The Women's Running Podcast

Welcome to episode 267 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.

Today we’re talking about university life, and how it has changed from when we were there. We talk about empty nesting, and the heartache as well as the small blessings that it affords. Lots of love to all of you going through this right now.

Kathrine...

Welcome to episode 266 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.

Westonbirt Half

We are debriefing our half marathon at Westonbirt with Relish Running. I’d started my race weekend on the wrong foot, by going to a beer festival the night before, which might have had a slight impact on my performance.

We talk about th...

Welcome to episode 265 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 need to discuss a lot of things this episode cos we’ve not seen each other for a fortnight and we’ve missed each other! So, obviously, we begin with some silly stuff about Joe Wicks.

And then we’re on to holidays, festivals, awful toilets, dog-sitting, and the corr...

Welcome to episode 264 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 prepping for our September races with a healthy chunk of maranoia and shoe concerns.

Aimee Fuller

We perk ourselves up with a chat with two-time Winter Olympian Aimee Fuller, our September cover star. Aimee started skiing at the age of 4, before moving into mot...

Welcome to episode 263 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 right bra

We start off quite sedately talking about training stresses, and adjusting our running when it’s just not going well. But we quickly move into unchartered waters with a chat with Mari from Maaree bras. She talks to us about how to tell if our bra...

Welcome to episode 262 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 starts off as one of those therapy episodes. We launch into a lack of jolliness and motivation in the middle of summer, while we’re trying to navigate weather that doesn’t feel too brilliant (don’t worry, we perk up fairly quickly!). We talk about how we’re adapting our training p...

Welcome to episode 261 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.

Holly strips off

We start with some hot service station chat, and also some controversial service station chat. But then we quickly move on to the highlight of Holly’s holiday (that’s hard to say) in Berlin, which is something she would always do, but something I would ne...

Welcome to episode 260 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.

Cover star Renee

In this episode we’re joined by Renee McGregor, who as well as many other amazing things, is our August cover star – make sure you pick up a copy of Women’s Running from all good shops now to read our interview with her. Renee is a w...

Welcome to episode 259 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 and heat

Today we’re talking about how we’re managing our running in the recent heatwave at the beginning of July. And we have *some* resolution to the – I’m sure by now – extremely dull London Marathon chat.

Live pod

We need to...

Welcome to episode 258 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 goals

After a lot of blather about cordless vacuum cleaners (it’s the content you’ve been crying out for) we talk about our pace and fitness dropping off post-marathon. We also talk about the difficulty of trying to create goals that aren’t necessarily about pace.

Welcome to episode 257 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.

London marathon

We’re still debating whether or not we should do the London marathon - yawn. We talk about regrets from our 2025 marathon, and what we’d do differently. We also chat about sports watches – Holly is just tipping into the possibility of actually committing to one.

<...

Welcome to episode 256 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 in the heat

We’ve got a bit of a Glasto recap, and then we’re talking about surviving the heat – how running makes us feel in this weather, and how we need to listen to our heart rates.

London Marathon

We rev...

Welcome to episode 255 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.

TW: for a section of the podcast from about 50 minutes in, we talk about weightloss and eating disorders and weightloss jabs in light of some messages that we’ve received after our past few podcasts.

Ballots

We start with the hot topics o...

Welcome to episode 254 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.

Not winning awards

We’re interrupting our recent very serious run of podcasts with nothing of any serious note whatsoever. We’ve been swanning around that London (almost) winning an award, and we have lots of stories, some of them toilet-based.

Super shoes

Welcome to episode 253 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.

TW: weightloss, eating disorders, Red-S, weight gain.

As promised, we’ve got the lovely Dr Juliet McGrattan with us today to chat through some of the topics we touched on last week, and we’ve included a few messages from the Pod Squad here, as we heard from a lot of you...

Welcome to episode 252 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 have a LOT to talk about in this episode, so hold on to your hats. First off, a couple of trigger warnings: in this episode we talk about weight and weightloss, there’s some chat about mental health and anxiety, and we also talk about women’s safety while running, as well as...

Welcome to episode 251 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.

Physio report

I have actually been to a physio. Four weeks on from the London Marathon, and at least two more injuries down. I have finally asked for help and received it. The source of all my pain is NOT what I expected, which is a good remind...

Welcome to episode 250 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.

Recovery and cunning plans

Chaotic episode alert! We have literal minutes discussing what’s going on in Holly’s drains, and it’s not even a euphemism. However, hang on in there, because we start getting on to where we are, now that we’re almost four weeks out from...

Welcome to episode 249 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.

Final marathon debrief

It is now two weeks on from the London Marathon, which seems like years ago, and Holly and I have been recuperating in different ways. For this recording, we’re joined by lovely Jordan from Coopah for one last time to talk through our experien...

Welcome to episode 248 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 week after the marathon

It’s the week after the Big Day, and Holly already has some big plans – but should she go through with them? We discuss the pros and cons.I talk about the fallout from the calf injury, and the support I’ve received, an...

Welcome to episode 247 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.

Startline to finish line

This is it. This is our review of the biggest race of our lives (so far). We start from the start; the night before in the hotel, and we talk through every experience, every up and every single down, of which – spoiler alert – there were...

Welcome to episode 246 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.

London Mararthon Expo

This is a bit of an extra little treat this week. We were going to do one big podcast with all our marathon thoughts, but instead first of all we’re going to bring you this live podcast we recorded on Saturday, at the London M...

Welcome to episode 245 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 nerves

Cards on the table, we’re worried this is going to be the most boring episode in the world, as we can’t talk about anything other than marathon. It’s this weekend, so we talk about being excited, being nervous, what we’re going to wear and wh...

Welcome to episode 244 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 training

We are joined, from start to finish, by Jordan, as this is our penultimate episode before the London Marathon, and we have every fear known to woman. Jordan, as you’ll know by now, is from Coopah, the training app, and she has been supporting us throu...

Welcome to episode 243 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.

Last long runs

In this episode, we talk about freaking out ahead of our last long runs, which are staring us in the face. Have we run long enough? Are these mental demons going to disappear? Should we be aiming to go all out? Or should we be aim...

Welcome to episode 242 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.

Maranoia

As we get closer to Marathon Day, our maranoia has reached epic proportions. We talk about comparing ourselves to other runners on social media, about not matching our training plans, and about the fear of the last long runs.

We have Jordan with us tod...

Welcome to episode 241 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.

Blisters

We begin this normally controversy-free podcast to talk to you all about blisters – specifically Holly’s blister on her big toe, which is so enormous it has defied the experience of actual medics. So bit of a trigger warning, cos there’s a lot of gross foot content...

Welcome to episode 240 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.

Bath Half

It’s the week after the Bath Half and we have had lots of thoughts, not least about the roast we celebrated with afterwards. After a bit of nonsense about Holly’s verbal diarrhea on whatsapp voicenotes (which I really think is the Podcast Moment of the Yea...

Welcome to episode 239 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.

Jeans and pastries

We start with the hottest topic in the running calendar – the sorts of jeans we like to wear. And then straight on to Croissant-gate, obviously, as that hasn’t been cleared up yet.

Marathon training

Then we’re...

Welcome to the final episode of our Start to Run podcast series. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’ve been sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving, and you can find all episodes out now wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

Do I need to race as a runner?

This week, we’re talking about races and, first off, it goes...

Welcome to episode 238 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.

Croissant-gate

We begin with the most important debate currently rocking our world: whether croissants are sweet or savoury, and I have a horrible feeling that I might have to admit defeat, which really annoys me.

Vintage marathons

We’ve also got an u...

Welcome back to the Start to Run podcast series. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’re sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving, and you can find the first 7 episodes now wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

How do I manage my running around my period?

This week, we run through the basics of our cycles. What does the 28-day...

Welcome to episode 237 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.

Coopah, the running app

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit...

Welcome back to the Start to Run podcast series. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’re sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving, and you can find the first 7 episodes now wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

What do I eat before and after a run?

This week, we’re talking the basics of nutrition. We share all the things w...

Welcome to episode 236 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 Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of...

Welcome back to the Start to Run podcast series. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’re sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving, and you can find the first 6 episodes now wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

Before we get into it, we’d recommend joining our Patreon if you want to chat to other runners just like you. From total beginners to...

Welcome to episode 235 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.

Supplements for sleep

First off I’m chatting about supplements: I’ve discovered magnesium – both in cream form (shout out Ancient Minerals) and also in tablet form, and think it’s been helping a lot with the whole perimenopausal sleep thing. More menopause chat at the end.

Welcome back to our brand new podcast series that we’re calling Start to Run. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’ll be sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

Why do I need to do strength training?

Notoriously, us runners avoid strength training like the plague. But we absolutely need to be doing it. An...

Welcome to episode 234 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.

Toenails & runner's high

Toenail trigger warning right from the start here, as we start off by talking about black toenails, so sorry about that. We also talk about runner’s high, and the fallacy that this is, and try to reframe it a little bit.

Coo...

Welcome back to our brand new podcast series that we’re calling Start to Run. As part of the Women’s Running podcast, we’ll be sharing these special episodes every Monday to help you get yourself moving. Whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, welcome to the gang – let’s get back to basics, cut through the crap and make running simple again.

What kind of training plan should I use?

Esther and I are talking training plans this week – what are they, what do they look like and how do you know wh...