Tough Girl Podcast Dr. Lois Haruna-Cooper - GP, Clinical teaching lecturer, mother of 3, daily runner.
Mar 17, 2022
39:20
Lois @lois_lo_lo - lives in Luton, is a GP, Teaching lecturer in Medical Education and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion lead. She is passionate about running and staying active and sharing her enthusiasm for running with others. She has always been interested in sports, playing netball and basketball competitively for many years. Running was always a reserve activity for her, something to do between seasons, when she felt guilty about her inactivity. This all changed after her second son, and a move to Luton. Not having the time to play netball, and balancing work with her young family, Lois initially began home HIIT workouts and circuit training, but frequent interruptions for nappy changes and feeds left her feeling unsatisfied. She decided to go for a run one afternoon and was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable and uninterrupted this session (or type) of exercise could be. She immediately swapped her home workouts for outdoor runs. These quickly increased infrequency and within a few months Lois was running 4-5km every day. She hasn't looked back since, and except for a few days in 2019, and no missed days since March 2020, Lois has been running daily ever since. Most recently her #NoExcuses ethos was put to the test, during her last pregnancy. Struggling with nausea and vomiting in the first trimester, ever changing bra sizes, and pubic-symphysis (pelvic) pain in the last trimester all meant that Lois relied heavily on the habit she had built up over the past 2 years to get her through her runs. She managed to continue to run throughout her pregnancy, and continues to run daily, including just 9 hours after delivery! For Lois, running is more than just about the physical movement- it's become meditative, a tool of self-discipline, a reminder how incredible our bodies are, and continues to be her self-care time- a time when she can focus solely on herself. New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out. Throughout March the Tough Girl Podcast is being sponsored by Inov-8. Get your exclusive 15% discount code by signing up HERE Show Notes
- Who is Dr. Lois
- Having been involved in sports since a young age
- Being competitive in school
- Playing netball and basketball at university
- Enjoying team sports and being socially active
- Becoming a mum
- Spending time with her family and what she loves to do with them
- Pregnancy and giving birth to her youngest
- Running after having her first child
- Wanting to go out and move after birth
- Enjoying activities like running, netball and basketball
- Moving to Luton
- Exercising on her own after her second son
- Challenges and how she managed her time
- Giving time for herself
- Running regularly five months after her second childbirth
- Trying to be consistent and doing an early morning run
- "Being intentional is being consistent."
- Having no reason why she shouldn't run
- Not wanting to miss out on running for whatever reason
- Using a running app
- Being part of running clubs and communities
- Identifying herself as a runner
- Doing her best to keep up
- Benefits of running for her physically and psychologically
- Finding running as meditative
- Her thoughts about running with a baby
- Bad runs in her running journey
- Losing control of her body in the first trimester
- Getting back to running and enjoy it as her goal
- Quick Fire Questions
- Final words of advice