Just As Well, The Women's Health Podcast - She Beat Bulimia and Broke a HYROX Record | Lucy Davis’ Story Will Change You

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

In this powerful episode of Just As Well, Gemma Atkinson and Claire Sanderson sit down with Lucy Davis: Hyrox Champion, ultramarathon runner, and founder of My Coach app. Lucy opens up about the brutal reality of elite sport, quitting competitive swimming at 18, and battling an eating disorder in its aftermath. She shares her journey from body image struggles to performance-driven training, and how she's now inspiring thousands of women to embrace strength, muscle, and confidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now that's a mountain of entertainment. Paramount Wolf. Hi, I'm Gemm Atkinson. And I'm Claire Sanderson, the editor-in-chief of Women's Health. We have just spoken to Lucy Davis, who is a hybrid rock star. Is that what we've worked out? Yeah, high rocks. Is it an abbreviation of a hybrid rock star?

Yeah, I think it might be. An incredible athlete. She's got her own app, a fitness app. She casually told us that this morning she ran 10 miles. She's got another training session when she gets home. Yeah. I mean, she looks incredible. She's a powerhouse, isn't she? She is a powerhouse.

And she's also the North American high rocks champion, which is what an achievement. She's a former international swimmer or an elite swimmer. And she transitions to hybrid training. She describes herself as a hybrid gal. But it's not just hybrid training. She was telling us about a race she did in Austin, Texas, called Last Man Standing.

She ran for 25 and a half. hours. And it was 4.2 miles every hour. On the hour. She's done seven marathons. Yeah. She has an ultra marathon again in two weeks. She was telling us that she's just an absolute machine, but a total inspiration. And she was very open, which a lot of people will find surprising, I think. She was very open about the fact that she suffered with an eating disorder. Yeah, she did. So as I say, she was a competitive swimmer and elite swimmer. And she told her. us that public weigh-ins at the swimming club and fat percentage checks were commonplace and she quit swimming when she was 18 because she'd had enough she couldn't tolerate it

anymore but actually when she left she then developed an eating disorder which she goes into some detail about which but that's not uncommon amongst elite athletes sadly because they are not immune to body image issues even though they're in you know at the peak of their their physical potential, they still struggle with body image issues, much like the rest of us. It was really interesting to get her take on it, actually, but how she's now inspiring women, especially young girls, to know that it's okay to be strong, to have muscles, to use your body. And she's all about performance training, not kind of aesthetics training. So it's functional, it's what your body is capable of, not what it looks like.

So I personally really, really enjoyed this chat. And she's inspired you to go to the gym tonight. She has, yeah, maybe. We'll see. This is Lucy Davis on Just as Well. Welcome to another episode of Just As Well. Today, we are joined by Lucy Davis, who literally upon just entering the room,

we've realised we need to up our game. We need to train harder, Claire. I'm going to set my alarm in the morning. Lucy is one of the most prominent figures in the high rocks fitness world. She's the founder of the My Coach Fitness app and former international swimmer. She's ran seven marathons,

three ultramarathons, and has also competed in Last Man Standing in Austin, Texas, where she ran 172 kilometres over 25 and a half hours. And she is currently the North American high rock champion. She aims to empower women to embrace their authentic selves and challenge stereotypes about women with muscle,

which we're all for welcome Hot and intro. It's really weird when someone intro, I'm like, oh. It's like you remember all the things you've done. That's me, that's what I do. Yeah, because we feel a bit inadequate now, don't we? We thought we were fit. For anyone who's listening, I mean, Hirox is massive at the minute, but for any of our listeners who don't know exactly what Hirox is, can you explain it to us? Yeah, so Hirox is functional fitness racing. That's what they class it as. A lot of people say it's similar to CrossFit,

but without the Olympic lifting and like the skill set and you've got running added in and it it blew up about I see like three and a half four years ago and was like oh there's this thing called high rocks you've got eight different stations and everything stays the same so functional fitness stations like ski eggs sleds warbles farmers carry and you have a one kilometer run in between each so it's standardized across every single high rocks that everyone does so it's always the same again dissimilar to crossfit which is do whatever and that's what the race is

and you just it's full red line lactate threshold you can do it in doubles or you can do it singularly and it's the best they're one of my favourite races that I do for sure

it's more attainable than CrossFit then that anyone could really turn up and do a high rocks because I've seen footage of 80 year olds 90 year olds doing high rocks which is you know incredible

It's just like, I think that's the beauty of sport and what it's supposed to be is it's so welcoming and anyone can do it. You can be a complete beginner and it could take you two hours plus or you could be in the elite and you're doing sub an hour and that's really special. People do it with their parents or yeah, 70 year old women are doing it and they're pushing these sleds or you've got insanely quick people and world records and all of this. So it's fantastic for people in sport to be able to get into something that's really hard and really difficult. but you feel really accomplished when you're doing it. And I love that. And is it true, you broke the High Rocks Women's Open World Record by like almost an accident?

How did that happen? Yeah, it was, so I, I got into Harris about two years ago, my sister and she said, do you want to do this thing called High Rocks? And I thought, I don't know what it is, but it sounds fun. I like the idea of doing something racing with Megan. I was like, oh, this sounds great. Yeah.

We did our first one. No idea what it was, but it was great and it was hard and it was humbling. and I'd always done doubles for that whole year and a half first two years. And then last November, my coach was like, just go and do your first solos, experience it, do open weight, and then we'll do pro weight. And I thought, yeah, why not? And I competed in Manchester in November and I got the world record.

I went 590. And we didn't know. It was so unexpected. I finished. They didn't know I got the world record. then we finished you're like oh you just got the world record i was like oh okay which has now been broken since um and i've gone quicker as well which i think i'll try and re-break it but it was it was a complete accident and it was on my birthday and i was like this is really special

this is so fun but yeah it was um that was a fantastic race so sub an hour you did it oh 59 zero and then yeah oh you'd take me an hour we'd be in the two hour group i'd be in the two hour group yeah it's fine though i think it's great like you just as long as you do it as long as you do it it and it is hard it's hard for everyone i think that's the thing we like sport and fitness or like marathons and high rocks it doesn't matter how quick you're going on what you're doing it's just like going out there and doing it and put yourself out there as a best thing you can do so you don't compare times to people and you're just doing it for yourself anyway that's a good message to have we you know we spoke to my pt on one of these episodes and one of the questions we had for him was so many

women especially are scared to make a start in the gym they want to better the health they want to you know train well but it's it's a feel of it, a fear of being judged. And he said the same as you. There is no judgment. It's encouragement, you know, and everyone who did it for the first time at some point was a bit like, ooh, this is news.

There's still things that I do now that are new to me that I've never done before. And I feel really like, oh, this is scary. Or even if I sometimes go to a new gym and I don't know where things are. Like, I travel a lot in different countries and I'm like finding a gym and I walk in sometimes. I'm like, and this is, and like, I'm confident with,

and walk in sometimes I'm like, where's up a kid? And I'd go up to a PT, I'm like, hey, I've just got here. Can you just show me where everything is? Yeah, you need to ask. You just ask the question. No one's judging you at all. They don't actually care that you're there. Like, everyone goes for themselves.

Yeah. And they're working on themselves. So a lot of girls get worried that they're being stared at or whatever it is. In all honesty, people are going for themselves and they're going to do their workout. And so I hope women don't feel like embarrassed or nervous to go in. to a gym because they think they're being watched or said, you know, people actually

don't really care. They're just in there, like you say, for themselves. But to hear you say that, because you are in peak condition, you look absolutely incredible. And I can only imagine the hard work that's gone into that. But to hear you saying that you sometimes feel a little bit uncomfortable, a little bit intimidating, because I feel that

as well, especially the cable machines seem to be getting more and more complicated in the, you know, the the trendier gyms you're like well what am i supposed to do with that you know and and then you're just sort of quietly trying to watch people to see if you can work it out from watching how they are doing it before you give it a go so it's it's a common emotion it is that we go through when we when we enter these spaces yeah it's not unheard of it's not uncommon and it's just kind of recognising that as a girl as a woman and being like i'm okay i can just ask someone for help

like yeah the pts and the staff in gyms are there to help you or if oh yeah if you're just in a go use a machine to go like oh i just saw you do that can you just show me how to do it yeah and you'll get the you'll get the help you were obviously you were a swimmer you were a fantastic swimmer what take us back to those swimming days and what was it that took you out of the pool and put you onto training in a different did you get bored of it did you just reach your peak what was it yeah so i have always been into sport i was the sporty kid and i'm very thankful for that and i swam my whole childhood from such young age, my age of four or five, did everything, chose swimming at 10 years old, and competitively swam from the age of 10 to 18, was very, very good at like 14, 15,

European juniors, represented England, travelled all over the world with it, trained nine times a week, the plan was the Olympics, I was like that kind of kid, and I did London trials. I think it was, I was 17, 18, and I came sixth in the final. and I just kind of I was done with swimming by that point it was to go into a bit of background I really struggled like the last like three or four months

of like my swimming career with like body image and food and being a young athlete and having our body fats done every day being weighed every day and it really started to grain on me and I was kind of at my peak and I thought this this is a lot

this is too much for me and after that race I literally just quit I am I don't like quitting it's not something there's this like trend at the moment that Lucy Davis doesn't quit and I got to that stage just remember I was like I'm good for this like I'm done I've done everything that I can do in this sport I've given my whole life to it my whole childhood I've learned so much from it but I was 18 I was going to uni I was like I think there's something else that I can do and there's something else that I want to achieve. So I made the really, really hard decisions to move away from it and naturally fell into the gym, like started training. Unfortunately as well, I did get an eating disorder. A lot of athletes do, a lot of boys and girls, not just like girls. I had an eating

disorder for five years, which was really just really hard because I didn't really know. Like I was 18, 19, you go from training nine times a week to not. I looked very athletic and I wanted to, it was very difficult. So I almost fell into the gym space, started filming myself for my eating disorder recovery. Instagram wasn't really a thing.

As we were talking like eight years ago, it was just, you post pictures. Yeah. And then I, my Instagram started to do something. I thought, this is weird. People are interested in, they didn't know I hadn't eaten sort of, but they're interested in me as a person.

And then everything changed from that point. With the eating disorder, it's really interesting because obviously you say you went from a sport where you were weighed every day and body fat done to now a sport where it's empowering to have muscle. It's so admirable. When I see anyone with a muscular frame, the first thing I think of is,

wow, your discipline and dedication is so inspiring to me because it's a lot of work. But I also think the health is at the forefront of any. training i mean i'm 40 now so i'm kind of training strength training for longevity and because i know how good it is but we had another guest on emily english and she's now got she's a really successful nutritionist but she said she fell into the nutrition because she was doing modeling as a child for asos and a photographer said to her your legs are too big you need to lose weight and it spiraled into an eating disorder and she found having foods not to shrink herself

but to fuel herself was a lightbulb moment. And that's how now she's become the successful nutritionist. So there is a lot of people who, from being in that situation whereby there's good food and there's bad food and there's calorie counting, they've found something good the other side of it. It's just getting out of it. What advice would you give to anyone who was currently in that place you were in? I think that's it.

I was very, very focused on aesthetics, very focused on what I look like, probably solely because I came from swimming which was performance based but it still had the aesthetic element because I could probably still remember my body fats and my stats and I was very lean compared to other girls I was very lean like I've had abs since I was six like genetically I don't store body fat so I'd always I have always looked different I still look different now but I'm happy with it now and at the time a similar thing there was a there was a girl we were at a competition and we all had our body fats done in front of everyone

the scales were like in the middle of the room and it was really odd so we all went up, we got weighed my body fats were always really low because I just naturally was very lean and she shoused in front of everyone oh my God Lucy's so anorexic and that was something

it didn't solely spark the eating disorder and I don't blame her for that I could probably thank her now because my whole career is different but it was a moment of do I need to be that should I am I? I'm confused and I wasn't anorexic

I actually have bulimia in the end but it almost sparks something where you're so triggered by a certain thing and it spirals and that's why a lot of people do stem into it. I think social media is playing a more positive role in some ways now.

It's almost I do what I do to help those girls so they don't have to go through what I did go through and it's for people who are currently going through it speak to someone. I didn't speak to anyone at all. I thought I could do it all by myself because I was so,

scared of being judged, no one's going to judge you. I think getting help with nutrition, if you are in, like, the phase of an eating disorder. Because I can't, if anyone comes to me with that information, I can't offer advice, because I'm not, you have to be qualified with the eat disorders. So it's like the first thing is I recommend them to. There's Amelia Thompson. She's fantastic with eating disorders. So I send people onto her.

And like, speak to her, reach out, have a chat. She's wonderful. So I'm one of the first things you can do is just open up. Get yourself in a really, really good place with food if you can. knowing that it's fuel for performance, it's fuel for your body, your mind, like everything about how you feel that you can eat at maintenance calories and nothing's going to happen. Everything's going to stay the same.

And getting yourself in a healthy place with the gym, getting exercise, getting fresh air, hitting your steps. Do it in a way that makes you feel really good. And it's just finding that balance with it. And I know how difficult it is, but I would say the first thing is just speak to somebody. about it and I go shy about doing that

it's not a bad thing there are a more diverse there is a should say more diverse representation of female bodies now for young women to look up to which is a glorious thing

I've got a nine year old your daughter's not that far behind is she six you know and they are you know my daughter is looking at YouTube you try and manage it she puts YouTube on the TV

not on a phone or anything but but it's it is a positive thing that there's women like yourself and women like Lucy Bronze who I took my daughter to meet recently and she's in incredible shape and really strong

and Lucy Bronze is idolised by my daughter now which is brilliant as I'm sure you were idolised by young girls it is a positive progression compared to if I look back to when I was young, 80s and 90 heroin sheet for all of

you had to be really skinny was that slug and nothing tastes as good as skinny feels Yeah, it's famous quotes, isn't it? Yeah. There was a mum the other day who meshes me and she basically said, I'm going to tell my daughter that you're superwoman

and I can't stop thinking about that. And I'm not honestly if I can, it is like the young girls I obviously want to inspire every single woman. Like I live with it every, like I'm so empowered by that. That's all I want to do. When a mum says that's me, that it's like the younger generation, I'm like, that hits really differently

because I didn't have, that growing up and I ended up in a really bad place and if we can avoid that in the best way possible and like young girls are like well no women can be mussely and they can look a bit different and I got so picked on for how I looked I still do now but I don't care anymore it doesn't bother me but when I was growing up

and I did look very very different and I've got broad shoulders and I've got abs and I've got muscle I was so insecure about it whereas now you've got these mum's being like this is what you want to look like this is strong this is good and you don't need to be like really underweight and I mean it's about

not killing yourself in the gym as well I wanted to ask you about your recovery because obviously you're an athlete you train really hard and there'll be women listening thinking they have to do hours in the gym and very minimal food but recovery is a huge part in wellness

isn't it what's your typical recovery like so I always say with my recovery because I do train as a full-time athlete so like business woman and just like full-time athlete and I think because I grew up as a swimmer I used to train more then and I always say that's people's almost like a pre-warning I used to train a lot more than I do now um because I do train twice a day most days have one for

rest day because my body's very adapted to that it's very used to in it's like taking time to build up over like the past five years to get to where I am now and recovery is one of the most important things that I focus on so sleep is like a really really big thing for me I try and get like, I'm not the best at sleep. I went through like a crazy period of life last year and I was having like four or five hours and I'm at like seven hours, like six or seven. Yeah.

And I just can't, that's just where I'm at and it works for me. And I know people have like kids and they have different lifestyle. So I'm always very careful when I talk about being like, you have to do this. I'm like, don't have to get a certain amount of hours. Just try your best with getting to sleep

and reducing phone time and putting a candle on and reading a book and drifting off and boosting your melaton in before you go to sleep and that sort of thing. Stretching mobility, recovery, saunas, ice bath, like that sort of thing. Take a rest day when you can take a rest day if you feel your body needs it. Fueling correctly. I am so much better with nutrition.

And it's changed my performance in all the best ways. Like I'm very focused on it's not good to be bad food. I'm just balanced. I'll have chocolate, but I don't have it every day. I just have it when I want a little bit. I have nutritionally dense foods that make. make me feel incredible. I'm hydrated. I have a lot of water, electrolyte's training. It's just, it's nothing crazy that I do. The solar and ice bath could be hard for some people, for sure.

But they're just things that I do. I try not overthink. I try and keep stress down a little bit, which is that's the one thing I probably struggle with most, is my stress levels. I was saying to Cal this morning on the treadmill. I replied to all my emails because the weather was so bad I had to run the treadmill. And that was a really bad. I recognized that I did that. like, let's not work on the treadmill. That's a really bad thing. Yeah. Well, I mean, you would reply into emails while running.

Yeah, I did 10 miles this morning. Oh, gosh. And I was replying to emails. I do, Kyle tells me off it, actually, I voice no back and I do. And I just sometimes, because I am busy and I'm like, oh, I'll do it all now. It's like, no, Lisa, because the running's supposed to be you time and you're performing. Like, you don't do that.

So I do recognize stuff that I do that isn't the healthiest. Again, just being, like, really, like, transparent. so like yeah controlling stress is a big one for recovery as well it's just probably the one that I struggle with most we've had some doctors on and they've said for women especially stress is the biggest like killer isn't it in women like your periods as well yeah it gets taxed by it your emotions and then if your information levels

and then if you're training to the levels you are your inflammation levels are probably increased although you sound like you recover properly but it's it's hard to fully recover from what sounds like the intensity to which you are training. Yeah. You mentioned twice a day. So how does that look like?

What does that look like? What do you do? So I, yeah, every day is pretty much a double day training for me. I'm in Berlin Marathon prep at the moment. So I'm like eight weeks out. So it is quite intense. I've also got high rocks like a month later. And I've got an ultra in 20 days as well.

So I do always have like bat to back races because I'm very hybrid. and I kind of do a mixture of things like do it all. And I got up at 6 o'clock because I was coming here for the day. It was so exciting. So I had my 10 miles this morning. It was really raining. So I jumped on the treadmill. And got ready, worked on the train with Cal, took up some meetings here,

podcasting, which is wonderful. And then I'll go back this evening and I'll have a high rocks leg session whenever I get in from London, eat on the train, eat before bed. What's a high rock session? So a high rock session for me, it won't be as intense. Like I do take into part of if I've had like a travel day, I'll put like the really hard high rock sessions on a different day when I'm back and I'll probably do it earlier in the day, like not like too late at night.

So it'll be very strength-based focus, lower body, squats, lunges, Bulgarians, leg press, sled push, warballs, probably a bit of ski-heg and row. And that'll be tonight's session. an hour 15, an hour 20 when I get back. But I do... Yeah, if it's your job, so to speak. It kind of, which I do feel so...

And it is, that's the only thing I do struggle with a little bit. It's having, like, the businesses and then the training, like, twice a day. I just have to manage time as best as possible. And it's hard. It's hard to find balance, but I'm making it work. And how do you... Because you, obviously, you got your app.

My Coach Fitness app, you founded that. What was it that wanted you to do that? And what is the app? What can we get on it? So my coach is, we had it since 2018. And we basically felt in terms of the fitness space, there was obviously a lot of apps that have workouts on. And we wanted something that had everything.

So over like the past four or five years, we've built my coach to over 5,000, 6,000 members worldwide, in-house, we've got an in-house team and it has the ability like, for example, check-ins, accountability. People can check in with themselves. The hardest thing about maintaining a fitness goal

is staying accountable to it. So that was one of the first things we did that other apps didn't necessarily have. The workouts, every single thing has a talk through video so they're not silent videos. We talk for all the exercises. So it's like a PT on your phone. It's like a P-T on your phone.

They're slow. is PT in your pocket. So that's another thing. So people know exactly what they're doing. There's over 20 workout programs, hundreds of workouts, recipes, per size calories and macros, the community side is a massive element for us. High Rock's gym, hybrid running is what it is. So we kind of target female hybrid athletes. It doesn't matter if you're a complete beginner and you want to do your first 5K or you're in elite. High Rocks, Leap 15 athlete. We have something for everyone obviously we've built that over the past couple of years but the goal for it for me and where i like envision it in the space is the number one female hybrid app in the space

which i feel like i'm like well qualified to yeah so have that kind of space um but it is it's the community element having people together who want to do these hard things but push themselves but feel safe in an environment it's not toxic or anything like that and yeah we built over the the past five years and it's it's incredible it's amazing so is it a high rocks affiliated app then yeah high rock's affiliated a lot of running and lifting programs which is where the high space comes into it gym obviously like gym specific homework outs people who can't get to gym because we're just very aware that everyone's lives are so different and you yeah you could be a complete beginner so we've got a built a 5k program which we'll

will take you from nothing to a 5K but we've also got ultramarathon programs on there so it's trying to tailor to everyone with the hope of okay so you do the 5K program and then maybe the 10k and then oh you could train for a half marathon and then a migration yeah and then you can go into the high rock space it's having that ability to get people into fitness and health and love it for what it is and we're very performance based basically like i don't want women to be too stressed about aesthetically what they look like. What I always say and what the ethos is of the app is, you know, you focus on your health, your body, you're important, your heart, your lungs,

you focus on performance, having goals really good to meet. A byproduct of that is your aesthetics. Like if you're enjoying everything and if you're training well and you're eating well for performance and you're healthy and your heart's healthy, you're going to probably look how you want to look in a certain amount of months. You get the confidence as well. It's confidence.

You feel better and you just, have this boost of how you feel and like mental health is a really big thing and a part of the app and it's like making sure people feel good and that's why the community element's like important and you know we have amazing events where we get girls together we meet up and we chat and you know talk about mental health and those sort of things and it's been hopefully life-changing for a lot of women but also us guys as well who like work on it and see what we can always do to improve and make it that FP for. And you mentioned that this morning you ran 10 miles.

You're going to do a strength session when you get back. Yes. High Rock is a mix of both. If you could only do one for the rest of your training. Because, I mean, we love strength training, but I hate running. That puts me, that's the one thing that puts me off the high rocks. My fellow's said, let's do one together. But I said, I will let you down on the run.

You'll be like, you won't see him for dust, but I'll be tailoring behind. If you could only do one moving forward in training, in which one would it be and why? It's so hard because I'm such in my running area in the moment because of Berlin but I would pick high rocks because it still has an element of speed running in it and I love the functional fitness side. I love doing women's pro solo

because the sleds are so heavy and it's so gritty and my body just swells up and then you've got to run and I love like the gritty side of it and I just think like marathons are also like my marathons and ultras I just ran the last man standing

and then went into Chicago so hard, so gritty but if I had to choose because I can't not I can't lose my gym, functional fitness element of it, it's like who I am. It's the fact that you've done all them marathons and stuff what made you want to run the first marathon even?

I randomly started running during COVID because all the gyms shut and I thought oh mental health really, I wasn't in a good place. So I need some fresher. I need to get out and I started running a little bit. So 5Ks, 10Ks. And randomly, a new year of 2022, I think,

because I've only been running for three years now. Yeah, 20 for 2. I signed up to 100K run. So I did 100K before I did my first marathon. Goodness. But that's how I got into running. I just very randomly, New Year's Eve, signed up to 100K. And you could just do it.

Because some people are naturally good at running, aren't they? You just, like, you can just do it. You like it? I love running. Oh. It, the Jones. You find it hard or? Really hard.

Right. But you still do it. You like the discomfort then. I love the discomfort. I think because I love performance goals so much and, like, challenging myself. So, like, the Ballet Marathon, I once go for a sub-254. The training's so hard. Like, it truly is really, really hard graft.

And then I like the idea that I can keep chipping away at marathon time. And, like, keep going and going and going, like, high rocks is similar. I think that's my swimming mindset, right, chip away and chip away. But then the ultra I did five, five or six weeks ago, ran 172K in Austin, Texas, which was crazy. I was second female, like, joint second female. And then did Chicago. So I think I found myself in this place of my biggest goal is to be, like,

the number one female hybrid athlete to just show girls that you can do it all. And you can do really, really hard, uncomfortable things. Like, that ultra was absolutely, it was horrific. The last man standing one. The last man standing. It was 38 degrees. It was in Texas. The furthest I'd ran before that was the 100K a couple of years ago.

So how far was that one reminding me, the last man standing? So I did 100, I got it tattooed on me. I did 106.9 miles, which is 172K. Oh, my God. Oh, the 25. I wouldn't. Man inconsistently or you're having some break? So it was 4.2 mile, yeah, 4.2 mile loop every hour on the hour.

So it's like a backyard altar. That's how it works. Oh, right. So you had to be back within the hour or you get cut off. And then I managed 25.5 hours. But I want to go further next year. Did you pace yourself, though? You didn't, you know, do the first one, six minute miles and then...

We try to pace ourselves, yeah. We were very excited. I did it with, well, there's obviously loads of people who did it. Yeah. Me and my two, two of my friends, we did a lot of it together and it's, you're so excited, but you do have to, it's, like, ultras and marathons are completely different. Like, my marathon pace is two minutes, two and a half minutes quicker per K than ultra pace because I'm running for three hours rather than 25 hours.

And you learn a lot about yourselves in those situations. I very much nearly quit at 85 miles. I came back in, I was in tears, I'd thrown up, I thought my hips had gone, I just was, I was so done. And my sister said to me, she's like, just do this, do one more loop, just go back out there, do it for my grandpa, who passed away. And I thought, okay, I was like, I'll do one more, and I ran another 22 miles. Wow. And it just shows that your mind's the mind over matter, isn't it? But having that break, now I can't at all relate to the,

madness that you've just described to me that's in a very, very small way I can relate it when I ran the London marathon last year. Hated every minute, that's why I'm listening to you thinking that woman is barking, but I, at 16

miles, which is small fry to you but at 16 miles I stopped to go to the loo and then I couldn't get going again. Once I'd stopped and psychologically I think I've got a 10 miles to run that is a long way to you, it's not, to be average person that is a long way I or when people say that I'm like let's like it's two K's far

for some I just never ever like compared to other people but it was that stopping that really just bugged me for the rest of the race then and then I struggled whereas up until 16 miles I was running consistently and I was I was again nothing compared to you I was tracking to come in four hours 15 and I was trying to come in under four and a half so I was proud of myself for that that was keeping a consistent pace until I got to 16 miles and then I ended up coming in over five hours because those last time I just went

it just threw me off completely because I stopped yeah exactly and so if you're doing this where you're running, I could manage four miles but then to have to go again in about I don't know 20 minutes so how much we had about at the start it was about 12 minutes

and 10 and then by like there weren't that many of us who made it over 100 there's about 15 of us left and we were coming in with like five minutes and then you're just enough time to refuel were you just like eating bananas and oats

and come back in you refuel you sit down put your eyes vest on because it's I can't explain the heat that's why most people dropped because it was so 38 degrees is unfathomable I try as a heat acclimatized

as much as I could hear in like saunas I went out to Austin earlier but for us that's wet here isn't it yeah it's unbearable You had to have long sleeves on to cover your body, caps, at everything. You come in, your refill, you're electrolytes. And then by the time you are like 15 hours in,

people are pulling you out the chair because you're in so much pain. And then you get up and then you go out. And then I didn't sleep for two days after because you just... For your vener than you. For 60 hours, yeah. Which I didn't... It was why I didn't think I'd compete in Wales this year at Chicago because it was two weeks later.

But I did. And I did. Would you do that again? in Austin, would you do that same race again? I'm going to do the same race again next year. Yeah. I'd love to hit maybe like 140 miles. Oh, you'd love to.

I'd love to. When I hear 38 degrees, I'm like, put me on a beach bit. I put it on a margarita. Yeah, with an umbrella over my head. Yeah. You know what I also would? Yeah. Yeah, I am.

Put the fact of 50 on. I've done that now. That's your goal. I'm like, I can do more. I can do more than that. So I have, yeah, I enjoy. I like learning a lot about myself in those uncomfortable environmental environments. I knew how hard Chicago would be this year.

Like my whole central nervous system had shut down after Last Man Standing. My bloods were completely off. I had my bloods done. My period was horrific. I came on three times in the space of five weeks, just like on and off. He came on the morning of Chicago before I competed. Kyle had to go and get me tampons because I just woke up and I thought, I've just been on last week so my whole body was off

and I went to that race with just the biggest smile on my face I was so proud that I'd even made it to that start line in Chicago and I actually raced really quite well I was so shocked had no expectations for this year's worlds if I had done last man standing

I would have absolutely gone to win but yeah ninth in the world in my age second Brit wasn't that far off my PB and I thought we can just do amazing things with our bodies Yeah. And it just, I was just like, wow, I'm just happy to be here.

Did it not feel like a small fry, though, compared to what you put your body through two weeks earlier? I was really laughing going, like, round Chicago. I just had the biggest smile on my face. I was like, I can't believe I just ran over 100 miles two weeks ago. Like, I just, and I was, I can't, I felt horrific during that race in Chicago. Like, everything was, everything was hard. Like, the sleds, the sleds didn't move very well. The lunges.

I was like, I'm not going to get back up. I couldn't run. how I wanted to run because my heart, I was having a few issues with, not like issues with my heart, but my central nervous system was just shot after that ultramarathon. So I didn't want to push too harder than runs

because I was a little bit, oh, I was like I've never, I don't want to, I'm being a bit careful. And yeah, I was only a minute off my PB and I, I was just really shocked by that whole race. Is there not an argument though, Lucy, to suggest? But it might not be that good for you if it is doing that to your body and sending your cycle into haywire,

shutting down your central nervous system. Now, the mother in me feels... Yeah, it feels a bit liven-in-suited. But you have, obviously, professional coaches and... I've got people on your nutrition and still. Yeah, I've got a nutritionist,

got a running coach, a high-worts coach, how did my blood's done, aft last man standing, and we were like, I can compete. I'm more than well enough to compete and it was more so after Chicago I was very stressed with like work and the businesses and my training and everything so I just took a full week off and it was the most needed thing needed for my mental capacity like my brain space everything about how I felt really absolutely I hadn't recognised what I'd just done in Texas I was like a okay, you've now got something else. It's something that I really struggle with and I'm very open about it online

is I do have a tendency to move on to the next thing because I'm this, she does these really hard things that I can identify with that. But I'm really aware of it now and I'm a little bit more vulnerable online. I'm a little bit more emotional. I went through such a big life change last year,

became very independent. and I know that about myself and like my parents know my friends know and they always check in and that's the one thing I did know about Chicago I just said it's like if I'm like fit enough and I've had all these checks and I can compete I'll go and do it

and I did and I'm so proud and happy that I've done that but I won't be doing that next year no I won't be doing that next year like I've experienced it and it's just I won't do that I go they were too close they were too too close I was going to say I was sore after the Manchester 10K like the day after.

I had to like hold the sink to sit on the toilet to get down. What are your non-negotiables when it comes to your training? Because obviously for people like myself and Claire who enjoy training, it's not our profession in that if we do miss the occasional session, it could really affect our performance. But obviously for you, your mindset

must be so much stronger than the average jails as well. because if you do miss a session, it could potentially harm your PB, harm your performance. So do you have non-negotiables that you have to just stick to? Yeah, I feel like I do in terms of, you know you'll feel better if you do this, Lucy. Like, I know when I go back after the train journey home that I have to do that session,

I don't really want to do that, but I think about myself tomorrow. And like, if you don't do it today, you're going to have to do it on another day where you don't have a double session like you're going to do it regardless and I think I just have that mindset of if I do feel fatigued in a session

I will alter it I will change it slightly and just to say to my coaches like I've had to alter this because I've done this this and this in the day if I really feel like can you take a rest day I will take a rest day that's non-negotiable I can listen to my body and be like okay you've had a lot on you need this

fueling is a non-negotiable So I'll get in, I'll have food before my session, like half an hour before. I'll have a bagel with honey. My electrolytes, G1M, I work with BPN, and they have a fantastic carb electrolyte drink. I won't have caffeine for my second session because it will keep me up at night because caffeine has a half-life. That's almost like a non-negotiable that I've set myself because sleep's important. And it is, it's just being like, you've got it, Lucy.

Like, you've been through worse. You can go and do this session. You'll be fine. and you'll feel better after it and I think my head just goes there or I put on a silly playlist and I put on funny music or like yesterday my 16K run in the morning

I was like I was 16 years today I know 10 today I know it was me yesterday said I've done my 10,000 steps today I FaceTime my mum for the whole run an hour and a quarter I was just on FaceTime to my mum

and that was just just like I needed it I'm assuming you're jogging at this point though, not running a fairly fast face and talking. Oh, is that possible? It was possible, yeah. I was doing four 30Ks yesterday, 4.30 per K. Just how good. A quite a low heart rate.

I think it might as well. But I was, I'm a very, like, very happy, smiley person now. And I was just so happy to be running yesterday, like, on face-ins to my mum. And it just, I just think, like, I don't have to train. I don't have to do any of this I get to do it and it's something that I agree isn't it yeah

yeah it's so it's like the fact that I can go home later after such a wonderful day and I get to train again I'm like you don't have an excuse like Lucy you literally go get to go and do that and there'll be a point where I probably don't want to

or have this mindset that I have now which is a little bit I do have a slightly crazy mindset but I get to do these things so I think that really helps so I don't I'm not motivated all the time. I'm not. I think people look at me and think, God, I'm like, no. That's by discipline steps up, there's

discipline. And I love that there's women like yourself dominating the industry. Like you with your high rocks, Tia Claire, with the CrossFit. You know, we had Jess Ennis back in the day with the triathlons. I think it's a brilliant space for women. Who were the CrossFit? Me? What did you say? Clay with CrossFit? Teaclair. Oh, Tia Claire. Oh, Tia Clair. I said me with a crossfit. I think you've got the wrong. She won all the CrossFit game. Oh, no, I know. Tia Claire to me.

Went and had a baby and casually came back and right. Again, after having a baby and still did it. Yeah. I mean, she's amazing. There's such incredible athletes. And I think for young girls growing up now seeing all of this, it is brilliant. I mean, I had Jet from the Gladiators and Zina Warrior Princess.

I wanted to be like them growing up. So I think it's brilliant that you've created this space. You know, a fellow Northern are doing all this. It's absolutely brilliant. You're the reason. Gawker did his first high rocks. And when Gawker said, Get Lucy. And when I told him, I said, I've messaged him before

and I said, oh, Lucy's here, I said, she looks incredible. And he said, well, yeah, she did it in 60. I was 66. I was like, he was six minutes. He was fuming, he was six minutes behind you. I'm in good shape, isn't it? Yeah. The beauty of sport, though, and, like, having performance goals,

it's not, it's like you versus you in a lot of it. Like, I know I compete in, like, yeah, the hierarchies I want to win and marathons, I want to really keep progressing and maybe do elite field one day would be absolutely insane. but it is it's it it's for you to set the goals for yourself like I the next hierox I do I went to 58 in DC at the start of the year I'm gonna go 57 56 like you just and but that's for me if I get a world record along the way that would be great but I'm doing that for me to see what I'm capable of I think that's what's so fun with when you have

performance goals you can set them for yourself and it could be your first 10k where you want to break an hour or somebody might want to break 40 minutes it just doesn't matter because it's for yourself and it's only yourself really accountability it's not like you know you're a team sport where if you're the one who's you know missed the penalty the whole team's down and they blame you or if you know you're doing doubles tennis whatever if it's just you in your own head in your zone training if you perform to the best you can that's all that matters that's all that matters and you're just going out there and you're doing it. And it makes you feel better in every way.

Should we do on high rocks? No. I think you absolutely should. I think we should know high rocks, Claire. But is there like a sort of a master's category for Old Bird? We could do the over 40s. We could do the over 40s. Yeah.

I think it goes up to like, is that 7. So what would we be in as 40 and 47? So would be, is there an over 40s category? So we should. Is there a, is there a, is there a, is there a, a member of two category. Yeah. We could do,

if we did the over 60s, we'd be all right. Yeah. Well, honestly, we should actually do it. Yeah. I don't know,

wear some sort of mask or something to make that sounds a bit older. It'll be fine. Get Tom Hardy at the end stood there with a puppy,

I will fly through. No problem. You get some great, it's a great spectator sport at rocks, honestly. It's fantastic. What would be your advice

to someone who, like me and Gemma, have never done one and maybe considering it. I think slightly more Gemma than myself. But what would be your advice to someone considering doing a high rock? And in fact, maybe you don't have the training base that Gemma does and me to a lesser extent. So if it really was someone thinking, I've seen all the social content, it looks really good fun. You see girlfriends doing it together and partners, etc. I want some

of that. Where do they start? I think the first thing, because it is quite confusing. It's like, oh, there's like eight different stations and you don't really know how I was trained for it. is to follow a program more so one for accountability because it's like oh i like the idea of it but then you actually have to train for it and like commit to it and that's where like the discipline comes in which is why even though i'm a coach myself and i do all this i have coaches for high rocks and running to keep me accountable and like this is your training for the week and i follow it and i do it and i get it done and it just takes it takes the stress away so it take the stress away from you to think oh god what am i going to train you

to say, what am I going to do? You know, you just have a little look. You know exactly what you're doing. I think that's really valuable. And the accountability side, as to be accountable to someone or, like, a friend, like doing it with someone. I think, especially if you're first one,

you have to do it because you also do it together. You can't let the other person down in a way. Like, you have to be there on the start line to compete with them if you're doing doubles. I think getting into running, which would be part of, like, programming anyway, just getting your fee out there, getting the feelers, doing some easy runs, going down to the track and have like a little

fun track session and, yeah, just seeing what you want to do with it. But yeah, following a program, having a little look at nutrition, but not in a stressful way. Just, you know, being hydrated, looking a little bit on your recovery, focused on recovery. And it's just doing these things like bit by bit to the first time out of that, oh, I'm going to really focus on my sleep this week. I'm just going to focus on my sleep. And then I'm going to start doing a couple of sessions. And then, oh, I'm going to just introduce this into my diet. And people think you have to do everything at once it's overwhelming that's why people quit that's why it becomes too much because you dive in and you do oh oh that's just like small changes

isn't it small changes the 1% changes every single week and that's why you you know that's how i always say these people because i'm like i get so much enjoyment from health and fitness i don't want people to dive so far in like i did at the start where it becomes so unenjoyable and then you just quit and you can't do it anymore. So build yourself up. That's been real. Yeah. You need to get to running though.

You hate running more than me, I think. I don't like... I mean, I do the 10K every year because it's for charity. As soon as I set off, I think I hate it. And it's when you get to Old Trafford in Manchester and you have to come all the way back up. Exactly right.

Like strength training. I do all day every year. I love strength training. And I do tie boxing and I love that. But it's just running. I just... I'm built for speed. Not for longevity.

It is good, though, for High Rocks, it's just one kilometre between the stations. So I used to run for Manchester Girls, but I was 100 metres in the fourth leg of the relay. Cross country, I was that one behind the bike shed that stood there saying, do another lap, I'll join at the end. It's just something about long distance. It's really... You have a sprint to that. You're in High Rocks. I might go hand in hand.

I can do the sprint, you can do the lifts. Well, no, you'll go for a big takeaway after. Yeah. A few people have said to me, because my team, Women, South and Men's South, are mad for it. Some of them, yeah, you know, Emily Emmons, the social manager, she went down to Cardiff and did it recently, and we had a guy called Liam Hatch who did it for us. And, yeah, there's any high rock race, one of some of that lot out there, the studio is right next to bid, all the editorial teams that they take it on, they love it. Is it true? Is that meme that went round on Instagram, is it hybrid rock star, or is that not true?

I actually don't know. Because someone said it means, it is, he's nodding. Someone said it means hybrid rock star, and I thought, surely not. Oh, if this is someone ever referred to me as hybrid rock star, I'd be like, nope. Yeah, that's, yeah, I don't like it. Where can people find you and learn more about your training approach before you? You, I've actually just changed my Instagram name. I asked the first half I've had to say it, so it's just Lucy Davis.

Okay, notice that. Yeah, once we've been a bit. Didn't it? Yeah. And I feel, because I'm a businesswoman and fitness is who I am through and through. But I did change Lisa Davis fit just so it's just like, my name. Yeah. And then so on other social media platforms that YouTube, TikTok, it's Lisa Davis Fit.

And then we have my coach app across social media. And then me and my sister are launching a brand, which is called a scene. So that's the next 30 days. But yeah, I'm pretty much everywhere. So what's the brand? It's athletic wear. Oh, that's good. Yeah.

Well, you've got two girls here who live in athletically. Yes. Yeah. We've wanted, we've been working on it for a year. Yeah. And we're about 30 days out from launching. Amazing. And the stress levels are a little bit higher, but yeah, we're bridging between performance wear,

so you're functionally fit to wear things, but also aesthetically, it looks absolutely gorgeous. So leggings, crops, shorts, all that type of stuff. Yeah. Really nice jogger sets. Oh, brilliant. Good luck with that. And that would be available online? Yeah, online to start with.

And then fingers crossed down the line will be in Selfridges and things like that. Oh, brilliant. Thank you so much. Thank you for, thank you for coming in. It's been Brill. I genuinely feel motivated. Are you going to go for a workout tonight, though,

when you get back to Manchester? No. We're going to have a bath and a gin and tonic. Not that motivated then, are you? No. Before you go, we have to do, we do this with everyone. Claire's got some quick-fire questions for you and then we've got a game,

a quick game of hack or hate. Okay. Do you want to do the quick fire question first? So, Jemma and I are coming to your place for dinner. You need to fit us in around all the training. What are you going to cook us? The, I think it's viral actually, the vodka pasta. Oh, that sounds good.

Vodka pasta? Yeah. As in, as in... Yeah, but it's incredible. It's like a vodka-based pasta. Delicious. Nice, wasn't expecting that. I know, I'd expect a rogue one.

You're going on a desert island and you can only take one thing for an entire year. What are you taking? A penknife. Oh, practical. Practical. Practical. It's a certain practical answer we've had today. What's the last thing that made you belly laugh?

I'm on the train this morning with Cal. When he had his sickness. He had a funny do. Cal had a funny do on the train. We're in Cal. We worked together. We've known each of the few years. One of my best friends.

But sometimes he does the most hilarious things and they just live rent free in my head. well you need to tell us what he did this morning I actually can't remember what you did I don't know it's appropriate to show on the podcast but he did something and it's just I banked these things in my head so I literally just like belly laughed coffee or wine choose one

coffee coffee going after all well I think we've already answered I genuinely have this written down should Gemma and I do a high rocks yes immediately I'll sign you right up and the final one

for the listeners if they could do one thing to improve their wellness today, what should it be? This is going to sound so rogue and it actually sounds crazy but just because it technically releases serotonium makes you feel better. Just smile. If you need to like force it to make yourself feel better, if I smile and even if you had sometimes like, the happiness it releases, it changes your mood.

If it changes your mood, you feel better if you feel healthier. Oh, I like that. I love the answer. And then these ones, it's just, six things that I'll say to you and you can say whether it's a hack and you would be up for it or I hate and absolutely not.

5am get-ups every morning. Hack. Do you do that. Lemon water in the morning. Hate. Cold showers. Hack. Coffee after 2 o'clock.

Hate. 10,000 steps a day. Hack. Matcha flavored everything. I'm such a matcha girlie. Hack. it's funny you're the first one who said for matcher

I love Matt I just need a taste of it oh my god give you a strawberry my god give you a strawberry it's not a popular no not being popular our guest well that's been amazing Lucy thank you so much for coming in to see us thank you and good luck with everything else

all the runs and keep us posted on how you go and I will I can't wait to see your first hierrocks I'll see you there you hear it here first so we're not going to get away with this now thank you Thank you. Thank you.