Caroline Livesey – Extreme Triathlete and Elite Gravel Cyclist: Winning Races, Breaking Limits, and Giving Back

Caroline Livesey is an adventurer, extreme triathlete, ultracyclist, elite gravel cyclist and triathlon and life coach. 

Caroline started her journey into triathlon while serving with the Royal Engineers in the British Army. After 10 years service she left as a Major in 2013 and pursued a career as a professional triathlete (while working full time as a geotechnical design consultant), originally in Ironman events. 

In 2019 circumstances conspired to throw her into her first extreme triathlon, Canadaman XTRI. Winning this event was the catalyst for her to work on her mindset and physical adaptations to take on the gruelling climate conditions which are typical for the Extreme Triathlons such as Norseman and Celtman. She has since won numerous extreme events, and has just returned from winning Patagonman in Chile for the second time. 

Caroline is also an elite gravel cyclist, competing for Team GB at the last two World Championships (where she thinks she was the oldest on the start line by some 20 years). She loves single day UCI gravel races but also ultra distance, and has competed at Badlands (3rd), finished Transcordilleras (Colombia), and completed coast-to-coast across Costa Rica in less than two days. She completed the 1000km Transcordilleras, an 8-day stage race, in February this year.

Caroline's husband Mark is a documentary / film maker and they make films about their adventures (YouTube, Amazon Prime - The Brick Session). Their purpose is to provide information and inspiration to others so that they might break down their own false beliefs to take on their own challenges. 

Caroline and Mark have founded Peak Education Nepal - a charity bringing education to the children of poor families in Nepal who cannot afford to go to school. They became involved in this while in Nepal for an event in 2022, and plan to go back this year to develop the charity and do another mountain trail running adventure. 

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Show notes

• Who is Caroline 
• Scottish but now currently living in Majorca 
• Having a background in endurance sports
• Professional Ironman athlete and now doing extreme triathlons 
• Gravel cycling and endurance cycling 
• Growing up in a sporty family and spending time outside 
• Starting triathlon in her late 20s
• Being a fit person overall 
• Climbing (indoor and outdoor)
• Doing crazy things outdoors 
• Going to Sandhurst and doing her army training 
• Getting into triathlons 
• Meeting her husband while in the army
• The changes in professional triathletes
• Doing her first pro year in 2015
• How the industry has change in the past 10 years 
• Having a full time job and fitting in the training 
• Not being able to make a living from it in
• Canadaman /woman 
• Norseman 
• Patagonman 
• 2017 - having her breakthrough race in Texas 
• Getting attacked while on her bike 
• Breaking her pelvis and dealing with multiple stress fractures
• Not being able to get back to the same level of performance 
• Having her professional career cut short
• Having an opportunity to try other things 
• Having a bad experience with the cold during a race 
• Back to fitness in 2015 and looking at doing Ironman Ireland 
• Deciding to go to Canada and do a warmer race in July
• Winning Canadaman Race and automatically qualifying for Norseman
• Cold weather and cold experiences 
• Just because you are cold adapted doesn’t mean you don’t feel the cold
• Learning different ways to manage the cold
• There has to be a way for me to physically adapt to the cold and getting onboard mentally
• Starting to have cold showers 
• Learning to breathe out as the cold hits you
• Thinking about physically relaxing 
• Learning that it’s ok to be cold 
• Feeling invigorating after cold water swimming 
• Experiencing Norseman (2022) and what it was like
• Film - Norseman - A day of extremes - available on Youtube 
• The logistical challenges of the Norseman Race
• Britta Sorensen (PHD) - research on pain and suffering in female endurance athletes.  
• Race strategy and being self coached 
• Being coached by her husband at the very start
• Not being very coachable 
• Listening to her body and making decisions based on how she feels 
• Taking it to the next level during a race and needing to push harder
• Racing against herself 
• Extreme triathlon - being out front on the swim and the bike
• Winning Canadaman by 12 seconds
• Lyne Bessette 
• Getting to the finish line and knowing she gave it everything she had
• The mental side of racing and why you need to practice it
• The benefits of experience and being able to draw knowledge from it
• How you can watch the films / Documentaries 
• Doing what she loves 
• How to connect with Caroline on social media
• Visiting Nepal in 2022 to do a race (but not being able to race)
• Cost of education in Nepal - USD $350 to educate a child for a year (fees, uniform, books)
• Creating a charity - Peak Education Nepal 
• How the listeners can support the charity and donate 
• Final words of advice for other women who want to take it to the next level 
• Setting your mind to the challenge. What would be the process of getting there if you were going to do it. 
• Build your self-belief and push yourself forward

 

Social Media

Instagram @caroline.livesey 

Facebook @carolineliveseytriathlete 

Youtube @thebricksession 

Nepal fundraiser - Fundraiser by Mark Livesey : Help fund education for two children in Nepal

 

Peak Education Nepal 

OSCR registered charity SC054049

Funding education in poor communities in Nepal. Education changes lives.

 

Charity - https://peakeducationnepal.com/

Instagram - @peakeducationnepal