Lift heavy sh**!

 

“It was tough playing sports, having a period and from a young age of 15, I was having a lot of problems, like endometriosis. For those of you that don’t know, you get all sorts of symptoms – heavy, bleeding, painful cramps.”

Summary of what we talk about in the episode:

• Tech, travel, triathlon – why a full-time job is no excuse not to go IRONMAN!
• “Women aren’t small men” – how can you work with rather than against your cycle?
• Trust your body – what if it does not agree with your doctors?
• Endometriosis, perimenopause, hysterectomy? Don’t worry, we’ll enlighten you what all that means!

In more words:

Some would say that juggling a full-time job – one which entails a crazy amount of business travel – and serious athletic ambitions is admirable enough. Swim-bike-running Ironmans while battered by nausea and severe cramps is yet another level of willingness to suffer.

“I was trying to train through it. I thought, if I train, I’ll feel better. There’s probably someone out there listening to this going: yeah, you probably need to get your head checked saying that…”

Triathlete April Yoho (formerly Edwards) has been suffering from endometriosis since a young age. But all hell broke loose when she stopped taking “the pill” in order to regain her natural cycle and train according to it. What followed was a long medical journey full of dead-ends and doctors who were big on “I-know-better-than-you” and less generous with empathy.

Listen to this power woman chat about her work in tech, relocating to the UK for a better quality of life, body type myths when it comes to who can be a triathlete, and battling endometriosis all the while “lifting heavy sh**” (a reference to Stacy Sims’ book “ROAR”).

Mentioned in this episode:

• April’s blog post we discussed in the episode
• Dave Scott (triathlete) 
• Ironman Triathlon – a series of long-distance triathlon races, the most famous one being held in Kona, Hawaii 
• Stacy Sims, author of the mentioned book “Roar” & many more

A few medical terms that we discussed:

• Endometriosis – medical condition 
• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) – a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause 
• Hysterectomy – surgical removal of the uterus and cervix 
• Intrauterine device (IUD) – a birth control device that is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy 
• Perimenopause – transition phase leading up to menopause 
• Tubal Ligation (commonly known as having one’s “tubes tied”) – surgical procedure for female sterilization 
• Vasectomy – surgical procedure for male sterilization