Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Lucy Gossage finished last in a cross country race when she was 13 or 14.

And while she didn’t realise it at the time, she now recognises that a fear of failure held her back from participating in any competitive sport until she was talked into doing her 1st triathlon at the age of 26.

Fast forward a few years, she’s now an oncology doctor and former professional triathlete who won 13 x Ironman Championships throughout her career.

Lucy has now returned to working as an oncology doctor part-time while using her available time to chase new experiences outside her comfort zone (like her recent race at Patagonman) while using her platform to drive exercise-related initiatives for cancer patients and thrivers.

In this conversation, we discuss the fear of failure, how suffering is a choice for athletes and the Imposter Complex.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Lucy on Instagram: instagram.com/lucygossage/

Mel joined me on the podcast way back in episode 14 to share her experience of becoming only the 2nd woman ever to complete the Epic 5 - a race consisting of 5 Ironman-distance triathlons on 5 Hawaiian islands over 5 days (you can find that conversation here).

This week, Mel returns to the podcast to share her experience of competing at the Ultraman World Championships on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2018.

Ultraman is a 3 day triathlon, consisting of a 10km swim, 420km riding and an 84km run.

#spoileralert Mel missed the cut-off on Day 2 by 8 minutes (after 12 hours of racing).

Some in the same situation might describe this DNF as a ‘failure’. However, Mel views it as a battle she lost, rather than a ‘failure’.

In this fun conversation, we discuss:

- what her experience at the Epic 5 means to her now (almost 2 years down the track) and how it’s changed how she sees herself,

- her advice to women who struggle with their athletic identity and naming and claiming who and what they are,

- how she found her way through an intense period of experiencing the Imposter Complex in the lead-up to the World Championships,

- how the race at the Ultraman World Championships unfolded including the point at which she realised she may not make the cut-off on day 2,

- why she describes the race as a battle she lost (as opposed to a ‘failure’)

- the incredible event she’s decided to tackle next, and

- her experience of being on the Rich Roll podcast and whether her pesky Imposter showed up too.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Mel on Instagram: instagram.com/rangamel/

Katee Pedicini’s work around hormones and their impact on our health, happiness and performance has been pivotal for many women, myself included.

Katee is the founder of Holistic Endurance and is based in Melbourne. She’s a triathlon coach and self-confessed hormone nerd who specialises in managing fatigue, stress and hormones to achieve not only performance but optimal health and happiness.

And I can hand-on-heart say Katee and her work has changed my life.

Katee has been on the podcast in both 2017 and 2018.

And if you haven’t listened to either conversation (or perhaps you haven’t heard them recently) I’d encourage you to go back and listen to them first as this episode is the 3rd part of a series, and the first 2 conversations will lay the foundations for what we talk about today.

(You can find the previous episodes here and here).

This time, we dive into the importance of recovery and rejuvenation.

Now on the face of it, it may not seem a ‘sexy’ topic. But the importance of this can’t be understated.

You can’t have performance improvements - you can’t get fitter, faster or stronger - without recovery and rejuvenation.

And you certainly can’t have happy hormones, weight, mood and energy balance without it.

Katee has also developed a Rejuvenation Protocol  - which she shares in this conversation - which allows you to track and quantify, via a point score system, your recovery and rejuvenation (and give yourself some bragging rights in the process).

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Katee on Instagram: instagram.com/holisticendurance/

This week, Sparta Chicks Radio celebrates its 2nd birthday (or anniversary).

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 Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina to walk all the way to Barrow, Alaska; a journey of 30,000km /20,000mi across 15 countries that will take her about 5 years.

Yes, years.

Lucy was first on the podcast back in March, 2018 (you can find that episode here).

And in preparing to speak to Lucy for that episode, 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 for a yearly update throughout her expedition.

In this episode, we cover everything that has happened during the 2nd year of Lucy’s expedition, including her experience of crossing the Atacama Desert (the oldest, driest and hottest place on Earth).

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Lucy on Instagram: instagram.com/tanglesandtail/

Julie Howle is a talented triathlete and surgical oncologist.

She's currently the Head of the Melanoma and Sarcoma Multidisciplinary Groups at Westmead Hospital here in Sydney and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney.

Julie is also an Age Group World Champion triathlete, having won her AG at the ITU Long Distance World Championships in 2017. And she's a 2x finisher for the Hawaii Ironman in Kona (in 2017 and 2018).

Plus she’s someone who openly admits that her experience of changing degrees at University “laid the foundation for a lifetime of the imposter syndrome”.

Julie and I discuss:

- how being resilient and focusing on her goals has helped her navigate her experience with the Imposter Complex,

- how the words “World Champion” sit with her,

- why she took almost 10 years from her first triathlon to do her first Ironman,

- why being sick in the week leading up to her 1st Hawaii Ironman at Kona was a good thing,

- how she’s realised getting stuck in ‘comparison’ ruins her enjoyment of the sport,

- sow she (as a melanoma specialist living here in Australia, a country with one of the highest rates of skin cancer) protects her skin from the sun while training and racing, and

- what you need to do to protect and monitor your skin.

Julie is such a softly spoken, humble and genuinely lovely woman. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here https://www.spartachicks.com/radio/

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks

Steph Lowe is a triathlete, Sports Nutritionist and the Founder of the Natural Nutritionist.

Steph was first on the podcast in August, 2018 (episode #69) where we had a wide-ranging discussion about nutrition - specifically the benefits of adopting an LCHF lifestyle on everything from your hormones, weight, PMS, mood, immune system, gut health and even 3:30itis.

I asked Steph to return to the show so we could ‘deep dive’ into one specific health issue that affects millions of women; Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and the impact your diet and nutrition can have (both in contributing to the disease and reversing it).

If you don’t have PCOS, I'd encourage you to keep listening.

Our discussion around PCOS is really part of a broader discussion around the topics of hormones and menstrual cycles and the impact of nutrition, stress, exercise, supplements, the contraceptive pill (amongst other things) on it.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Steph on Instagram: instagram.com/thenaturalnutritionist/ 

Alyssa Godesky is most well-known these days for being a professional triathlete and the co-host of the popular Ironwomen podcast.

What isn’t well known is that she was an ultra marathon runner and trail runner, long before she moved into the world of triathlons.

In 2018, Alyssa returned to her trail running roots and set out on a mission to break the Fastest Known Time (or FKT) on the Vermont Long Trail in the United States, a 273mi / 440km trail which traverses the State of Vermont from north to south.

Now if you saw the film ‘Finding Traction’ on Netflix last year, you know more about the Vermont Long Trail than you might think...

That film follows legendary trail runner, Nikki Kimball, on her attempt to break the (men’s) record on the Vermont Long Trail.

#spoileralert Nikki misses the men’s record but smashes the women’s record.

It turns out that watching ‘Finding Traction’ lit the spark in Alyssa to wonder if she could do it.

Fast forward a few years and in 2018 (#spoileralert), Alyssa set a new women’s record of 5 days, 2 hours & 37min, taking over 5 hours off Nikki’s record!

In this conversation we discuss:

- the self-doubt and fear of failure that nearly stopped the project before she’d even started,

- the strategies she used to avoid slipping into comparison with Nikki (who is, on paper, by far the more talented and experienced runner),

- the sleep deprivation she experienced (after having only 17 hours of sleep in 5 days), and

- the (surprising) impact the run (and the stress from it) had on her body, hormonally.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks

Follow Alyssa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyssagodesky/

At 20, Jana Pittman became the Commonwealth Games Champion in the gruelling 400m Hurdles event and, at 21, the World Champion.

By the end of her athletics career, she’d competed at 2 Olympic Games, won 2 x World Championships and 4 x Commonwealth Games Gold medals.

Then in a transition that surprised many people, she switched sports!

She took up the bobsled and represented Australia at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, becoming the 1st able-bodied Australian woman to compete at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Now, she’s finally pursuing her childhood ambition to become a doctor - not in sport’s medicine however but as a gynecologist (or “vagina doctor” to use her words).

In between all of that, she’s experienced and survived toxic relationships, a 13 year battle with bulimia and disordered eating, miscarriages, IVF, breast implants, struggles with breastfeeding and retirement as well as a cervical cancer scare - all of which is documented in her real, raw and vulnerable autobiography.

In this conversation, we discuss everything from how she started running as a way to spend time with her Dad, why she describes the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as one of the highlights of her career as well as busting stigmas around women’s health and the symptoms you should talk to your doctor about.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks

Follow Jana on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janapittman400/ 

An active, sporty child, it wasn’t until Kate was in her late 20s that she discovered mountain biking and quickly fell in love with both the physical demands of the sport, but also the strong technical and strategic elements of it.

In 2010, Kate lined up at the start of her first race on her entry level bike, complete with bell and reflectors; it also happened to be a mixed pairs team in a 24 hour mountain bike.

Her team won their category and a love affair with 24 hour racing was born.

She’s now the 2x Australian Champion and has competed at 5 World Championships, finishing inside the top 5 in every year since 2014.

In this conversation, we discuss:

- the mind games and self-doubt that troubled her early career,

- her frustration at being ‘so close but so far’ after finishing in the Top 5 at the World Championships every year for the last 4 years,

- the constant struggle between worrying about things you can control vs things you can’t (and how when you wholeheartedly let go of concern over the things you can’t control, you can not only produce your best race but be deeply proud of it),

- why she relishes the challenge of proving people wrong,

- the power of choice and the importance of being aware of how you are directing your energy,

- her experience with the Imposter Complex, especially when wearing the green and gold Australian Champion jersey for the first time, and

- whether she has any sense of ‘unfinished business’ after her performance at the World Championship in Scotland in 2018.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Kate on Instagram: instagram.com/katepenglase_mtb/ 

Perhaps the most powerful question you can ask yourself is - what do I need?

There is no-one better equipped to help us answer that question than Kemi Nekvapil.

Kemi is, quite simply, a force of nature.

A pioneer in the raw food movement in Australia, Kemi is now an accredited executive and personal coach.

She’s committed to helping women like you and I change how we feel about ourselves and how we express ourselves, so we can set boundaries and pursue what we want from life, without guilt or apology.

She’s also a powerful speaker as those who attended Sparta Chicks Unleashed 2018 will attest.

Plus she’s a trail and ultra marathon runner. Kemi has completed 11 x marathon distances races, plus a 100km race, the Surf Coast Century, in 2016. So she ‘gets’ us!

Kemi was my ‘secret weapon’ during 2018.  She was my coach for 6 months throughout the year and I can hand-on-heart say Sparta Chicks Unleashed would not have happened if not for her support.

In this conversation we discuss:

- what an underwear shopping trip at 13 with her fifth set of foster parents taught her a powerful lesson about choice,

- how she was able to reach a point of having ‘presence’ and unshakeable confidence,

- the powerful realisation that led her into executive and personal coaching,

- how she discovered running and what trail running gives her,

- whether our difficulties with asking for help is the reason so many women (myself included) arrive in our 30s and 40s and realise we’ve lost a bit of ourselves and we don’t know who we are or what we like anymore,

- how setting boundaries and asking for what you need in a clean and clear way empowers other people to do the same,

- what Kemi would like you to do in 2019 in order to thrive (and also why you’re also allowed to pivot once you’ve decided).

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

—

Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

Follow Sparta Chicks Radio on Facebook: facebook.com/SpartaChicks 

Follow Kemi on Instagram: instagram.com/keminekvapil/