Sophie Speidel: A Menopause Journey as a Competitive Athlete
02/24/21 • 30 min
Sophie Speidel is a lifelong athlete: being a competitor is motivating, rewarding, and fun. But there's a simple fact that comes with aging: our ultimate potentials in speed and strength begin to fade. In a sport like running, where we generally measure getting better as getting faster, how can we adjust to a body that's slowing down and still feel like we're improving?
Sophie's journey explores this very question as she takes us through her menopause experiences and how she continues to thrive and achieve as her body ages.
Mentioned in this episode
Sophie Speidel's writing on Trail Sisters: https://www.trailsisters.net/author/sophie-speidel/
Selene Yeager and the Hit Play Not Pause podcast
Barbara Hannah Grufferman's "Menopause Cheat Sheet"
Coach Parry's YouTube channel "The Female Athlete"
Coach Parry's "Running Through Menopause" training program
Sarah Lavender Smith's blog, "The Runner's Trip"
Ways to follow Sophie Speidel
Follow Sophie on Instagram: @sophiespeidel
Ways to Connect and Engage with Women's Running Stories
Instagram: @womensrunningstories
Twitter: @WomenRunStories
Website: womensrunningstories.com
Email host Cherie: [email protected]
Women's Running Stories is a member of the Evergreen network: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sophie Speidel is a lifelong athlete: being a competitor is motivating, rewarding, and fun. But there's a simple fact that comes with aging: our ultimate potentials in speed and strength begin to fade. In a sport like running, where we generally measure getting better as getting faster, how can we adjust to a body that's slowing down and still feel like we're improving?
Sophie's journey explores this very question as she takes us through her menopause experiences and how she continues to thrive and achieve as her body ages.
Mentioned in this episode
Sophie Speidel's writing on Trail Sisters: https://www.trailsisters.net/author/sophie-speidel/
Selene Yeager and the Hit Play Not Pause podcast
Barbara Hannah Grufferman's "Menopause Cheat Sheet"
Coach Parry's YouTube channel "The Female Athlete"
Coach Parry's "Running Through Menopause" training program
Sarah Lavender Smith's blog, "The Runner's Trip"
Ways to follow Sophie Speidel
Follow Sophie on Instagram: @sophiespeidel
Ways to Connect and Engage with Women's Running Stories
Instagram: @womensrunningstories
Twitter: @WomenRunStories
Website: womensrunningstories.com
Email host Cherie: [email protected]
Women's Running Stories is a member of the Evergreen network: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
Introducing Season 2: Running In a Woman's Body: Stories of Menopause, RED-s, Pregnancy
Each episode features one woman's running journey through a time of bodily change. The season features athletes from around the world and of differing levels of ability and interest. The one common thread is a love of running long distances, marathons and more.
The first episode launches February 24.
Follow Strides Forward on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StridesForward
Follow Strides Forward on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stridesforward/
Follow host Cherie Turner on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clouiseturner/
Learn more at StridesForwardpodcast.com
Next Episode
Charlotte Gibbs: A RED-s Journey to Rediscovering the Joy of Running
Ultrarunner and marathon runner Charlotte Gibbs shares her journey navigating relative energy deficiency in sport, commonly known as RED-s; it’s a condition that used to be known as the female athlete triad. If you aren't already familiar with RED-s, you can be now, and you’ll also understand why it’s important to be aware of, for yourself and for other athletes you may know, especially young athletes: RED-s far more common than most of us realize, and it has some awful consequences. But knowledge is power, and this is a powerful story.
Charlotte shares her very personal journey about how her pursuit to become the best athlete she could be led her down the far too common and ultimately detrimental path to RED-s, a syndrome that happens when you don’t give the body enough of what it needs to keep up with the demands you’re putting on it. It’s a condition that happens over time and left unchecked, it will get progressively worse. The key to avoiding RED-s is to recognize early warning signs, and correct course.
Charlotte shares her full journey back to rediscovering joy and health through running, while acknowledging the reality that this is an ongoing process.
I am very thankful to Charlotte for sharing these personal details about her struggles with RED-s, overtraining, and restrictive eating. These topics can be tough to talk about, but these experiences happen more regularly than we recognize, and yes, awareness and knowledge are power. I thank you to Charlotte for being part of that empowerment.
This episode is part of our series of stories focused on running in a woman’s body, where we’re focused on the topics of menopause, RED-s, and pregnancy. Each episode in this series features one runner talking about her experiences around one of these topics.
You can also listen to our first series about experiences at South African's 90km Comrades Marathon, or enjoy our episode featuring ultra superstar Courtney Dauwalter sharing her insights on problem-solving in ultras and strengthening her mental game.
Mentioned in this episode
We recommend the podcast Hear Her Sports: hearhersports.com
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, by Dr. Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager
Ways to follow Charlotte Gibbs
Follow Charlotte on Instagram: @lottiee78
Follow Charlotte on Twitter: @charlottegooda7
Ways to Connect and Engage with Women's Running Stories
Instagram: @womensrunningstories
Twitter: @WomenRunStories
Website: womensrunningstories.com
Email host Cherie: [email protected]
Women's Running Stories is a member of the Evergreen network: https://evergreenpodcasts.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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