Why Toughing Out Perimenopause Isn’t the Answer Carrie Tollefson (Episode 220)

Hit Play Not Pause

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

4.9 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many women, like this week’s guest Olympian runner and broadcaster Carrie Tollefson, suffer through perimenopause for far too long because they know they’re tough and they can handle things. But you don’t need to suffer, and you shouldn’t just tough it out. You can get back to feeling better and living more fully by getting the help and care you need as soon as you need it. This week we talk all about Carrie’s challenging seven-year journey through perimenopause, her new running goals now that she finally feels like herself again, and what we all can learn from her experience.

Carrie Tollefson is an elite middle distance runner from St. Paul, Minnesota. She was a 13-time state champion (eight in track and five in cross country) and five-time NCAA champion at Villanova. In her post-collegiate career, Carrie was a three-time national champion and represented the U.S. at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Carrie is now a broadcaster for major marathons, podcast host, motivational speaker, and fitness advocate. Living in Minnesota with her husband and three children, she empowers others to pursue active, healthy lifestyles, encouraging everyone to “Get After It!” You can learn more about her and her work at www.ctollerun.com

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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,
0:19.7	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.
0:29.8	Hello, strong feisty women.
0:32.1	Welcome to Hit Play Not Pause, the podcast where I really, really, do not want you to suffer for nearly a decade before you get help.
0:42.7	This week's show is emblematic of why I started this podcast to begin with, because women have and are still suffering way, way too long before seeking, getting, and sometimes honestly just accepting
0:56.7	the care that they need. And this week's guest, Olympian Runner and broadcaster Carrie Talafson,
1:02.9	is a prime example of that entire process. She suffered a long time, feeling like she could
1:09.1	and maybe should just tough it out.
1:11.6	And when her doctor floated hormone therapy, she resisted because she was afraid of risks
1:16.8	and maybe unwanted side effects.
1:19.1	And as a quick aside, during the conversation, she mentions how her dad sort of made a
1:24.4	disparaging comment about hormones and how they put livestock like cattle on hormones to beef them up.
1:30.8	And in our conversation, she recalled that as him saying, they put horses on hormones.
1:35.2	And then she emailed me right after the show and was like, whoops, let's chalk that one up to menopause.
1:40.7	I did not meme horses.
1:42.5	But anyway, this all just led to a prolonged period
1:46.2	where she simply wasn't herself. And to be clear, her usual self is a super active go-getter.
1:54.4	As an elite middle distance runner, Carrie was a 13-time state champion, 8 in track and five in cross-country. And that's in
2:03.7	the state of Minnesota, where she lives now. And she was a five-time NCAA champion at
2:09.4	Villanova, Pennsylvania, where I am. And in her post-collegiate career, Carrie was a three-time
	...

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