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Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Jen Brown - Running and Triathlon Coach, Author and Mindset Coach for Women SpartaChicks Radio brings inspiring stories coupled with practical, tried-and-tested-in-the-real-world advice from successful women in sport, business and life. Jen Brown from Sparta Chicks Radio is a Running and Triathlon Coach and Writer. The goal of Sparta Chicks Radio is to share inspiring stories coupled with practical, tried-and-tested-in-the-real-world advice from successful women in all walks of life about the realities of fear, self-doubt, courage, bravery, success and living life on your terms. From world class athletes, brilliant business minds to everyday women undertaking epic adventures, Sparta Chicks Radio will help you tap into your inner strength, courage, bravery and determination so you can chase your dreams and live a more fulfilling life on your terms. Find out more at www.spartachicks.com
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Now displaying: December, 2020
Dec 30, 2020

[CN/TW: Suicide, suicidal ideation]

Katee Pedicini has become a regular on Sparta Chicks Radio over the years. 

Yet this is a very different conversation from our previous episodes.

This time, Katee shared her story. 

It’s the story of her mental health journey over the last 20 years.

In her 20s, Katee was (finally) diagnosed with a condition called Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (or PMDD) which affects between 3-8% of menstruating woman.

To describe it as, or compare it to, PMS doesn’t do it justice.

And in fact, it would do a disservice to those who suffer from it.

Katee describes it in this conversation as extreme PMS “wrapped up with anxiety, depression, sometimes psychosis and suicidality or suicidal tendencies”

We begin this conversation with Katee’s story. Her experience of the symptoms of PMDD, including suicidal ideation.

Then we transition into a broader conversation about suicide and mental health. 

Finally, we step back and discuss the intersection between mental health and endurance sports.

This was an extremely difficult conversation, for both of us. I’m in awe of Katee’s bravery and vulnerability. 

But lifting the shame around suicide and mental health requires brave and uncomfortable conversations and we both agreed that if this conversation saves one life, then it was worth it.

If you or someone you know needs help, in Australia you can contact:

Lifeline 24 hours per day on 13 11 14. Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 or the Black Dog Institute.

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: @katee_holisticendurance

Dec 29, 2020

Tiffany Winchester is an ultra-endurance cyclist. 

She rides the kind of distances most of us hate driving!

She was first on the podcast June, 2019 (which was also the 5th most popular episode last year).

At the time we recorded that conversation, Tiff was 3 months out from competing in the iconic Paris-Brest-Paris race, a 1,200km cycling event that’s only held every 4 years and is effectively the Olympics of the ultra-endurance cycling world.

And so she returned in 2020 to share how it unfolded. 

In this conversation, Tiff begins by sharing her training and the lead-up to the event, the race itself (including why she had to apply white wine vinegar to her “lady parts”).

And then we talk about the aftermath - the trauma the race inflicted on her (and/or she inflicted on herself), the physical, mental and emotional toll it took on her, the depression that followed and how she was able to recover from it and get back on her bike.

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 Tiff on Instagram: @tiffo012

Dec 28, 2020

[CN/TW: anorexia and suicide]

Hanny Allston is no stranger to the trail running and outdoor adventure communities in Australia.

In 2006, Hanny won the Junior and Senior World Orienteering titles. In doing so, she became the first non-European to win an Orienteering World Championship and the first person, male or female, to hold both the Senior and Junior title in the same year.

In the years since, she’s achieved a long list of victories and records in the worlds of mountain and trail running, ultramarathons and sky running.

She’s also the co-founder of my favourite retail and online store - Find Your Feet - based in Tasmania with her husband Graham. 

We covered all of that, and more, in our first conversation in 2017.

This episode is very different.

This is a conversation about Hanny finding her feet.

She has just released her first memoir called ‘Finding My Feet’. And the best way to describe it as soul-full.

It's Hanny's incredible story (so far) that is brave and vulnerable and heartbreaking and awe-inspiring. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. It’s one of the most honest memoirs and autobiographies I’ve read in a long time.

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 Hanny on Instagram: @hanny.allston

Dec 27, 2020

Lisa Blair is an adventurer, sailor, climate change activist and World Record holder who discovered a passion for sailing at the age of 22.

Just 6 years later, she completed her first circumnavigation of the world as part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht race. 

Since then she’s gone onto sail solo to New Zealand twice, to skipper the first all-female team in 16 years to race the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race and set two World Records in the process of becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Australia.

In the midst of that, in 2017 Lisa set out on her most ambitious project to date; to become the first woman to sail solo unassisted and non-stop around Antarctica. And to break the men’s World Record in the process!

As you’ll hear in this conversation, that expedition did not go to plan.

And on a stormy night 72 days into her trip and 1,000 nautical miles from shore, her boat lost its mast and Lisa had to fight for 4 hours to save her boat -- and her life.

Not only did she survive the night and spend 9 days limping back to port in Cape Town, South Africa for repairs, Lisa then found the courage to head back into the Southern Ocean and finish the challenge - in doing so become the first woman to sail solo and unassisted (with one stop) around Antarctica.

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 Lisa on Instagram: @lisablairsailstheworld

Dec 26, 2020

[CN/TW: sexual assault and rape]

Melissa Browne is an author, financial advisor, speaker and financial wellness advocate who first joined me on the podcast way back in episode 18 in early 2017.

And now she’s back with a vulnerable new book and for a very personal and brave conversation.

Mel has just published a new book - her fourth book - called “Budgets Don’t Work (But This Does)”. It’s the culmination of her career first as an accountant and now a financial advisor. 

Her philosophy; just like diets and one-size-fits-all eating plans or training programs don’t work, budgets don’t work either.

So Mel has developed a process that helps you custom design a financial plan, habits and tactics that draw on your natural strengths (while minimising the impact of your weakness). Simply genius!

What makes this book so powerful is Mel’s vulnerability around her history, her story and how it has shaped her financial decision making over the years.

From the outside looking in, Mel appeared to have it all.

Yet as she reveals in this conversation, for years Mel was stuck in a ‘sabotage loop’ in her business and that she carried a victim mentality and story that she wasn’t “good enough” that caused her to work so hard she ultimately experienced burnout and a breakdown in 2017.

So she initially started working with a coach to help her navigate her ’sabotage loop’ in her business.

But she quickly realised she would also need to unpack the trauma she’s experienced and the way it and the stories she’s carried with her have shaped her personal life as well. 

This is Mel reclaiming her story, finding her voice & rewriting a new ending for her story

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: @moremoneyforshoes

Dec 13, 2020

Mimi Anderson started running at the age of 36 (after a long battle with anorexia).

Over the next 20 years, she went onto set multiple Guinness World Records.

Her achievements include: 

- completing the Badwater Double; the return trip from Death Valley where the race starts to Mt Whitney, and back - a journey of 469km,

- winning outright the 6633 Extreme Ultramarathon, a self-supported non-stop race over 560km in the Arctic Circle in which you drag on a sled everything you need to survive that took her almost 6 days to finish, and

- setting Guinness World Record for the fastest time by a female running the length of England and the record for a woman running across Ireland.

Now it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

In 2017, she attempted to set the record for running across America - that’s over 5000km. Sadly, that attempt ended due to injury and it also brought to an end to her ultrarunning career.

But you can’t keep a woman like Mimi down for very long!

So in her late 50s, she learnt to ride a bike, overcame a life long fear of open water and finished her first triathlon.

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 Mimi on Instagram: @MarvellousMimi

Dec 6, 2020

Rebecca Stone is a busy woman. She’s a midwife, a mum, and someone who loves racing her mountain bike for 24 hours - all while living with fibromyalgia.

In 2010, after 9 months of severe pain which ultimately left her unable to work, drive or walk for more than 5m, Rebecca was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

A chronic condition, fibromyalgia causes widespread pain and sensitivity throughout the body.

There’s no cure and it is difficult to treat.

Getting back on her beloved mountain bike plan was part of Rebecca’s initial treatment plan primarily for the mental health benefits. 

We recorded this conversation in May 2018.

Later that year, as the mother of a 2-year-old toddler, Rebecca finished 2nd at the Australian 24 Hour Solo Championships in 2017 and 2018, and then finished 6th at the World Championships in Scotland in 2018.

In this conversation, we discuss motherhood as well as living, training and racing with chronic pain.

Plus she shares why she thinks she’s a better athlete because of 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 Rebecca on Instagram: @24hrracerchick

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