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Tough Girl Podcast

The Tough Girl Podcast is all about inspiring and motivating YOU! I will be interviewing inspirational women from around the world, who’ve faced and overcome difficult challenges and situations, they will share their story, their knowledge and provide advice and essential tips for you to overcome your own personal challenges. Please check out the Tough Girl Challenges website - www.toughgirlchallenges.com and follow on twitter @_TOUGH_GIRL
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Now displaying: October, 2019
Oct 29, 2019

Dr. Stacy T. Sims, is a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Waikato.

She is an applied researcher, innovator and entrepreneur in human performance, specifically sex differences in training, nutrition, and environmental conditions.  She served as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University from 2007 to 2012, where she specialized in sex differences of environmental and nutritional considerations for recovery and performance.

Specializing in women's health and performance. She had the opportunity to translate earlier research into consumer products and a science-based layperson's book written to explain sex differences in training and nutrition across the lifespan. Both the consumer product companies and the book challenged the existing dogma for women in exercise, nutrition, and health outcomes.

Her contributions to the international research environment and the sports nutrition industry has established a new niche in sports nutrition; and established her reputation as the expert in sex differences in training, nutrition, and health. 

As a direct result, she has been named as one of the to 50 visionaries of the running industry (2015), one of the top 40 women changing the paradigm of her field (2017), one of the top four visionaries in the outdoor sport industry (2017), and one of the top four individuals changing the landscape in triathlon nutrition (2017). 

Stacy is the author of ROAR - How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life.

Stacy resides in Mount Maunganui with her husband and young daughter. 

Show notes

  • Living in New Zealand
  • How Stacy would introduce herself
  • Growing up in an army family
  • Being sporty and loving the outdoors
  • Getting into running and dancing
  • Being an athlete and an academic
  • Why do women need to train differently 
  • Starting to ask the questions
  • Why women are too hard to study!!
  • WHAT ABOUT WOMEN!!!!!
  • What do we need to know about the menstrual cycle
  • Day 1 - first day of bleeding
  • Day 12  - Ovulation and upsurge of oestrogen
  • Low hormone phase - First 10 days, hormones are low and we are more like men - hit the power hard, do intensity hard, sleep well and recovery well, core temp is lower
  • High hormone phase - ovulation - very individual  - e.g. having flat days  - be kind to yourself or feeling bullet proof - go and hit it hard
  • 5 days before your period starts - this is when we are most different from men.
  • Tracking periods for over 20 years
  • Being a pilot subject in all her studies
  • The mental impact of not understanding your body
  • Pushing against the dogma
  • Dealing with the set backs and push backs
  • Being inspire to write the book  - ROAR
  • Why the book is starting to gain tracking now - 3 years later
  • Keto for women and why it might not be the best thing 
  • The biggest mistakes that women are making
  • Why you need to track your period
  • What women need to do to help with recovery
  • Get your protein in 30 mins after eating
  • Training, pregnancy, trail running and doing local races
  • Having a really hard pregnancy
  • Big changes after having her daughter
  • What she’s studying at the moment
  • How she’s balances everything in her life
  • Needing to be on the go all the time
  • Quick Fire Questions
  • The next book!

Social Media

Facebook @drstacysims  

Instagram @drstacysims   

Take a Listen to Stacy on Sparta Chicks Radio - #99 Dr Stacy Sims on How to Work With Your Body, Not Fight Against It

 

 

Oct 24, 2019

Pip has two world first endurance records, she is the winner of multiple international yacht races and has over twenty years of experience ocean racing!

We first spoke with Pip in 2017, when she shared more about her early years, growing up, getting into sailing as well as her passion for the sport. She also shared more about doing the 3 Peaks Yacht Race as part of an all female team and winning the race in 2016. 

We pick up with Pip where we left off. Pip shares more about going back to do the 3 Peaks Yacht Race in 2017, but this time as a pair, making the challenge even more extreme! 

Pip explains more about the Vendee Ocean Race and why this has been a dream of her’s which has been 10 years in the making. Pip goes into detail about her preparation and training as well as answering quick fire questions at the end. I am so exited to be following Pip as she chases her dream of breaking the women’s record while sailing solo around the world in the ultimate 3 month solo ocean race -  The Vendee Ocean Race 2020.

Show notes

  • Catching up with Pip
  • 45 years old
  • 3 Peaks Yacht Race
  • 2 year count down to the The Vendee Ocean Race 2020 
  • Sailing and running!
  • Doing the 3 peaks Yacht Race double handed!!
  • Sleep deprivation and the mental side of the challenge
  • Sleeping in 20 min bursts 
  • Splitting up the roles and responsibilities 
  • Not knowing if it was going to be possible at the start line
  • The biggest challenge from the race
  • Not being able to eat anymore
  • Where her determination comes from and why she’s doesn’t give up
  • Why you can’t give up when solo sailing
  • Suffering with injury
  • Deciding what was next
  • Not being able to run 
  • Breathing
  • Deciding to enter the Vendee Ocean Race
  • Stats and information about the race
  • A 3 month challenge!
  • Planning for a race and challenge like this!
  • 10 years of work
  • The ultimate solo sailor race
  • Building skills and building confidence
  • Getting hold of a boat and raising funds to do the challenge
  • Launching her Vendee Campaign in November 2018
  • £1.2 Million
  • Having a 2 year build up
  • Getting her hands on the boat!
  • Fast tracking learning the boat
  • Making mistakes quickly 
  • Starting powerlifting 
  • Sailing with Paul Larson 
  • Getting the boat prepared for its first trans atlantic crossing from France to Brazil 
  • Getting it done and trying to have balance 
  • Having to make it happen
  • Learning to ask for help
  • Doing all the critical stuff first and then moving onto the nice to have 
  • Dealing with the preparation workload and stress 
  • Doing a 3 month refit of the boat 
  • Heading out to South Africa in the New Year
  • Plans for 2020
  • How to follow Pip while she races
  • Quick Fire Questions 
  • How we can support Pip with her challenge 
  • Final words of advice to motivate and inspire you

 

Social Media

Website - https://www.piphareoceanracing.com 

Instagram - @piphareoceanracing  

Facebook - @PipHareOceanRacing  

Donate - https://www.gofundme.com/f/pip-hare-ocean-racing-vendee-globe-campaign 

 

Oct 22, 2019

Alice Morrison, is a Scottish Adventurer, currently based in Morocco. After a childhood spent running around the African Bush, she was sent to boarding school in Edinburgh where she learned Latin but no decorum. She studied Arabic and Turkish at University which has led to a long love affair with the Middle East. 

Adventuring had been something she had always done part time until in her mid-forties destiny in the shape of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, intervened. His cuts made her redundant and she gleefully burned her briefcase, and headed off for a life in the unknown. She has plunged through a number adventures including the Tour D’Afrique when she raced from Cairo to Cape Town on a bike; Atlas to Atlantic, a world first trek from the highest point of North Africa straight across the Atlas mountains to the sea; and the Marathon Des Sables, the toughest footrace on earth, six marathons across the Sahara desert in six days. 

“If I can do it, anyone can,” she says, “You just have to set your sights firmly on your goal and then pursue it with demonic persistence ignoring pain, humiliation and despair along the way. It is always worth it!”

Show notes

  • Who is Alice, her background and how she got into adventure
  • What her childhood was like growing up in Africa
  • The hazards of speaking a foreign language
  • Her career path and following a normal path
  • Building a company and being a CEO
  • Dealing with the company going under and having to make changes in her life
  • The Tour D'Afrique is the longest bike race on earth (12,000 kilometres from Cairo to Cape Town)
  • Training and preparation for the bike race…
  • Cycling in a big group and struggling at the start
  • Day to day life on the road and how the tour worked
  • Dodging Elephants…..
  • Going through a life changing experience and making decisions about her life
  • Dealing with the adventure blues
  • Trying to find a normal job again…
  • Deciding to do the Marathon des Sables even though she’d never run a marathon before!
  • Moving to Morocco to train and deciding to become a professional adventurer
  • Learning languages 
  • Doing her first - World First - the Atlas Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean - 350km
  • Why it was so much harder than she though it was going to be
  • How she coped with the mental pressure of challenging times and why staying in the moment was so important
  • The cultural challenges of being a woman in Morocco
  • Loss of status and income and friends and family reaction to becoming an adventurer
  • Money and making it work financially
  • Corporate sponsors - Craghopper and NTT Data UK
  • Not having a typical day or week at work
  • What’s been happening since November 2018
  • Deciding on a new challenge  - The Everest Trail Race 
  • The magical moments on the race
  • Not having much of a break before heading of on another adventure
  • Walking the length of the River Darr in Morocco (1,200km from the start to the sea at Tan Tan)
  • Her new book! My 1001 Nights
  • What’s next?!
  • Quick Fire Questions
  • Final words of advice 

Social Media

New Book just out! My 1001 Nights

 

Website : www.alicemorrison.co.uk  

Twitter: @aliceoutthere1

Instagram: @aliceoutthere1                           

Facebook: @AliceHunterMorrisonAdventures

Oct 15, 2019

A wife and mother whose life was going downhill when she was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis - an inflammatory bowel disease. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of every public toilet, bush or tree to dive behind, and after numerous extreme dietary regimes, Caroline elected to have her large intestine removed, and to live with a permanent ileostomy. 

The decision she made then, and those she’s made since, have brought her face-to-face with some tough obstacles and hard decisions to make. No-one truly realises their own resilience until they are put in difficult situations. Motivated to learn to swim by her children, her enthusiasm for triathlon was lit after meeting Ironman world champion, Chrissie Wellington.

Caroline has turned her life around from being a self-confessed ‘couch potato’ to a tough ‘can do’ individual who competes in– Ironman triathlons. 

Show notes

  • What her childhood was like
  • Hating running and hating sports at school
  • Deciding to get fit 
  • Becoming ill with Ulcerative Colitis
  • The challenges of getting diagnosed while pregnant
  • Making life changing decisions 
  • Trying all the different lifestyle options and various diets
  • The mental challenge of deciding to do the surgery
  • The next steps after surgery
  • Signing up to cycle London to Paris in 24hrs
  • Why reaching Paris was a major milestone
  • Falling back to her old couch potato ways
  • Needing a new challenge 
  • Deciding to face her fear of water and learning how to swim in 2014
  • Deciding to join her local tri club - North Devon Triathletes
  • Swimming with a ileostomy
  • Putting off the running
  • Getting involved in park run
  • Fuelling nutrition needs without a large intestine
  • Making her own food bars
  • The challenges of hydration
  • Working with a coach to help with triathlons 
  • Following a 6 day a week training program
  • Her dream of being an ironman
  • Getting cut on the bike 
  • Learning from failure
  • Blogging and social media
  • Quick Fire Questions

 

Social Media

Website www.ironostomy.co.uk

Facebook -@Ironostomy 

Twitter - @carolinebramwel  

You can also listen to Chrissie on the Tough Girl Podcast - HERE 

 

Oct 8, 2019

Jasmin Paris is a mother, long distance fell runner, small animal vet and research scientist, who was launched into the media spotlight in January this year when she won the 268-mile Montane Spine race outright, breaking the overall record by 12 hours, and beating her nearest rival by 15 hours. 

Jasmin was born in Manchester in 1983, and brought up between the Peak District, UK, and Šumava, Czech Republic. She studied veterinary science at Liverpool University (2002-2008).

Although very active outdoors throughout childhood, it was not until 2008, whilst working for a year as a small animal vet in Glossop that she started fell running.  In 2015, Jasmin finished first lady and second overall at the infamous Dragon’s Back race, and the same year she won the British Fellrunning Championship for the first time. 

In 2016, she gained international recognition by winning the Skyrunning Extreme Series, and the same year she broke records for the three classic UK 24-hour hill challenges. In 2017, Jasmin gave birth to her daughter Rowan. She returned to racing by winning the British Fellrunning Championship in 2018, and thereafter the Spine in 2019. 

Between 2015 and 2019, Jasmin completed a PhD studying the role of the RNA-methylation reader protein YTHDF2 in acute myeloid leukaemia. She is currently working as a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. 

Show notes

  • Growing up in the Peak District and spending time in the Czech Republic
  • When she started to get into running
  • Doing her first fell race
  • Falling in love with running and spending time outdoors
  • Starting to enter more and more races
  • Losing her mentor - John Hewitt 
  • The mental side of races
  • Her background in hill walking/endurance hiking
  • The Dragon’s Back race in Wales
  • Rest and recovery and what she does during stage races
  • Nutrition and food during races
  • Winning the British Championships in 2015
  • Having a full on 2015 and racing every weekend apart from 2!
  • Cross training, swimming, hiking and strength work
  • What’s going through her head when racing
  • The challenges of the Paddy Buckley Round
  • Running while pregnant and the transition to motherhood
  • The Spine Race in 2019!
  • The challenges of sleep deprivation
  • Going massive on social media
  • Focusing on family and completing her PHD
  • Why running has to be fun!
  • Advice and top tips to motivate and inspire you
  • Quick Fire Questions

Social Media

Blog - http://jasminfellrunner.blogspot.com 

Twitter - @JasminKParis 

 

Oct 1, 2019

Sharon is a member of North York Moors AC and became a serious runner in 1994 when she completed her first 100km and 24 hour race, winning gold in the National Championships at both events, she is still the only person to take both titles in the same year. 

Sharon has represented Great Britain for 18 years, on 27 occasions, winning several medals as well as further National Championship titles.

Towards the end of her international career Sharon progressed to longer and more extreme races. In 2011 she was ranked World Number 1 for 6 days on the road with her British Record of 750km, a race she won outright as the first person. 

In the same year Sharon broke the  Guinness World Record for the furthest distance run on a treadmill in 7 days. Her distance of 833km added over 100 miles (160km) to the existing female record and nearly 50 miles (80km) to the men’s record. It is rare that a female world record is better than the male world record in athletics!

In October 2016, Sharon had run 186 ultras, 114 marathons and 119 off-road races of near marathon distance, some 419 events of 24 miles or further. 

Sharon has raced across deserts such as the Libyan Challenge, Ocean Floor Race and Badwater Ultra-marathon. She has done multi stage races such as Marathon des Sables, Grand to Grand Ultra, Fire and Ice 250km, Trans-Alpine from Germany to Austria, Switzerland and Italy, Verdon Canyon, Al-Andalus Ultra Trail and Trans-Slovenia (winter edition). 

During this podcast, Sharon shares more about her early life, how she got into running, and how running has changed her life. She shares more about the planning and preparation that goes into a World Record challenge like JOGLE. Sharon is super down to earth and full of top tips and advice to motivate and inspire you! 

Show notes

  • Being a runner for over 30 years
  • Representing GB for 18 years
  • Not being sporty or outdoorsy when she was growing up
  • How running the London Marathon changed her life
  • Leaving school at 16 and going straight to work
  • Going to University at 30 to get a degree in Sports Science 
  • Going on to to her Masters
  • What she loves about running ultra races
  • Her favourite distance? 6 days!! 
  • Milage per week and being self coached
  • Doing strength and conditioning as well
  • Race strategy and structure for running 822 miles!
  • The power of 3hr blocks and 30 min breaks
  • Training for 2 years for the WR
  • The importance of the team
  • What’s going through her head during each block
  • The 30 min routine
  • Let’s talk about feet!!
  • Managing the mental pain!
  • Handling the frustration of getting lost 
  • How to handle sleep deprivation
  • The magical moment on the record run
  • Nutrition during ultra challenges
  • What keeps Sharon motivated
  • How her sports science background has helped her with running
  • How running ultra’s races has changed over the past 30 years
  • The bucket list races!
  • Injuries and injury prevention
  • Never being a sponsored athlete
  • Paying for everything herself
  • How to recover from big challenges
  • Publicity for the challenge 
  • Has it sunk in yet?
  • Getting the running blues after doing a big race
  • Celebrating the success of the challenge
  • Advice and tips for women and girls who want to get into running
  • Quick Fire Questions
  • New World Record Chat!!!

Social Media

Website - http://www.sharongayter.com/index.htm 

Book “The Clock Keeps Ticking” - buy here

Connected Episodes to listen to Mimi Anderson - Endurance Runner & Multiple Guinness World Record Holder! December 22, 2015

Amy Hughes - Running 521 Miles on a treadmill in a week! November 3, 2016

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