Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Hearing Pip Candrick share her love of trail running, it’s hard to believe she only took up the sport in her late 40s after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

To regain her health after treatment, Pip joined a gym that challenged her to set a goal.

She picked running a Half Marathon which, she says, ‘…was just ridiculous. I don’t know why it came out of my mouth’.

Pip quickly fell in the love with the sport, and discovered a surprising side effect of her long runs.

During a long run one day in preparation for her first Half Marathon, she suddenly had memories (she didn’t realise she’d lost) come flooding back. She credits her long runs with ‘restoring her brain’.

Since then, Pip’s gone on to finish multiple races including the 100km race at Ultra Trail Australia as well as the Husky Long Course triathlon (a Half Ironman/70.3 distance race).

Of course, her recovery and life haven’t been without challenges.

Pip experiences seizures and hasn’t (until only recently) been able to head out the door for a run by herself.

It’s a freedom she desperately misses. And I can’t help but think it’s something the rest of us - myself included - take for granted.

Pip’s story reminds me of the importance of not taking life for granted, of trusting your gut instinct and the power of sports as a vehicle for healing (physically, mentally and emotionally).

Elly is a marathon runner and nutritionist who (at the time of recording this conversation in 2018) worked with Steph Lowe (episode 69) at The Natural Nutritionist.

Elly first explored an LCHF (lower carb, healthy fat) protocol after various health issues caused her to question the traditional approach to nutrition she’d been taught at University (including the (in)famous food pyramid).

After working in the United States, Elly decided to adopt a vegan diet.

But soon found that it wasn’t conducive for her to thrive as a marathon runner.

Now Elly’s the first to admit many athletes thrive using a vegan or vegetarian protocol, but she realised she isn’t one of them.

Elly’s experience is a great example of why it’s important to personalise your approach to training and nutrition, rather than simply adopting what’s popular or what your friends are doing.

In many ways, this episode is an extension of my conversation with Steph Lowe and previous episodes with Katee Pedicini in that we discuss nutrition, fat adaptation, hormones and an LCHF lifestyle.

I should also mention: I am neither vegan nor vegetarian!

But there’s no denying there are massive benefits (for us and for the environment) to be gained when we add more plant-based foods to our diet. So even if you are carnivorous like me, I know you’ll benefit from listening to this episode.

We begin by discussing how Elly’s love of nutrition developed in High School and how she discovered running in her early 20s.

After that, we dive into discuss specific considerations that vegan or vegetarian athletes need to consider.

Then in the second half, we explore broader issues that are relevant to all athletes, regardless of what diet you adopt.

An age group mountain biker and mum of 3 in her 40s, Kate was scrolling through Instagram while breastfeeding her youngest daughter in 2017 when she saw a competition by Liv Cycling (an incredible women’s cycling brand) for a spot in their Trail Squad; the prize included a new bike and entry to a mountain bike stage race somewhere around the world.

Needing a goal or something for herself, she decided to enter the competition.

Then one Sunday, months later she opened her email to find out she had won and that she was off to the Cape Epic — one of the hardest mountain bikes races in the world.

Held in South Africa, the Cape Epic is considered the Tour de France of the mountain bike world.

It’s an 8 day stage race with 100km+ days in the saddle, in the heat, dust and dirt of South Africa with around 15,000m of climbing (that’s nearly 2x the height of Everest).

Kate’s first reaction was ‘I was honestly petrified. My first thought was: “there is no way I can do that”.’

Then she took a deep breath and said ‘yes’.

Grant Giles is obsessed with understanding what happens between an athlete’s ears.

Grant has 25+ years of experience in triathlons, starting with a 14 year career as an elite athlete. He then turned to coaching and ultimately developed some of Australia’s most successful professional triathletes.

These life experiences - together with his own struggles with anxiety - led him to become obsessed with understanding what happens between an athlete’s ears.

These days, Grant runs Sports Supports, a business that closes the gap between psychology and sport by providing mind-body coaching to athletes.

The core of his philosophy is to develop ‘awakened athletes’ which he describes in his conversation as ‘somebody who is aware that they are more than the content of their thinking and can stand apart from their thinking and can actually enquire into it; ask questions of it, analyse it, or drop it all together.’

Grant’s approach can, I think, be summarised by: “don’t believe everything you think”.

Ellie Greenwood is ultra running royalty. I also got the impression from our chat that she’s incredibly humble and I suspect that description may not sit comfortably with her  — but it’s the truth.

A 2x winner of one of the world’s most famous and revered races, the Western States Endurance Run 100 (that’s 100mi/160km).

In 2012, she also smashed the course record — a record that stood for 11 years and was only broken in 2023 by Courtney Dauwalter!

She’s also a 2x winner of the World 100km Championship and in 2014 she also won the Comrades Marathon, an 89km race in South Africa, regarded as the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon.

While we touch on those races in this conversation, we spend much of our time behind-the-scenes, with Ellie sharing:

- how her athletic identity changed from someone who ran for fun to that of a ‘semi-professional’ and potential winner,

- how you don’t need to have the ‘perfect race’ to achieve the best result you can,

- her struggle with injuries and her advice on how to get your running ‘fix’ when you’re injured and how to remain optimistic when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,

- how it took her 2nd win at the Western States 100 for her to finally call herself a 100-mile runner, and

- whether she secretly crosses her fingers and hopes that no-one breaks her record at the Western States 100 each year.

If you follow Tracey on social media, you would have seen stunning photos from her work assignments in Far North Queensland, Jordan, Finland, Sweden, South Africa and Botswana over the past 12 months.

Of course, social media is just the highlight reel. It doesn’t show the full story.

Tracey bravely shares that story (for the first time) in this conversation.

Back in 2016, Tracey realised she was experiencing some hearing loss. After 9 months of searching for answers, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. “A very good tumour in a very shit place” as she describes it.

In this conversation:

* how Tracey got into travel journalism and how she discovered mountain biking,

* her advice for women who are interested in learning to ride a mountain bike  (simply, don’t be put off by the crazy Youtube videos)

* what she’s learnt from travelling to places such as Jordan, Palestine and Afghanistan  that are portrayed as “dangerous” in the media,

* the symptoms that led her to visit her doctor as well as her diagnosis and treatment plan,

* why she named her tumour ‘Timmy”, and

* how she has used the mindfulness of mountain biking to clear her head.

Back in episode #17, Hayley shared her story and experience of becoming the first person - male or female -  to kayak the length of the Clarence River.

The longest river system on the east coast of Australia, the journey of 400km took Hayley 2 weeks to complete.

If you haven’t listened to that conversation (recently), I’d encourage you to go back and listen to our initial conversation first — as it is our starting point for this chat. 

Hayley had only completed her journey about 5 or 6 days before we spoke and shared it felt quite surreal to think an expedition 2 years in the planning was over. 

So we begin this week's conversation by discussing whether time and hindsight have changed her perception of what she learnt from that experience.

Then we dive into Hayley’s next big adventure.

And I have to be honest, I didn’t know much of the details going into this conversation.

All I knew was that it involved a kayak, a river in Tasmania, and that she was taking her two boys, aged 7 and 5, with her.

We also talk about everything from the logistics and challenges associated with taking kids into the outdoors, mother’s guilt and why it is altruistic and not selfish for women - and especially mothers - to pursue their goals and full their cup a little bit every day.

Plus we discuss the power of visualisations, risk minimisation, the danger of complacency and why it’s important to have a series of “rivers” - times we step out of our comfort zone and grow into something that’s a bit scary and unknown - throughout life.

Back in 2007, Heather Hawkins was, by her own admission, a desperately unfit and busy mum of 2.

Then one day she visited her doctor after noticing some unusual symptoms she had initially attributed to the ‘middle age’ spread, enjoying Christmas a little too much and even menopause.

A scan later the same day revealed the shocking news - Heather was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Fortunately, Heather has not only survived but thrived in the years since. And just 6 years ago took up running.

She then she’s gone on to finish the North Pole Marathon, the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days), the Volcano Marathon in Chile as well as the Marathon des Sables, a 250km, 7 day stage race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco.

Plus she’s hiked the 1,700km Great Himalaya Trail across the Nepalese Himalayas with her children.

As part of my commitment to focus on women’s health, we dive into her diagnosis, treatment and recovery from ovarian cancer before discussing how running has helped her unlock her ‘adventurous spirit’ again.

“Attitude is more important than fact” might seem like one of those weary and overused motivational slogans.

But Lisa Bentley lives it every day.

A member of the Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame, Lisa is an 11 time Ironman triathlon champion, including 5 straight victories at Ironman Australia (2002 - 2006).

She also has cystic fibrosis - a genetic lung disease that results in chronic infections with limited lung capacity.

Lisa was diagnosed in 1989 at the age of 20, when the average life expectancy for those with cystic fibrosis in Canada, was also 20.

The facts would suggest Lisa was never meant to excel at endurance sports.

She’s the first to admit she wasn’t the most talented athlete around, especially given her limited lung capacity.

But it was Lisa’s approach to the mental and emotional side of sport -- and her attitude -- that set her apart.

We dive into her story and the tools she used to build that mental fitness in this conversation.

In April 2018, Steph became the first British woman to circumnavigate the world and ride a motorbike (affectionately called Rhonda the Honda) on all 7 continents — yes, including Antarctica!

This journey covered 120,000km / 74,000 miles, across 53 countries, and took 4 years to complete.

In this conversation, Steph and I discuss:

* why you sometimes feel lost and unfulfilled despite achieving the goal you’ve set for yourself,

* how she planned the logistics of her 4 year trip,

* why people enjoy helping — and why you should ask for it,

* her experience with the Imposter Complex the day she started her ride in London,

* how she has learnt to manage her thoughts when others share their fears and doubts with her (including when someone said to her: “you’ve bitten off more than you can chew”). Notice the language she uses: I choose to believe I’ll be ok,

* her experience riding through Iran when it was illegal for women to do so,

* the experience of getting Rhonda the Honda to Antarctica on a 60’ foot sailing yacht, and then home via a Russian icebreaker,

* the times she thought about quitting and her fears of not finishing the ride, especially when injuries left her in considerable pain,

* the difference between quitting because you’ve given up or because it’s a conscious decision, and

* the expedition she is leading in 2019 - taking the first group of all-women bikers to Everest Base Camp in Tibet