In February 2005 yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur became the fastest person to sail solo round the world, crossing the finish line aboard her 75ft trimaran after 71 days 14hrs 18mins and 33secs. This achievement is celebrated in an unseen documentary, 'The Time of Her Life', which will make its debut nationwide on the opening night of the Nissan Adventure Film Festival on Monday 10th September.

So was it the time of her life?

'It was an extraordinary period, no question. It's not every day you take on something like that and certainly not every day you complete something like that.'

Undertaking such a momentous voyage – alone –Ellen feels she experienced times she'll never forget.

'Parts of the voyage will be tattooed on my brain for the rest of my life – good and bad. It was two and a half months of sailing and there are bound to be massive highs and incredibly low lows. But the biggest thing I brought away from it was just what an extremely stressful time it was. I'd been round the world before in the Vendée Globe race so I knew it would be hard, but to push a boat of that size, that fast, for that period, was incredibly tough.'

Ellen reveals that one of the worst aspects of the journey was the relentless stress. 'I could probably pinpoint some bits that were specifically stressful, but overall, the low was just living with that amount of stress for so long. You're out there for 71 days and it just won't switch off. It's like a fairground ride that you've got to drive but you can't stop it, and it won't stop, and there's no “hang on, I need a break for a day to chill out” – it just doesn't happen. That's the thing that hit me.'

Tiredness also took its toll by the end of the record attempt. 'By the end of the trip you benefit less from the little bits of sleep you're getting because your body's becoming more and more cumulatively tired and you arrive at a point where it's all just a grey line and you're just into survival mode. That's the result of pushing yourself so hard for so long. It's not a nice place to be in your life.' However, Ellen says she does miss that time – 'bizarre as that may sound!'

And when it was all over, there's a period of adjustment to life back on dry land. 'You finish elated because you're relieved it's over and you've got the record – that makes a huge difference, I'm sure,' says Ellen. 'But you finish empty and you're living on adrenalin for the first few weeks afterwards. But it's later that it gets harder; when the adrenalin wears off. To have been living through something so intense that every hour of every day, even when you're asleep, you're tuned into it and then, suddenly, for that to have gone away…it's not something you can get over straight away.

Ellen says she had no problems trying to relax and sleeping properly, but a complete recovery takes much longer. 'When I finish, the relief is so great that my body just goes “whoa, it's over.” But from an actual getting-over-the-trip perspective it takes months and months and months, and some parts you never get over. You can't put your body through that much stress and be that close to the edge for that long without it having some effect in your body. It's not normal.'

Surviving on a very restricted diet at sea also affects Ellen's appetite after the event. 'You know how if you have an exam or the doctor's one day and you wake up with that “oh dear” feeling and you don't want any breakfast. That's what it's like on the boat every day. The moment you wake, that first moment of consciousness, it's there, before you even realise what's happening. The result is you don't really feel hungry and eating becomes completely focused around survival. And your food's pre-programmed, three meals a day in a seven-day bag and that's it, there's nothing else.' Ellen describes it as knowing you have to eat simply in order to be able to sail, and it becomes routine.

And for Ellen the feeling didn't go away when she got back – 'I had no interest in food whatsoever. People think you might be desperate for a nice salad or steak and chips, but I really couldn't give a monkey's, because I'd gotten so used to just not caring any more. It took a long time to regain my interest in food – at least a couple of months. For a month I just didn't care. I'd go into a restaurant and not even want to see a menu.'

Although she hasn't embarked on a solo voyage since, Ellen stresses that she's still a competitive sailor. 'The next big race I was contemplating was the 2008 Vendée and I made the call not to do that, but I'm only 31 – most of the guys I sail with are 40-45 – so it's not like my career's over.' She decided against that race because it would take too much out of her: 'I just knew that I'd finish it and that would be it: I'd just say “that's it, I can't do this any more”, because I knew what it would take out of me. This isn't something you can do every four years of your life, not at a competitive level.'

A boat from her company will be taking part in the Barcelona World Race this winter, which Ellen will be involved with. 'Some of the races I'll be sailing in and some I won't. People are very quick to jump to the conclusion that you've retired, but I certainly haven't stopped sailing. The 2012 Vendée will definitely be in my thoughts'

Since the record-breaking trip, Ellen has enjoyed several new challenges. 'I went across the Atlantic in the Jacques Vabre in 2005 [with French sailor Roland Jourdain], in which we came second. That was a fantastic race. In the winter of 2005 Ellen visited South Georgia for a few months to make a BBC4 film about the plight of the albatross. The time off was welcome. 'I'd been going through the motions of the projects, the training and that, for 11 to 12 years, a long time of nose to the grindstone. It was the first time I could sit up and breathe, really. She was fascinated by South Georgia, and it gave her an insight into the importance of protecting the planet. 'Britain had 4,000 people there in the 1940s and 50s, whaling, then, when there were no more whales, they just left. It's a prime example of how unsustainable that kind of life was – exhausting all the resources and just moving on. That makes you think about the world. When you can sail around it in just two and a half months just using the wind, you realise it's not that big a place and we really have to look after it.'

Ellen is now keener than ever on environmental awareness. 'I've always been someone who's not particularly wasteful and tried to use as little as I can, but there's so much more we can do. We've had an energy audit in our offices, and on a personal note, I'm fitting a solar water heater in my flat; I've installed a light tunnel that brings roof light from outside into a room; I've fitted an induction hob that uses a lot less electricity; and I've changed all the light bulbs.'

Another important cause for Ellen is her work with the Ellen MacArthur Trust, which takes kids aged 8-18 who are recovering from cancer or other serious illnesses sailing to help them regain confidence. 'It's an amazing thing to be involved in. We had two boats of kids in this year's Round the Island race on the Isle of Wight. Spending time with them is fantastic and a real inspiration. There are a lot of things that come out of being in the public eye but to be able to create the Trust is just extraordinary and I love it. The kids spend four days with us and live, sleep, eat on the boat, sail it and have water fights. By the end of this summer we will have taken 250 kids sailing. The results can be incredible. Some of them come right out of themselves. It's amazing.'

Despite her challenging lifestyle, Ellen is happy with her life. 'Everyone has difficult periods in their life, for sure – you only have to look at some of the footage of me on film! Coming back from the record and the adrenalin wearing off and charging about all over the place was hard, but it was the life I chose and it's what I really want to do, and I feel hugely lucky to be able to do that. None of us ever knows what the future holds, but other than the fact that I'm not about to sail round the world in the next 18 months, nothing's really changed on the work front, so yes, I'm happy, because I'm doing what I love.'

'The Time of Her Life' will have its premiere in Vue cinemas nationwide on Monday September 10 in the Endurance Adventures section of the Nissan Adventure Film Festival (September 10-14). Click here to book tickets for 'The Time of Her Life' or any other film in the season.

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