This week’s guest ultrarunner Megan Eastwood is a portrait of perseverance. She’s lived through trauma, battled eating disorders, and been flattened by perimenopause. Through it all, she’s learned, grown, evolved, and ultimately thrived. Now 55 and postmenopausal, Megan is out in nature every week, running, climbing, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, basically anything she can do outdoors. She’s completed numerous multi-day running events, where she generally posts top five in her age group, and currently has her sights set on 70.3 Ironman triathlon events. We talk all about her journey and learnings and what she wants other women like her to know.

Megan Eastwood never considered herself athletic. She was the girl no-one wanted on their sports team at school. Now 50+ she’s finding the confidence to see what her body is capable of.

She found ultra trail running in the UK in her early 20s, but an eating disorder ended any sports activity by the age of 30. Through career, marriage, and raising a family, she hit 39, overweight and not even able to run around the block. She knew she couldn’t enter her 40s like this and started running again. Living in Vancouver, Canada she quickly found the ultra-marathon scene.

Perimenopause hit hard. Like many women she couldn’t understand why everything was going wrong. She dug into research and resources and turned her situation around. Her message to anyone struggling to stay fit through menopause is keep going (and strength train), you will come through the other side eventually.

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Active and athletic women can be hit hard by the menopause transition. Many of us have become accustomed to our bodies responding in a predictable way to our training and nutrition, only to have that sense of control slip away during the menopause transition. That can leave us feeling desperate for solutions–and vulnerable to predatory marketing. That’s where mindset, especially acceptance, becomes an essential tool in our midlife toolbox. While there are steps we can take to feel and perform our best at every age and stage of life, there will always be some changes outside of our control. Accepting that isn’t “giving up”, it’s freeing yourself to stop battling your body and to truly appreciate all it does for you. This week we talk all about movement and mindset during midlife and menopause with fitness expert Maria Luque, PhD, menopause coach with Respin Health.

Dr. Maria Luque is an energetic and accomplished fitness and menopause expert, former health science professor, and USAF veteran. With a PhD and MS in Health Sciences and over two decades of fitness experience, she combines academic expertise with practical insights. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Fitness Nutrition Specialist, and NASM Women’s Fitness Specialist. Dr. Luque is passionate about helping women in midlife re-imagine exercise, body image, and well-being. She’s the founder of Fitness in Menopause, a company dedicated to helping women be healthier, stronger, saner, and more open to fun and adventure. In her role as head coach at Respin health, she has worked as the menopause coach to founder Halle Berry. You can learn more about her work at www.FitnessInMenopause.com and

www.DrMariaLuque.com. You can find her at Respin at www.respin.health/coaches

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Perimenopause can blindside us in unexpected ways. Fatigue hit this week’s guest, elite cyclist and coach Marissa Axell, so hard she thought she had cancer. Now the creator of the Cycling Success System wants everyone to know what can happen during this phase of life, and importantly what active women can do to counteract it. We talk all about how Marissa tailors her coaching for 40+ women, focusing on proper fueling, strength development, and smart exercise programming so they can keep crushing their active and athletic goals. You can learn more about her and her work at www.axnfitnessandcoaching.com

Marissa Axell is the founder of AXN Fitness and Coaching, LLC, and on a mission to get more women on more start lines! She coaches her athletes to success by showing them how to climb hills stronger, ride farther, at faster average speeds, while creating more energy to ride day after day. As a result, her athletes are setting personal bests on their rides and landing top 10 placings at their races. Marissa has been coaching and personal training since 2008. She’s stood on a dozen national masters podiums, been top 5 in the UCI World Masters Track Championships 4 times, holds a cycling coaching certification from UESCA and is working on a nutrition certification from ISSA. She is a USAC category 1 cyclist, and holds an undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Willamette University. She believes that love is love, Black lives matter, Transwomen are women and belong in sports, no human is illegal, and bikes are a form of therapy.

Resources

A Role for Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Reducing Central Fatigue here

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Hettas: Use code FEISTY20 for 20% off at https://hettas.com/

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and use code: HITPLAY to get 30% off

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

Paradis Sport: Use code: FEISTY20 for 20% off any single item at https://paradissport.com/