The Women's Running Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to episode 210 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 Runna. For a FREE two-week trial of Runna, just use the code WOMENSRUNNING and fill your running boots.

We have a special guest for you today in the shape of the very brilliant Helen Thorn, you lucky things. Comedian, author, amazing runner, and now triathlete, we’re lucky to count her as a Friend of the Pod. She is dialling in from her holiday in Cornwall, especially to join up with us to shout about the London Vitality 10,000 which we’re running together on September 22nd – and you can run with us if you’re quick! We’ve been told that there are a few spaces remaining to run in our Smiles for Miles wave, which we’re running with Helen and Bryony Gordon firmly at the back of the pack, and we’d love to have you with us. We’ll be celebrating in Green Park before and after, and it won’t be the same without you!

Before and after our chat with her, we’re trying to do our best with our strength training, and I do my thing of offering lots of unwarranted advice to Holly while not actually doing any exercises myself. When we come back in the room after Helen we have a chat about the books we’ve been reading and listening to. Lots of ideas here for those of you who listen to books on runs, and please give us all your ideas too!

Now, don’t get annoyed at me repeating this, it’s my job: right now you can get your first six issues of Women’s Running for just £6! Go to womensrunning.co.uk, click on SHOP, and use the code SS24 WRPOD at the checkout. Or just go here.

• This episode is sponsored by Runna. For a FREE two-week trial of Runna, just use the code WOMENSRUNNING and fill your running boots.
• Run the London Vitality 10,000 with us!
• Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today to save loads, it's only £6 for 6 issues
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• 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
• Email us at [email protected] with any questions or running stories

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

Welcome to episode 209 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 Runna. For a FREE two-week trial of Runna, just use the code WOMENSRUNNING and fill your running boots.

We’re back after a bit of a break (that hopefully you won’t have noticed, but obviously the timings of the last few podcasts have been all over the place). We’re both sounding rough as badgers; me cos of a virus, Hol cos of a two-day hangover. All very standard.

We talk through all of Hol’s debauchery. We also talk about my running in Cornwall and France, which results in a proper Poo Story, which I’m sure you’ll all sympathise with. Listen out for Hol’s top tips on sharing a bathroom btw!

In our new Pod Squad segment, we talk to the glorious Marte from Belgium, who ran with us in New York, and also again at the London 10K and AGAIN at Endure 24. She talks to us about how she got into running, and her favourite races so far.

Now, if you’re not already a subscriber to Women’s Running magazine, this is your lucky day, cos this is our best ever offer. Right now you can get your first six issues of Women’s Running for just £6! Go to womensrunning.co.uk, click on SHOP, and use the code SS24 WRPOD at the checkout. Or just go here.

• This episode is sponsored by Runna. For a FREE two-week trial of Runna, just use the code WOMENSRUNNING and fill your running boots.

 Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today to save loads, it's only £6 for 6 issues

• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT

·      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

Email us at [email protected] with any questions or running stories

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

Welcome to episode 200 of the Women’s Running podcast. This episode is sponsored by Runna. 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.

Whoop whoop! It’s our 200th episode and we are celebrating in style with a drink and a bowl of peanuts and a little look back at some of our favourite moments over the last year or so. I start on a slightly cross note because of a convo I’d had at the weekend, where I was asked a question that I think sets the tone for our entire podcast.

But once I’ve shed that baggage we’re on to the fun bit. What have been our most favourite pods over the past year or so? We start with a margarita, and end with an Aperol Spritz and in the middle of all of that we chat about our favourite bits, which includes the hang-glider face-off, Canal Boat Amy, the Paris Half with the Pod Squad massive, our trips to New York, and lots of toilet talk.

Now, do please come and join us on Patreon – you can get a ton of extra Pod Squad benefits from just £2 a month, including newsletters Live podcasts and you can join our exclusive Discord forum filled with wonderful runners just like you. Go to patreon.com/womensrunning to find out more.

Now, if you’re not already a subscriber to Women’s Running magazine, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and sign up, cos I think this is one of our best ever offers. Right now – and only until the end of August - you can get your first six issues of Women’s Running for just £6 – that’s a pound an issue! Go to womensrunning.co.uk, click on SHOP, and use the code SS24 WRPOD at the checkout. Or just go here. Six quid! That’s how much ONE issue costs if you buy it in Sainos. And I know I’m biased, but it’s BRILLIANT.

• This episode is sponsored by Runna

For a FREE two-week trial of Runna, just use the code WOMENSRUNNING and fill your running boots.

 Subscribe to Women’s Running – join us today to save loads, it's only £6 for 6 issues

• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT

·      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

Email us at [email protected] 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.

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. 

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. 

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

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...

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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.

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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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!

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.

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 [email protected] with any questions or running stories

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

Welcome to episode 128 of the Women’s Running Podcast – this episode is sponsored by Runna. We launch right into it, with some vegan nonsense, but then very quickly we move on to the National Running Show, which we attended at the weekend in Birmingham. We had an absolute blast, we saw so many of you Pod Squadders, and are just giddy with the happiness of it all. We talk here about just some of the brilliant people we met, about Holly getting the spooks in her hotel room, dog biscuits, flapjack, and lots of wine.

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.

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.

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 [email protected] with any questions or running stories

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