Tough Girl Podcast Melissa Urie - First women to complete UberMan. Ultra-Triathlon - A 21-mile swim, 400-mile bike ride followed by a 135 mile run through Death Valley!
Melissa has completed the Epic 5 in Hawaii, 3 Ultraman triathlons, and is now the 1st female to have ever completed the UberMan, which she did in October - she also broke the swim record and smashed the previous course record by approximately 31 hours!
During this episode we learn more about the details from the challenge, the high points, the low points, the support of crew members, what the finish was like and how she is getting back to ‘normal life’.
We have been following Melissa’s journey since February 2019, when Melissa did a Facebook Live for the Tough Girl Tribe - this was then turned into a Tough Girl Podcast EXTRA episode.
More about UberMan….
UberMan is the world's most challenging Ultra Triathlon. The 556 mile course goes from the Mists of Avalon to the Snows of Mount Whitney. Starting on Catalina Island, participants swim 21 miles in the open Pacific Ocean to the shores of Palos Verdes. The 400 mile bike route leaves the city of Angels and climbs 20,000 vertical feet before descending to Badwater basin, at 200 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America. From Badwater, athletes run 135 miles through Death Valley before ascending 13,000 feet to the trailhead @ Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the Continental United States.
Show notes
- Back in Australia
- Who is Melissa
- More information about her background
- What Uberman is and why she wanted to do it
- Wanting to be the first female to complete the race
- Wanting a different challenge
- 8 months to train
- Wanting to focus on running
- Doing 5, 50K runs
- Doing a 60K run and a 100k run in training
- Overloading on one discipline a week
- Building fatigue
- Why this training was so hard mentally
- Needing to take a break
- Dealing with the fatigue and starting to get sick
- The lead up to the race
- The work that goes on behind the scenes
- The start line…
- Never thinking about the event as one big thing
- Swimming at night for the first time
- Starting to feel the cold
- Being sick during the swim and not being able to pee
- The hardest part of the swim
- The importance of having a good support team
- Splitting the support team into a day shift and a night shift
- The first transition from the swim to the bike
- Riding on the roads and the Pacific Coast Highway!!
- Feeling angry and being aware of her emotions
- Sleeping for 2 hours was the sweet spot
- Planning on 5/6 days for the event
- Running through Death Valley
- Trying to figure out the approach for running over 200K
- Having your muscles seize up
- Mount Whitney!
- Wanting to finish during the day!
- Having a few emotional moments towards the end
- Reaching the finish!
- Not being able to process the achievement!
- The documentary!
- Adventure blues and transitioning back to normal life
- Post race recovery time
- What Melissa has learned over the years
- A book?!!!
- The recovery
- Final words of advice and top tips
Social Media
Website - https://rangamel.wordpress.com
Instagram @rangamel
Facebook Melissa Urie
Twitter @rangamel
Read the race report here - RACE REPORT