Jake Smith

In this episode, Project RED-S Founder and former Team GB athlete, Pippa Woolven, shares her experience with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport.

Pippa describes how her downturn began during an athletics scholarship at Florida State University, where she bought into the belief system that "lighter is faster". While knowing instinctively something wasn't quite right, it took Pippa years to find out what and start on her road to recovery.

Pippa later founded Project RED-S to raise awareness of the condition and increase prevention and support among athletes. Project RED-S aims to provide the resources and help she needed (yet lacked) while she was competing.

Pippa and Project RED-S have helped a number of athletes in their recovery including former podcast guest Jake Smith.

The episode delves into:

• What REDs is: "A shortage of energy available to keep up with the demands of exercise, on top of essential daily functions."
• The symptoms and warning signs of REDs.
• What you can do if you think you are experiencing it.
• How it can affect anyone - not just elite athletes or those experiencing weight loss.

For more information, follow Project RED-S on Instagram @project_reds_.

To get in touch, email: thepod@run4it.com.

In this episode, Finlay chats to professional runner for Nike and the NN Running Team, Jake Smith, about his rise in running and his challenges with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Jake talks openly about his history with disordered eating and obsessive-compulsive-esque training, and the toll underfuelling and overtraining eventually took on his body - causing severe injury, illness and mental distress.

Speaking to Finlay fresh off a standout stage win at the Welsh Castles Relay, Jake talks about what it’s taken to step back from the sport – recover, reset, re-evaluate – and come back stronger in pursuit of sustainable performance. 

Key takeaways:

• RED-S can affect anyone – female, male, elite or amateur regardless of age, gender, and ability – if their physical activity exceeds their caloric intake.
• High training load with inadequate fuelling or lack of recovery can contribute to RED-S.
• Aside from missing periods (female athletes), there are several other signs that you might be suffering from RED-S. Such as fatigue, frequent illness, poor bone health, low/altered mood,  disrupted sleep, hunger pangs and more. In men, a telltale sign is low testosterone levels (checked via a blood test).
• With the support of his team, coach, family and friends, Jake is returning to full fitness by following a more sustainable training programme (higher quality and less) and fuelling properly.
• 38 minutes into the episode, Jake describes his typical training week then vs now, noting his change from a hard, all-out, “more more” approach to a more rounded, balanced approach, which sees hard running replaced with low aerobic cross-training.

What’s next for Jake? Paris 5K in July and Berlin Marathon in September, where he and his sister hope to secure the Guinness World Record for the fastest cumulative marathon time run by a pair of siblings.

Follow Jake Smith on Instagram @jakeliamsmith98

For more information on RED-S follow @project_reds_

📸 @globalsportscommunication via @jakeliamsmith98.

To get in touch, email: thepod@run4it.com. 

It’s been a busy fall and I haven’t been recording many new episodes of the podcast these last couple of months, so I’m re-running a few of my favorite conversations from years past. This week’s is with Mike Smith, who is the director of cross-country and track and field at Northern Arizona University. We recorded this episode over 2-1/2 years ago in the early stages of the pandemic. Mike is arguably the top collegiate distance running coach in the country. His NAU men’s cross-country team has won the national title six of the past seven years. His women’s squad finished sixth this past fall, their highest placing since 2007. Mike has been named National Men's Coach of the Year five times, and is only the second coach to win this award three years in a row. 

I’ve been following Mike’s career since the mid-1990s when we were both running as high schoolers in small-town Central Massachusetts. This is a conversation about the path Mike’s followed to get where he is today, and who and what have influenced him along the way. It’s also a conversation about his approach to coaching, running, competition, and life that I personally took a lot away from and I know you will too. 

This episode is brought to you by:

— Tracksmith. The Turnover Tights are the perfect option for chilly morning runs this time of year. They feature a soft brushed back for a comfortable feel on the skin and a spacious rear pocket for storing cards, keys, nutrition, your phone, or whatever you want to stuff in there. During the month of December, visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code “Mario22” at checkout for free shipping on your order—also, 5% of your purchase will go to support the Friendly House in Worcester, Massachusetts, an organization that is ear and dear to me. 

Click here for complete show notes, sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday, and/or join our growing community on Patreon, where you'll also gain access to exclusive content and other perks that pop up from time to time.

Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake Smith is a British distance runner who recently decided to casual pace a marathon, and instead of stopping he carried on to run the Olympic qualifying standard. His favourite film is Forrest Gump as he believes he shares the same personality as Forrest. But not quite as good as him at running.

We're back again for another week of running themed chatter! This week we talk about the Cheshire Elite Marathon, where Jake Smith won depsite never running more than 22 miles, setting a 1500m and 800m PB that week and on pacing duties, oh and he's only 22!

Our guest this week is the lovely Sally Brider (@sallybrider on Instagram) someone who as she says 'found running later on in life' after getting into the London Marathon she's now an Asics Front Runner, still running marathons and chasing down the 6 world majors!

More on Sally:

• Asics page

Challenge Matt continues with the outcome from Neil's spelling bee head to head and the forfeit is drawn. We also have a new challenger stepping forward with another callout for our Matt.

Statman Jon drops in again on his travels for some more antics, we have the usual good news story before closing off with some new exciting news for you to get even more from us!

We also have a fantastic Good News Story from Matt about Luc who is only 6 and ran a marathon over a week to raise money for his cousin Andrew, with a lovely voice note from Luc himself. If you enjoyed Luc's story you can donate via his GoFund me page.

Rob has a big challenge coming up in 2021 with the Berlin Marathon where he'll be raising money for Prostate Cancer UK. There will be lots of fundraising activities leading up to his marathon training and we want you to be a part of it. You can also donate on his Just Giving page. 

Make sure you subscribe, rate, review and checkout our social media channels: 

• Instagram: @Whatthefartlek_Podcast 
• Facebook: What the Fartlek Podcast 
• Twitter: @WhatTheFartlek 
• YouTube: What The Fartlek Podcast
• Email us at - whatthefartlekpodcast@gmail.com

Music by: Graham Lindley 

Follow on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube Email at: g.lindley@hotmail.co.uk