Catching up with Coach and Ultrarunner Loretta Tobolske-Horn

I had another inspiring Zoom conversation with ultrarunner and coach Loretta Tobolske-Horn. She’s 50 years old, now, so a legitimate “50+” role model 😉 (we made her an honorary role model when we last talked). In this chat, my chronology was all messed up; I think I correctly remembered when we last talked, but I had her 2021 races out of sequence (you can also see her race history on UltraSignup.com). We catch up on her recent race results, her coaching, and her racing plans. But even more importantly, Loretta shares her personal experience and some super-useful information about a problem that affects 50 million people, male and female: a weakening of pelvic floor muscles that can cause intermittent (but always inconvenient!) bladder leakage. Loretta describes how frustrating and discouraging the problem was becoming for her, and how much time it was adding to her ultra marathons (a lot!). And she shares how she lucked into a physical therapy contact who specializes in this issue and introduced Loretta to a game-changing device, Revive. When inserted like a tampon, this device expands to put pressure in just the right places and effectively stops urinary incontinence. (For women who want to investigate Revive, Loretta has a 15% off discount code. Click this link, and use the code Loretta15. And for a deeper dive into the physiology and treatment of pelvic floor problems, check out this zoom interview Loretta had with the physical therapist who helped her turn things around, Dr. Liesle Elsey.)

We also talk about how Loretta discovered she hadn’t quite dialed in her nutrition and hydration needs during races, and what she’s doing to address that. Loretta now represents Gnarly Nutrition, and you can watch her own interview with their chief nutrition scientist Dr. Shannon O’Grady on Facebook.

I loved this conversation! Loretta is cheerful and energetic and deeply committed to age-and-ability inclusivity. You can follow her on Instagram (@ultra.crazy.runner), and on her website. If you’d like to enlist her coaching services, click this link!