Navigating the Rocky Road of Perimenopause with Deanna McCurdy (Episode 110)

Hit Play Not Pause

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.9 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2022

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At age 42, off-road triathlete Deanna McCurdy was crushing it, including clocking the fastest female amateur time at XTERRA National Championships, and was ready to turn pro when—perimenopause. Out of the blue, her performance tanked and she found herself in tears through a key race. Deanna, who’s also a mom of a special needs daughter, was forced to rest, research, reset, and make some training and lifestyle changes. It worked and she roared back to racing as a pro by age 45, winning XTERRA Fruita and getting second at XTERRA Quebec. But those ups were followed by more hormonally-driven downs, as she became plagued by symptoms including aches and injuries, sleepless nights, and headaches earlier this year as she was preparing for Breck Epic, a six-day mountain bike stage race. With the help of hormone therapy, she got back on track and crushed the race. This week she shares that journey and how, though the path is still rocky, and training isn’t perfect, she has found the tools she needs to navigate this challenging time.

Deanna McCurdy is a USAT Level I and USAC Level II certified coach. She is also the founder and head coach of Team Miles for Smiles-Wings to Fly Racing. Miles for Smiles is a training team created to help raise funds for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (F.A.S.T.), a not-for-profit whose sole purpose is to fund research, and ultimately a cure for, Angelman Syndrome (AS). USA Triathlon awarded Deanna Off-road Triathlete of the Year honors in 2017, 2018, and 2021. You can learn more about her and F.A.S.T. at cureangelman.org/fast-athletes and her USA Triathlon blog.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:14.6	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help you feel and perform you best no matter what your hormones are doing.
0:25.0	This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.
0:30.4	Hello, strong, feisty women.
0:32.7	I hope you all are well.
0:35.2	So I was thinking that I don't think I have mentioned it in any of my
0:39.1	recent shows, but after years of mountain bike and gravel bike riding and racing pretty much
0:44.7	exclusively, I have waded back into triathlon. The last triathlon I did was Iron Man World
0:52.2	Championships in Kona in 2008, which I did just six weeks after winning my age group in Ironman, Louisville.
0:59.4	And that was pretty much it.
1:01.3	I put down the tri-bike, and I put down triathlon.
1:05.4	And I got picked up by a mountain bike racing team for several years.
1:09.9	And then that was pretty much all I've done, you know, got into gravel and it's been
1:13.6	bikes, bikes, bikes.
1:14.6	Sure, I run sporadically, but I have not been in the pool for more than a decade.
1:19.6	And just as I'm always talking about trying new things and getting curious on this show,
1:25.6	I have definitely been feeling kind of one-dimensional
1:28.9	riding my bike all the time. Sure, I lift. Yes, I lift, but I lift mostly so I can be strong
1:35.9	and ride better and because it makes me feel amazing and I want to be strong for the rest of my life.
1:40.5	But it is not a passion in and of itself for me personally. So I've had my ears to the ground
1:46.6	for events that might peak my interest. And sure enough, Iron Man announced a 70.3 in Happy Valley,
1:54.8	Pennsylvania. And I am a Penn State alum and I have lots of friends in that area. So my ears definitely perked up.
	...

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