Thanks for staying with us while we had a little break last week. Today’s episode is well worth the wait. This week we're taking a deep dive into that topic of how female hormones can affect our running. Because although running is there to be enjoyed at any age and life stage, understanding how to tailor our training to suit our life stage, and current hormone levels will help us women truly enjoy the physical and psychological boons of running. Today we tackle some big questions: Should we be doing the same in our twenties as our seventies? How does menopause and perimenopause affect our training and are women missing a trick by choosing generic training plans also used by men. This is a new field of research and helping to educate and inspire us to keep clocking the miles as we age is Rosie Stockley founder of Mama Well (@mamawelluk) a fitness company that helps women navigate fitness through the biggest of life changes. And also Kelly McNulty, a PhD student at Northumbria university investigating the effects of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use and performance recovery and adaptation in sports women. And she's also the author of Period of The Period Blog (@periodoftheperiod). Topics covered: Mental and physical benefits of exercise How your cycle affects your run What we need to do to support our training, and how our hormones come into play How to track your cycle and plan your runs accordingly Using new research as a base and tweaking your Training around the menstrual cycle so that it works for you Working with your body not against it How your muscle mass changes throughout your lifetime. How to train for body and mind   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.