©ParalympicsGB

Paralympic silver medallist and Downhill World Champion, Millie Knight, began losing her sight when she was a year old following an eye infection. As her vision deteriorated she discovered skiing and fell in love with the sport, quickly graduating to world class downhill and giant slalom ski events.

Millie, who skies with her guide, Brett Wild, is a two-time Paralympian and most recently took two silver medals and a bronze at the Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang. A hugely inspiring young woman, Millie chats about her training, juggling uni with athlete life, and how she’s still working to overcome fear and anxiety following a serious 70mph crash in training.

© Ben Cirulis

Former firefighter Jacqui Allen is a British cross triathlon silver medallist who competes in XTERRA triathlon, the ‘off-road’ discipline which sees athletes race on mountain bikes and run off-road. A regular on the XTERRA podium, Jacqui lives with her husband, leading XTERRA athlete, Ben Allen, in Wollongong, Australia, where they have a coaching business.

I caught up with Jacqui, who is an ambassador for running brand, On, over the phone where we chatted about her career in XTERRA triathlon, tough tempo sessions and mid-race mountain bike mechanicals.

© Red Bull/Toby Ziff

I’m super-pleased to welcome Shauna Coxsey back on the blog, this time for a longer interview. As GB’s most successful competitive climber and a two-time bouldering world champion, Shauna is usually found suspended in a gravity-defying position on a climbing wall (or doing fingertip hangs on the Beastmaker), however, she kindly made time to answer my questions about her climbing career and training.

Today, Shauna chats about climbing’s Olympic debut, reveals what a typical week of training looks like and shares her favourite places in the world to climb. If you’re left wanting more, don’t miss Shauna speaking at the Kendal Mountain Festival later this month in association with Entre-Prises. It’s guaranteed to be a good one.

Climber, mountain biker, surfer and all-round outdoors enthusiast, Jenny Collett, spends most of the year outside thanks to her job as an outdoor pursuits instructor. When she’s not coaching or teaching, the MTB enthusiast is snatching some time to head to the mountains and trails on her bike.

Jenny is a former downhill competitor and has also ridden in some of MTB’s most epic events, including the Megavalanche, which starts on the snowy summit of Alpe d’Huez. Her love of riding has landed her an ambassador role for e-bike brand, Lapierre, so I threw some questions her way about her riding, e-bikes and coaching.

© Ben Tibbetts/Salomon

Two-time world champion sport climber and three-time world cup winner, Liv Sansoz, has bounced back from serious climbing and base-jumping accidents an incredible number of times. Last year, to mark her 40^th birthday, the French alpinist embarked on a challenge to summit all 82 of the 4000+m peaks in the Alps – a journey that’s documented in the brilliant Salomon film, LIV Along the Way.

I’m very excited to have Liv on Lessons in Badassery ahead of her talk at next month’s Kendal Mountain Festival*. In this interview, Liv chats about the highs and lows of her 82 peak project, overcoming multiple injuries, and the tragedy of losing close friends on the mountains.

© Trek Bikes

This year’s Kendal Mountain Festival is packed with inspiring talks and speaker sessions, but which are the ones most likely to fire up your inspiration levels? I’ve been trying to plan my schedule, which is tough because the line-up of speakers this year is incredible – and also because some of them run concurrently.

I’ve whittled it down to the speakers I’m personally getting excited about hearing from, but there are loads of others who are leading talks during the weekend, so check out the event programme here. The weekend itself takes place from 15 – 18 November. If you’re going, see you there!

© Saucony UK

Training at the top echelons of sport is demanding at the best of times, but what happens when you throw a baby and toddler into the mix? For five-time Olympian Jo Pavey, it meant breastfeeding trackside, squeezing training into buggy walks, and a new-found happiness – all of which led to her incredible gold medal win in the 10,000m at the 2014 European Championship, aged 40 and just 10 months after having her second child!

Now 45, Jo’s children are five and nine. I chatted to the Saucony ambassador about how she makes life as an elite athlete work alongside school runs, clubs and family life.

British pro surfer Lucy Campbell fell in love with surfing at the age of ten when she hit the waves under tuition from her dad and brothers. Fast-forward 13 years and the 23-year-old Devon native is a now a three-time British Champion competing on surfing’s World Qualifying Series circuit.

Here, the Dryrobe ambassador chats about her running background, training week and Olympic hopes.

© Christian Jung

Annabel Anderson is one of those athletes whose career highlights are too numerous to squeeze into a couple of paragraphs. An icon in the world of paddleboarding, the 37-year-old has won multiple SUP world championships and has been the world #1 for for six years straight, winning – outright – some of the sport’s most notorious races. And that’s just the world of stand-up paddleboarding, never mind the elite mountain biking, cycling, triathlon and skiing accolades she has accumulated over the years.

The New Zealand-born athlete is currently recuperating after suffering her second serious concussion of the year, along with some pretty horrific injuries following a ski accident, but very kindly answered my questions in her down time. Thank you, Annabel. It’s a pleasure to have you on Lessons in Badassery!

After discovering her husband had incurable stage four cancer, amateur age group triathlete Natarsha Tremayne (AKA IronTarsh) made it her mission to complete 12 Ironman branded events and gain a Legacy entry to Kona. Now, with nine Ironman finishes to her name, she’s well on her way to achieving her Kona Legacy goal.

When she’s not training or racing, Tarsh is busy designing stand-out cycling apparel via her brand Stomp The Pedal (her stylish, colourful designs have been spotted on numerous triathlon pros). Here, I quiz Tarsh about her Ironman beginnings, training and motivation.