Ultrarunning
Meet Australia's 21-year-old ultrarunning prodigy
Off the back of a podium bonanza in 2017, Lucy Bartholomew is keeping a cool head as she readies herself for one of the most legendary endurance events in the world – the Western States 100.
“I’m more exhausted from interviews and having a camera in my face than I am from running!” says Lucy Bartholomew over the phone from the Blue Mountains, a day before competing in the 2018 Ultra-Trail Australia race. “Apparently it’s important to say no sometimes. I’m learning this!”
After an outrageous 2017 that saw her run some 15 events (just shy of 1,000 kilometres total, on top of 5,000 kilometres in training) and be the first female across the line in eight of those races, it’s hardly surprising that the entire ultrarunning world wants a piece of Lucy.
The 21-year-old Melbourne native, who effectively ran her first ultramarathon alongside her dad when she was just 15 years old, also managed to bag a wildcard for the Western States 100 in California – the oldest and most storied endurance race in the world, which flags off in June.
Ultrarunner Lucy Bartholomew celebrates a win at Ultra-Trail Cape Town.
© Courtesy of Lucy Bartholomew
We caught up with Lucy to find out how she's doing what she's doing, her hopes for the future of ultrarunning, and how she plans to tackle the legendary WS100.
(The day after the following conversation took place, Lucy would not only go on to be the first female across the line in the 2018 Ultra-Trail Australia race, but she'd also knock a cool 14 minutes off the previous best female race time, too.)
At 15 years old, what was it about the sport that got you hooked?
When I ran track and cross country in school, I never won. It was horrible. It was way too fast. But I would finish and think, “That sucked, but I could go again” while everyone else was saying, “That sucked, I never want to run again!” What appealed to me about ultrarunning is that it’s more about the mental side of it. I’m super stubborn, and when I want to do something, I’ll do it. I’ll go through the discomfort and I’ll just do it. Then I got to see what everyone gets to eat at all the checkpoints – with all the sweets and chocolates and I was like, “Hell yeah, this is like a kid’s party!”
I’ve been lucky enough to not have any big injuries yet, and I put that down to the fact that, some days, I just won’t train if my body doesn't feel quite right. It's about balance.
Getting into it that young, did you ever feel like you were missing out on ‘regular kid’ stuff?
Of course there were times when I didn’t go to the odd 18th birthday party because I had a long race the next day, but I always just thought you have to sacrifice a little to gain a lot. When I look back on the things I’ve experienced and the places I’ve been, I’d give up any night that I don’t remember at a party to run through the deserts and the mountains.
Things seemed to really kick up a notch for you in 2017 – both in terms of the number of events you entered, and the amount of first-place finishes you achieved. What happened?
After winning Ultra Australia last year, I realised that this isn’t just a hobby. I decided to look more into what I could do through nutrition and strength training, then what opportunities there were to go and race bigger races. And I wanted to race the best I could, so I threw myself into it. I’ve devoted my life to make this my full-time pursuit at the moment, and all the dots just connected last year. I raced way more than I planned to, and I raced way more competitively than I thought I would. I’ve set the bar pretty high for the next few years!
When it comes to endurance racing, Lucy takes it one step at a time.
© Courtesy of Lucy Bartholomew
With that kind of schedule and the intensity of the events, what kind of work has to be done to make sure you keep your mind and body in peak condition?
I’m a very holistic person, in terms of I really just try and listen to my body and focus on nutrition. I follow a plant-based diet and it’s important to me to fill my body with everything it needs. I practice yoga and pilates, I do a lot of cross training, but really it’s about listening to my body and determining if I’m sore just because I trained really hard, or if I’m sore because there’s some muscular issue.
I’ve been lucky enough to not have any big injuries yet, and I put that down to the fact that, some days, I just won’t train if my body doesn't feel quite right. It’s just about balance – there’s a reason they say your rest days are just as important as your training days.
I always think you live a whole life in a run. You have good times, hard times, rewarding times, times of struggle. It’s already taught me so much.
When you’ve hit the wall, how do you keep pushing through?
I think if you look at a 100 kilometre run, it freaks most people out. It freaks me out! A lot of people wouldn’t even want to drive that far. But if you break it down, all you need to do is just keep taking one more step. It’s just a series of little goals, that’s the whole game.
As well as you’ve been doing, I’m sure there have been occasions where you’ve felt you underperformed. How do you move past those times and make sure you don’t dwell on them?
I think those times strengthen you. I give myself time after a race to let it really sink in, what went wrong. I try and think about how to avoid it happening again the next time, how I can prepare better. I mean, I say this, but it’s not always so easy to put into practice. Sometimes you just want to freak out, but I try and keep all of this in mind.
Lucy catches her breath.
© Courtesy of Lucy Bartholomew
Do you think ultrarunning equips you with skills that can be applied to other areas of your life?
I always think you live a whole life in a run. You have good times, hard times, rewarding times, times of struggle. There’s a start and an end. You learn a lot about simplifying things, about breaking it down into sections, about setting small goals – it really is just what you need to do in life. You’ll reach mountains you need to go over, valleys you need to cross, things you think you can’t do or can’t overcome. It’s already taught me so much, being 21 and wanting to make a change in the world.
What do you mean by that?
I just want to show, especially women and girls, what’s possible. I left school when I was 18 and decided to take a gap year and run some races, and I’m still on that gap year three years later. People told me that’s not a life, that I needed to get a job and go to university. Now I do talks at schools and people come up to me and tell me that they just didn’t think something like that was possible, but it is. The world is full of opportunities. You just need to throw yourself in it and take a risk.
Success is still loving the sport at the end of it. It’s about finishing a race and knowing I gave the most I could. It's not about being number one. I'm not that kind of racer.
What are your hopes for the future of ultrarunning?
I think it’s at a really critical stage at the moment. It’s growing around the world, money’s getting pumped in, and with that comes the use of substances, cheating all that stuff. I think it’s important to develop a way of dealing with that – same as with any sport. I love this sport for the organic side of it. I love that you do all this stuff and might just win a pair of socks. I don’t care too much about getting on the podium and winning money. If I never had to race another day in my life, I’d still run. And it’s great that the sport is growing, I just don’t want people to lose sight of that love of running.
So you worry about it becoming more of a job than a passion?
Yeah, 100%. I’ve said to my dad already, if there ever comes a day where I’m not enjoying it anymore, I’ll stop doing it. I’m always prioritising my health and wellbeing, and you can only do so much before you need to take a little time for yourself.
Lucy celebrates (again) after winning Ultra-Trail Australia in 2017.
© Courtesy of Lucy Bartholomew
How did it feel to find out you made the Western States 100? Will you be doing anything special or different for that training-wise?
So lucky! There were four of those wildcard tickets up for grabs, and I got one of them. That was such a magical bit of news to receive. It’s the grandfather of hundred-milers, and some people wait up to eight years to get in. I think 300 people can race, but this year around 8,000 people applied. In terms of my training, just running. That and tweaking my in-race nutrition, make sure I’m getting the calories I need. Oh, there are canyons along the Western States route that get up to 50 degrees Celsius, so I’ve been doing some heat training too!
How do you define success?
For me, success is still loving the sport at the end of it. It’s about finishing a race and knowing I gave the most I could. It’s not about being number one or putting myself about others. I’m not that kind of racer.