Ioana Barbu: Interview with Holly James
In 2025, Ioana set the record as the first woman to run the complete Global Race Series of six ultramarathons in a year. Winning both the Ice Ultra and the Highland Ultra, she finished the series with a podium at the Desert Ultra in Namibia.
Holly: Congratulations on completing the Global Race Series last year, which was your favourite to run?
Ioana: The Jungle is really close to my heart, as I’d run it in 2024 as my first ever ultra - and it was the race where I discovered ultra running was my thing at age 35. So returning in 2025 to set the record was really special. Stage 3 was about 3 times harder, so it added to the challenge - but it’s such a special place. The terrain is hostile, things crawl up your legs if you stop for more than 30 seconds - it’s an adventure course. You go over and under fallen trees, cross over 70 river crossings, and 12km of the final stage is through a river up to your waist. The jungle is so thick you’re completely encompassed in the environment, and so loud that you can hear the animals that have been watching you run, when you’re in your hammock sleeping at night.
Holly: Could you share one highlight of the experience as a taster for your talk?
Ioana: One highlight was getting to run the Namibian desert again to finish the series and set the records; this is certainly a race not to be taken for granted - all of them are - but the previous year I’d had a medical issue on the final stage at 92km. Doing it again, I came with 600% more experience and a plan to stick to. Everything went to plan, and it was the perfect ending to the series and the record. I reached the final 12km from the last checkpoint just as the heat died down, and the scenery was stunning - I ran a downhill hard through an incredible canyon, and finished the series on a real high.
Holly: Was there a part of the training that you found particularly challenging?
Ioana: I am 100% an athlete, so my coach was a major part of my journey, and I’m a firm believer in asking the experts. I teamed up with Adam Kimble in December 2024, and it was a complete game changer. We train 6 days a week - Adam is religious about the rest day, rest is training. He does the thinking and strategy and puts everything in my calendar, so my job is to show up and execute what he says. As I’m training full time and working full time, it can be challenging to get everything done when fatigue shows up, so I think the most important training sessions are the ones where you really don’t feel you can show up to, but you show up anyway. Those are major mental game wins. An Olympic runner’s coach once said 1/3 training sessions should feel good, 1/3 should feel neutral, and 1/3 should feel awful when you’re chasing a dream. If you’re always feeling good, you’re not pushing hard enough, and if you’re always feeling bad, you’re breaking yourself. That stayed with me and really helped me continue during tough moments.
Holly: ‘Women, Footwear and Freedom’ will be on display in March. What’s your relationship with your trainers, and how many pairs do you get through?
Ioana: That’s so cool! This is such a good question. As the series is based on extreme environments, I’ve pretty much had to get a different shoe for each race. I live in Vivobarefoot, and actually raced the jungle and desert in 2024 in Vivos, which excel in soft sand. Vivo have been immensely awesome supporting me. Training in Vivos and living in them is fantastic for strengthening the feet - all my indoor runs are in Vivos or barefoot. These shoes are really well made and last for thousands of miles, plus I love they have a recycling scheme.
However, for the series and the record doing all races in 2025 I’ve had to mix it up. I used Scarpa Ribelle Run Kalibra G in the arctic, which are rated for -40C and have a great boa system to tighten the insulated outer boot - they felt like my snowboard boots and I absolutely loved them.
For the Highland in Kenya I ran in Altra Lone Peak 9+ shoes, as this was the closest I could get to Vivobarefoot (zero drop) but with a bit more cushioning - the impact you get over 230km is too much with zero cushioning on Vivos. In fact, I found the hard packed tracks in Kenya a bit too hard with 200km on board, so for the Desert I went with Altra Experience Wild as they offered even more cushioning than the Lone Peaks, whilst maintaining the grip and staying as close as possible to zero drop.
The other brand I really love is NNormal. They are built to be carbon neutral and last for thousands of miles - it’s Killian Jornet’s brand, who is pretty much the greatest ultra runner of all time. I love they’re built for racing hard on any terrain, and environmentally conscious. Most of my outdoor runs and races in the UK I do in NNormal Tomir 2.0 and I raced the Mountain Ultra in Tomir 2.0 as they have great grip and good cushioning.
The Jungle I raced in NNormal Kjerag Brut, which is a really specialist shoe designed to have aggressive grip and expel mud and water quickly. This was essential in the jungle where your feet are wet at all times with 70+ river crossings and mud bogs, and the shoes excelled.
All the above shoes I still have and still run in. I’m really big into well built shoes that last for thousands of miles, can be recycled, and are designed with trail runners in mind.
Holly: We’re really excited to have you at Newhouse for International Women's Day. What does this year's theme, ‘Give to Gain’, mean to you?
Ioana: Give to Gain. How cool is this? I love this.
For me, this whole series and record is a story of friendship. The race director has now become one of my best friends. Back in 2024 when I ran my first ultra, he saw straight away I was good at this and said he thought I should run the whole series. After I ran the desert in 2025, he said “I believe in you, I think you can be the athlete to finally set the record and run the whole series, and all my races in one calendar year in 2025”. And that’s all I needed, one person to believe in me.
I wasn’t under any illusion that this would be easy, so I simply told myself if I do this - the only way to do this - is to commit and go all in, and back myself. It obviously involved making some good decisions and some tough decisions, and a lot of sacrifices. I teamed up with my coach and committed to give it my all and do everything he said. I teamed up with Dr Freya Bayne at London Southbank University who planned all my acclimation for the entire series, and I showed up. Obviously, I had to back myself and fund all this myself - I had sold a flat a few years back, and decided it’s an investment in myself, my sports career, and my future to back myself and spend the money on this series - you’ve got to give to gain and to build a career. And it’s paying off big time. But it wasn’t easy handling fatigue and the financial stress and working two jobs essentially at the time. We all have times when we doubt ourselves. But it’s all worth it, and the five people closest to you are essential in those moments.
Holly: Finally, do you have a mindset tip you could share with us that’s helped on your journey?
Ioana: Mindset. One thing you can guarantee on an ultra is things will hurt on every race especially with 50miles on board onwards. But it’s important to remember it’s normal. Make a plan, stick to the plan. Stick to the admin. I always say my one ambition is to be boring in training, and on a race consistency is key. When everything hurts, keep consistent - drink your water, eat your food, stick to the plan, and keep it simple. All it is is one step at a time for a really long time. Also, failures are going to happen, that’s not a problem, it’s how you deal with it. Stay present and cross each bridge when you get to it. You only have to deal with what’s in front of you at that time.
Original text
‘I was just in Kyrgyzstan on an expedition exploring a remote area of the Tian Shan Mountains with a team of 12 athletes…my original sport was backcountry snowboarding - this was all no lifts, climb on foot and on horseback and snowboard/ ski.’
Holly: Congratulations on completing the Global Race Series last year, what a tremendous achievement! Which was your favourite race to run?
Ioana: The Jungle is really close to my heart, as I’d done that before in 2024 and it was my first ever ultra - and the race where I discovered ultra running was my thing at age 35. So going back in 2025 to set the record was really special. Stage 3 was about 3 times harder this year, so it added to the challenge - but it’s just a special place. The terrain is absolutely hostile, things crawl up you if you stop for more than 30 seconds - it’s an adventure course: you go over and under fallen trees, cross over 70 river crossings, and 12km of the final stage is through a river up to your waist. The jungle is so thick you’re completely encompassed in the environment, and so loud that you can hear the animals that have been watching you run when you’re in your hammock sleeping at night.
Holly: Could you share one highlight of the experience with us as a taster for your talk?
Ioana: One highlight was getting to run the Namibian desert again to finish the series and set the records; this is certainly a race not to be taken for granted - all of them are - but the previous year I’d had a medical issue on the final stage which is at 92km. Doing it again for the record, I came into it with 600% more experience and a plan to stick to - everything went to plan, and it was the perfect ending to the series and the record - I reached the final 12km from the last checkpoint just as the heat died down, and the scenery is stunning - I got to run a downhill hard through an incredible canyon, and finished the series on a real high.
Holly: Was there a part of the training that you found particularly challenging?
Ioana: I am 100% an athlete, so my coach was a major part of this, and I’m a firm believer in asking the experts. I teamed up with my coach Adam Kimble in December 2024, and it was a complete game changer. We train 6 days a week - Adam is religious about the rest day, rest is training. He does the thinking and strategy and puts everything in my calendar, so my job is to show up and execute everything he says. As I’m training full time and working full time, it can be challenging to get everything done when fatigue shows up, so I think the most important training sessions are the ones you really don’t feel you can show up to, but you show up anyway. Those are major mental game wins. An Olympic runner’s coach once said 1/3 training sessions should feel good, 1/3 should feel neutral, and 1/3 should feel awful when you’re chasing a dream. If you’re always feeling good, you’re not pushing hard enough, and if you’re always feeling bad, you’re breaking yourself. That stayed with me and really helped me show up.
Holly: ‘Women, Footwear and Freedom’ will be on display during March - What is your relationship with your trainers as an ultramarathon runner, and how many pairs do you get through?
Ioana: That’s so cool about the Celebrating the Trainer event! This is such a good question. As the series is based on extreme environments, I’ve pretty much had to get a different shoe for each race. I live in Vivobarefoot, and actually raced the jungle and desert in 2024 in Vivos, which excelled in soft sand. Vivo have been immensely awesome supporting me. Training in Vivos and living in them is fantastic for strengthening the feet - all my indoor runs are in Vivos or barefoot. These shoes are really well made and last for thousands of miles, plus I love they have a recycling scheme.
However, for the series and the record doing all races in 2025 I’ve had to mix it up. I used Scarpa Ribelle Run Kalibra G in the arctic, these are rated for -40C and have a great boa system to tighten the insulated outer boot… they felt like my snowboard boots and I absolutely loved them.
For the Highland, Kenya I ran in Altra Lone Peak 9+ shoes - this was the closest I could get to Vivobarefoot (zero drop) but with a bit more cushioning - the impact you get over 230km is too much with zero cushioning on Vivos. In fact, I found the hard packed tracks in Kenya a bit too hard with 200km on board, so for the Desert I went with Altra Experience Wild as they offered even more cushioning than the Lone Peaks whilst maintaining the grip and staying as close as possible to zero drop.
The other brand I really love is NNormal - they are built to be carbon neutral and last for thousands of miles - it’s Killian Jornet’s brand, who is pretty much the greatest ultra runner of all time. I love they’re built for racing hard on any terrain, and environmentally conscious. Most of my outdoor runs and races in the UK I do in NNormal Tomir 2.0 - I raced the Mountain Ultra in Tomir 2.0 as they have great grip and good cushioning.
The jungle I raced in NNormal Kjerag Brut - which is a really specialist shoe designed to have aggressive grip and expel mud and water quickly - this was essential in the jungle where your feet are wet at all times with 70+ river crossings and mud bogs - and the shoes excelled.
All the above shoes I still have and still run in - I’m really big into well built shoes that last for thousands of miles, can be recycled, and are designed with trail runners in mind.
Holly: We’re really excited to have you speak at Newhouse for International Womens Day. What does this years theme, ‘Give to Gain’, mean to your personally?
Ioana: Give to Gain. How cool is this? I love this.
For me, this whole series and record is a story of friendship. The race director has now become one of my best friends. Back in 2024 when I ran my first ultra, he saw straight away I was good at this and said he thought I should run the whole series. After I ran the desert in 2025, he said “I believe in you, I think you can be the athlete to finally set the record and run the whole series and all my races in one calendar year in 2025”. And that’s all I needed, one person to believe in me.
I wasn’t under any illusion that this would be easy, so I simply told myself if I do this - the only way to do this - is to commit and go all in, and back myself. It obviously involved making some good decisions and some tough decisions, and a lot of sacrifices. I teamed up with my coach and committed to give everything and do everything he said. Teamed up with Dr Freya Bayne at London Southbank university who planned all my acclimation for the entire series, and I showed up. Obviously, I had to back myself and fund all this myself - I had sold a flat a few years back, and decided it’s an investment in myself, my sports career, and my future to back myself and spend the money on this series - you’ve got to give to gain and to build a career. And it’s paying off big time - but it wasn’t easy handling fatigue and the financial stress and working two jobs essentially at the time. Especially we all have the times when we doubt ourselves. But all worth it, and the five people closest to you are essential in those moments.
Holly: Finally, do you have a mindset tip you could share with us that’s helped on your journey?
Ioana: Mindset. One thing you can guarantee on an ultra is things will hurt on every race especially with 50miles on board onwards. But it’s important to remember it’s normal. Make a plan, stick to the plan. Stick to the admin. I always say my one ambition is to be boring in training and on a race - consistency is key. When everything hurts keep consistent - drink your water, eat your food, stick to the plan, and keep it simple. All it is is one step at a time for a really long time. Also, failures are going to happen, that’s not a problem - it’s how you deal with it. Stay present and cross each bridge when you get to it. You only have to deal with what’s in front of you at that time.