Intake Screen · Section 1 of 2

First, a few honest questions

The next section checks your body — strength, balance, impact. This part checks the rest of you.

Here's why it comes first. Leaking, pressure, and pain don't only ride on strong muscles. They ride on fuel, sleep, mood, and how much life is throwing at you. So do you. A workout can't fix those. The right person can.

This is not a test. There's no score. Nothing here stops you from starting Phase 1. These questions just point you toward help this program can't give you — so the program can do the part it's good at.

Answer honestly. Curiosity, not judgment. Same rule as always.

Fuel

Tap Yes or No.

Has a doctor, dietitian, or another provider ever been worried about the way you eat? Do you have an eating disorder now, or have you had one before?

Are you trying to shrink your body right now while getting back to running?

Have you broken a bone from running or training — recently, or more than once?

Start here first Start here before you add impact — or right alongside it. Not because you're broken. Because fuel is the piece running can't fix, and adding pounding on top of an empty tank or a healing bone is how good runners get hurt. A sports dietitian is the right person. If broken bones are in the mix, loop in your doctor too.

Outside of pregnancy or breastfeeding, have your periods stopped or gotten irregular?

Do you get sick more than feels normal for you?

Worth a conversation Worth a conversation with your doctor or a sports dietitian. It might be nothing. It might be the missing piece. Better to know than to guess.

Mood

Tap Yes or No.

Lately, have you felt down, flat, or hopeless most days?

Have you stopped caring about things you usually enjoy?

Have you felt so anxious or on edge that getting through the day is hard?

Send it to the right person Running can lift your mood. It is also not a replacement for care. Talk to your doctor or a mental health provider. You can do that and this program — they are not either/or. This is not weakness. It's the same as sending your knee to a PT. You send the heavy stuff to the right person.

If it’s heavier than that. If you’re having thoughts of hurting yourself, don’t sit with it alone. In the US, call or text 988. Outside the US, use your local crisis line or emergency number.

This one doesn’t wait 988 is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US. Call or text. Free, 24 hours, every day. Tell someone today — them, your doctor, or your own people. Everything else on this page can wait. This one doesn’t.

Sleep

Tap Yes or No.

Are you running on almost no sleep most nights?

Are you wiped out in a way that rest isn't fixing?

Worth a mention Some of this comes with the territory — new baby, busy life, a lot on you. But if it's constant and rest doesn't touch it, mention it to your doctor. Deep, stuck tiredness can be a sign of something worth checking.

The rest of your life

No questions here. Just the truth.

You might be doing this while a baby won't sleep. While someone you love is sick. While things at home are hard. That's real, and it counts.

It doesn't disqualify you from anything. But it's load — the same way a hard workout is load. And load is information. On the weeks life is heavy, this program will feel heavier and move slower. That is not you failing. That's just true.

Go at the pace your body and your life allow. Your guardrail from Foundations still runs the show. When life eases, the running gets easier. Let it.

If the heavy stuff needs support of its own, a therapist or your own people are worth leaning on. That's strength, not the opposite.

Ready

None of this gates you. You can start Phase 1 with every box checked. What these questions do is send the right parts of you to the right people — so when you do run, you're running with the whole team behind you.

Next: the body screen →

Sources

Christopher SM, Donnelly G, Brockwell E, et al. Clinical and exercise professional opinion of return-to-running readiness after childbirth: an international Delphi study and consensus statement. Br J Sports Med 2023. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-107489. (Consensus to screen sleep, mental health, fatigue, and energy availability.)
Moore IS, James ML, Brockwell E, et al. Multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial factors contributing to return to running and running-related stress urinary incontinence in postpartum women. Br J Sports Med 2021;55:1286–1292.
Mountjoy M, Ackerman KE, Bailey DM, et al. 2023 IOC consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). Br J Sports Med 2023;57:1073–1097.
Stellingwerff T, Mountjoy M, McCluskey WT, et al. IOC Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport Clinical Assessment Tool V.2 (IOC REDs CAT2). Br J Sports Med 2023;57:1109–1121.

The questions here are plain-language routing prompts, not validated screening instruments. A "yes" points you toward the right professional — it is not a score or a diagnosis.

Section 1 of 2 · Next: Return-to-Run Screen

First, a few honest questions

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