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© 2025 Ageless Athlete - Longevity Insights From Adventure Sports Legends
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Uncensored and deep conversations with extraordinary rock climbers, runners, surfers, alpinists, kayakers and skiers et al. Tap into their journey to peak performance, revealing stories, hidden strategies, and the mindset that defies aging and other limits.
Get educated and inspired to chase your own dreams. Come for the stories, leave with tools, tips, and motivation! Hosted by Kush Khandelwal.
92 Episodes
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What does it look like to age curiously, train smarter, and build a life of meaning—together? Meet Joan Weisberg-Beyerlein and Doug Beyerlein: partners in life, love, and adventure. At 75, Joan is training for a 10-mile open water swim in Vermont. Doug is still running ultramarathons and logging 3-hour trail runs for fun. Between them, they’ve overcome addiction, burnout, injury, and the daily cultural script that says we should be slowing down by now. In this lively, thoughtful, and often hi...
What does it take to bet everything on a dream? To live out of a van before it was fashionable, to commit to hard lines with no guarantee of success, and to walk away from risk when the stakes are too high? For Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter, it has always come down to conviction. From iconic ascents like Cobra Crack and The Path to bold multi-pitch routes on El Capitan, Sonnie has built a career — and a life — around the power of desire and the art of going all in. In this episode, Sonnie o...
What does it take to come back after a body-breaker of an injury—not once, but sixteen times? Chris Anthony is a legendary ski athlete, filmmaker, and adventurer who has stared down more than his fair share of wipeouts, surgeries, and life-altering setbacks. But instead of fading quietly from the spotlight, Chris rebuilt. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. In this episode, we explore what it really means to recover—not just to return to sport, but to reinvent yourself in the process. You’ll h...
Last week in Part I, we began our journey with legendary alpinist Jim Donini — exploring his surprise cancer diagnosis, his early days in Yosemite, and the philosophy that has defined his career: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting back down is mandatory.” In this second part of our conversation, we turn from the mountains themselves to the human side of Jim’s story. At 82, Jim reflects on: The partnerships that shaped his greatest climbs — and what makes someone a great partner in the m...
For more than five decades, Jim Donini has defined what it means to be an alpinist. Not by chasing the tallest mountains or summit glory, but by seeking out the hardest lines in the world’s most remote ranges — places where storms, hunger, and survival itself are never guaranteed. Now at 82, Jim is still climbing, still dreaming, and still teaching us what resilience looks like. In this first of a two-part conversation, he opens up about receiving a surprise cancer diagnosis, how he approache...
At age 49, Susan Marie Conrad paddled 1,200 miles—alone—through the remote, storm-swept waters of the Alaskan Inside Passage. Twelve years later, at 61, she went back and did it again. In this powerful conversation, Susan shares what it means to return—not just to the same wild coastline, but as a different person. We unpack what changes when you chase something bold later in life, how nature reshapes your mindset, and what happens when you open yourself up to synchronicity, generosity, and ...
At 65, Judi Oyama is still lining up at the start gate — not in a “Masters” category, but shoulder-to-shoulder with athletes half, or even a quarter her age. She’s a World Champion slalom skateboarder, a Guiness record holder, a Hall of Fame inductee, and a pioneer who’s been breaking barriers since she first picked up a board in Santa Cruz in the early 1970s. Back then, women’s divisions barely existed. Prize money was unequal. Media crews left during women’s finals. Judi skated anyway — pus...
Physiotherapist, coach, and lifelong climber Andy McVittie is back for the final chapter of our three-part deep dive into aging well, moving well, and living without fear of injury. If you haven’t listened to Part I (The Movement Optimist: Knees, Shoulders, Elbows, Hips, Bulletproof Yourself! Never Late to Get Strong!) or Part II (Aging Joints & Grateful Bodies: Elbows, Fingers, Sleep, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves), I highly recommend going back. In those episodes, we tackled the myt...
Every few months, I pause to reflect on the conversations that left a mark—ones I keep thinking about long after the recording stops. This episode is a curated collection of those moments from Spring 2025. You’ll hear stories that go beyond performance. These are reflections on resilience, identity, aging, and the human drive to keep exploring what’s possible—physically and emotionally. In this episode: Sarah Thomas reflects on childhood, potential, and joy after record-breaking swims and can...
In Part II of our deep conversation, Andy Donaldson takes us into the heart of open water swimming—where the body aches, the mind wanders, and sometimes… things go wrong. We pick up the story after his return to the sport. But this time, it's different. Andy isn’t chasing medals—he’s chasing meaning. And the path leads him through shark-infested waters, swollen throats, and swims so long and cold they push his body toward shutdown. In this episode, Andy shares: What happened during his 15-hou...
What does it take to walk away from something you’ve trained for your entire life… and then find your way back — stronger, wiser, and with a whole new purpose? In this two-part conversation, we sit down with world-record-holding swimmer Andy Donaldson. But Part One isn’t about records. It’s about the reset — the season of burnout, career shifts, mental struggle, and the slow, imperfect process of coming home to yourself. Andy was once on the edge of elite swimming. Then he left the sport enti...
Seb Berthe isn't your average elite climber. He doesn’t just send 5.14s—he sails to them. Literally. When he set his sights on the Dawn Wall—the hardest big wall climb in the world—he refused to fly, instead making three ocean crossings by sailboat, living simply and training creatively along the way. In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about: Why how you chase a goal matters as much as what the goal isHow living by your values can deepen the meaning of your accomplishmentsWha...
What happens when your life as an elite athlete is stripped away—and you’re forced to rebuild, not just your body, but your identity? In this powerful and personal episode, we sit down with Jamie Whitmore—a world-class endurance athlete whose story is less about podiums and more about persistence. Jamie was once one of the most dominant XTERRA racers in the world—winning races across continents, climbing mountains on her bike, and chasing down competitors on foot. But when life shifted, so di...
What does it take to climb your hardest route at 50—and then hold the rope while someone else pushes that same line even further? For Neil Gresham, that moment came on Lexicon, a bold and beautiful E11 route he developed and climbed later in life. In this conversation, Neil shares the full story—from discovering the line in the Lake District to the deep personal shift that allowed him to reach a new peak, years after he thought he’d already hit it. We also talk about what it was like to suppo...
Wendy Fisher was once one of the fastest women on skis. A U.S. Ski Team racer and 1992 Olympian, she seemed destined for a long career in elite competition. But by her early 20s, she was burned out, struggling with identity and disordered eating, and quietly unraveling inside a system that prized performance over well-being. This could’ve been the end of her story. Instead, it became the beginning of a much more human one. In this episode, Wendy shares how she walked away from ski racing and ...
What does it mean to stay bold — not in your 20s or 30s, but in your 70s? What does it take to trust your body, your judgment, and your preparation when the stakes are high — and there’s no one left to impress but yourself? In this episode of Ageless Athlete, we meet Rob Matheson, a climber who recently completed one of the UK’s most legendary and serious routes: The Bells, The Bells!, a bold sea cliff climb in North Wales known for its minimal protection and high consequence. But this episod...
“I call my age group the 70 to death—and we show up early, because we still can. If you want to feel young, hang out with people chasing PRs, not prescriptions.” Bob Babbitt has raced more than 300 triathlons, co-founded Competitor magazine, helped popularize the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon Series, and has spent decades spotlighting athletes of all abilities through storytelling. At 73, he’s still training, still racing, and still waking up at 5:30 a.m. for his morning cold plunge. But this episod...
At midnight, Sarah Thomas stepped off the coast of England into darkness—swimming into history as the first person to complete a four-way crossing of the English Channel, nonstop. That alone would be astonishing. But what makes her story unforgettable is what came before: a breast cancer diagnosis, grueling treatment, and the slow, painful journey of rebuilding trust in a body that no longer felt like hers. In this powerful episode, Sarah opens up about more than just world-record swims. She ...
What if your best climbing wasn’t behind you—even at 65? This episode is a masterclass in longevity, discipline, and duality. Our guest is a rare figure who has spent decades pushing hard at the edge of two very different worlds: as a tenured philosophy professor and a lifelong climber still sending 5.14s. Bill Ramsey started climbing before sport climbing existed. He trained on treadwalls before they were popular. And today, he still maps out meticulous 8-hour training days—designed not to g...
In this episode of Ageless Athlete, we dive into the metabolic engine room with Dr. Brianna Stubbs—world-class endurance athlete and leading researcher at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Brianna bridges the worlds of elite performance and cutting-edge science, specializing in how ketones, fasting, and metabolic flexibility can shape our ability to recover, sustain energy, and age well. This isn’t about dieting fads or silver bullets—it’s about understanding how your body fuels itsel...
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