Perimenopause, Powerlifting, and Angels with Jenny Smith (Episode 272)

Hit Play Not Pause

Fitness, Health & Fitness, Medicine

4.9 • 769 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Elite cyclist, multisport athlete, and endurance coach Jenny Smith has spent decades pushing her limits — including multiple Leadville 100 podiums — but perimenopause and a meniscus tear brought unexpected mental and physical health challenges…and solutions. Ultimately, she found help through traditional medical interventions, picked up weights and got stronger than she’s been in years, and discovered Angelic Reiki, which gave her peace, calm, and a deeper connection to herself. This week we unpack her perimenopause journey, the symptoms she didn't see coming, the relief strategies that actually worked, and why aging doesn't have to mean stepping back from the sports and the life you love.

Jenny Smith is an elite cyclist, multisport athlete, and endurance coach with Aim High Performance Coaching—a company she co-founded with her husband, Brian Smith. A New Zealander, Jenny has called Gunnison, CO, home since 1999. She arrived as a collegiate runner at Western Colorado University and has been fortunate to live here as a pro mountain biker and elite athlete with Brian and their daughter, Jade. She coaches with youth and collegiate athletes and provides personalized coaching for endurance athletes. Jenny aims to be an active role model, athlete, and coach for many years to come. You can learn more about her and her work at www.aimhigh-performance.com

Resources:

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Reports of Non‐Physical Beings Assisting in Reiki Sessions here

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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.
0:12.2	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 your best no matter what
0:21.7	your hormones are doing. This show is a production of feisty media.
0:27.3	Hello, strong feisty women. I hope you all are well. So this week I have a real treat for you.
0:33.5	I got a chance to sit down with Jenny Smith, an elite cyclist, a multi-sport athlete,
0:39.5	and an endurance coach at Aim High Performance Coaching, a company she co-founded with her husband,
0:45.2	Brian Smith.
0:46.5	And I saw Jenny speaking on a podcast with Sonia Looney, Sonia Looney's podcast, as a matter of fact,
0:53.3	and they were talking about
0:55.2	perimenopause and all the expected and unexpected symptoms that came with it.
1:01.9	And it was a funny moment because I raced both of them back in the day when no one was ever
1:08.9	talking about any of this. And frankly, at the time, Sonia was too young
1:14.4	to be talking about menopause anyway. So when I saw them talking, I was just like, wow,
1:20.4	I have got to have them on the show. And I am going to have both of them on the show. First up here is Jenny, who has an incredible race resume.
1:32.6	She has represented her native country, New Zealand, at multiple world championships
1:38.5	in mountain bike and Xtera triathlon.
1:42.1	And she has won many, many races, including the Grand Traverse Mountain Bike Race.
1:48.0	She is podiumed at prestigious races like Cape Epic in South Africa and the Ludville 100, the legendary
1:55.4	Ledville 100, and she is actually really just the nicest person on the planet. And I'll tell you, this one is going
2:06.5	to go places that you don't see coming, like spirit world kind of places. And I found it all
2:14.8	fascinating. Jenny talks about discovering angelic Reiki, which is a practice that takes the traditional
2:22.6	practice of Reiki, which is a type of hands-on energy healing therapy that originated in Japan
	...

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