Just As Well, The Women's Health Podcast - Katie Piper: Running Was There for Me When I Wasn’t There for Myself

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Hey! This season, powered by Nike, we're homing in on all things running. You can expect tips and tactics from Nike Run Coaches, alongside powerful stories from extraordinary women - guaranteed to spark your motivation this back-to-school season.  376770e02de3b09385ff597f74eadfadf76c1cf1   This week Roisín is joined by broadcaster, philanthropist and former Women’s Health cover star Katie Piper. She shares her current running MO and how lacing up her trainers helps shift her mood and elevate her day. Whether that’s commuting between meetings in the city or heading out with a pal - and a head torch - for a pre-dawn session in the hills near her home, before her busy day begins. A long-time champion of moving your body to support your mental health, Katie discusses how running increased her self-belief and why - crucially - it could do the same for you.   In today's Coaching Clinic, Katie is joined by Nike Run Coach and top physiotherapist Manni Ovola. He arms her with the tools she needs to smash her own running goal: running her best 5k. Join host Roisín Dervish-O'Kane on Instagram: @roisin.dervishokane Join Katie Piper on Instagram: @katiepiper_ Join Nike Run Coach Manni Ovola on Instagram @manni_o Join Women's Health on Instagram @womenshealthuk   Like what you’re hearing? We'd love it if you could rate and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you’ll never miss an episode. 376770e02de3b09385ff597f74eadfadf76c1cf1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights,

and endless ways to make. Move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. I heard a stat the other day that 80% of the thoughts that most of us have are negative. If daily life were a test on how down on ourselves and our actions we could be, would basically all be A students. Flipping script is hard, unnatural.

But key to making it happen is finding something that can, incrementally, increase your belief in your ability to improve, to build, and do that which you once didn't deem possible. My guest today urges anyone listening who is going through it right now to take the time to work out what that fortifying, confidence building thing is for them. So, as you listen to her story, I'd love for you to reflect on what your thing might be. Hello, my name is Rochene Dervich O'Kane and you are listening to Going for Goal, the Women's Health Podcast. I am so chuffed that we are back for new series, powered by Nike, that homes in on running. You can expect plenty of expert advice on improving your own running practice, whatever your level, alongside real stories from extraordinary women, some who you'll recognise, some maybe not, as they open up about the crucial role that running plays in their lives. Because, as you'll discover, there is so much.

water running than putting one foot in front of the other. My guest today is broadcaster, philanthropist and former women's health cover star Katie Piper. After suffering horrific injuries back in 2008 and undergoing multiple surgeries, running helped Katie develop a sense of strength in her body and herself. But now, all these years on, running isn't a survival tool for Katie's mental health. It's something that helps her feel at her absolute best and really thrive in the the many roles she plays personally and professionally. In today's episode she discusses the magic of her morning runs why she has, let's say, mixed feelings about running with her husband

and why anyone looking to take up running to support their mental health should approach their journey with a balance of self-compassion and accountability. Katie has so much wisdom to share and I hope you enjoy listening to her. Katie Piper, hello. Hi, lovely to see you And you, welcome to the Women's Health Podcast going for goal. Thank you. Very happy to be here. We are chuffed to have you. You have been absolutely nailing it of late.

Your own breakfast show. What a moment. Yeah, do you know what? It was such a bucket list moment. And, you know, I've been working with ITV for the past year or so. And I really wanted to do something in this sort of breakfast telly. I mean, I made a bit of a joke about actually 8.30 on a Sunday morning is a lion for me. Because I'm normally like 5.30 start.

And it's just been so nice, like waking up with everyone on a Sunday, connecting with the audience. And it's quite a fun format. We have, I think we have six guests altogether. Yeah. So we'll have like two celebrity guests. We'll have a podcast expert. We'll have somebody who will come and teach us something in a crafting corner. So it's been really nice to have that mixture of people all together and have a bit of fun as well.

Yeah. It's a gorgeous flow and really lovely vibe for a. for Sunday morning. So obviously alongside your broadcasting, your charity work, never mind, raising two girls, you managed to fit in a lot of running. How do you do it? How do you get it done? Well, it's a good question because I suppose because of all other commitments, I don't think you can sort of say, right, I go on these days this amount of time every week because plans change and circumstances change. So I think it's about being really gentle about the structure and saying, Some weeks I fit in more than others, and that's okay.

Some weeks I skip the whole thing because the week's gone too busy and it's consumed me. So it's kind of being gentle about that because if I think back to my 20s when I didn't have kids and I was single, I literally marked out right, Mondays I go to body pump, Tuesdays I go swimming. And I lit back now and I'm like, oh my God, it was such a free life. And I think as you sort of get older and maybe your career changes or your private life changes, so does that commitment of exercise. And I think exercise does so many different things in your life. And one thing it shouldn't do is punish you

and it shouldn't make you feel bad for when you can't fit it in because it's always going to be there. You know, there's so much exercise is free and it's always going to be accessible. So don't sort of demonise it and say, you know, you've missed it and that's the end of the world. Yeah. So kind of get it done when you can

alongside all those other blocks of things filling up your diary. Yeah. And I suppose it's like you don't serve the exercise, it serves you, you know, and it will fit in around your routine. And I think then that makes it less of a punishment as well. Absolutely. And you are a big fan of kind of complementing and mixing together different forms of fitness. Yeah. So you love to strength train and you love to run.

What is it about this combination that you really love? Probably reflective of how bored I get easily things. Yeah. I mean, I love running. because I think it can be so varied. So it can be a thing where you're like, I just need some space, and you can go running, and you can get that downtime, you can get that space.

This might sound weird for some people, but for me it can almost be a form of meditation. And I know most people, you know, they don't find stillness and movement, but I really do, especially when I get in the flow. And then running can also be super sociable, you know, sociable with old friends, sociable to meet new friends in running clubs.

So I love that. my cardio. But then the gym is a massive part of my life. So either going to a gym and doing free weights and weight machines or actually just at home, you know, on Zoom with the trainer or a couple of weights while I'm watching telly. And I love the psychology of weights. I love to feel strong. And I love to feel empowered and able. I love to see the results. I love to see a little muscle growing like a pee in a pod in my arm. Super satisfying. Yeah, very satisfying. And And also just knowing how important it is as women, like, you know, for me, I'm 30A, it is really important to strength train as you get older.

And that misconception of it doesn't do what cardio does. You know, my heart pounds when I do weightlifting just like it does for a run. So much confidence and empowerment can come through exercise that you can apply to your career, to your personal life of if you break boundaries and sort of goals in exercise, it encourages you to maybe be a bit more assertive at work or to break a, a new goal in your career because if you can do it there, you can definitely do it here and it all starts to merge together. Absolutely. It just reinforces it all. You're right. Yeah. Totally. Katie, can you tell me about the moment when you really started to fall in love with running?

My relationship with running was like slow starting and I think like a lot of beginners, I was pretty unsure if I was ever going to be one of those people that owns like a bum bag and a sweatband and I was definitely never going to run with other people in any kind of competitive way and it was like a bit of an embarrassing run I was sort of walk run war run and like oh no there's someone there stop stop stop who am I to run and yeah I was like just a super super awkward runner and then I think without knowing it one day you're just running and you're not so self-aware about what other people think it's irrelevant you're in the flow in the zone and it's suddenly comes to you like, oh, I'm doing it. I'm doing the thing that I used to sit on the sideline

and watch other people do and swear that I, oh, I'm just not a running person. And I think that moment in itself is quite liberating. And you can apply that to other things in your life of one day you just become the person you always wanted to be. And it's not like a light switch moment. It sort of gradually happens. And that teaches you to be a little bit more patient with things and a little bit more tolerant and softer, I think. And something that I wanted to ask you about is I think people can often forget that you are partially cited. Right, okay.

As someone that loves to run and loves to run outside, are there certain things that you have to think about that other people wouldn't and what are they? Yeah, I mean, you know, I laugh about it if I says it's not funny, but I run into lampposts and try like right if you sort of do a bit of rural running, tree routes and stuff like that. So I suppose if you've got any kind of disability or something that is going to maybe make things a little bit more complicated or compromise anything. I would say research your routes, you know, go on trusted routes, don't sort of go off grid and start running random places, use apps. Maybe if you're unsure of a route, run with a friend festival. Sometimes I'll go on a walk first and check it out and then I'm like, right, this is going to be a good route for me.

I'm going to run this, you know, in the winter, make sure you've got all your headlines. and your torches, tell somebody where you're going. So it sounds a bit boring, but I think you do need to be practical and research it in that way. That makes total sense, just a little bit more troubleshooting. Yeah, and, you know, actually, as women, we've got to be really aware of when we're running, are we doing it with somebody? Have we told someone where we're going? You know, it's really important that whilst you're looking after your health,

you put your safety at the forefront to. Absolutely. And of course, everyone would like to feel totally free and safe to just run out and do whatever, but sadly, we don't live in that world. We do not live in that. We do not live in that world. So can you talk to me about you are such a big mental health advocate? And the relationship between mental health and fitness and running in particular, I think,

is super interesting and very nuanced. So everyone's experience is different. And I think so many people end up coming to running as, a way to find support and to get through kind of hard, to get through hard times. And I know that we've spoken previously about how running has been there for you in some of your lowest and your loneliest moments. And could you tell me about what some of those early runs that you did while recovering from your initial surgeries?

What did they do for you and what did they give to you? I suppose that what running can do is it can help you find out more about. yourself and get to know yourself better in a sense of identity of who am I and what do I want from life what am I capable of and that is like a very big question you know and it's very deep some people search all their life to find answers to those kind of questions and I think if you start by running whether it's 2k 3K whatever it is at the very beginning of that journey you exceed your own expectations and you move the goalposts and who you are and what you're capable of of and what you want probably changes on every run. And I think that's quite exciting because then

you start to say, oh, well, actually what I am is greater than I thought. I became more capable than I thought. And what I am isn't fixed. And what I am isn't determined by other people and outside influence or outside noises. And you start to realize the power within and how it's not something you need to buy or it's not someone else you need to meet. Like it's such a solo thing, which, you know, is a bit of a solo hobby sometimes. And I think it really helps you have that deeper sense of belief that the answer always lies within. And that is quite a powerful place to be in life

where you don't need to be sold something or you don't need to meet someone and get a new friend or a new boyfriend. Everything you need is there and you start to know how to tap into it. Yeah, that intrinsic sort of strength and the will to move forward. And that must be,

That must be hugely important and that must serve. I mean, that's clearly served you incredibly well with your strength and your career and the amount that you're able to, the amount that you're able to inspire people. Yeah, I think we could all identify with telling ourselves what we are not. You know, we'll always say like, oh, people, if they look back at PE at school, they'd be like, oh, I was never a runner or I was never sporty. I was never good at that. And we always like put those limitations and labels on ourselves.

And you know what, maybe you didn't enjoy P at school and maybe that was just the teacher or maybe that was just because other stuff was happening in your life at that time or maybe you weren't introduced to the right aspects of sport that doesn't mean forevermore you are not that person. You know, no one can put that label on you but yourself. So it's quite liberating to know that, you know,

you can apply or remove these labels at any time in your adult life. That's so cool, isn't it? Especially if someone's feeling a bit, I don't know, alienated from their body or maybe not very confident or you know we hear about gym intimidation quite a lot don't we and I guess with running that's one thing that um you can go out and you can do people aren't watching there's not a performance element can you tell me about do you have any runs that kind of stick in your mind of ones where you felt like you were really gaining some some strengths from that individual run yeah I think um

I think you're absolutely right about we can all experience that disconnect and it can help us sort of reconnect of ourselves. I sort of like running for a purpose. So I'll do my sort of loop runs where it's a bit sort of relaxing and I'm just trying to get out of the house. But my purposeful runs will be more like in the city. So it will be like I've got my clothes and my backpack and I've got like a running backpack where it all does that run my waist

and I look a bit like a geography teacher on a hike. But you know, it's not about how it looks, doesn't matter. and I'll sort of run from job to job from meeting to meeting or I'll run to a friend's house and I kind of love that sense of like oh in the past this was the tube or a bus or maybe I would have taken a taxi

and so I've saved a bit of money reduced my carbon footprint and I've got my sort of 5, 6K in and it hasn't eaten into my diary so as a mum you know that's kind of important for me too like time is a really valuable currency for me so I love that sense of achievement and just

maybe it's a female thing I'm like the ultimate multitasker. I like that. It's quite satisfying. I bet. I bet. And is that quite useful, I imagine, going from, because you spend a lot of your time doing what you're doing here, talking. Yeah, that's true. Bringing your thoughts and opinions on podcasts, TV, everything. Is that kind of processing time as well? Yeah. I think that's a really good point. It's time to like download the information and sort of, you know, be a bit quiet and maybe think about the next step and just sort of process everything that's happened that day. And, also a bit of gratitude because I think I know I'm really guilty for this you can get too

sweats up and being busy and wrongly it becomes a bit of a sort of like rosette that people wear online I'm so busy and it's like well no that's not always great because you do need to stop and reflect and be like that was a good day that was a bad meeting that was an achievement because if you don't reflect on anything you're not really living in the present tense you're just like rushing through everything and you don't really get much. sense of satisfaction either. Everything just becomes a sort of job and another sort of thing to fulfil.

So running is the act is quite fast, but it can hurt you slow down at the same time. That's such a good point. Yeah, the duality of it. Because yeah, you're so right. If you don't have a chance to download the information and analyse it,

you probably won't do a better job or you probably won't be more satisfied in the next place. So right. Interesting. I love this question and I've asked so many people in the series but could you tell me about one of the last great runs that you've done?

One that you did that made that you felt like yes, this was a good one. Paint the scene for me, where were you? What were the sight, sound, smells? It was probably with my friend and we liked, she's got kids as well. We did it early.

So we go out of our little head torch because it's not quite like daylight. You know, it's sort of bit dusky. And we sort of start catching. up a little bit. We have some like comfortable silences as well. And you don't really, you're sort of running and then you start to become aware of your surroundings. So the bird songs are starting to happen. The road was previously empty. Now you're seeing delivery men that are up and about. You're sort of seeing the clouds and the sun is rising and changing.

And it's sort of like a secret part of the day that's like a little club, you know, you'll get some people that work shifts that are up. You get some other runners. You might say hi too. but the whole world's not quite up yet and it sort of feels like oh I've sort of lengthened my day today I've sneaked in an extra bit and then when you get home because we sort of go on a loop

you get back to where you started but it all looks completely different you know now the traffic's buzzing now it's really bright you realise your torch is still lit you just turn it off now and then I sort of go back into the house and my house is just gently waking up

and I think oh I've done my little me time already and now I can go and sort of give myself to everyone else and it feels quite good. I love that. And what time is that? Depends, really. It can be as early as sort of 545, 5.30 or as late as 6.30.

Yeah. As late as 6.30. Is that not late? There's me in bed, like, sneezing my alarm. It's the matcher, or the three ensemble Cado Cephora of the fact that I just de-niche who me energize all over, it's all over. It's all-bend.

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That is such a beautiful scene that you've painted and I know what you mean when you the times when I do

actually managed to get up early. It's that, yeah, that sense that you've snatched a bit golden time and you've got your own dawn before whatever the day is going to throw at you.

Yeah, it's not. And then I think I'm sure lots of people relate to this. Ironically, the earlier you get up and start your exercise, the more productive and energized you are that day. Like, you know, I am a total normal person who does hit snooze, who does sleep in, who does miss the train sometimes as well. And those are always catastrophic days where I'm more tired and I'm more sluggish. And it just has a bit of a domino effect. So I always know it's a false sense of security. hitting snooze because it doesn't bide me any time at all. I'm just lying to myself. I imagine that sense as well where you obviously can't control everything that happens in your day.

You never know what's going to boot off, what's going to not go to plan, what's not going to not turn up. But if you know that you've carved out that time in the morning done, that's something that you can feel proud of yourself. Yeah. And that has a knock on effect for your mood because for some reason you're just a bit more patient, you're more tolerant. Maybe it's the smugness of fitting the run in. But whatever it is, I think your whole approach to that day is a little bit more can-do rather than a bit sort of cross because you're a bit disappointed with yourself maybe. Or you just, you know, it felt a bit sort of rushed in the morning.

Like no one likes rushing. You know, I hate that rushed feeling of not been able to pick your outfit, not been able to answer all your emails and catching up on the loo and stuff like that. It's not good. No. And I guess because you've almost gifted yourself some time. Yeah. I imagine that's almost that sense of, you know, you've gifted yourself sometimes.

So maybe then it's easier to give a bit more of yourself to others. I think that's right, actually. Yeah. There's no sort of resentment of, oh, well, I can't do this. I feel overstretched because you sort of feel like it's not that you've treated yourself, but you've sort of prioritised that self-care element of your day. Yeah. And properly shown up for yourself.

That's true. Yeah. You're right. Well, I'm going to have to invest in a head torch because that sounds. I live very near a very beautiful park. And actually I did not runs, but I did early morning walks for the whole of January. That's really good.

And that was my kind of, I mean, it lasted for the whole of January and then kind of petered off. But it was the way to make January less grim. Yeah. And there was something so rewarding about being up and out and getting the views. It's really valuable. Just don't go alone.

I don't think if it's dark. You know, go with someone else. Yes, absolutely. Very important thing. to remind everyone listening of. And also on that point, because we're bigging up how amazing it is to go and get your run in and how beneficial it is for mental health.

But what would you say to anyone listening who is really kind of going through it at the moment? Either mentally, maybe they're dealing with some trauma, maybe there is just something really challenging in their life. They know they should be going out and doing exercise but their mental health is in such a place that they don't feel able to do it and they're kind of beating themselves up.

What would you say to someone in that position? Don't push through that. Don't try to ignore that and be like, well, I shouldn't be feeling this. I should be exercising every day, cooking my own breakfast from scratch. Like actually respond to that feeling and sort of submit to those emotions

because all emotions are valid, not just the positive ones. And, you know, it's not surrendering, asking for help or letting people in to support you and that could look like professional help, that could look like a friendship circle, whatever it is, you know, those two things are super, super important.

So once you've done that and acknowledged the emotion and you are supported, I think perspective is also important that your greatest pain is always the current one. So whatever you're going through now, you might have had worse things in the past, whether they're bereavements, breakdowns, changes in life, But they've got hindsight now.

So you're like, well, I was able to deal with those. They're okay. And the greatest is, the current one is always the greatest because it's happening. And you don't believe that it will one day be a memory. You don't believe you'll get through this. You don't know how to get through it. But then when you do, with that great thing of hindsight, you're like, oh, wasn't that bad actually. And then the next thing will happen in a few months or years or whatever.

And then it'll be the greatest again. And you'll really sort of emphasize how bad it is. So it's almost a comfort to know the greatest will always be the current and the current will one day be the past. But I think, you know, you can't ignore the science of how exercise or, you know, it doesn't have to be traditional exercise. It can just be movement, you know, any kind of movement is directly relink to the chemicals release in our brain, you know, our endorphins, our dopamine. And, you know, creating new habits, new positive habits is never going to be a bad thing. And it's not about comparison and being like, well, running, well, isn't that

being part of like the London Marathon. Isn't that part of being a group that has like times on their watch and they beat each other? Running looks different for so many people. So start by saying, what do I want from this? You know, what's my goal? Don't sort of make comparisons and think what it looks like to you from the outside because it's such a personal thing. And the motivation from what you feel like you should be doing is so limited, isn't it?

It's never going to be as effective as being like, I have asked myself what I want and what I need when responding to that. Be your own motivation because in these kind of scenarios, sometimes outside motivation is actually not helpful. Sometimes you can get so overwhelmed of what other people are doing that you do absolutely nothing at all. Like I don't know if you experience it on social media, like if I scroll through and see people that have like baked a fresh loaf of bread before 6am,

they've blow dried their hair, they've got an amazing outfit that's all beige of no stains on it. Like instead of being inspired, I get so overwhelmed that I'm like, I was so far away from what I am. I just lay there like looking at the ceiling in my wet towel after the shower. Might as well press snoo. Yeah, exactly. So I'm almost less productive with that kind of comparison. So I think use yourself as your own motivation, you know. Absolutely.

I love that. And speaking of motivation, I want to know how you get yourself out of the door on days when your own motivation, as you're super honest about this, you still have low days, on days where you're not feeling great. How do you get yourself out of the door? Is there a song? Is there a podcast? Is there a mantra?

What helps? It's a bit of like self-talk. So it's a bit of like, well, this is pretty crappy today. And you're going to have more days like this because you're a normal person. And it's kind of okay. But I'm sure you can sort of make the best of this, whatever that is. and it's sort of telling yourself that even if you don't really believe it,

even if it's a bit kind of like, you know, talk the talk, walk the walk kind of concept. And I know it's a cliche, but people never regret getting going. They never regret getting outdoors. You know, my preference for sort of movement is more connecting with nature. So I would always choose to go for a run outside

rather than drive to the gym and go on a treadmill because there is something for me that is just a bit more powerful. Like sure in the winter, we all have to do our cardio doors if it's pitch black and stuff like that. But yeah, I think that's just something that is really important for me. Yeah, absolutely. And what about accountability? And is this something that you are big on? Does your positive self-talk always do the business or do you

need another extra layer of accountability? I mean, accountability is life. Accountability is key. Nothing is going to happen in your life without you making it. happen. Nothing is going to be given to you and if it is there's always some kind of catch, you know, and there'll always be some kind of payback down the line. So anything I've ever wanted in my life has been strategic, it hasn't sort of been by mistake or an accident or been handed to me, which I'm grateful for. That's great. That's really helped sort of like shape who I am. So I think you do have to keep setting. I feel like even the most motivated person, I'm sure you same bolt has to set accountability markers in place, you know. So I think you have to set accountability

and refresh it all the time because sometimes accountability for some people is just leaving their trainers by the end of the bed and their kit laid out. And then after a few months, that probably doesn't work anymore, you know, and you have to keep upgrading and you have to keep changing things. Some people like to go online in a community and put it out there, hey guys, this month I'm going to do a run every day and then they have to hold themselves to that because they've announced it. There's so many different levels of accountability

but I don't think you just find your one and it works for you. I think you keep evolving and refreshing and then things become part of your natural habits and you're like, oh, I've bettered myself there. Now I need to push myself further and better myself a bit more. What's one kind of tactic

that's working for you at the moment? I'm quite methodical so I run all my life and on like electronic diary that's linked to other people I work with. So definitely putting stuff in the diary is really important to me because we diarise other stuff but barely like the self-care things. Who might diarise meetings. First thing to slip.

Yeah. And it's really bad because are you not as important as a meeting? And I think lockdown taught us all that we get so wrapped up in our work. And sometimes our whole identity becomes who we are, what we do. we found out in lockdown we spend most of our time of our colleagues like not even our loved ones you know that's kind of sad in a way and we spend most of our life working our prime working and I just think well no I don't want that like obviously we have to earn money we have to seek purpose through our jobs as well but if I can diarise a run at 6am and put it in there and make it send me a little

reminder and if I mark it as a non-movable thing I'm just adding the same importance and commitment to it as I am my job and then I'm honouring it in the same way I do my job for my boss and who's the boss of me and my health myself you know so that's a good accountability exercise top CEO no one above yeah you are the body yeah absolutely and I know we've spoken previously about how you like to hit the gym sometimes with your husband does he ever get to come out running with you um he's a very good runner actually and he's really tall so he's got a lot, a wider stride than me, so he could definitely outrun me and beat me, and he's cardio fit as well.

So sometimes I enjoy going for a run with him. Sometimes I don't because he like runs off and leaves me, then I get really frustrated. But yeah, it's a nice way to spend time together because sometimes sort of in the, you know, we've been together 10 years, so in the sort of early stages of dating, that can be all around eating out, drinking,

and that kind of thing. And actually, I think when you get more comfortable with each other, it's quite nice that you can spend time together and socialise around training, you know, and training is something we both enjoy. So why would we not want to do that? So it sounds a bit weird, but we'll sometimes get a babysitter and instead of going out for dinner, we'll go for a run or we will go to the gym and we'll do like two hours in the gym. We're like, how exciting.

Like maybe I'm just getting a bit old, I don't know, but it's a date night for us. No, I love that. And it's like a space where you're like, I am getting myself stronger. and fitter and hotter. You're not being parents in that moment, are you? That's a good point, yeah. And we don't always stick together in the gym, even if we go on a gym date.

We might arrive together, warm up together, then we might separate, do our own thing, come back together, do abs and stretching. So it's also nice to have that sort of relationship where you retain a little bit of your own person and that was the sort of stuff you did before you were together when you were single.

I think that's quite healthy as well. Yeah, absolutely. So we come to the end of our chat now, if you could sum up for me, why you run? I run because I can, and that's a privilege in itself. I run because it was there for me when I wasn't there for myself. And I run because I worry one day, there might be a day when I have to stop. And I want to make the most of it whilst I can.

Incredibly inspiring. Thank you. Thank you. so much. After Katie and I caught up, I put her in touch with a man who could really help her go for her own running goals. Nike coach, Manny Avola. Let's hear from them now. Hey Mani, I'm Katie and I really want to know how to run my best 5K. Hey Katie, nice to meet you. And what does running your best 5K look like for you? For me, I'd like to improve the time because every time I run, give or take a minute or

some seconds, it's the same time no matter what I do. That can sometimes be frustrating. But what I would say to you is that our best needs to be grounded in how we feel on a run, what's important to us for that run. What would you say you run for? I'd say I run for a lot of different reasons. It can be really varied depending on the kind of week that I've had. And I can always figure out how I'm feeling reflective on what I want from that run.

So sometimes I'll run for solitude to get away from like a noisy house of kids, my partner, and no music, no headphones, just silence, appreciate my surroundings. Other times I'll run for a sense of achievement, so like goal setting, pushing the boundaries, the time. And I do sometimes run with friends. So it can be like a social thing where it's our way to catch up rather than catching up with alcohol or other things that don't kind of serve me. Excellent. I want to pick up on that first type of run, that best type of run that you've described,

where you're running and you're just out there with no headphones. And what we say is that's getting you into that flow state. It's getting you focused. Now, if we want to perform more, if we want to do and go further, we can use that flow state and being in that best state of running and understanding where we're going through focus. and, you know, sometimes the time can just disappear. Does it feel like that on a run? Yeah, it does.

I think like most people, the first 1K, because I just feel really hard. And then you think, oh my goodness, I've really lost my fitness. And then you're right, as you go past that, you actually lose sense of time. And before you know it, your body's just doing the run and you're actually enjoying other things and it doesn't feel like a chore.

And that's some of the best running you will do. And that's an important area an important type of run that you need to keep consistent. If you keep those types of run consistent, they help you with kind of pushing those boundaries because we do know that getting through a run, using something called grit and pushing through, that requires you to be focused. It needs you to be in this flow state. And enjoying and embracing everything around you, you know, you talked about just being

in solitude and that's super important. and we know that can really help with getting that faster time. Okay, that's really helpful. Thank you. Is there anything else I could do that isn't directly involved of my running that would still benefit the speed that I run at? So maybe is there anything I could be doing at home or in the gin that would help me to get a little bit faster? Katie, it's like you'd know me so well. Of course there is.

Have you ever done any sorts of weight training? Yeah, I wait train three times a week. I'd say it's up there with how much I'm doing. enjoy running. I like the combination, but I have to be really careful about being strict of my stretching because I get quite tight calves if I don't stretch properly. So I use a foam roller. That's what helps me sort of get more of a consistent stretch. Amazing. And one thing we can do along with that is do some calf raises. So using some weight and actually lifting our heels. So you can either hold onto the weights in your hands or you can use, um, like, you can use, um, like,

like a leg press or some sort of Olympic bar or weights on your shoulders, and you can lift your heels, and that will allow you to strengthen those calf muscles. When we run, our legs can sometimes have to balance and control one to two times our body weight. So we need our legs to be really strong. So doing some heel raises are one of the key things I use to help people actually get faster. We also can do things like step-ups, really heavy step-ups, using weights again, things like a glute hip thrust with a heavy weight, and things on our single leg. So lunges, lunge walks. Have you ever done any of those?

Yeah, do you know, I haven't done calf raises, but I've done a lot of lunging and lower body stuff, but I'm definitely going to add the calf-rays to my routine. Now you've said that. Brilliant. And start off nice and gently. try not to be too quick with how much you use and how many repetitions because if your calf muscles are already tight you don't want to go too quickly too soon okay i'll definitely bear that in mind thank you so much for all the advice it's really helpful and it's kind of given me something to think about and some new things to

add into my routine so i'm quite looking forward to the next run to see if it really makes a difference amazing i hope that's everything you need to run your best 5k and hopefully see you again. That is all from me for today's episode of the Women's Health podcast Going for Goal. If you enjoyed the episode, remember to rate and review on Apple Podcasts, and remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so that you never miss an episode. We'll be back next week. Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned and folded, so you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you. Like tea time, you.

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