appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Cathy Hilborn Feng

Editor and Contributor, Health & Wellness


When journalists Lily Canter, a contributor to the South China Morning Post, and Emma Wilkinson started running together in ultra races – ones that take six hours or more to finish – in 2020, they noticed that there were few women. Those women that did take part, though, did remarkably well.
When the pair started to look into it, they realised this was true for other endurance sports, too.
In their new book Ultra Women: The Trailblazers Defying Sexism in Sport, they delve into the science of sporting performance to explore the differences between the sexes.
They ask questions like: could fat stores and muscle type give women an edge over men in ultra distances? And what roles do pace, preparation and motherhood play?
Speaking to elite athletes and scientists, they reveal the largely unknown past of female endurance.
The book introduces poverty-stricken Greek mother Stamata Revithi, who sneaked into the 1896 Athens Olympics marathon; 1980s swimming pioneer Lynne Cox – who crossed the world’s coldest oceans in just a swimsuit; and Jasmin Paris, a British veterinarian who ran almost non-stop to win a 268-mile (431km) mountain race, the 2019 Montane Winter Spine Race along the Pennine Way in the UK – while breastfeeding.

Brazilian jiu jitsu athlete turned endurance runner Vriko Kwok from Hong Kong represented the “everyday woman” rather than the professional athlete.
In March 2024, Kwok took part in athletic wear company Lululemon’s “Further” event, which involved running an ultra marathon a day for six days in Lake Cahuilla, California.
Lululemon supported 10 female athletes from around the world to run their furthest distance over the six days. An expert team worked with each participant for 12 months before the event. Kwok, who was already an ambassador for the brand, was asked if she wanted to take part.
Despite having never been a runner before she signed up, Kwok showed she was capable of taking on a huge physical and mental challenge with the right support. Her chapter in the book emphasises the need for female-specific training, coaching and research to enable more women to push and break boundaries in ultra-endurance sport.
The following excerpts provide a glimpse into Kwok’s story.
Cathy Hilborn Feng

As she prepared to walk out to the starting point, Vriko Kwok felt a familiar dampness in her underwear. Only minutes earlier she had slipped into her tight brown shorts, confident the bespoke racing kit would support her six-day challenge.
Standing under the searing Californian sun, the sticky feeling between her legs threatened to change everything. All the 4am training runs in Hong Kong could be for nothing. Having her period arrive early was not part of the plan.
Kwok had been under the scrutiny of running coaches, sports scientists, nutritionists and psychologists for the past 12 months, yet this had taken her by surprise. She was about to embark on the biggest physical and mental challenge of her life, and now she had something else to deal with.
A year ago, the 30-year-old had never run, scared off at a young age by the school bullies who laughed at her size.
“I hated running because I never saw myself doing it. I got bullied quite badly growing up and that put me off running for a long time.”












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Vriko Kwok 郭苡彤 (@vrikokwok)



Now, she was about to run alongside nine of the world’s best ultra-marathon runners in an attempt to go from zero to 300km. Everything was riding on this moment: her training, her self-belief, her determination to prove the cynics wrong. She must not waver. Menstrual cycle or not, this Hong Kong entrepreneur was not going to quit before she started.
Deciding it was a natural part of being a woman, Kwok declined to take a pill to stop her period and leaned into the experience.
It was not like she was alone. Three of the other female athletes began menstruating during the 2024 Lululemon Further event, which sought to measure the impact of endurance on women’s bodies.
Collectively, the global team of women ran 4,636km across the six days, with a US ultra runner, Camille Herron, setting 13 records, while she covered 901km on the 4.12km loop. The first-of-its-kind research project sought to break new horizons for women in ultra sport through race gear innovation and data collection.
…
This had been sorely lacking in sports science owing to the patriarchal structure in research and innovation. The Further initiative hoped to begin solving the puzzle of how women could be supported to endure – and where their limits lay.
As the novice of the pack, Kwok, a former Brazilian Jiu-jitsu player, became the symbol of possibility, proving what a woman could achieve with the right training and support.

With a heavy build habituated to martial arts combat, Kwok required a massive shift in lifestyle to adapt her body to long-distance running. For a year she worked with the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, training, eating and sleeping like an ultra runner.
Externally, she was kitted out with personalised clothing, designed to meet her specific ergonomic requirements.
Internally, her body’s energy needs were calculated by a team of sports scientists. Early tests identified she had severe anaemia, meaning she was able to quickly address the iron deficiency and boost her energy levels.
She worked closely with a coach who created an individualised training schedule to fit around her busy working life. A nutritionist helped her to lose nine kilograms (20 pounds) of weight while stressing the importance of maximising calorie intake during long runs.

Armed with the correct preparation and knowledge for her body type and sex, Kwok began the Further event with the belief and assurance that she could complete an ultra marathon a day, for six consecutive days, no matter her background.
…
She had just as much right to be there as her record-breaking teammates. They were all pushing progress forward, testing the limits and redefining female possibility.
It was the perfect demonstration of what women could achieve with the same level of funding and infrastructure as men. But the Lululemon Further campaign also highlighted a juxtaposition within sport
While the 10 athletes had the finest minds in sport science to support their training, six-day run, and recovery, the event was also a mass data-gathering exercise. On the one hand, the message conveyed that women could achieve remarkable feats when trained within an appropriate framework.
Conversely, it highlighted that scientists lack sufficient knowledge about women’s bodies in terms of training for, participating in, and recovering from ultra-endurance sports.
…
As Kwok and her three Further teammates demonstrated, hormones can be unpredictable, but they don’t have to dictate performance.
It would be naive, however, to suggest that menstruating through an endurance race has no impact on the body. Kwok had to make adjustments. She was fortunate enough to have the help of a large contingent of experts who were monitoring all manner of metrics including her core (basal) body temperature.

At the start of each day, Kwok would swallow a core temperature pill which gradually passed through her system. Armed with the right knowledge she could make subtle changes to her hydration, nutrition and kit, which enabled her to keep running day after day.
As luck would have it, starting her period was perhaps a blessing in disguise. While women’s basal body temperature rises in the second half of the menstruation cycle during and after ovulation (luteal phase), when progesterone levels drop during menstruation, the basal temperature typically falls, returning to the baseline level seen during the follicular phase.
Having a raised core body temperature makes it easier to become dehydrated but can also make women more susceptible to sodium loss. A rise in progesterone levels in the days leading up to a period can have an impact on kidney function and the regulation of electrolytes including sodium.
This can also cause fluid retention and increased plasma volume, diluting the amount of sodium in the blood. All these changes in the body make it easier to lose sodium through sweat when exercising, potentially putting women at increased risk of hyponatremia (low sodium levels) during this phase of their cycle.
Add to the mix running in hot conditions and it becomes clear that women need to pay extra attention to their hydration and electrolyte balance when exercising.
In general, women’s core body temperature rises more quickly than men’s during exercise but they sweat less and have relatively less body fluid. Since hydration has a cooling effect on the body, drinking enough fluid is arguably more important for female endurance athletes.

For Kwok, this was a difficult task given that the Further course sat in a barren landscape devoid of shade where ground temperatures rose to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the mid-afternoon sun. With the Santa Rosa mountains looming on one side and the shady palm tree groves tantalisingly out of reach on the other, the runners had the thankless task of moving under the full heat of the sun.
To add insult to injury, Kwok had to run continuous laps past the invitingly fresh waters of Lake Cahuilla for six days.
To avoid the worst of the heat, Kwok rose at 4am each morning to start running before napping in the afternoon. She then began running again in the early evening until 10pm, with the aim of completing 50km per day. This strategy, together with a targeted hydration regime, helped her body to thermoregulate despite the internal and external heat challenges.
…
Whether it is women’s approach to nutrition, training or kit, the best approach we currently have relies heavily on trial and error. The science is slowly seeping through, but the data is limited. As a result, the guidelines and coaching techniques have been slow to adapt and there is still so much to learn.
Ultra Women: The Trailblazers Defying Sexism in Sport, by Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson, published by Canbury Press, is available as an e-book through Kobo for HK$78. It is also available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback format.
Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter here.


How Jet Li’s trainer Wu Bin, 89, ages well and still nurtures martial arts talent

Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk slims down to ‘Novo’

How this Hong Kong Gen Z coffee entrepreneur is filling market gap with her can-do attitude

How to choose the best curling tool for your hair, from wands to air stylers

Wellness

How women can conquer endurance sports with female-specific training

Hongkonger Vriko Kwok (centre) takes part in Lululemon’s six-day ultra-marathon event “Further” with other runners in California in March 2024. Photo: Instagram/lululemon

The cover of Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson’s book. Photo: Canbury Press 

Kwok celebrates passing a milestone during the six-day ultra-marathon event Further in California. Photo: Lululemon

Kwok undergoes testing before the six-day ultra-marathon event.

Kwok ahead of the six-day ultramarathon. Photo: Lululemon

Book authors Lily Canter (left) and Emma Wilkinson on a run. Photo: Lily Canter

In 2024, Kwok (left) could not run continuously for 1km. Photo: Instagram/vrikokwok

How do they look and feel young? Yoga is the answer for 2 women teachers aged over 60

Sims credits yoga with improving her posture and boosting her stamina. ‘I’m definitely more agile,’ she says. Photo: instagram.com/susansims8477 

Susan Sims practises yoga on a hill in Hong Kong. On International Day of Yoga, Sims and fellow instructor Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani describe how yoga shields them from typical ageing issues such as osteoporosis, heart problems, poor balance, anxiety and memory loss. Photo: Instagram/susansims8477

Meditation is a big part of Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani’s daily yoga practice. Photo: Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani

Sims strikes a yoga pose in a garden. Photo: Instagram/susansims8477

Sims trained in the school of Iyengar Yoga and teaches Hatha yoga with a focus on alignment. Photo: Instagram/susansims8477

Yoga asanas help improve our breathing and blood circulation, says Vatvani. Photo: Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani

Vatvani demonstrates a shoulder stand. Photo: Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani

Sims began practising yoga 18 years ago. Photo: Instagram/susansims8477

Vatvani has been practising yoga for nearly six decades. Photo: Pushpa Thakurdas Vatvani

From zero to 303.313km in under a year: how Hong Kong entrepreneur Vriko Kwok went Further than she had ever been

Hong Kong’s Vriko Kwok at Further, which backed 10 female athletes from around the world to run their farthest distance over six days. Photo: Lululemon

Hong Kong’s Vriko Kwok was the only athlete with no prior running experience. Photo: Lululemon

Kwok gets a hug after taking part in the six-day ultra-marathon event in California. Photo: Lululemon

Kwok celebrates passing a milestone during the six-day ultra-marathon event. Photo: Lululemon

How trail runners should fuel their bodies for success, and to avoid health problems

Vicky Sham runs on a trail in Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong. Photo: Vicky Sham

Alice Moore (née McLeod), the fastest woman in the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge 2024 (above), shares her fuelling tactics for long runs. Experts explain the dangers of not getting enough calories during races. Photo: Action Asia

Vicky Sham at the 2023 Hong Kong 100 trail running event. Photo: Vicky Sham

Hong Kong-based ultra running expert Elliot Froidevaux says fuelling properly is “vital”. Photo: Action Asia Events

Moore on the MacLehose Trail during the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge 2024. Photo: Alan Li

Vriko Kwok took part in the six-day Lululemon Further challenge in Lake Cahuilla, California, earlier this year. Photo: Lululemon

Swollen, puffy face? You might have ‘moon face’. Experts explain, share how to reduce it

“Moon face” or “cortisol face”, a condition in which the face appears swollen and puffy, is a health concern that has been popping up online. Photo: Instagram/mamamiaaus

The most common cause of moon face is long-term use of corticosteroid medications. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Hongkonger Vriko Kwok’s journey to ultra athlete is among stories in a new book that shows how female-specific training can help them excel


Hongkonger Vriko Kwok’s journey to ultra athlete is among stories in a new book that shows how female-specific training can help them excel.


How women can conquer endurance sports with female-specific training

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hongkonger Vriko Kwok’s journey to ultra athlete is among stories in a new book that shows how female-specific training can help them excel

Hongkonger Vriko Kwok’s journey to ultra athlete is among stories in a new book that shows how female-specific training can help them excel