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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: September, 2022
Sep 27, 2022
Molly Huddle is an American long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. 
 
Molly has won 28 USA titles, held six American records, looked down the start line of two Olympic finals and four major marathons. 
 
Molly set the American record in the 5000 m at the 2014 Herculis Diamond League meet in Fontvieille, Monaco (14:42.64). She also set the American record in the 10,000 m at the 2016 Olympics, with a time of 30:13.17. Molly lives and trains in Providence, Rhode Island.
 
Molly has recently co-authored “How She Did It”, with college coach Sara Slattery.The book is the ultimate roadmap for female distance runners—featuring 50 candid interviews with women who’ve made it
 
The book begins with key information from the professionals who help make athletic excellence possible: trainers, physicians, nutritionists, and sports psychologists. Then, you’ll hear the first-person accounts of fifty women who’ve done it themselves. From the pioneers who fought tirelessly for women’s inclusion in the sport to the names splashed across headlines today, featured athletes include: 
 
Joan Benoit Samuelson • Patti Catalano Dillon • Madeline Manning Mims • Paula Radcliffe • Deena Kastor • Brenda Martinez • Shalane Flanagan • Emma Coburn • Raevyn Rogers • Molly Seidel • and more
 
With Molly and Sara guiding the way, these athletes share their empowering stories, biggest regrets, funniest moments, and hard-won advice. 
 
Collectively, these voices are the embodiment of strength, meant to educate, inspire, and motivate you to see how far—and how fast—you can go.
 
Learn more about the book and Molly on the Tough Girl Podcast. 
 
New episodes go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out. 
 
You ca support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.
 
Show notes
  • Who is Molly
  • Her job as a professional distance runner
  • Having her first baby and entering her 3rd trimester 
  • Running while pregnant
  • Reducing her average weekly miles down from 90 miles to 40 miles.
  • Learning more about her childhood and her younger years
  • Her journey into running
  • Not thinking about becoming a professional athlete
  • Her senior year of high school and wanting to qualify for the National Cross Country Championships
  • Quitting basketball and focusing on running all year
  • Setting a new national record in high school for the 2 mile distance
  • Running with professional runners
  • Dealing with big failures and figuring out how to bounce back
  • Tools and strategies for mindset
  • The power of writing down goals and journaling
  • Having a mantra and using powerful words - STRONG
  • Loving the 5k distance and finding it fun
  • Running the London Marathon in 2019 and getting a Personal Best
  • Wanting to run a sub 2.25 marathon
  • Figuring out her race strategy for a marathon
  • Having faith in how you are feeling and going with your own plan
  • Releasing her new book: How she dit it - A high performance guide for female distance runners with stories of women who’ve made it. By Sara Slattery and Molly Huddle.
  • Wanting to write a resource for young female runners
  • Writing the book and speaking to 50 women about their running experiences
  • Speaking with Dr. Stacy Sims (Author of ROAR) and working with the female body 
  • The new developments with maternity cover for professional athletes since The Dream Maternity Campaign organised by Alysia Montaño 
  • The NY Times Article - Nike Told Me to Dream Crazy, Until I Wanted a Baby - Alysia Montaño 
  • Contracts and being away from the track and the impact on the financials
  • The running woman emoji 
  • Creating the Keeping Track Podcast
  • Wanting to share athletes stories who don’t get exposure via the main stream media
  • Particular highlights from the podcast - Racing for Representation
  • Reflecting back on finishing her first marathon in 2016 
  • Advice for women who want to get into running
  • How to connect and follow along with Molly
  • Final words of advice for women who have lost their running mojo
 
Social Media
 
Personal Instagram @mollyhuddle 
 
Keeping Track Podcast - A podcast built to elevate. Inspiring athletes & figures in sports, lesser known stories, & complex topics of Women’s sports ALL IN ONE PLACE!
 
Podcast: Instagram @keeptrackmedia 
Website: https://keeping-track.com 
 
Book: How she dit it - A high performance guide for female distance runners with stories of women who’ve made it. By Sara Slattery and Molly Huddle.
 
A book of interviews with elite female distance runners on what they’ve learned along the way & words from experts in the endurance sports world. 
 
Instagram: @howshediditbook
 
Website: www.howshediditbook.com 
 
Sep 20, 2022
Anyika 37, is a retired British sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres200 metres and 400 metres, and also the 4×100 metres relay and 4x400 metres relay.
 
Anyika is one of the few GB athletes of the past 20 years to achieve a full set of major medals.She has won medals at the Olympic Games, the world championships, Commonwealth Games and European championships.
 
Anyika has published a book about her life called - My Hidden Race.  
 
My Hidden Race is the story of Olympic medallist Anyika Onuora, who stood on the podium at every major championship in athletics.
 
This book won't go into detail about the technicalities of her sport or the beauty of the Olympic spirit however.
 
In the era of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too, this is an unflinching testimony of what it takes to pursue your dreams as a Black British woman against all odds.
 
This three-time Olympian will lift the lid on the reality of life as a black female athlete in Britain in a way that nobody else has done before her.
 
Nothing is off the record. She is revealing her life for the first time in this book with complete fearlessness.
 
There have been far too many years of silence caught in a system. Now Anyika is determined to make up for lost time and use her story to inspire and heal others.
 
My Hidden Race will take you into a world that often takes place far from the spotlight of the Olympic torch and shines an intense light on the brutal reality of professional sport for many black females.”
 
Listen to Anyika on the Tough Girl Podcast, new episodes go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss out. 
 
To support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. Sign up as a Patron -  www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Thank you. 
 
 
Show Notes
  • Who is Anyika and what she’s achieved
  • Working as a consultant and sharing more about her new book
  • Living between Liverpool and London
  • Her childhood and early years
  • Growing up in a sporty, competitive family 
  • Being inspired by her older brother 
  • Realising that she was good at running
  • Her dreams and ambitions as a little girl
  • The dream of becoming a professional athlete
  • Being shy and ambitious 
  • How you progress to the professional level in athletics 
  • Getting a degree while also competing as a full time athlete
  • Any regrets over missing out 
  • Working hard for everything she has
  • Getting to the senior level and being consistent in performance
  • Competing at her first senior championships in Melbourne, Australia
  • Learning from her peers 
  • The lessons learned from failure 
  • Mental health and support and how it’s changed over the past 17/20 years
  • The lack of support to help with changes and transitions 
  • Feeling disposable as an athlete 
  • The pressure to perform and to be consistent
  • How expectations can weigh you down
  • Blocking out the pressure and working with a psychologist 
  • Smiling and laughing to release the pressure 
  • Getting into flow and what it’s like
  • The struggles 10 months before the Olympic games in Rio
  • Contracting malaria and ending up in hospital
  • Getting back to full fitness and getting ready for the Olympics
  • Focusing on getting the job done
  • What it was like winning a Bronze Medal in the 4x400m 
  • Fitness and sport now
  • Making the transition to the next stage of her career
  • Figuring out what’s next 
  • Getting qualified in Corporate Governance 
  • Role models and the women who have inspired Anyika
  • Advice for women and girls who want to get into running
  • Figuring out your why
  • Remembering to have fun
  • Looking after her Olympic Medal
  • The shrine!
  • Book: My Hidden Race
 
Social Media
 
Instagram @anyika
 
Twitter @annyonuora 
 
Book: My Hidden Race 
Sep 13, 2022
Siobhan is 62 years old. She retired from the BBC two years ago, after 30 years working as a Reporter, Presenter and Producer in News. During that time she juggled being a single mother with working full-time. When she was nearly fifty and her daughter went off to university, she took a gap year from work and backpacked solo around the world. It was then she hatched a plan to one day travel around in a motorhome when she retired.
 
By her mid-fifties she felt burnt out after dealing with symptoms of the menopause, ageism and bullying. She realised she needed to find her escape plan.
 
So it was in 2019, aged sixty, she bought a motorhome and embarked on her solo trip around Great Britain, to champion positive ageing and to challenge ageism and ageist stereotypes of what society thinks a retired woman does. She wants to change narratives around ageing from ANTI-AGEING to POSITIVE-AGEING. She has faced her fears and weathered severe storms and a pandemic along the way but she feels the highs and lows are all worth it. 
 
She hopes her experiences inspire women, both young and old, to embrace ageing.
 
New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time. Subscribe so you don’t miss out. 
 
You can support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. 
 
Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.
 
Show notes
  • Who is Siobhan
  • Learning more about her background
  • Buying her motorhome and travelling Great Britain 
  • Her goal to promote positive ageing
  • Having a hysterectomy at 40 
  • Taking a gap year from the BBC and going solo backpacking around the world
  • Feeling ageless and alive
  • Wanting to retire and go travelling 
  • Planning her gap year with Trailfinders 
  • Going with the flow and meeting incredible people
  • Fears and concerns before the adventure
  • Magical moments which bring joy
  • Dealing with change
  • Facing each challenge and breaking it down into little bits
  • Running marathons in her 50s
  • Not being a planner - “My plan is to have no plan, to go with the flow and see where life takes me”
  • Losing family members and going through the menopause
  • Struggling with life 
  • Out of adversity comes opportunity
  • Being a stubborn Yorkshire lass
  • Finding a way to do things
  • Fitness and exercise and how it’s evolved over her life
  • Training for her first marathon and her feelings after crossing the finish line
  • Top tips and advice for new runners who want to take on a marathon
  • Why you are never too old for adventure 
  • What pro ageing looks like 
  • Changing the negative narrative
  • Retirement rebellion and why its a chance to have more adventures 
  • Working on a farm for 5 weeks in Dorset
  • Feeling liberated after selling everything
  • Confidence around driving the motorhome
  • Enjoying her own company
  • Sharing her life online and blogging 
  • Writing a book?! And signing up with a literary agent
  • Living her life by 4 values
  • Talking about bravery
  • Being an anti-agism campaigner
  • Being true to yourself and age as positively as you can 
  • Why you should enjoy and embrace ageing 
  • Plans for 2022
  • Taking the motorhome over to Europe
  • How to connect and follow Siobhan
  • Final words of advice for other women
  • What do you want to do? What would make you happy? 
  • You will work out a way to have your adventure 
 
Social Media
 
Website: shuvonshuvoff.co.uk 
 
Blog: shuvonshuvoff.blogspot.com 
 
Instagram: @shuvonshuvoff 
 
Twitter: @siobhandaniels 
 
Sep 6, 2022
Abby in her own words:
 
“I used to be a competitive ultra-runner. I competed in 100-mile mountain races and was pretty decent at it. In 2013 I competed and won (female division) the Grand Slam of Ultra-Running. This is 4 x 100 mile races in a 10 week span.
 
But too much endurance + too little calories and carbs= Burnout. Anyone that doesn’t believe burnout or adrenal issues are real is a liar. It’s real and it’s debilitating to your body and mind.
 
I was forced to stop running and I eventually found weight-lifting. I tried my best at CrossFit but really gravitated towards heavy lifting and fell in love with Powerlifting. 
 
I worked with a Nutrition Coach and spent years reverse dieting to support my body and goals and un-do all the years of damage I did as an endurance athlete. My sole purpose was to lift as much as I possibly could in a weight class sport and I was pretty decent at it. In 2018 I competed in PowerLifting Nationals. At 138 pounds my best squat was 290 pounds, bench 190 pounds, and deadlift 325 pounds.
 
I ended up hurting my back while lifting in 2019. I eventually decided to walk away from all competitive sports and focus on living a normal life with food and fitness balance.
 
These days my goals include lifting weights to support health and hormones. I want to be fit and strong enough to keep up with Molly-dog and continue hiking some beautiful miles in the Colorado mountains. I enjoy eating all foods and consume over 2300 calories. I strength train for ~ 1 hour x 4-5 days per week. I walk 2.5-3.5 miles every-day with Miss Molly.
 
I am happier and confident with my body now than any time before. You don’t need to be extreme or restrict yourself to get results. I follow an all-foods fit approach. As a Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Coach my mission now is to prevent other athletes from making the same mistakes I made. 
 
My purpose in life is to serve others (women) and help them fuel their bodies, improve their relationship with food + fitness, and body image.”
 
New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode. 
 
You can support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media by visiting www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.
 
Show notes
  • Who is Abby
  • Living in Denver, Colorado
  • Working as a Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Coach
  • What her early years were like
  • Being 1 of 4 girls
  • Being inspired by her older sister and getting involved in running from a young age
  • Running in college and being a mid range mid pack person
  • Post college getting into longer distances and finding her calling
  • Loving the people in the running community
  • Getting into the longer distances 
  • Running her first trail ultra and building a solid foundation
  • Enjoying the mental side of the physical challenge
  • Why 2013 was her break through year 
  • Putting in the hard work everyday
  • Entering the grand slam of ultra running 4x100 mile races and winning (2013)! (the Western States 100 in California, the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run in Vermont, the Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado, and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run in Utah.
  • Post season - and trying to recover
  • Struggling with insomnia, fatigue, blood sugar levels, being anaemic, and not having a menstrual cycle for 3 years
  • Trying to run through the symptoms 
  • Getting support and starting to help herself recover
  • Adrenal Fatigue - HPA Access Disfunction
  • Why Abby started strength training 
  • Having the goal to be as strong as possible
  • Running following a low carb diet - and following keto
  • Dr Stacey Simms - ROAR 
  • Why low carb isn’t the best for women
  • Needing to step away from competitive sports
  • Having more balance in her life with regards to food and fitness
  • Starting her own business
  • Having balance in her life?!
  • What a typical week of training looks like
  • Loving and appreciating rest days
  • Her philosophy with food now - all foods fit
  • How to connect with Abby
  • Final words of advice
  • Figure out why you are making changes
 
Social Media
 
Instagram: @abbymcpabby 
 
Facebook: @AbbyMcQueeneyPenamonte 
 
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