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

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