• Home
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
Home
About Me
Contact Me
Lessons In Badassery - Badass women in sport, fitness and adventure
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
Interview

Jacqui Bell: From rock bottom to record-breaking ultrarunner

July 15, 2020 by badassery No Comments

© Colin Clarke

In 2017, Jacqui Bell hit rock bottom after enduring a downward spiral that included breaking multiple bones and becoming addicted to prescription pain killers. Struggling to find a reason to get out of bed, she signed up for a crazy challenge that would change the direction of her life – to complete four multi-day ultramarathons across the world’s most inhospitable deserts, from the Namibian Desert to Antarctica, the Atacama Desert and the Gobi Desert.

With just eight months to train, Jacqui threw herself into the world of ultrarunning and at the age of 23, became the youngest woman to finish Racing the Planet’s Four Deserts Grand Slam. Since then, Jacqui, who is an Ultra X pro athlete, has become the youngest person in the world to run an ultramarathon on all seven continents. I caught up with her via email to find out more about how it all came about.

Continue reading
Share:
Interview

Kristina Madsen: Meet the Mount Kilimanjaro FKT record holder

February 26, 2020 by badassery No Comments

Marathons, ultras, multi-stage races, FKTs – ultrarunner Kristina Madsen has a diverse race CV and the records to prove it. In 2018, the Danish runner set a fastest known time record (FKT) for her ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, completing it in 6 hours 52 minutes despite living in the relative flatlands of Denmark. And despite being a trail runner first and foremost, a few weeks ago she won the World Marathon Challenge outright, setting a new world record for running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days.

How does she do it? From training for her Kilimanjaro FKT and last year’s 66-mile Bob Graham Round to her meticulous approach to race prep, we cover it all below.

Continue reading
Share:
Interview

Caroline McKay: The Ultra-running Podcaster

April 19, 2019 by badassery No Comments

From the Western States 100 to the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), Caroline McKay has finished some of the world’s most revered ultras. She’s also the brains and voice behind Of Mountains and Minds, the podcast she launched in 2018, which sees her interview members of the endurance sports community about life-changing challenges such as grief, mental illness, exercise addiction and eating disorders.

Here, Caroline shares some of her own ultrarunning experiences, along with the motivations behind her podcast and the lessons she’s learned from guests such as The Spine Race winner, Jasmin Paris, and ultrarunner Gayle Tait.

Continue reading
Share:
Interview

Alyssa Godesky: Meet the Long Trail FKT Record Holder

March 5, 2019 by badassery No Comments

© Hillary Biscay

She’s an American pro triathlete and ultra-runner – and as of July last year, the FKT record holder for the Vermont Long Trail – yes, Alyssa Godesky is in the house! Last year, Alyssa successfully completed her fastest known time (FKT) attempt, negotiating the gnarly 273-mile stretch and 67,500ft of elevation in a record-breaking 5 days, 2 hours and 37 minutes, only sleeping 17-18 hours in the process.

During her career, Alyssa has chalked up an incredible 45+ ultra-marathon finishes and more than 30 iron-distance triathlons. When she’s not competing, Alyssa is a triathlon coach and also co-hosts the super-cool IronWomen podcast, which is dedicated to female triathletes, so I’m thrilled to have her on the blog.

N.B I recently interviewed Alyssa solely about her FKT attempt for Red Bull. The feature includes lots of juicy details which we don’t cover here – head to the link at the end of this interview to have a read.

Continue reading
Share:
fitness

Nicky Spinks: 7 Ultra-running Insights

March 29, 2018 by badassery No Comments

Photo: INOV-8.COM/LEE PROCTER

Last Friday I went to a talk by fell running legend Nicky Spinks (read my interview with Nicky from earlier this month here) at Katie Bell Physio in Sheffield. Having completed a raft of staggeringly difficult races and events (including, famously, the Double Bob Graham round) Nicky is a wealth of ultra-running insights.

Here are some of the nuggets of information she shared with us.

Continue reading
Share:
Interview

Carolin Botterill: Accidental Ultra Runner

July 10, 2017 by badassery 1 Comment

51-year-old ultra-runner and multi-day stage race specialist, Carolin Botterill, wasn’t always into running. It wasn’t until she was 36, and a mum of three, that she began the journey which would ultimately lead to her becoming an ultra-runner – accidentally – via a bid to get fit and lose weight. At first she walked, then she ran, and just kept running. Now, 17 years later, Carolin has completed some of the toughest multi-day ultras on the planet, taking her from the Arctic Circle to the Peruvian jungle.

In one of the most insightful interviews I’ve posted, Carolin shares her experiences with me, including the lengths she goes to in order to acclimatise to extreme heat and cold ahead of her ultra-events.

Continue reading
Share:

About My Blog

Mountain View

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.

Email Me: katie@lessonsinbadassery.com

Categories

  • events
  • fitness
  • Interview
  • video

Recent Posts

Katie Spotz: Running, rowing and riding for clean water

Katie Spotz: Running, rowing and riding for clean water

March 31, 2021
Summer Adventure Destination: Chilly Powder, Morzine

Summer Adventure Destination: Chilly Powder, Morzine

March 17, 2021
10 QUESTIONS FOR… Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Heptathlon World Champion

10 QUESTIONS FOR… Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Heptathlon World Champion

March 3, 2021
Khadijah Diggs: Changing the world one race at a time

Khadijah Diggs: Changing the world one race at a time

February 24, 2021
Claire Cashmore: The Paralympian on triathlon, Tokyo and training

Claire Cashmore: The Paralympian on triathlon, Tokyo and training

February 17, 2021

Tag Cloud

adventure alex danson claire steels climbing crossfit cycling Downhill Mountain Biking duathlon endurance fell running Hockey ironman Karin Karlsson kiko matthews lessons in badassery lindsay webster Marathon mountaineering mountain running MTB nicky spinks OCR Olympics Paddleboarding red bull 400 rowing running skyrunning Surfing swimming swimrun team GB tracy moseley trail running Triathlete triathlon ultra-marathon ultra-trail running Ultrarunner ultra runner ultra running Weightlifting women's rugby womens adventure expo world champion

Search

Categories

  • events
  • fitness
  • Interview
  • video

Areas

  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • Events

Recent Posts

  • Katie Spotz: Running, rowing and riding for clean water
  • Summer Adventure Destination: Chilly Powder, Morzine
  • 10 QUESTIONS FOR… Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Heptathlon World Champion
  • Khadijah Diggs: Changing the world one race at a time
  • Claire Cashmore: The Paralympian on triathlon, Tokyo and training
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No posts found.

Make sure this account has posts available on instagram.com.

© 2017 copyright Lessons In Badassery // All rights reserved
Website by Test Creative