Female Athlete Podcast

In this episode we speak to the wonderful people at Umi Health who happen to be our title sponsors for Series 3. Umi is a one-stop hub for all things pelvic health. Whether you have a question about incontinence, painful sex, weeing, pooing, pregnancy or post-natal, Umi is the place for you. In our chat we pick the brains of Helen and Elizabeth from Umi Health to ask, what actually is pelvic healt...

In this episode we speak to two experienced female cyclists and Specialized ambassadors ; 2020 Triathlon World Series Champion Georgia Taylor-Brown and SES Racing's track cyclist Yewande Adesida. We chat about all the basics to consider as a female cyclists including saddle sores and how to deal with and avoid them, choosing the best saddle, what their training looks like day to day, how they...

In this episode we speak to Dr Chris Bramah and former GB 800m runner Becky Lyne all about biomechanics and how important understanding our running biomechanics is to reducing injury risk and bettering our performance. We ask Becky about setting up her own GRACEfull Girls running programme, what the programme involves and why she wants to help other runners avoid the injuries which plagued her own...

In this episode we speak about the gender data gap and lack of research on women, and the ongoing impact this has had on females in society, emergency medicine and in sport. Our guests today are two experts in this area, Dr Alyson McGregor and Dr Neha Rauker. Dr McGregor, co-founded the Division of Sex and Gender in Emergency Medicine at Brown University and is the author of ' Sex Matters: Ho...

In this episode we speak to Dr Rebecca Robinson about returning to training post illness. We particularly focus on the longer term impacts of contracting Covid and the implications on returning to play.  We speak about how to best avoid illness through sleep and nutrition and giving the body the recovery and rest it needs after experiencing illness. We also chat about how best to prepare and tweak...

In this episode we're extremely excited to speak to CrossFit legend Samantha Briggs. Sam is a nine times CrossFit Games competitor and in 2013 became the world CrossFit champion, claiming the title of ‘Fittest on Earth’.  Sam has an interesting story as to how she got into the sport which she discovered whilst working as a fire fighter. In the interview we chat about what CrossFit actually is...

In this episode we speak to a recreational runner, Jenny Tomei about her experience with an eating disorder. Throughout her late teens and early 20's Jenny battled with Anorexia Nervosa, an unsustainable training load and lost her period for an extended period of time. Jenny talks about what triggered her, her personality traits, how she attempted to cope and the consequences of pushing her b...

In this episode we focus on strength and strength training and the female athlete with Dr Rich Blagrove. Dr Blagrove is a senior lecturer in strength and conditioning at Loughborough University and has worked within many team and individual sports developing strength and conditioning programmes for female athletes over the years. Rich also has a plethora of publications in strength and strength tr...

In this episode we speak to distance runner Bobby Clay who has been through a turbulent time in recent years suffering from many of the implications associated with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. Bobby rose through the ranks and burst onto the international running scene at a very young age but experienced primary amenorrhea, went on to develop osteoporosis, and was then placed on Hormone Re...

In this episode we speak to sport science expert and Physical Performance Manager at the English Football Association (FA), Dawn Scott. Dawn has over 20 years experience in the world of the elite female athlete. Dawn was part of the US Women's Soccer Team who won an Olympic medal and two World Cup trophies. We speak to Dawn about being one of the first sport scientists to work in women's...

In this episode we speak about harassment and exercising women. The topic has been in the news and media recently for various different reasons and we wanted to open up the conversation around it as best we can. We give our own experiences and speak to different women who share their stories of harassment whilst exercising outdoors. We also invite on elite runner Sarah McDonald who talks about her...

In this week's episode we speak to Dr Kate Ackerman about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Dr Ackerman is a world leading physician and Medical Director of the female athlete programme at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she is leading the way in healthcare for female athletes. Dr Ackerman has also published a vast number of research papers including on Relative Energy Deficiency...

We're delighted to kick off our third season by speaking to Dr Emma Ross. Emma is such a passionate advocate of spreading the messages all women should know about their bodies-spanning across all age groups and levels of ability from participation to elite and how knowing this information is a 'right' not a 'privilege'. Emma is one third of The Well HQ and we talk about he...

*SEASON 2 FINALE & Christmas Special!* We did it! As we approach the end of 2020 we wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has downloaded and listened to our podcast over the past ten months- we couldn’t have done it without you and we hope we have provided some joy, whilst informing and inspiring you with our episodes throughout what has been a distinctly difficult year. In our final...

In this BONUS episode we speak to ultra runner, mother of three and Women in Sport board member Sophie Power. Sophie's life changed when a photograph of her breastfeeding her three-month-old son whilst running the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) went viral. Without being able to defer her place despite being pregnant, Sophie decided to attempt the 106-mile race three months postpartum.  Soph...

In this episode we speak to Scotland Women's captain Rachel Malcolm around her experiences with concussion.  Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury and in a contact sport like rugby union, data collected over the past few seasons has found concussion is one of the most common injuries. In the interview Rachel talks about how rugby union has adjusted its laws to reduce the risk of getting...

In this BONUS episode we speak to Professor Sandra Hunter of Marquette University of Wisconsin. Professor Hunter is an expert in sex and age differences in muscle fatigability and endurance performance as well as the impact of stress on neuromuscular function and muscle fatigue.  In the interview we speak in detail with Professor Hunter about the research she has done with female participants arou...

In this special episode we speak about an important topic: Mental Health and sport. The stats from Mind charity say that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England- so we know it’s an important topic to discuss. We are lucky enough to have three women on this episode who are all female athletes as well as being amazing people! Elinor Snowsill, Amber Sto...

In this episode we speak to middle-distance runner and double Olympian Eilish McColgan and her mother, coach and former athlete (and Olympic silver medalist) Liz McColgan.  We chat about Liz's role in coaching her oldest daughter Eilish, how they manage their long-distance relationship as mum and daughter and coach and athlete and how Liz got into the male-dominated world of sports coaching. ...

In this episode we speak about all things Recovery with a world leading expert in all aspects of sleep, recovery strategies and travel, Dr Shona Halson.  Shona is an Associate Professor in the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences at the Australian Catholic University. Prior to this she was a senior physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport for 15 years, working both as a researcher an...

In this episode, we’re focussing on a BIG area when it comes to performance, recovery, training and  general wellbeing- it’s Nutrition. Today, we have a great guest joining us who is a Performance Nutritionist and an international rugby player for Ireland- Lauren Delany. Lauren has worked with some of the world's best athletes in her career and was the nutritionist for British Cycling for ove...

In this BONUS episode we speak to Caroline MacManus, a woman with over 20 years experience working in high performance sport. Caroline is currently a Physiologist and Senior Performance Scientist at High Performance Sport New Zealand, working with their elite rowing teams. In the interview we talk about working in a male dominated environment, building trust and relationships with athletes and coa...

In this episode we speak to Dr Nicole Surdyka,  a Physical Therapist, Performance Coach, and Soccer Trainer who specialises in the rehabilitation and risk reduction of football injuries.  Nicole started her own business after becoming disheartened when she saw research wasn't being translated into practice when working for private PT clinics across America. We speak about the common injuries...

Our guest this week is long-distance runner and mum of two Jo Pavey. Jo is an international athlete who has competed at five consecutive Olympic Games in the 5,000m and 10,000m.  She was the European champion in 2014 after coming back from giving birth to her second child less than a year earlier. Jo aspires to compete at a sixth Olympic Games in 2021 at the age of 47- in short she's an amazi...

In this episode we’re speaking about pelvic health in women and returning to exercise after pregnancy and birth. For this interview, we’ve recruited two of the very best in this area; Advanced Physiotherapist in pelvic health Gráinne Donnelly and Specialist Women’s Health Physiotherapist Emma Brockwell. The pair together with Tom Goom wrote the highly cited return to running postpartum guidelines...