Just a little note to let you know that I’m planning to pause the blog over the summer, so I can spend more time with my family. I’ll be back in September with more great interviews, but until then you can stay in the loop via my Instagram: www.instagram.com/lessonsinbadassery.
In the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, climber Janja Garnbret had the perfect 2019 competitive season. She won every single bouldering World Cup on the circuit – achieving a world first. It was the ideal lead into an Olympic year for the Slovenian athlete, who is widely considered the greatest competitive climber of all time. But then Covid hit, and the Olympics was postponed.
During this high-stress period, filmmakers followed Janja, along with fellow female Olympic climbing hopefuls Shauna Coxsey, Brooke Raboutou and Miho Nonako, through Olympic qualifiers, lockdown training and covid uncertainty, to the Olympics. The result is the brilliant film, The Wall – Climb for Gold(available to watch on Netflix), which documents their Olympic journey and the incredible pressure they shouldered to get there.
To celebrate the launch of the film, I put some questions to 23-year-old Janja, who is a six-time world champion, 32-time World Cup winner, the first woman to onsight 5.14b and, of course, the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in climbing.
I’m thrilled to welcome hybrid athlete and sports dietitian Corinna Coffin to Lessons in Badassery! If it’s fitness, strength or endurance related, Corinna’s likely completed it – from triathlons, CrossFit and Hyrox, to podium spots at Spartan Games, Tough Mudder X and DekaFit, amongst others. Not to mention being the Season 5 female champion of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge. Phew!
The American multi-sport athlete and nutrition coach recently added the USA’s Tactical Games (intense military fitness challenges combined with shooting) to the list. In this Q&A, Corinna shares her thoughts on this new-to-her competitive event, plus we cover the Spartan Games, nutrition, and how she trains for such a diverse roster of races and competitions. Thank you, Corinna!
Athlete Katie Knight has competed across multiple endurance sports and strength disciplines – from ultramarathons (2nd woman at the 50-mile Bryce Canyon Ultra) and extreme triathlons to CrossFit, Hyrox, and GoRuck (which she won this year). However, she’s best known within the OCR community for notching up 90 miles to win World’s Toughest Mudder 2021 in only her second 24-hour race. Oh, and coming third at the 2021 Spartan Ultra World Championships – her first ever Spartan race!
So how does Katie train as a hybrid athlete? I got the lowdown via this email Q&A.
Former 2019 IRONMAN Age Group world champion, Ruth Astle, has been on fire since she turned pro in 2020, scoring two big wins at IRONMAN Mallorca and IRONMAN South Africa in 2021. However, her best result yet came just a couple of weeks ago, when she came fifth in the world in the pro field at the IRONMAN World Championships, held this year in St. George, Utah.
In this Q&A, Ruth, who is a professional triathlete with INCUS Performance, discusses the brutal St. George course (which includes 7,377ft of climbing on the bike alone), how she manages to train whilst working part-time, and what’s involved in her upcoming pacing duties for fellow Brit Kat Matthew’s Sub8* attempt on the 5-6th June.
*Kat Matthews will attempt to become the first woman to complete a full iron-distance triathlon in under 8 hours.
Today, it’s a quick-fire Q&A with rising short course triathlon star and Belgian Olympian, Valerie Barthelemy. Valerie grew up in the US and brought the fruits of an early swimming specialism to her newfound triathlon career when she turned pro in 2015.
Since then, she’s been a regular fixture in the World Triathlon Series, Triathlon World Cup, Super League Triathlon and Arena Games circuits, with a notable third-place finish in the Arena Games Rotterdam 2020, a fifth place in the Tokyo Olympics Mixed Relay and a 10th place in the Tokyo Olympics Elite Women’s race. There’s more to come from the 361° ambassador, so watch this space. In the meantime, have a read of our Q&A.
Six years ago, Katy Parrott graced our screens alongside 21 other ‘recruits’ in series two of the BBC’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week. Based on the Special Forces’ ‘Hell Week’, the experience involved relentless ‘beastings’, mind games and severe sleep deprivation. The life-changing two-week experience (in which she was a finalist) inspired Katy to join the Army Reservists as a medic and led her to take on more endurance-based challenges.
Now 30, those challenges include running multiple ultramarathons (including a 3rd place finish at the 100km Cotswold Way), coming 2nd woman at the World Burpee Games, and summitting Mount Kazbek in Georgia. Most recently, Katy came fourth overall in the inaugural Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra 185km, a non-stop winter race in deepest Swedish Lapland. This was Katy’s first event after major knee reconstruction surgery in 2020, and the Montane athlete kindly took time out to give me the lowdown on her experience in this Q&A.
A track athlete from a young age, Kadeena Cox was a promising sprinter when she suffered from a stroke at the age of 23. Just four months later, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition where the immune system attacks the brain and nerves. An intense rehabilitation period followed, and whilst using a Wattbike as part of her rehab, Kadeena discovered she had a naturally impressive power output.
Spotting her talent, British Cycling snapped her up, and incredibly, just 18 months later, Kadeena joined Team GB at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Competing in athletics and cycling, she made history with gold medal wins and new world records in the T38 Athletics 400m and the C4 Cycling 500m TT, becoming the first Briton since 1984 to podium in two different sports at the same Games. Fast-forward to today, and Kadeena is a four-time Paralympic gold medallist, most recently setting a new world record in cycling’s C4-5 500m Time Trial at the Tokyo Olympics.
In this Q&A, EatLean ambassador Kadeena talks through her MS diagnosis and its impact on her performance, plus she shares more about the KC Academy, which she’s set up to help improve diversity and inclusion within cycling.
British golfer Mel Reid first picked up a club at the age of 11. By 13, she’d been scouted by England Golf, and by 21 was playing as a professional. Now living in Jacksonville, Florida with her fiancée Carly, the 34-year-old ellesse athlete has seven pro wins to her name, including the LPGA’s ShopRite Classic in 2020.
A passionate campaigner for inclusion and equality within the sport, Mel chats about the challenges women golfers face regarding sponsorship, plus we cover the physical training required to be a first-class golfer, the mental focus required, and more.
Ultrarunner Elizabeth Crow’s passion for running inspired her to write a bucket list of endurance adventures in her thirties, but it wasn’t until more than a decade (and two kids) later that she felt inspired to take on the challenges that excited her soul. First came a marathon. Then, ultras followed. And last month, Elizabeth completed her first 100-mile ultra event, adding to her list of race finishes which include the Zion 100K, Javelina Jundred 100K and Race to the King’s 53-miler.
In this email Q&A, California-based Elizabeth shares more about her running journey, alongside her training and tips for would-be ultrarunners. Plus, if you’re after healthy meal inspiration, I highly recommend hopping over to Elizabeth’s Instagram, where she shares recipes and pictures of her delicious meals alongside her training and racing photos.
I'm a sports/adventure journalist and copywriter, and I LOVE reading about badass women in sport, fitness and adventure. So I’m on a mission to find them, share their stories, and quiz them about their training, their motivation, and insider tips (totally hoping some badass magic will rub off on me along the way!). Plus I’ll bring you how-tos, must-have kit and tales of epic from some of the coolest and toughest events on the planet.
