A few weeks before recording this conversation in 2022, Sparta Chicks Radio celebrated its 5th birthday. 

And there is no one I’d rather share that celebration with than this week’s return guest, Lucy Barnard! 

Lucy is attempting to become the 1st woman to walk the length of the world.

She set off in February 2017 from Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina to walk to Barrow, Alaska; a journey of 30,000km /20,000mi across 15 countries that she anticipated would take about 5 years. 

When Lucy first joined me on the podcast in March 2018, I realised we share a unique connection; we both started our respective journeys - Lucy started walking and I published the first podcast - on the very same day in 2017.

That conversation turned into our first anniversary / birthday celebration and we agreed to catch up each year for an update on her progress! 

Needless, the pandemic has interrupted her plans again in 2021. 

But that wasn’t going to stop us from talking - and in fact, this could be my favourite of all our conversations! It’s very different from our previous conversations. 

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss everything from what happens when you’re derailed or blindsided by things outside your control to identity, goal setting, values, fear, comparison, self-reflection and the power of community.

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This episode also included the announcement that I was taking a sabbatical from Sparta Chicks Radio. Since then, I made the decision to close the door on my coaching and the podcast. A bittersweet decision for me - yet there is no one I would have rather ended the podcast with than Lucy.

Thanks for listening and for your support over the years,

With love,

Jen xx

Today you’re going to meet the awesome Gill Castle (you’ll understand the significance of the ‘awesome’ once you listen to this conversation!

Gill describes herself as a very ordinary person and Police Officer before the birth of her son in 2011 changed her life. 

His premature birth left her with traumatic injuries, the full extent of which weren’t identified by doctors for 5 days. Those injuries included a fistula, a hole in the wall between her rectum and vagina that left her with faecal incontinence and needing to use a stoma bag (a colostomy bag) for the rest of her life.

A very long physical and mental recovery followed.

Then one day she read an article - she’ll tell you about it in this conversation - that changed the trajectory of her life. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, she’s done triathlons, scuba dived, skydived, sea kayaked and taken up ocean swimming.

And now she’s training for her next challenge: 5 years ago Gill couldn’t swim in the ocean without opening her eyes and now she’s training to swim across the English Channel!

You might be tempted to call her an inspiration, but she actually hates that term. She describes herself as the most ordinary person who just had a life-changing experience that has made her appreciate everything and want to try everything. 

And she will leave you wanting to do the same.

Kate Bevilaqua returns to Sparta Chicks Radio this week!

Kate is an endurance coach, triathlete, an Ultraman Triathlon World Champion and the first woman in history to win an Ultraman triathlon event overall. She shared her story in episode 3 of the podcast.

However one topic we didn’t explore in that conversation is that Kate is also a coach. 

In fact, the idea for this conversation came from one of her athletes who also happens to be one of our most popular podcast guests - ⁠Melissa Urie⁠!

So this episode, Kate shares her experience as a coach and we discuss, from a coach’s perspective, working with athletes towards ultra events.

Even if you aren’t training for an ultra-distance event, I have no doubt you’ll benefit from Kate’s wisdom regardless of what distance or event you are training for.  

In this conversation Kate shares:

* how to find the right coach,

* some of the biggest mistakes athletes make when setting goals or choosing races, 

* the importance of having a strong ‘why’ (and how to work out if your ‘why’ is strong enough)

* how you only need to do 85% of your program and why you shouldn’t feel guilty if you don’t or can’t tick every box on your program

* how to decide when to push through your fatigue and train versus when you should rest, 

* how to make sure you can fit your training around your life, 

* the biggest mistakes athletes make in training, and

* her advice on how to handle pre-race nerves (and yes, Kate still struggles with them too after 16 years of racing as a professional!).

* how to prevent spiralling mentally when things get tough on race day.

This week on the podcast I’m delighted to welcome Bonnie Hancock.

This episode is very timely because today - December 19 - Bonnie sets out on an epic quest: to paddle her surf ski around Australia. 

Her goal: to become the fastest and youngest person to do it.

It’s a journey of 16,000km that will take her around 6 months, along some of the most remote parts of Australia and not to mention through (in places) shark and crocodile-infested waters.

Bonnie grew up in the same coastal town of Sawmill and was joining in activities at her local surf club from the time she was 5. 

At the age of 17, she (and her sister Courtney) moved to the Gold Coast to train and attempt to join the professional (surf life saving) Ironwoman series here in Australia which she did, just a few months later.

After competing in the professional ranks for close to a decade (and a bout of overtraining and burnout), Bonnie switched her attention to ocean ski paddling and finished the Molokai Challenge - a 52km ocean ski race between the islands of Molokai and Oahu in Hawaii, finishing fifth - in her first race in the sport.

Sometime later, she read a book written by the first woman to paddle around Australia, the seed was planted and the rest, as they say, is history!

Jo Lum is a Sydney-based triathlete and busy mum who has been a regular on the triathlon scene in Sydney for years.

Jo and her friend Katie were originally training for Ironman Australia in 2020.

That race was postponed 4 times - twice in 2020 and then twice in 2021 - before it was eventually cancelled.

So Jo and Katie decided not to let their fitness go to waste and designed and completed a DIY Ironman distance event in May 2021.

They swam 3.8km in a pool, then hopped on their bikes and rode 180km primarily along bike paths, before heading to their respective homes to finish their ‘race’ by running 42km around their neighbourhoods.

There were even race bibs, finisher’s t-shirts and (to their surprise) finisher's medals!

I’ve shared this story multiple times over the last few months because it’s a powerful example of two important things: focusing on what you can control and asking for help (and being willing to accept it when offered). 

I’m delighted to welcome Dr Anita Heiss to Sparta Chicks Radio this week

Anita is a proud member of the Wiradjuri Nation of central New South Wales and one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors. 

She has written 18 books including her latest novel, an epic tale called Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (or River of Dreams).

It’s also the first time in Australia, a commercially published book has used a First Nations language for the title.

Anita enjoys eating chocolate, running and being a 'creative disruptor'.

Initially, I wanted to talk to Anita to explore her running career and how she uses running as a tool to support herself and her work. 

Yet the more research I did, the more I realised I wanted to speak to her about:

-  awareness, history and truth-telling, 

- the importance of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and 

- the power of using your voice, sharing your story and telling your truth.

I’m delighted to welcome Dr Erin Ayala to the podcast this week.

Erin is a Licensed Psychologist, a certified Mental Performance Consultant and is listed as a licensed mental health provider on the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Mental Health Register. 

What I love about Erin’s perspective is that it’s holistic: she recognises that daily life, health and athletic performance are intertwined and inseparable from one another.

When she’s not at work, Erin is also an endurance athlete (having completed 9 marathons and 1 Ironman) and these days is focused on life as an elite cyclist. 

On top of that, she recently co-founded a cycling team called Stamina Racing Collective which prioritises people who would traditionally struggle to find a home in cycling (especially, black, indigenous, people of colour and non-binary and trans athletes)

In this conversation, we discuss the power of values, the difficult decisions she had made based on those values and her surprising definition of self-care.

You’ll meet Lauren Tischendorf on Sparta Chicks Radio this week.

In 2021, Lauren because the first woman to swim around Lord Howe Island - a distance of 32.2km that she completed in 13 hours and 50 minutes. Lauren’s story is captured in an award-winning documentary called "I Just Went For a Swim”.

Lauren is a school teacher by day and an endurance athlete outside school hours.

An ultra-marathon runner, she started focusing on her ocean swimming about 5 years ago.

In that time, she’s become an accomplished ocean swimmer and is the reigning 5km ocean swimming champion of NSW.

And yet, an off-handed comment by another swimmer about the fact she couldn’t keep up with them prompted her to ask herself what she was capable of.

The result: a 32km swim around the shark-infested waters of Lord Howe Island.

Lucy Bloom is an award-winning leader, international keynote speaker, consultant and author. 

Her website says that “she uses her superpowers for writing and speaking about courage, trust, failure, change, maverick thinking, generosity and fun” -- all of which makes her the perfect guest for Sparta Chicks Radio!

Lucy went from being a volunteer to the CEO and founding director of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia) that raised funds to support the extraordinary work of Dr Catherine Hamlin to treat and prevent terrible childbirth injuries in Africa.

So she has a heart as big as the hot pink mohawk that she proudly rocks. 

She is honest, funny and open and I knew she’d be the perfect guest, even before I read her brilliant memoir ‘Get The Girls Out’ (which I highly recommend).

In this conversation, we discuss confidence, change, scars, bouncing back from setbacks and why she doesn’t worry about what other people think.

This week on Sparta Chicks Radio, I’m delighted to welcome data scientist, athlete and the Founder and CEO of Wild.ai, Helene Guillaume.

Helene has combined her vast experience to found Wild.ai, an organisation dedicated to supporting active women through every phase of life.

There are two things I love and admire about Helene’s work. 

First, the brilliant Wild.ai app gives you personalised training, nutrition and sleep recommendations based on your specific physiology. 

And secondly, Helene has also established a research department within Wild.ai that carries out groundbreaking research on women’s health (including a study currently underway about the impact of the Covid vaccines on women).

Helene is a talented athlete in her own right - she has done everything from trail ultras to triathlons to ice swimming to rugby and surfing. 

And she’s a data scientist who studied mathematics, her background was in using algorithms and AI to make smart investment decisions. 

She now brings her vast experience to help you understand your body and to maximise your potential.