This week on Sparta Chicks Radio you’ll meet Josie Askin.
Josie is a New Zealand based runner and Holistic Wellness Coach.
Josie grew up watching her Dad compete in running events.
As she tells the story in this conversation, she was a chubby kid who was teased about her weight so she started running during her teenage years to lose weight.
Unfortunately, she soon found herself in a cycle of overtraining, under-recovery & under-eating for about 9 years which culminated in her experiencing the female athlete triad (as it was referred to then, which is a combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis or low bone density) and ultimately a stress fracture in her hip.
These days, the concept of the female athlete triad has been replaced by RED-S (relative deficiency in sport) - Josie will explain the difference in this conversation.
In this conversation, she shares:
* how she approached her running and recovery (and how the goal of wanting to lose weight influenced that)
* the cycle of overtraining, under-recovery and under-eating she found herself in
* the distinction between the ‘female athlete triad’ and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S)
* the symptoms and red flags of RED-S and the surprising statistics about how common RED-S it is,
* the stress fracture that led her to realise she was experiencing the female athlete triad,
* the confronting reality of recovering from RED-S (especially when you’ve associated food with gaining weight)
* how she felt shame and regret about her story and what’s prompted her to speak openly about it now
* how she’s come to see her experience as a strength, not a weakness
* the similarities between RED-S and burnout
* her awareness of her tendency towards perfectionism and how it has impacted her life (including RED-S and burnout), and
* her experience with the Imposter Complex
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Notes and resources:
To find out more about Josie or to say hello, you can find her on Instagram, Facebook or via her website.