Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Alexx Stuart is on a mission to help people want to (not *have* to) make changes for the better in their lives.

She launched 'Low Tox Life' back in 2010 a few years after discovering she had a gluten allergy and going on a personal mission to find out what she was putting in, on and around her body.

Since then, Low Tox Life has become a thriving online education hub and Alexx has become a 4x best-selling author and podcast host (with over a million downloads), by the same name.

This is a conversation about conscious choice, hormones & why you should change your pillow :)

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Caroline Buchanan's cycling CV is quite extraordinary.

Not just because she's an 8x World Champion, but also because she has achieved those titles across 2 multiple disciplines within the sport of cycling (3x in BMX and 5x in mountain biking).

She is a 2x Olympian and has now competed at the World Championships in 4 different cycling events.

Off the bike, Caroline is committed to the next generation of cyclists and to encouraging more girls to get into the sport, including through her latest venture; a children's book series called 'Girls Can B'.

Needless to say, she's a woman of many talents - both on and off the bike.

We could have spent the hour just talking about her cycling career, but I wanted to go deeper than that; to discover the mindset and mental strategies she uses to manage her fear (in a risky and potentially dangerous sport) so she can perform on the world stage at her best.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Caroline on Instagram: @cbuchanan68

Eliza Ault Connell was a (self-described) normal kid with a pretty average childhood until she was 16.

It was then, in 1997, she contracted and nearly died from meningococcal disease.

She spent 2 weeks in a coma during which time her parents had to make the heartbreaking decision to amputate both of her legs to save her life.

Eliza later decided to have her fingers amputated for reasons she’ll share in this conversation.

During her recovery, Eliza was introduced to parasports and started as a runner, before she transitioned across to wheelchair racing - and she hasn’t looked back.

She has since won 3 World Championship medals, 3 Commonwealth Games medals and placed 2nd in a demonstration event at the Athens 2004.

After a 10 year break from racing to raise a family, at the age of 36 Eliza returned to the sport to chase her Olympic dreams once more.

And just a few weeks ago, it was announced that Eliza was one of the first 4 athletes selected to represent Australia at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Eliza on Instagram: @elizajane.ac

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

But Lisa Bentley lives it every day.

Lisa is an 11-time Ironman triathlon champion, including 5 straight victories at Ironman Australia.

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 — her attitude — that set her apart.

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

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Lisa on Instagram: @lisa_bentley123

In this episode, we cover what’s happened, professionally and personally, over the last 2 years - including the new ‘hat’ I’m wearing and the work I’m doing as a Performance and Mindset expert (alongside my work here at Sparta Chicks and as an endurance sports coach).

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Jen on Instagram: @spartajen

Jill Wheatley was born in Canada and was working as a Physical Education teacher in Bavaria in September 2014 when she was hit in the head with a ball in a freak accident.

Jill was taken to Emergency but was sent home after only about 15min to nurse what the doctors described as a ‘black eye’.

Unfortunately, she spent the next 48 hours alone, drifting in and out of consciousness before she was found by a friend, rushed back to the hospital where it was discovered she had a fractured skull (amongst other injuries).

2 years, 7 hospitals and 3 countries later, Jill’s black eye never re-opened.

She was left with a traumatic brain injury and only 30% of her vision.

But that was not going to stop Jill from returning to her beloved mountains.

So she set a goal to circumnavigate the world and run not only trails but what she describes as “illustrious mountain ranges” with her “differently-abled” body.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Jill on Instagram: @mtnsofmymind

Amazingly, Chloë didn’t learn how to swim until she was 11.

Yet within 2 years, she was swimming at State level and eventually had her eye on Olympic qualification.

Sadly, that wasn’t to be.

But during her university years, she discovered triathlons which led to marathon swimming.

The year was 2006 and the rest, as they say, is history!

She now holds multiple world records including for the longest ever unassisted swim by any person - a mind-blowing 124.4km which she swam in the Bahamas in 2014.

At the start of 2020, Chloë arrived in England with 31 crossings of the English Channel under her belt, and a plan to break the men’s record of 34 crossings.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Chloë on Instagram: @Chloemccardel

Heather Swan was a very normal, everyday woman with no experience in adventure or even camping until her 30s.

A single mum with a distinguished corporate career, her life probably would have continued on that track until she met the man who is now her husband, Glenn. Glenn was a base jumper - and the rest, as they say, is history.

After doing her first base jump at the age of 40, Heather was gone onto become a wingsuit pilot.

She holds multiple world records (including for the world’s highest wingsuit base jump) and has flown her wingsuit over Sydney Harbour, the Grand Canyon and, most recently, Antarctica.

We discuss fear, risk, self-doubt and the inner critic in this fun conversation.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Heather on Instagram: @heatherjswan

A runner since childhood, Suzy’s (injury-plagued) track career culminated when she competed at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the 800m and 1500m.

In the months that followed, Suzy and her husband moved to Singapore for her work (she was an accountant).

Not long after, and on a whim, she entered a stair running race.

The prize for winning it; a trip to New York to compete in the famous Empire State Building Run-Up, an iconic race that garners media attention from around the world.

And she won — both her first race in Singapore and then her debut at the Empire State Building.

And at the age of 33, a new career as a stair running champion was born.

Since then, she’s gone onto win 10 x titles at the Empire State Building event (the most race victories of any athlete, male or female) as well as 9 x Tower Running World Cup titles.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Suzy on Instagram: @suzywalsham

I could fill a page just listing Samantha Gash’s achievements.

In 2010, and in her first ultramarathon, Sam became the first female and youngest person to complete the Racing the Planet 4 Deserts Grand Slam, running 4 ultra-marathons across the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest deserts on Earth.

That was followed in 2011 by a 222km non-stop race through the Indian Himalayas.

It was during that run across the Himalayas that Sam decided to use her running for a greater purpose.

Since then, she’s run 379km solo, non-stop across the Simpson Desert in Australia as well as 2,000km along South Africa’s Freedom Trail to raise funds and awareness for the work of Save the Children.

Then in 2016, as an ambassador for World Vision, Sam set out on her most ambitious project to date; running across India.

Over 76 days, she ran 3,253km from the west to the east of India and, in the process, raised close to $200,000 to fund 6 programs to improve access to education for children in India.

Sam’s run was capture in an amazing documentary called ‘Run India’.

In this conversation, Sam and I discussed:

- the tipping point when Sam transitioned from running for herself to running for others,

- what inspired the ‘Run India’ project as well as the impact it had on her,

- how running has changed her as a person,

- why she cringes at the word 'inspiration’,

- her experience with the Imposter Complex,

- the power of (and what it means to be) truly committed to a goal.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Sam on Instagram: @samanthagash