Category: DEBATE

Do women get slower with age?

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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

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NEWS RELEASE – Championing female endurance coaches and experts

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Nowadays, there are increasing numbers of women who are entering the world of coaching within running, swim run, and triathlon. Yet their voices and experience are still in the minority. Girls Run the World are set to change this Over the last decade, the number of recreational female athletes participating in endurance events such as marathons, ultra marathons, swim run and triathlon has exploded. And with that, the number of female coaches in these areas is slowly growing. Yet female coaching voices are still in the minority. And those that are working within the business are rarely heard. Media outlets

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We celebrate the women who inspire us

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On this International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the trail blazers across running and triathlon, and pledge to work towards bringing gender parity in race participation and coaching In 1967, Katherine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. Her coach at that time said women were ‘too fragile’ to run marathons, while a race official tried to bundle her off the course. Katherine not only finished the race, but many more subsequent races and paved the way for many other women to compete too. Katherine has since set up 261 Fearless to encourage more women in running.

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10 years of change in women’s running

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As we bid goodbye to a decade, the founder of Girls Run the World, Rachael Woolston celebrates the advances made in exercise and running for women but calls for more advances to be made in the next. Strava This simple tracking app first launched in 2009, but it is in this decade that it has had the biggest impact on women’s running. I joined in 2012 and have slowly seen the number of women using it explode. Most positive of all, it helped to introduce women – and men – to what pace was, how this can positively affect their

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Recycled Running – What can we do?

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From 23-29th September, it’s Recycling Week, a campaign to encourage the public to recycle more. Now in its 17th year, this year’s theme is Recycling. It’s in our own hands.  The focus on being sustainable and zero waste has never been so high on the agenda, but in the running and triathlon world, we seem stuck in the 1970s. So what can we do as running and triathlon consumers do ourselves to change the status quo? Vote with your feet  Don’t get us wrong, everyone loves a memento of a big race and a bit of race bling, so we’re

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Ever heard of competitive stranger syndrome?

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Thud, thud. Huff, puff, Thud, thud, Grunt. Many of us have experienced it – the unwelcome sound of footsteps gaining on you, then that sideways ‘Beat you!’ glance as they pass. As you resist the urge to proclaim; ‘Hang on buster, I’m on a training run! (or a treadmill!) – this isn’t a race! And by the way, I’ve just run xx sodding miles!’,  you might wonder what has got this guy or gal’s goat. The usual suspect is, more often than not, a relatively new runner or weekend warrior, whose ego is disproportionately tied up with running as fast

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5 Ways to Tackle the Post marathon blues

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You feel so fantastic after crossing that finish line of the marathon, and it tides you right through  to …ooh, about 24 hours later. Then the blues hit. Here’s our guide on how to avoid it –  After spending 12 to even 20 weeks training for a marathon, and pretty much the last fortnight leading up to the marathon obsessing over every little detail, it’s small wonder that the majority of runners spend the next week feeling really down. It’s partly because you are left with a huge vacuum where all that training and obsessing used to sit in your diary

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Welcome to the new wave in women’s running

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Two things happened last week which made us all cheer (and swear a little too) at Girls Run the World HQ. Firstly, Jasmin Paris became the first woman to win Britain’s most brutal race, The Spine Race, beating the the overall course record by 12 hours. If you don’t know much about this race, here’s some facts; it’s 268 miles taking in the Pennine Way and has over 37,000 feet of climbing and you have to carry your own kit. It took Jasmin 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds, with just seven hours rest, during which she also breastfed her

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How was your weekend running?

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There were some big hitters in this weekend’s races, such as the Chicago and Chester Marathon. But what caught our eye was an event that helps put on the agenda the question of how much waste is produced by running events…  So, Mo Farah won the Chicago Marathon this weekend in a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 11 seconds, his first marathon win. Meanwhile, on European shores, the Chester Marathon took place. This is an event where age group recreational athletes are invited by English Athletics to compete for their country. If you think there is no way you

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How was your weekend running?

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Summer is a time of trail races and those with a bit of a twist… I didn’t race this weekend as I was busy checking out  more routes for the Girls Run the World Trail and Yoga Retreat this coming weekend (July 20-22), and it sure was a hot one! Which is why I headed off for an open water swim in the beautiful Weirwood Reservoir rather than run again. But elsewhere, there was lots going on in the trail running stakes, not least the spectacular Gran Trail Courmayer, with distances of 30, 50 and 105km to choose from…the winning

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