Anna Blackwell - The Going-on of an Adventurer! Walking 500 and 1000 miles across France and Spain along ancient pilgrimage routes

Anna is a 24-year-old adventurer who has a love of the great outdoors and pushing her limits. This has led her to completing a series of adventures over the last few years: trekking across the wilderness of arctic Sweden with just reindeer for company, walking 500 and 1000 miles across France and Spain along ancient pilgrimage routes, summiting the highest peak in North Africa, and hitch-hiking to Morocco (amongst plenty of others!)

2017 has been a slightly unusual year for her as she’s been working full-time for the majority of it, but she’s still found time for some fun, whether in the form of tackling my first 4000m mountain in North Africa, attempts at trekking in Arctic Norway, or just setting up her bivvy bag to sleep under the stars on a hillside in Oxfordshire!

Show notes

• Finishing university 
• Not being sporty but loving the outdoors
• Camping with her Dad
• Hating the Duke of Edinburgh
• What changed?
• Dropping out of uni and travelling solo
• Figuring out what she wanted to do with her life 
• Deciding what adventures to go on
• Why walking 500 miles wasn’t enough of a challenge
• Deciding to walk 1000 miles
• Not doing that much planning and throwing herself into it
• Not needing all the stuff she had
• The lifestyle
• Getting up at 4.30 in the morning to catch the sunrise
• Coming to the end of her first adventure
• Not living in the past
• Being underwhelmed by the finish
• Thinking about what she was going to do next!
• Lonely?
• Getting through the challenging sections
• Know yourself - know your body
• Getting away from it all - including the people
• Deep thinking - Deep Questions
• Kindle - Camera - Journal
• Remaining positive through out the bad weather
• What’s next?! April 2018…. The Plan
• Having an adventure mindset
• Advice for you!
• Tribes!

Melissa Urie - Nurse from Australia who was the 2nd Women to ever finish the EPIC 5 - 5 Ironman in 5 days across 5 different islands in Hawaii!

Melissa is the second woman ever to finish the Epic 5 - an event which consists of doing 5 Ironman distance triathlons (that’s 224km or 140 miles of swimming, cycling and running) every day over 5 days on 5 different Hawaiian Islands!

Melissa lives in Melbourne, Australia working as a nurse. 

Show notes

• Growing up and moving to Melbourne
• Getting into health and fitness
• New Years Resolution that stuck
• Around the bay in a day - a cycle race in Melbourne
• Being naive and not really thinking about it
• Getting involved in a triathlon and how it has become her lifestyle
• Nursing and doing shift work and how she fit her training into her life
• Her 1st Ironman….
• Getting a coach
• Working on her nutrition
• Not going for a specific time
• Just surviving the day….
• Ultra-man event in Canada
• Taking it to the next level - why?!
• Getting injured before a big race and finding out if she could still race
• Dealing with flat types and being exhausted
• Being mentally tough
• Learning from her experience 
• EPIC 5 - what it is and why she wanted to do it
• Training and preparation for EPIC 5
• What a training day/week looks like 
• Being on the cusp of over training but managing to get the balance right
• Being motivated to get up out of bed - “Don’t think just do”
• Heading out to Hawaii
• Finding it easy to relax and taper
• Being the only female & why it is a big deal
• Dealing with internal pressure that comes from her
• Celebrating!!
• Not getting the challenge blues
• Next challenge!!!

Learn more about Melissa

Follow on Twitter  @rangamel  

You can also listen to Melissa on Sparta Chicks Radio - which goes into more detail about the EPIC 5 Race

#014: Melissa Urie on Using Your Mind to Achieve the “Impossible” [Podcast]

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Alice believes that learning to swim is a human right, and that whether you’re swimming your first 25metres, splashing in tarns or crossing the English Channel, swimming can empower our lives both in and out of the water.

Alice discovered open water swimming after being knocked off her bike by a lorry on her way to work, the day before her 31 birthday. Waking up on the tarmac as commuter traffic circled around her, too busy to stop to help, she realised it was time to change her path.

Since then Alice has pursued her passions of writing, social justice, water and the outdoors. She is contributing Editor of Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, lead scientist at the International Institute of Swim Cake Studies, a qualified swim teacher, Mandarin speaker,  and consultant focusing on projects relating to anti corruption, responsible business, water scarcity, the rule of law and the impact of technology on social and economic development.

When not in or writing about water, her research and advocacy  have taken her to China, India, No.10 and the UN.

Her swims include: a 4 woman English Channel relay; 2 woman Lake Zurich relay; the Solent; the Thames Marathon; Dart 10k, Sydney Harbour Swim, Scilly Swim Challenge, and the swimmer for Team Mel C vs Team Pendleton in the Human Race Women only triathlon, and competing in the International Winter Swimming Championships in China.

Show notes

• Living in London
• Getting out into the mountains for the first time
• Wanting to spend more time outside
• Going to China!
• Heading up to Sheffield to study
• Deciding to be a lawyer
• The big dream
• Problems that put life into perspective
• Losing her connection with health and wellbeing 
• When it all changed for her
• Who do I call?
• Knowing she was going to change her life
• A Lotus Rises
• Moving out to Chamonix
• Getting back into swimming
• The community of swimmers and how they supported her
• The Lake Zurich swim and how it changed her life
• Top tips for outdoor swimming
• Did you swim today (Forum)
• Body image issues and getting your body out there
• The International Institute of Swim Cake!
• Increasing the amount of people participating in swimming
• The connection between the pool and the pond
• Ensuring women are involved in water policy

Zoe Langley-Wathen - Walking Adventures include the South West Coastal Path, Wales Coast Path & Offa’s Dyke.

Show notes

• Where her love of walking came from?
• Growing up without a car
• Going on night hikes
• Getting married young and having her daughter at 24
• Wanting to do something bigger
• Letting her dreams stay dormant
• Fears?
• Are you sure you can do that?
• Don’t put yourself in a position where you will be disappointed
• The South West Coastal Path!
• Deciding to follow her dream
• How to celebrate her 40th birthday in 2011
• Accountability
• Planning - and giving herself 7 months to sort it all out
• Did women walk the path on their own? Is it done?
• Dealing with short sharp shockers
• Her first lesson
• Egg holder, frying pans!!!
• Being on her own
• Wild camping V staying with friends
• Where was suitable to wild camp?
• Meeting people on the way
• The grief of leaving the trail
• Why did I waste so much time!
• Looking for the next challenge and how her life changed after the challenge
• Supporting Arry Berresford-Webb (Now Cain)
• Walking with other people
• The ultimate walk
• The Great Trail in Canada
• The Ridge way
• Walking around Dorset
• Advice and tips for getting out walking and why you can walk yourself fit

Twitter @WathWalk - https://twitter.com/wathwalk 

Facebook @WathWalk - https://www.facebook.com/WathWalk/