Everything Endurance

Kristina Schou Madsen hasn't been ultra-running for very long but has progressed at amazing speed (no pun intended). Alongside representing Denmark as a Trail Runner, Kristina was first female at the Beyond the Ultimate Jungle Ultra in 2016.

On the 23rd February this year Kristina broke a World Record, becoming the fastest female runner to ever summit Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the African continent. She achieved this in an astonishing time of 6hrs 52mins. That's a mountain just shy of 6000 metres high conquered in record time by an exceptional athlete training in a country where the highest peak is under 200 metres.

Kris and Will hear all about Kristina's record-breaking run and discuss South American snakes, English Spiders and Will's inappropriate photo.

Dr Al Ruddock is a physiologist at Sheffield Hallam University with a wealth of experience in sport science. He has worked with a range of individual athletes and teams from FIFA World Cup referee Howard Webb to the Commonwealth games medal winning England Table Tennis team. He has also worked extensively in Boxing, helping Kid Galahad achieve his British, Commonwealth and European Titles and, more recently, Kell Brook's IBF welterweight world title victory.

Doctor Al's first appearance last year was our second most popular episode so we basically had to agree to have him back. This time around Al and Kris discuss what makes an elite athlete, focussing on Mo Farah's transition to Marathon and on Sheffield's own Jess Ennis-Hill.

This is part one of a three-part series focussing on this subject. Al has provided a physiological perspective and we'll soon be bringing you some nutritional science facts and taking a look at the psychology of these amazing athletes.

In this episode, we talk adaptations, training tips and whether Derbyshire tea is a thing.

Season Two begins with a great guest (not that they aren't all great)!Damian Hall has been a sports journalist with a passion for the outdoors for over 15 years. Back in 2011, he ran his first half-marathon and something clicked. Skip on to 2017 and Damian has been on the podium at The Spine, the Dragon's Back and the 2016 British Athletics Ultra Trail Championships. He has also made the top 20 of the UTMB twice and has the Fastest Known Time for completing the 630-mile South West Coast Path.

It's been a meteoric rise for somebody who came to running relatively late and Will and Kris take full advantage of the opportunity to talk about his journey and through some of the highlights of his career. And to test out Kris' new professional podcast production equipment.

Sean Conway is an endurance adventurer, author and motivational speaker. He is also the owner of arguably the greatest beard in Britain.

He was the first person to cycle, swim, and run the length of Great Britain, from Land's End to John o'Groats. In 2016 he completed the world's longest triathlon, a 4,200 mile journey around the coast of Britain all without accumulating barnacles.

Kris and Will managed to catch Sean between adventures and discuss motivation, becoming an adventurer, pink helmet records and, of course, facial hair.

Jeff Smith is an adventurer, former professional Ice Hockey player and all round lovely bloke. He is also the founder of bigmoose.co. Oh, and he recently climbed Everest.

The idea for bigmoose was born out of a very sad event in Jeff's life, the death of his best friend. That event made him, in his own words, vow to get the most out of every minute of his time on planet Earth.

This has led Jeff into some amazing adventures, (did we mention he recently climbed Everest at all!) and to create Bigmoose, a non-profit organisation with a very clear intention - do fun stuff that inspires people to live better, healthier, kinder lives.

In this episode Jeff and Kris discuss adventure, overcoming adversity and injury and the pros and cons of baldness. Oh and climbing Everest. Did we mention he just climbed Everest?

Sit back somewhere comfortable or prepare for a long steady run, this man tells a great story...

Adam Kimble ran his first 5km race in 2009 which resulted in a second place in his age group, some painful cramps and the beginning of a life of running based adventure!

Since then he has progressed quickly. Among others his race CV includes coming third in the Yellowstone-Teton 100 in 2014, winning the Gobi March and setting a course record in 2015 and placing second in the 2016 Burning River 100.

2016 turned out to be a massive year with Adam making an attempt at the trans-american world record. The injuries unfortunately put a stop to his push for the record he continued on his way and successfully made it from one ocean to the other in 60 days. If that weren't enough he also spent 60 days stranded alone in the wilderness for Discovery channel's survival show, The Wheel.

In this episode Will, Kris and Kimbledore talk about all of the above and King and Kimble's upcoming Great British Adventure. The pair are heading out in July to run from John O'Groats to Lands End, taking in the 3 highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales along the way, in 31 days.

After running LEJOG, barefoot and unsupported, Aleks made a choice. To pick a life with a backpack and some sandals and a spirit of adventure over a secure life with a good income. With that in mind he left the UK in August 2016 to run from the northernmost to the southernmost point of Europe with nothing but the sandals on his feet and the kit on his back.

The former Science teacher ran through freezing cold conditions and rough terrain taking in the incredible variety of conditions which Europe offers as he trekked from the cold of the Arctic to a point within site of the African continent. Aleks faced new and often tough challenges at every step, each of which he has faced with charm, courage and a perfectly reasonable amount of swearing.

In this episode of our podcast we discuss the benefits of barefoot running, the trials and tribulations of running an entire continent and of the fear inducing challenge Aleks has set for the near future.

Brett kickstarted Exile Medics back in 2009 as a way to travel the world as a doctor. Starting in Brazil as a race doctor in the Amazon rain forest, his experience now covers every type of environment and terrain all over the world.

Exile Medics takes enthusiastic medical professionals to the world's most challenging environments to provide medical support for expeditions and the most extreme events on the planet. Doctors of all grades, nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and medical students have worked together on every Exile Medics project, and more are becoming available all the time.

Those who have taken part in our races, or the many others where the Exiles can be found, will know how invaluable they are. This amazing team have kept countless runners going against the odds and are a friendly face found a checkpoints scattered throughout races around the world.

In this episode Kris and Brett get through a ton of practical advice for runners in extreme environments and, with our own Jungle Ultra just around the corner, focus on rain forest survival tactics!

On the 14th of June 2010 Leigh Timmis left Derby, UK. This was the beginning of a circumnavigation of the world he thought would take around 3 years. In late April 2017, after 7 years in which he covered more than 40000 miles, he came home.

Will chats to this amazing traveler about his epic journey in which he endured raging storms at sea, freezing mountain passes, the sweltering outback and a run in with the Tibetan police. Leigh saw some of the world's most amazing sights and made friends and encountered people and cultures who would change his life forever.

At the beginning of 2016 you could accurately have described Will as an overweight punk rock guitarist, a real ale enthusiast, and a kebab aficionado. Very occasionally you could have thrown in 'reluctant jogger'.

Over the following year he dropped 16kgs (2.5 stone) and ran his first half marathon, marathon and ultras. By March 1st 2017 he'd finished the Ice Ultra as first Briton, coming sixth overall in a foot race through 230km of arctic tundra.

I'm writing about myself here and it's a bit creepy. So maybe just listen to the podcast to hear about my training journey, Kris' approach to coaching me and all the highs and lows of what came to be known as Project Baldlygo!

In this mid-season special we break from the norm. Rather than Will and Kris bringing a guest in for the podcast to talk about their adventures, this week Kris interviews Will about his.