“Feeling ready?” It’s one of the most common questions I get asked before a race. Although I have trained hard, I have also run enough miles in my life to know that even if you get 8 hours of sleep, write in your journal...
Articles by Lucy Bartholomew
It’s a huge challenge to finish the full Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). Actually, the challenge begins when trying to understand how to get the stones and qualify for a spot at the start line at the end of August in C...
I live in Australia—a land far away where every plant and animal could kill you, and we ride kangaroos to work. Only joking…sort of. As I type this, I just boarded my next flight from Australian winter to European...
Nothing builds connection quite like running through difficult terrain with others who share the same passions and big dreams. When my sponsor, Salomon, brings together its international running team each year, athlet...
Goals, like grains of sand, add up and are pivotal to the evolution of your journey. Write down big, audacious goals and beneath them, write down goals that will set you up with benchmarks along the way.
My first race of the year was the Black Canyon 100k in Arizona. Highly regarded as the most competitive starting field in the US, this race is technically downhill, and the times that fill the top of the results list ar...
Change is the spice of life. My favorite thing about running is the many forms it can take the shape of: track, road, trail, multi-day, ultra, vertical and sky running. You can dip your toe in it all and as usual, you’ll come out the other side with a new experience, a good workout, lessons learned and more memories.
I’ve changed, you’ve changed and the world has changed. The sport of ultrarunning has changed. When I entered the sport of ultrarunning in 2012, I remember my first 50k where there was a total of 45 people on the start...
Visiting a rural town in Australia called Karratha, I had to fly 7 hours to the west coast from my home located on the southeast coast of Australia. I changed planes and took another 2.5-hour flight to a town that made m...
There is a quote that goes, “The tough get going when the going gets tough.” This sums up my latest race at the Ultra Trail Australia 100k, which is my ‘local’ big deal race. It’s where the best athletes from aroun...
I can’t count how many times I’ve said that I love running, but the people of the sport have continually inspired me not to give up, helped lift me up and keep me always wanting to show up. When I reflect on m...
The author crosses the finish at Tarawera in February. Courtesy Author To tell the story of how I ended up sleeping in a van on the side of a road and hopping on a bus to Lake Okataina at 4 a.m. to r...
I have been working with a coach since I was 16 years old, and was first coached by someone who loved the data and numbers—the metrics mattered. I was constantly trying to stay in the correct heart rate zone,...
Much like the result of climate change, it can be hard to know what season we are in, in both nature and sport. With ultra and trail running booming in participation numbers, so are the number of races that seem to sp...
In August, I had the privilege of jumping the border from France into Switzerland to help crew, pace and support a friend taking on a 100-mile trail race that climbs and descends 33,000 feet of elevation....
What is “race day mentality?” It’s that mindset that we slip into as we chase a goal we’ve been working toward and have dedicated hours of preparation — not only in training the body but also training the mind to be f...
Before a race, we have (usually) done the hard work. We trained as best we could, given the circumstances we were offered. We got enough sleep, ate well, consumed enough water and tried to remain positive. However, we still think about everything that we “coulda, shoulda, woulda” in the past and what “mighta” happen in the future. The beauty of races is the unknown, and the unknown is scary and comes with a host of emotional, physical and mental reactions.
I live in Australia and my house sits in a suburb called Diamond Creek. The name supposedly came from a cow called Diamond that fell into a creek and died. (Or so, that's what my Dad and I were told when we moved here...