Month: September 2020

Menopause and Performance: Navigating Hormonal Changes

Posted on 25/09/202025/09/2020 by Fern Pearson

Age doesn’t have to be a barrier to success in endurance sport. As women hit their forties and beyond, hormone changes during the peri-menopause and menopause can affect our body shape, performance, mind and soul – but it doesn’t have to be this way. Female athletes can achieve amazing performances in their forties plus, this October for World Menopause month we’ll show you how. Last year, Joan Benoit Samuelson 40 years after her record-setting 2:35:15 at the Boston Marathon took on the course again with the hope of finishing within 40 minutes of her original time. She succeeded, with a

Four Tips to Avoid Burnout and Ensure Training and Race Day Success

Posted on 22/09/202022/09/2020 by Rachael Woolston

Autumn is often a time when we reset after a busy summer and set ourselves new race goals. But read this before you enter anything to ensure race day happiness Six months of lockdown, working from home (some with kids in tow), no holiday abroad and races cancelled, this September has seen an explosion in race sign ups in a bid to escape the inertia. In the desire to get out in the fresh air, have a target after being so long without a training motivation, thousands of us have entered endurance events that leave us little time to train.

Do women get slower with age?

Posted on 14/09/202014/09/2020 by Rachael Woolston

As we hit our forties and beyond, how much does it affect our speed and how should we change the way that we train? Physiologically, there is no doubt that if you an elite female athlete you will get slower as you age. But for the majority of female recreational runners and triathletes, getting slower as you hit your forties and fifties is NOT a foregone conclusion. Why? Because most recreational female athletes don’t start running seriously until their thirties. As for triathlon, many of us don’t have the time or money to start training for a multi-disciplined event until

3 Ways to Boost Your Motivation to Train

Posted on 10/09/202022/09/2020 by Fern Pearson

We all know that we should be training, but sometimes it can be hard to find the time or the motivation. If you’ve found yourself in a rut here are three easy ways to help you get back out there and reaching your goals. Many of us couldn’t wait to get out there and train post-lockdown, then suddenly autumn hit and we’re busier than ever. Whether you’ve been preparing for the kids going back to school or just coping with returning to semi-normal life it can leave us feeling unmotivated. 3 Tips to Get Motivated to Train: Get enough sleep Making

Pelvic floor and the female athlete

Posted on 07/09/2020 by Rachael Woolston

Everyone knows that pregnancy and childbirth affect pelvic floor health. But there are other causes that can cause pelvic floor issues from incontinence to back pain Awareness, knowledge and access to specialist women’s pelvic health experts, thankfully, has improved loads in the last decade. When we recently interviewed a host of female runners and triathletes for our podcast series on Postnatal Performance (out in November 2020), it was great to hear that so many had sought rehab before returning to training (listen to our interview with Gill Bland, a sub 3 hour marathon recreational runner on her experience). Pelvic floor

Achieving Training Gains Through Adventure

Posted on 03/09/202003/09/2020 by Fern Pearson

With most races cancelled for 2020 and lockdown wiping out normal training methods, many have used adventures to train. Be inspired and discover the training adaptations gained through adventuring… Shaking your head and thinking that there is no way adventure training can really benefit your performance? Think again. Tour de France cyclist, Jerome Cousin was visiting his girlfriend in Portugal when the country went into lockdown, and all return flights back to his native France were cancelled. Once lockdown was eased, he bike paced with girlfriend on a 1,152km trip across Portugal. He described the experience as ‘total freedom’. Now, if

Celebrating Running High this August

Posted on 02/09/2020 by Rachael Woolston

How fast could you run 106 miles in ONE week? Find out the leading lady of our week’s GRTW V Ultra Alps virtual race Over the month of August we invited women to enter our virtual running challenge to race 106 miles in one week. Supported by Salomon Running, the virtual event emulated the world famous, Ultra Trail Mont Blanc in terms of the distance. We also created a monthly challenge for those women who wanted to undertake it over a longer time period and who wanted to log ascent. Our mission was to increase women’s participation in endurance sport,