EP163 - Divide and Conquer: Lucja Leonard’s Test at the Divide 200

October 18, 2024·1 hr 24 min·5 clips

Lucja Leonard slipped off a cliff in the dark during the Divide 200, dangling over an abyss until a pacer rescued her.

This episode features ultrarunner Lucja Leonard discussing her journey into extreme endurance events and her recent experience at The Divide 200. Host David Terrio, an ultrarunner himself, interviews Leonard, who is known for her multi-stage desert races and being the wife of "Finding Gobi" author Dion Leonard. Leonard details her athletic beginnings, starting from being overweight and running her first 10k to completing her first ultra, the 155-mile Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon, in 2013. She and her husband later tackled the Marathon des Sables, a 250k self-sufficient race across the Sahara with over 1,100 participants. Leonard explains their nomadic lifestyle, involving 25 moves across 13 states in one year, which presents unique training challenges like finding new trails and gyms. Her first 200-mile race was the Bigfoot 200 in 2021, which she finished in just under 90 hours after a last-minute push. She contrasts this with her more recent run at The Divide 200, which she describes as far more difficult, "blowing Bigfoot out of the water." Leonard shares specific training methods for desert races, including setting up a heat chamber with fan heaters in a spare room and running repetitive loops in beach dunes to simulate soft sand. A surprising insight is that Leonard initially hated sports, forged notes to skip gym class, and started running to lose weight. She describes ultrarunning as a source of empowerment and confidence she never had before. Leonard also reveals she sometimes draws motivation during low points by thinking of her social media followers and coaching clients to set an example. The conversation explores the shared psychology of seeking suffering, with both host and guest admitting they look forward to the moment in a race where they question all their life choices. Leonard notes her husband's motivation has shifted from pure competitiveness to experiencing gratitude and adventure, as seen in his current attempt at the Gobi 400k. She believes the naivety of a first 200-mile race is an advantage, as knowing the pain beforehand makes subsequent attempts mentally harder. The tone is a casual, conversational exchange between two experienced ultrarunners who share a deep understanding of the sport's culture. The style is anecdotal and reflective, focusing on personal evolution and the philosophical aspects of endurance challenges. This episode would greatly appeal to ultrarunners and endurance athletes interested in race specifics, training methodologies, and the mental landscape of multi-day events. Listeners seeking a highly structured, interview-focused podcast or those with no interest in extreme athletics might want to skip it.

As heard by us

A steady ultrarunning conversation about hard miles, perspective, and what endurance does to the rest of life.

Run the Riot keeps its focus on the mental and physical grind of ultrarunning, using Lucia Leonard's racing stories to show how long efforts change the way a runner sees things.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a lucid, no-frills look at how 200-mile efforts can reshape your head and your sense of self.

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