running injuries and niggles you’ll ever need
• Solarsport – lovely sunscreen perfect for runners
• Follow the Folding Lady!
• 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.

We are back from our holidays! Holly has been swanning about in luxury, and has lots to talk about, but as an over-thinker we still manage to circle back to the busyness of our brains.

Holiday running

We talk about our various holidays, and I’ve actually done a bit of holiday running, so there’s even something relevant to talk about. And the reason that I’ve been keeping up with it is because of some Big News.

New York Marathon

Very excitingly, Holly and I are off to New York in November with Sports Tours International for me to run the marathon and Holly to support me and tell you guys how it’s going. So I’ve needed to keep an eye on that mileage as a result.

London Vitality 10,000

We also talk about the London Vitality 10K and Hol’s training, which she’s worried about. We talk about running apps, training plans, and how to keep our heads on the right track (as well as our feet).

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Fancy that! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Check out Sports Tours International to find your next race!
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 158 of the Women’s Running Podcast. Esther and Holly are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Pregnancy and running

Trigger warning: pregnancy, postnatal depression and mental health. In this episode, we invite our friend and colleague Kate Sellers on to chat to us about pre and postnatal training, as she’s a PT and she’s just had a baby – perfect combo. She talks about the importance of core strength during pregnancy – something that’s weirdly overlooked. And she talks through her training during her pregnancy. She also talks very honestly about her experiences with something called Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex.

Marathon training

Before and after that, Holly and I chat about my marathon training, using running apps, and technical training runs. We also have chats about injuries, as I’ve got a couple of niggles, which obviously I’m pretty  worried about.

Emails from the Pod Squad

Importantly, though, we have some emails from you guys, which means we can revisit parakeets, running in the media, and the “other sports are rubbish” thing, which obviously we LOVE. Plus, additional extra chat on the legend that is Bullseye.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Fancy that! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Check out Sports Tours International to find your next race!
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 159 of the Women’s Running Podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Pelvic floors

We have our Kate with us again this episode. This week, we’re chatting pelvic floor exercises, time-poor training plans, and returning to fitness after having a break.

Hormone testing

When we’re not talking to Kate, we’re talking about home health testing kits to measure our hormones, with a bit of chat about blood donation. If you’re anything like Dave, right here is a massive trigger warning if you hate blood and needles!

Race anxiety

An excellent email from a listener sparks big chats about race panics and anxiety. We talk about our own race experiences, and how to try and differentiate between anxiety and race anxiety – what’s normal and not normal, and how the feelings we have in races can really put us off racing altogether. We have a few amateur tips on what to do if you’ve been spooked in your first race, in order to take on your next one feeling more confident. But there’s no pressure to run in races! If you just don’t like racing, you really don’t need to do it to prove anything to yourself or us. You are still a runner! And, we suspect, a very good one that knows your own mind and everything.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Fancy that! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• We’ve been taking our home health tests through Randox.
• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us! Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Check out Sports Tours International to find your next race!
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 160 of the Women’s Running podcast. I am your host Esther Newman, and she is your other host Holly Taylor. We are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

UTMB

We’ve had a bazillion technical difficulties, and here we are on Zoom, which feels very 2020. As ever, bear with. Holly has had a very exciting week, hanging out with the ultra runners in Chamonix. She’s had a whale of a time, swooning at the stars, and enjoying the Courtney superfans, and she even ran!

And on that subject – we talk a LOT in this episode about running. I know, who even are we?

Pod Squad running

Next on the list is the London Vitality 10,000, which is quickly going to be upon us, and we want to chat about any worries about pace, and to employ our brand new hashtag – Plod Squad! We don’t want anyone to feel awful or anxious – we can walk it with you!

Interval training

I talk about the training sessions I’ve been doing as part of my marathon training, which have been hugely hard for me – especially so because I’ve never really done any training like this before. Turns out intervals are TOUGH.

Race nightmares

And then we’re on to stress dreams ahead of races – ours seem to revolve around missing the start of the race, or trying to find a loo. What are yours? Let us know please at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk, if only to make sure we don’t feel like idiots.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Fancy that! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• Pick up your FREE tickets to the National Running Show 2024 by going to https://nationalrunningshow.com and popping ANTHEM in the big code box when it asks you to
• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Just go to vitalitylondon10000.co.uk and enter the Women’s Running wave!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 talk about September stresses and, forgive us, but we’re already chatting about Christmas. Esther has a race report, as she ran the New Forest half marathon at the weekend. We chat about what it’s like to run a smaller race – compared with, say, the Great North Run which was happening on the same day.

10k training

We also talk about the London Vitality 10,000, happening on September 24th, and what to wear when we run – if you’re coming, we’re asking Pod Squadders to wear blue, if you can, so that we can spot each other and look like a gang. We’re wearing our Pod Squad tees – which you can pick up at shop.womensrunning.co.uk.

New running magazine

And all this 10K chat leads us to our very Big Reveal, that from the 20th September you will be able to buy a a Special Edition of Women’s Running, which is snappily titled How To Run 10K with Esther & Holly. Look out for it wherever you buy the mag, or you can also pick it up from shop.womensrunning.co.uk (perhaps when you’re treating yourself to a tee). Our 10K special is full of brilliant advice and lots of silliness – and it’ll make the perfect gift for a running buddy, or you!

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast – and of course you do, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra running bits

• Fancy running a 10K? We’ve bought out a special magazine to help with that – out next week! And from the same place you can also check out our brand new Pod Squad tees. Go to shop.womensrunning.co.uk and head to Extras for tees, and Single Issues for the mag.
• Sign up to one of the New Forest races in 2024: https://www.newforestmarathon.co.uk/home/#top
• Pick up your FREE tickets to the National Running Show 2024 by going to https://nationalrunningshow.com and popping ANTHEM in the big code box when it asks you to
• Join the Women’s Running Wave and run Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Pick up a copy of Women's Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 162 of the Women’s Running Podcast. Your hosts Esther Newman and Holly Taylor are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Today, we’re recording in person! Which is quite exciting, but a bit odd. We start by talking skanky university behaviour, with some next level tips on student cookery and some discussion on some sadly defunct fashion retailers.

London Vitality 10,000

Then it’s the main event – we’re taking on the London Vitality 10,000 this weekend, on September 24th. If you’re coming along, please join us by wearing a blue top if you have one, so we can look like a proper colour co-ordinated gang.

10K training tips

Ahead of the Vitality, we look at some 10K training tips and also some things to bear in mind in the last week before the race.

Special 10K magazine

To help with all of that, we have just launched our brand new special edition of Women’s Running, which is called How To Run 10K – and we are *so* proud of it! It’s everything you need if you want to run 10K for the first time, or you want to run your fastest ever PB – it’s all in there! And along with that we’ve got our first bit of merch in the shape of Pod Squad tees. Go to shop.womensrunning.co.uk and head to Extras for tees, and Single Issues for the mag.

Join us!

By the way, if you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and a chat room all for you. If you’re part of our Cheer Squad, you can watch these podcasts on actual video! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt! It's at shop.womensrunning.co.uk - just go to EXTRAS
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 163 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. We are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

London Vitality 10K

This episode is about one thing – London Vitality 10,000, which we ran at the weekend with absolutely shedloads of you, our glorious Pod Squad. It was a joyous, emotional, incredible experience – and to be honest, we weren’t really prepared for how many of you would turn up, but turn up you did, and we have a lot of memories and thoughts and joy, and we try to keep on the tracks to tell you all about it.

Except of course we don’t stay on the tracks, so we talk about hotel breakfasts and peanut butter and not being able to go to the loo.

If you weren’t able to make it this weekend, we promise we’ll do another event as soon as we have the strength to do so. Oh and do listen in to the end for a spot of expert dream analysis if you ever wanted to know what dreams about public loos meant!

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Links

• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt! And share your Pod Squad love!
• Pick up a copy of Women’s Running for just 99p! Pop in PODCAST when it asks you for a promotion code at shop.womensrunning.co.uk
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 164 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. We are both firmly average runners who don’t take life, or running, too seriously. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Now that Vitality 10K is a million miles away, we’re back to real life. And real life means we’re knackered, we’re hating September, and we are overwhelmed by Marathon training which is taking over our lives.

New York Marathon

In terms of our training, we have news from the New York marathon about a change in policy, which will interest any of you currently in the last few weeks of training.

We also have a couple of lovely letters to cheer us all up in the last throes of marathon training. Meanwhile, if any of you native New Yorkers or frequent fliers have any New York recommendations, we would love to hear them! Please email us!

Big new podcast news

In some very big news, we have a brand new extra podcast coming out for you guys, all about BAKE OFF! Niche, we know, but we thought you guys would love it. Should be ready for you this weekend! And it’s for everyone!

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout! (They're different from the Pod Squad ones, promise!)
• Come to our Live Podcast event at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a mega goody bag
• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt! And ensure you tell everyone it’s nothing to do with Love is Blind
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. Despite being total failures at baking ourselves, we’ve decided that we simply have far too much to say about the show – so here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch the opening episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 1: Cake Week

We start this week by discussing the merits of the now traditional Great British Bit that seems to start each new series. Do we really need to see Noel Fielding in a fedora? Discuss. We also share our thoughts on new host Alison Hammond and pick our early frontrunners.

Signature: Vertical cakes

…And they’re off! The first task of the series is underway. We chat about which baker’s offering we’d scoff and get to know this year’s cohort.

Technical: Bake Off cake

 Well, wasn’t this a joy? We debate the first controversy of the season: what to do about the missing raspberry.

Showstopper: Animal cakes

There’s plenty of beaver chat here, as we say goodbye to our first baker – who we were already a bit obsessed with. How are we going to cope?

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, become part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support. Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join now for a FREE Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Quote X23WRPOD at the checkout! (They're different from the Pod Squad ones!)
• Visit womensrunning.co.uk for expert advice and support
• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a goody bag
• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.com/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. Despite being total failures at baking ourselves, we’ve decided that we simply have far too much to say about the show – so here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch Tuesday night’s episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 2: Biscuit Week

It’s Biscuit Week, and we’re answering some hard-hitting questions. Tea cake or wagon wheel? Custard cream or Bourbon? It’s the cutting-edge journalism you turned in for. Plus, we fall in love with the entire cast and make our predictions for which baker is on the rocks this week.

Signature: Marshmallow biscuits

Ding ding, it’s our first Hollywood Handshake of series 14! Listen up to hear our thoughts, as well as which marshmallow biscuit we would have chosen for our snack of choice.

Technical: Custard Creams

We discuss the merits of the humble biscuit selection box and remember some classic childhood biscuit moments. Meanwhile, the bakers are ranked according to their Custard Creams and we have our first Big Controversy of the series.

Showstopper: Realistic biscuit foods

A battle of the tomatoes has us calling for justice for one baker – and our dreams are crushed once more as another of the Class of 2023 are sent home.

Join us!

Become part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, newsletters and an exclusive community for friendly chat and support from like-minded runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Quote X23WRPOD!
• Come and visit womensrunning.co.uk
• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty for proper chats and a mega goody bag
• Get your hands on our new magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.com/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 165 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

5K Your Way

We’ve got a sandwich episode for you this episode. We’re bookending the wonderful Lucy Gossage here. Lucy is an oncologist (and a superstar triathlete) on a mission to debunk the myth that “rest is best” for people undergoing cancer treatment. Five years ago, she founded 5K Your Way, as part of Move Charity, which encourages people undergoing treatment to work towards and complete 5K in whatever way works for them. Here she talks about how the campaign started, and some stories of people who have benefitted from it along the way.

Couch to 5K

Holly and I rattle on about Holly’s return to Couch to 5K, and my exhaustion with marathon training. We address the age-old controversy of jogging at traffic lights, before reminding you of an important date in the Pod Squad calendar – our 10K special evening out. November 9th! Buy tickets! See you there!

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by Baby Jogger, who make extremely good running buggies!
• Find out about Move Charity and how to take part in, or support, you nearest 5K Your Way
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout! (They're different from the Pod Squad ones, promise!)
• Come to our Live Podcast event at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a goody bag
• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt! And ensure you tell everyone it’s nothing to do with Love is Blind
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 3: Bread Week

We kick Bread Week off by asking ourselves why everyone is so deeply obsessed with Paul Hollywood. Sorry, Paul, we’re just big Prue fans over here. Anyway, let’s see how the bakers get on with trying to impress the supposed Bread King himself.

Signature: Cottage loaf

 Did the producers pick this challenge just so we’d be forced to watch a dozen shots of people plunging two fingers into a dough hole? We certainly think so. Two bakers start to look a bit worried and we have our first glass breakage of the series.

Technical: Devonshire Split

 Sorry, but the less said about this the better. Unfortunately, we didn’t take this advice while recording, resulting in quite a bit of below-the-belt chat.

Showstopper: Plaited bread

 We’ve got words to eat as well as loaves here, listeners. It’s bye bye to a baker we thought would make it to the bitter end.

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper chats and a mega goody bag

• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

• 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 166 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Psychology tips

We have a treat for you this episode in the shape of the wonderful Josephine Perry, Sports Psychologist extraordinaire. As a friend of the pod, a previous guest, and our secret weapon at the Paris Half, she got in contact with us last week after listening to the episode where I confessed a lack of confidence ahead of the New York Marathon.

Marathon tricks

So she’s here to teach us all some tricks to keep us going not only in the last weeks of training, but on the day itself – because as we all know the struggle is very often in our minds rather than our legs. Warning: I’m a snivelling wreck by the end. But her advice is a godsend for anyone facing a big goal, and really easy to do at home.

Join us!

Big news! We’re holding a live event on the evening of 9th November in Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station. It’s all about how to run a 10K with a smile on your face, we’ve got a special guest in the shape of the wonderful Jenni Falconer, and we have jam-packed goody bags for everyone filled with running treats. There will also be WINE. Come along, join us for 10K tips you won’t get anywhere else, and have some chats with us and Jenni! Buy tickets from Eventbrite, and search for Women's Running to get your ticket!

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by U Perform
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Come to our Live Podcast event at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a goody bag
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 4: Chocolate Week

It’s chocolate week, you little shrimps. And we start this episode by doing our best Brummie accents. You have been warned.

Signature: Chocolate torte

Buckle in baby, because we’ve got our dictionaries out and we’re going to be debating what really constitutes a torte. We also share our favourite flourless cake memories and pick our fave bake from the tent.

Technical: Caramelised white chocolate cheesecake

Esther is, unsurprisingly, horrified by this technical. Two bakers rise up the ranks while things start to look rocky for our reigning favourite. Another baker leaves the tent due to illness and we debate the GBBO protocol around this.

Showstopper: Chocolate box cake

Someone’s been doing something very dodgy with some raisins, as a shock ending has us dissecting the secrets of reality tv. 

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper chats and a mega goody bag

• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

• Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 167 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Run events

In this episode we’re chatting to Lucy Wood from RunThrough events. RunThrough runs absolutely hundreds of events throughout the UK, and she’s here to talk to us about the stuff they’re doing to make their events more inclusive, more fun, and more available for women and for everyone of all abilities. We get to talk about race pricing, race t-shirts, and other controversial issues – such as calling races ‘events’ rather than races! Much better.

Marathon tapering

For the bits either side, we discuss Harry Potter accents – and after a good ten minutes, we get on to running. I’m struggling with the final weeks of training leading up to the NY marathon – even the tapering is HARD, and maranoia is setting in.

Join us!

Big news! We’re holding a live event on the evening of 9th November in Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station. It’s all about how to run with a smile on your face, we’ve got a special guest in the shape of Jenni Falconer, and we have jam-packed goody bags for everyone. There will also be WINE. Come along, join us for 10K tips you won’t get anywhere else, and have some chats with us and Jenni! Buy tickets from Eventbrite, and search for Women's Running to get your ticket!

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by U Perform
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Come to our Live Podcast event at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a goody bag
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 5: Pastry Week

Holly’s in her mourning clothes as we start pastry week, as we’re not happy with a double elimination. But let’s get into it: what are we baking this week?

Signature: Picnic pies

We issue a public apology to a baker we thought would be long gone by now and practice our pronunciation of spanakopita. We also get a Hollywood Handshake and discuss our favourite potato dishes.

Technical: Dauphinois Pithivier 

It’s been a pithivier-heavy week at Women’s Running HQ, believe it or not. The bakers have us salivating, but we’re also questioning some potato prep methods here.

Showstopper: Sweet decorative pies

We’ve got a lot of opinions about fruit tarts, as it turns out. Two bakers’ fates are sealed and a dark horse takes Star Baker.

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper chats and a mega goody bag

• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

• Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Get bonus content on Patreon

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 168 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

This episode is sponsored by Randox Health. Use the code RUN10 to get 10% off in-clinic and home health tests.

New York Marathon

I’ve got lots of scary thoughts about the New York marathon, which is happening this weekend. Holly has lots of lovely tips from listeners as well as the experts to make me feel less scared.

Spooky running

Plus we have some chat about Halloween, obviously, which is what we all need, with some general confusion (and frantic googling) about whether everyone loves it as much as Hol.

Join us!

Big news! We’re holding a live event on the evening of 9th November in Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station. It’s all about how to run with a smile on your face, we’ve got a special guest in the shape of Jenni Falconer, and we have jam-packed goody bags for everyone. There will also be WINE. Come along, join us for 10K tips you won’t get anywhere else, and have some chats with us and Jenni! Buy tickets from Eventbrite, and search for Women's Running to get your ticket!

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by Randox Health. Use the code RUN10 to get 10% off in-clinic and home health tests.
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Come to our Live Podcast event at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper good chats and a goody bag
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 6: Botanicals Week

We are properly confused at what constitutes a botanical, but on we march – apparently spices are allowed, and so we turn neatly on to…

Signature: Spiced buns

Esther and Holly are in raptures at the flavours here; pretty much all the bakers do average to spot on, with some notable exceptions. Matty’s hot cross buns are a bit rubbish, Dan’s buns contain saffron – we debate its merits.

Technical: Lemon & Thyme drizzle cake 

It’s a Holly fave right here. She would have hoovered up every single one, and Esther would have gladly let her. Tasha is in trouble, Cristy is showing her stripes.

Showstopper: Floral

A mixed bag! But we are overwhelmed by some of the talent on display here. Not so much Matty’s, but we love him, so we’ll let it pass. We’re choked at the loss of a fave. Next week: Desserts!

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk
• Come to our Live Podcast event on 9th November at Sweaty Betty in Battersea Power Station for proper chats and a mega goody bag
• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories
• Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 169 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

New York marathon race report 

Finally it’s race weekend! There is so much to talk about, that we’ve decided to do two podcasts about the weekend, starting with this one which details the boring bits, aka the running. In our next New York pod, we’ll chat about all the exciting bits – aka the food.

We talk about what it’s like to take on one of the biggest marathons in the world, from how to get there (which was far trickier than you might expect), to the race villages, to actually running the thing. We also, very importantly, chat about the best things we ate as part of the recovery. I ran the New York Marathon with Sports Tours International which offers brilliant running packages with guaranteed entries to the biggest races in the world, and it also puts on a pretty spectacular after party too. Right – enough of that, let’s get into it…

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• I ran the New York Marathon with Sports Tours International which offers brilliant running packages with guaranteed entries to the biggest races in the world
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 7: Dessert Week

As we draw close to the quarter final, the bakers take on classic puds – though Holly and Esther aren’t too over excited by the wobblier options. 

Signature: Crème caramels

Esther’s not too pleased with Dan’s Thai take on a crème caramel, while Holly reckons she’d give it a try. We discuss horrible hot dogs and whether you can make sourdough out of anything.

Technical: Orange treacle puddings

Well, this was a turn up for the books. We’ve got some choice words for Paul Hollywood here, as we argue that the bakers may have been set up to fail with this particular challenge. Consider yourself roasted, PAUL.

Showstopper: Meringue bombes

After another slightly lacklustre challenge that we’re not totally sold on, we mourn the loss of a podcast fave and the quarter finalists are revealed…

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

•This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

•Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

•Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

•Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

•Do please email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

•Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 170 of the Women’s Running podcast

This episode is sponsored by Randox Health. Use the code RUN10 to get 10% off in-clinic and home health tests.

This episode is a recording of a very special live podcast, that took place last Thursday in person at the Sweaty Betty store in Battersea Power Station. We had special guest Jenni Falconer come to join us to chat about running a 10K, which fits rather nicely (it’s almost as if we organized it, really) with the launch of our special magazine, How To Run 10K, which our attendees all received in their goody bags!

10K training tips 

We start off talking about New York, because I begin this very selfishly flaunting my medal, before launching into our chat with Jenni about training for a 10K. So here we talk about how to train, what a training plan might look like, and what strength training to do to support your running.

Running worst moments

We also introduce another special guest – the one and only Professor Taylor – who tells us some wonderful 10K factettes. We end the sesh by talking about our favourite embarrassing moments, and we asked our audience to supply their worst moments on the run as well, crowning the Queen of embarrassing moments with our Women’s Running tiara.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• This episode is sponsored by Randox Health. Use the code RUN10 to get 10% off in-clinic and home health tests.
• I ran the New York Marathon with Sports Tours International which offers brilliant running packages with guaranteed entries to the biggest races in the world
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 8: Party Week

It’s the quarter final! And boy have we got a lot to say about it. We can barely contain ourselves over this week’s bakes, so we get stuck in straight away.

Signature: Sausage rolls

Our dark horse baker gets the infamous handshake treatment while we discuss what can be considered an acceptable sweet-and-savoury flavour combo. Esther is once again extremely perturbed by Dan’s creative choices.

Technical: Chocolate caterpillar cakes

Unsurprisingly, we have an absolutely field day with this one. Holly quizzes Esther on the names of various supermarket caterpillar characters and we decide which celebrity lookalikes fit the baker’s white chocolate face designs.

Showstopper: Anything-but-beige buffet

We have some serious allegations about the patriarchal constructs of the Bake Off Cinematic Universe here. Plus, we demand justice for this week’s dearly departed baker and question the judges’ decisions around Star Baker.

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

• 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 171 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

New York, no running

This is our New York round-up of everything apart from the running nonsense. We had a total ball, from start to finish, so this is our little travelogue covering flight, food and fun times.

Restrooms and bagels

We talk about going up and down lots of floors in lifts so often it felt like our ears were bleeding, and the terrible design of New York public toilets. We also talk about the Empire State Building, Central Park, hot dogs, cookies, and being completely rubbish in a crisis. We can’t wait to go back!

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• I ran the New York Marathon with Sports Tours International which offers brilliant running packages with guaranteed entries to the biggest races in the world
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bake Off series 14 episode 9: Patisserie Week

It’s the semi final! There’s a lot to love about the semis, in terms of the actual bakes, which are mouthwatering. But also a lot to hate. Still crying over here.

Signature: Financiers

Teeny tiny little sponge cakes with a big ol’ chunk of icing. Like a long, thin cupcake with a fancy name that Esther can’t pronounce. Dan pulls it out the bag, Matty’s are a bit of a mess. *Someone* gets a handshake…

Technical: Tartes aux pommes

Weirdly, despite being in opposite camps on almost every bake, both Holly and Esther would make light work of this one. GORGEOUS. We think Matty is secretly a pastry chef and is just pretending to not know what he’s doing.

Showstopper: Milles feuilles

Controversial pronunciation aside, this challenge produces some truly spectacular bakes. We’re worried about darling Tasha at this point, but clearly Josh is going stellar.

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Come and visit us on our website to get expert support for your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Get your hands on our special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!

• 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 171 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Marathon recovery

After some over excited chat about meal delivery companies, we get on to the important stuff – marathon recovery. I’ve had a bit of a time of it, with my lungs not getting back up to speed as quickly as I’d like.

Self care

As per usual, we quickly get on to me punishing myself, Holly suggesting a bit of self care, and me not knowing who I am unless I’m running. It’s a story as old as time! Or at least as old as this podcast. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

US toilet humour

Also, we have a few letters, some of which are about the Toilet Situation in the US, which has had us shook since we returned a few weeks ago.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• I ran the New York Marathon with Sports Tours International which offers brilliant running packages with guaranteed entries to the biggest races in the world
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 the Women’s Running podcast: a very special Bake Off edition. We’re your hosts, Esther Newman and Holly Taylor, and usually you can find us chatting about life and running – though, let’s be honest, it’s mostly the life bit. Every year we get terribly overexcited for the Great British Bake Off and discuss it at length on the pod. So here we are, turning it into its own spin off so we can dissect each episode properly. We’ll be chatting about all the highs and lows from the Bake Off tent, playing total favourites and slagging off bakes we could never dream of producing ourselves. Whether you run while you listen, bake while you listen, or neither – enjoy this extra little morsel!

SPOILER ALERT: Of course, this episode is chock full of spoilers. What did you expect? Go and watch this week's episode before listening!

Bake Off series 14 episode 10: The final

We’re together in Holly’s flat for the final! And we are having a ball, tasting our own signature bakes, and appraising one of our favourite Bake Off series of all time.

Signature: eclairs

We relive the videos of our Bake Off finalists’ home lives; getting to know Matty’s Lara, Josh and memories of his nan, and Dan and his boys who he’d fibbed to about being on Bake Off. In-between times, they made some eclairs.

Technical: Lardy cakes

It’s Holly’s nemesis meets Esther’s bake shop go-to, all wrapped in a technical with only one successful bake between the three of them.

Showstopper: 3-tiered cakes

This challenge resulted in two pretty amazing cakes, and one not enormously great, but we loved them all, and we loved Dan, Josh and Matty. And we LOVED THIS SERIES! Congratulations to all three!

Join us!

If you LOVE this podcast, there is a way to get more Holly and Esther nonsense, and that’s by becoming part of our Pod Squad on Patreon, where you can get involved in live zoom calls with us, weekly newsletters and an exclusive Discord community for friendly chat and support from like-minded women runners! Come and join us at patreon.com/womensrunning.

Lovely extra bits

• This is a VERY good time to subscribe to Women’s Running – get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!

· Get expert advice and support with your running at womensrunning.co.uk

• Get your hands on our brand new special magazine: How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, out now, and available at womensrunning.co.uk/learntorun

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt! And ensure you tell everyone it’s nothing to do with Love is Blind

• 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 173 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

V02 max

We start off with a lengthy complaint against Chillblains, which quickly segues into some stuff about pub quizzes, before moving on to today’s hot topic: V02 max. Why does it go up when you least expect it? And go down when you’ve been training really hard? We discuss with absolutely no expertise.

Christmas running

Then we chat Christmas eating and training, and rewards and punishment. We talk about how running gives us more than just physical and mental benefits, but how it benefits us socially by gifting us a community in whatever way we access it. There’s also a bit of parkrun controversy, courtesy of a lovely listener. To be continued.

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by SportsShoes.com!
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 174 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Hungover running

Now. Seasonally appropriate content warning here. Would you run with a hangover? We have many experiences of doing just that, and so we discuss what we reckon is actually happening inside us when we decide to go for a run after having a skin-full the night before.

Pod Squad half

Then we have an enormously important announcement – we’re teaming up with Sports Tours International again to launch a Pod Squad run. This time it’s a half marathon in New York with us in April. The Real Simple Women’s Half Marathon is on April 28th, and if you want to take part, check out all the details at sportstoursinternational.co.uk/event/womensrunningnewyork/ - link in the show notes if that’s too long, and loads more details on the pod!

Half marathon plans

Then I talk about the half marathon I’m going to be doing before then in February, which rather annoyingly I have to start training for now. If anyone out there has a half marathon to train for in the meantime, do listen in to us over the next couple of months as we begin our training for these two half marathons and you can run along with us.

Free giveaway

And before we start, here’s a little freebie for you – we’ve made a little mini version of brilliant How To Run 5K guide, and you can download it for free at womensrunning.co.uk/run. If you like it, the big version is available to buy right now at shop.womensrunning.co.uk!

Lovely extra bits

• This episode is sponsored by SportsShoes.com!
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 10K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras   
• Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• 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 175 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Anna Harding

Hol and I are bookending this super brilliant episode with the ever wonderful Anna Harding. Because of recent running queries we’ve had, we talk to her about V02 max, which I hope you’re not completely bored with, and she offers the answers to EVERYTHING. Including why mine has suddenly increased with no apparent reason.

Christmas running and parkrun

Before and after that, we chat about festive injuries, Christmas wrapping traditions, stocking present hell, and Gavin and Stacey. Running-wise, we’re knee-deep in parkrun again, so hold on to your hats.

Join us!

And I keep forgetting to say this, but do please sign up to be a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 176 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Running habits

Welcome to the perineum of Christmas. This is our second slice of Anna Harding, in which she talks to us about habits, training over Christmas, and how to fit in the training but also to be kind to ourselves. She introduces the brilliant concept of habit stacking, too.

New Year resolutions 

Stacked around Anna are some chunks of chat from me and Hol about new year’s resolutions and what we want to do in January that we know is achievable, and something we’d like to continue to do as the year carries on. We don’t want to sack it all off in February. So we continue our conversations about how to become a morning person, and how to introduce some lovely treats on our life.

Join us!

And do please think about becoming a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 176 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Running habits

Welcome to the perineum of Christmas. This is our second slice of Anna Harding, in which she talks to us about habits, training over Christmas, and how to fit in the training but also to be kind to ourselves. She introduces the brilliant concept of habit stacking, too.

New Year resolutions 

Stacked around Anna are some chunks of chat from me and Hol about new year’s resolutions and what we want to do in January that we know is achievable, and something we’d like to continue to do as the year carries on. We don’t want to sack it all off in February. So we continue our conversations about how to become a morning person, and how to introduce some lovely treats on our life.

Join us!

And do please think about becoming a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll get a FREE exclusive Women’s Running technical tee worth £35! Use the code X23WRPOD at the checkout!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 a brand new special series of podcasts, brought to you from the Women’s Running Podcast. This is a new ten-part podcast special in which we introduce our friend and colleague Cara, who is keen to take on 5K with our help. In this episode we find out a bit more about her, and her training, and we go through the first week in the training plan and how we can adapt training plans to suit our lives. We hope you can join along with us!

Links

• This episode is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. Find out more about their range, and grab 15% off at the checkout on any pair of shoes with the code WOMENSRUNNING15
• Grab hold of your perfect training plan here. There are lots to choose from, but for our sessions with Cara, we’re taking on the 10-week 5K training plan for beginners.
• Subscribe to Women’s Running today for just £17.99 for six months for even more inspiration to get going, and you’ll receive our How To Run 5K magazine absolutely free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 177 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Happy new year! We’ve got a treat this episode in the form of Charlie Watson, otherwise known as Runner Beans, who we’ve had on the pod before, and we wanted to drag on for our first podcast of 2024, because of her running know-how, but also because of her day job as a dietician, so that we could ask her all our burning food questions – something we know comes up a bit in January.

Drinking and running

When we recorded, Hol and I were both massively hungover so we want to talk about drinking and running to begin with, and then we move on to New Year’s resolutions, and how to stick to them in a healthy way.

Diet tips

Charlie has some stupendous tips here – things that we’re going to start doing right away, and none of them are about restricting our diets in any way. In fact, the main one is about adding to our meals rather than taking away, which we LOVE. Super sensible advice! Enjoy!

Join us!

Do please think about becoming a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

And and and! You MUST subscribe to Women’s Running right now – don’t fast forward, honestly, this is SUCH a whopping great deal. Right now, you’ll save 50% off the cover price and you’ll get a copy of our How To Run 5K Guide absolutely free. And if don’t need it because you’re scampering over mountains, it will make a friend very happy indeed. Go to womensrunning.co.uk/bundle to get the deal.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll save 50% and get a FREE copy of How To Run 5K with Esther and Holly!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 a brand new special series of podcasts, brought to you by the Women’s Running Podcast, and sponsored by Vivobarefoot. This is a ten-part special in which we introduce our friend and colleague Cara, who is keen to take on 5K with our help. 

Fancy joining along? Grab hold of your perfect training plan here. There are lots to choose from, but for our sessions with Cara, we’re taking on the 10-week 5K training plan for beginners.

Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

Week 2

Run 1: 6x 90 second run / 1 min walk

Run 2: 7x 90 second run / 1 min walk

Run 3: 7x 90 second run / 1 min walk

In this episode, Cara shares her first injury woes with us – which gets us talking about lower-body strength training exercises as well as rest, recovery and when to see a physio. She’s also got some very exciting dog-related news for us: but how will she manage training around a big life change? We’ve got lots of advice for her. If you're following our plan, the runs are detailed above.

Links

• This series is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. Find out more about their range, and grab 15% off at the checkout on any pair of shoes with the code WOMENSRUNNING15
• Grab hold of your perfect training plan here.
• Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 
• Subscribe to Women’s Running today and you’ll save 50%, plus you’ll receive our How To Run 5K magazine absolutely free!
• Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 178 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

We’re British, so we begin today’s podcast talking about the weather. Because, well, the weather has been insane.

New York half marathon

Then we move on to our goals and some chats about one of them, which is running a half marathon in New York in April – and that’s one you can join us in, check the show notes for a link to find out more.

Half marathon training

I talk about a half marathon that’s a bit closer than that, and my worries about my training and how I’m going to get myself race ready in (gulp) four weeks.

Goals and races 

We also talk about goals, and Holly has a VAST one to talk about. So we need your thoughts and help. Where do you look for races? Do you know of a lovely big autumn marathon? Or what about an entry level ultra with no mud? We don’t think we’re asking the impossible!

Do please think about becoming a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

And come and run with us in New York!

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll save 50% and get a FREE copy of How To Run 5K with Esther and Holly!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 a brand new special series of podcasts, brought to you by the Women’s Running Podcast, and sponsored by Vivobarefoot. This is a ten-part special in which we introduce our friend and colleague Cara, who is keen to take on 5K with our help. 

Run 5K with us

Fancy joining along? Grab hold of your perfect training plan here. There are lots to choose from, but for our sessions with Cara, we’re taking on the 10-week 5K training plan for beginners.

More support

Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

Week 3

Run 1: 6x 2 min run / 2 min walk

Run 2: 6x 2 min run / 90 second walk

Run 3: 7x 2 min run / 90 second walk

Injury, strength, cross training

In this episode, we catch up with Cara about her ankle injury. She’s been a very diligent student and has done all her prescribed calf raises etc, but she’s a little anxious about getting out there again, which leads us to talk a bit about running with health anxiety. We also start getting into cross training and all the best things we can be doing to aid our running, as well as some warm up advice that includes our fave dynamic stretches. If you're following our plan, the runs are detailed above.

Links

• This series is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. Find out more about their range, and grab 15% off at the checkout on any pair of shoes with the code WOMENSRUNNING15

• Grab hold of your perfect training plan here.

• Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

• Subscribe to Women’s Running today and you’ll save 50%, plus you’ll receive our How To Run 5K magazine absolutely free!

• Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 179 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Marathon season  

We launch into marathon and training season with a big dollop of wobbles because we completely forgot our rule of only recording on a Friday. We’re recording on a Monday morning and have no beans at all, so we come at this glass half empty. But, as is always the case when we record, we perk up considerably as we progress. We just love the sounds of our own voices!

We’re still on the hunt for races, but you’ve suggested LOADS, and we’ve loved them all – they’ve really inspired us. Do please carry on sending these in at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk so we can consider them and tell the rest of the world about them!

Join us!

Do please think about becoming a patron of this podcast at patreon.co.uk/womensrunning, because for just £2 a month you can access our free monthly videos, our weekly newsletters, and you get to join our exclusive Pod Squad chat room, where all the fun happens!

Pick up Women's Running

And you MUST subscribe to Women’s Running right now – because you’ll save 50% off the cover price and you’ll get a copy of our How To Run 5K Guide absolutely free. If you don’t need it because you’re scampering over mountains, it will make a friend very happy indeed. Go to womensrunning.co.uk/bundle to get the deal.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll save 50% and get a FREE copy of How To Run 5K with Esther and Holly!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving

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 a brand new special series of podcasts, brought to you by the Women’s Running Podcast, and sponsored by Vivobarefoot. This is a ten-part special in which we introduce our friend and colleague Cara, who is keen to take on 5K with our help. 

Run 5K with us

Fancy joining along? Grab hold of your perfect training plan here. There are lots to choose from, but for our sessions with Cara, we’re taking on the 10-week 5K training plan for beginners.

More support

Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

Week 4

Run 1: 4x 3 min run / 2 min walk

Run 2: 3x 4 min run / 2 min walk

Run 3: 3x 4 min run / 2 min walk

Running kit, cold weather and shin splints 

In this episode, Cara’s back in the saddle and taking the running world by storm: she’s even had her first bout of runner’s itch! It’s absolutely freezing this week, so we’re kicking things off by talking about what kit to wear to beat the chill. Cara’s also got some concerns about shin splints, which are a very common injury for beginners – we delve into what they really are and how to prevent them. Plus, there’s a bit of chat about how best to time these runs with a watch, so listen up if that’s something you need support with.

Links

• This series is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. Find out more about their range, and grab 15% off at the checkout on any pair of shoes with the code WOMENSRUNNING15

• Grab hold of your perfect training plan here.

• Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

• Subscribe to Women’s Running today and you’ll save 50%, plus you’ll receive our How To Run 5K magazine absolutely free!

• Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 180 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

The National Running Show

We start – and continue for some time – on the NRS. The National Running Show was this weekend just gone, and it was a total blast. We’re still getting over it. But there is much to discuss, from the famous people who met us on the stand to the gorgeous Pod Squadders who replenished us with hugs and snacks. We loved meeting you all!

Races 

One thing we talked about a lot at the show with you all was races, so we talk about the suggestions here (and there are some great ideas for all of us).

New York

We catch up about the New York half marathon we’re running on 28th April. We’ve got some exciting extra things to add to the package we’ve worked out with Sports Tours for those of you coming – more on this in coming weeks. For everyone not coming, we’re going to be starting a half marathon training block from 2nd Feb. More details here!

Save some cash!

Do think about subscribing to Women’s Running right now – because you’ll save 50% off the cover price and you’ll get a copy of our How To Run 5K Guide absolutely free. If you don’t need it because you’re scampering over mountains, it will make a friend very happy indeed. Go to womensrunning.co.uk/bundle to get the deal.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll save 50% and get a FREE copy of How To Run 5K with Esther and Holly!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras
• Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Run 5K with us

Fancy joining along? Grab hold of your perfect training plan here. There are lots to choose from, but for our sessions with Cara, we’re taking on the 10-week 5K training plan for beginners.

Run 1: 3x 5 min run / 2 min walk

Run 2: 3x 5 min run / 2 min walk

Run 3: 3x 5 min run / 90 second walk

More support

Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

Running and resilience

We’re very impressed with Cara this week for sticking with her training despite being exhausted from this year’s National Running Show. She’s done brilliantly, and tells us all about her highs and lows. She discovers that, sometimes, running is brilliant for no particular reason while, at other times, it feels rubbish for no particular reason. 

DOMS

She’s dispelled her shin splint fears this week and is instead discovering all about Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – for which Esther has some sage advice as well as some great post-run stretches for increased mobility. 

Plus, a lovely listener shares some tips that get us talking about how best to approach a bear if we ever come across one in Somerset.

Links

• This series is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. Find out more about their range, and grab 15% off at the checkout on any pair of shoes with the code WOMENSRUNNING15

• Grab hold of your perfect training plan here.

• Sign up to our weekly 5K support emails for more advice with your training and a check-in on your progress. You’ll also get a free mini magazine! 

• Subscribe to Women’s Running today and you’ll save 50%, plus you’ll receive our How To Run 5K magazine absolutely free!

• Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 181 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Running therapy

In this episode, we kick off with a chat about our little therapy sessions – ie, this actual podcast. Holly has been getting herself back on an even keel, and I have been getting very worried about some upcoming races.

Running slower

We also talk about coming to terms with running a bit slower as we get older, and the way in which a run can feel awful on one day, and brilliant the next, for no apparent reason.

Wall of Shame!

We then delve into your Wall of Shame embarrassing moments from the national running show, which we wanted to share with you guys, because they were all SUPERB. From public pooing to being overtaken by Ron Hill, to our favourite of all time, which involves a canal boat. I shall say no more.

Get in touch!

We loved doing this so much, we want more of your embarrassing moments - email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with the best bits of your runs so we can snort about them on the pod!

Subscribe!

Do think about subscribing to Women’s Running right now – because you’ll save 50% off the cover price and you’ll get a copy of our How To Run 5K Guide absolutely free. If you don’t need it because you’re scampering over mountains, it will make a friend very happy indeed. Go to womensrunning.co.uk/bundle to get the deal.

Lovely extra bits

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today and you’ll save 50% and get a FREE copy of How To Run 5K with Esther and Holly!
• Run with us in New York!
• Get your hands on How to Run 5K with Esther and Holly, available at shop.womensrunning.co.uk / Extras

·      Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run

• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Please continue to donate whatever you can to our fundraiser for the Trussell Trust – Holly and I ran 5K and donated £5, but you can give whatever you can afford. Search Anthem on Justgiving
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.