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Rachel Kippenbrock (@rachelkipp) is a single mom of three who stepped away from sport for ten years, came back on her own terms, and hasn't stopped since.

She came to endurance racing not from a place of ease but from a need to rebuild — her identity, her sense of self, her belief in what was still possible. Triathlon gave her all of it. A community that knew her simply as Rachel. A finish line that was entirely hers.

In this conversation, she talks about what it really takes to pursue big goals while raising a family alone. The trade-offs she makes without apology. The moments she wanted to quit and didn't. The belief that carried her through both.

This is a conversation about grit, identity, and what it looks like to keep showing up for yourself when everything else is asking you not to.

The most downloaded episode on Strong Core. You'll know why the moment it starts.

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Marjaana Rakai (@tiredmomruns) spent two decades raising three kids across four continents, with no village or extended family nearby and a husband who traveled the world for work.

Triathlon saved her. Literally.

Marjaana is an Ironman World Championship qualifier, coach, expat mother of three, and COO at Athletica.ai. In this episode, she talks about what endurance sport gives you that nothing else does — the kind of thing you can only find when life has made everything else almost impossible.

We talk about training for the Ironman Worlds while she's on her bike in the kitchen. The moment she said no to Kona, and what her youngest son said when she came home. Why showing up for 15 minutes between meetings is an act of self-trust. And what her coach told her at kilometer 25 of the Ironman marathon, welcome the pain, and why she ran the last 17 kilometers faster than the first.

Marjaana's closing words to every mother who wants to start but is scared: Joy is right outside their steps.

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Meg Dirito (@dirito21) has never separated who she is from what she does. She swam D1 at Bucknell, where she is now in the Hall of Fame. She became an emergency vet. She became a mother. And when triathlon found her in 2018 — she didn't know how to ride a bike — she became that too.

In this conversation, Meg talks about what it looks like to hold all of it without letting any of it go. Three workouts on her days off. Training during her two-hour lunch break between ER shifts. The grace she gives herself on the days that fall apart — and why playing Scrabble with her son sometimes matters more than the bike session.

She races as a pro. She comes in at the back of the field. She has made her peace with that completely, because she long ago decided that the only race worth running is the one against yesterday's version of herself.

This is a conversation about discipline, joy, and what it means to build a life where nothing has to be sacrificed — just integrated.

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Kerry Blackmer (@kl_blackmer) is a five-time full Ironman finisher and a mom. In this episode, she opens up about what it really takes to keep showing up — through injury, motherhood, and everything in between.

She started running marathons at 22 because someone told her she couldn't. She came to triathlon through friendship, trained through pregnancy, and never really stopped. Then one afternoon at her daughter's elementary school, racing a group of kids, her hamstring snapped off the bone. Just like that, the goal changed.

What happened next says everything about who Kerry is. She didn't spiral. She showed up to the gym, got stronger than ever, and found gratitude in a body that was healing. When she came back to the pool, she came back with the same quiet certainty she brings to everything, including the adaptive athletes she pushes across finish lines every single weekend.

We talk about training around a full life, what turning 50 quietly liberates, and why her daughter's handmade bracelet means more to her than any Ironman medal. And yes, we talk a little about guilt too, because what mother athlete doesn't?

Kerry is the Frederick County Chapter Leader for Athletes Serving Athletes (ASA) — a nonprofit that empowers people with limited mobility to train and race alongside volunteer runners. If you're in Frederick County, Maryland and want to get involved, the link is in the show notes.

"I have to remind myself that it's okay to be someone outside of being a mom. Being a mom is one part of me — it's not everything." — Kerry Blackmer

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Carly (@coach.carly on Instagram) has been coaching Ironman athletes for 12 years. She had the data, the experience, and the athletes who proved it was possible. Then she had her own babies, got cleared at six weeks, and thought: That is absolutely not happening. Everything she knew got tested in a way no coaching certification prepares you for.

What she discovered confirmed what she'd been seeing for years. The moms juggling the most, the least sleep, the tightest windows, the heaviest mental load, were often the ones hitting their best performances. Not despite everything on their plate. Because of it.

In this episode, Carly and Iris get into the specifics of how that actually works. The postpartum PR reframe that stops you from measuring yourself against who you were before. The ten-minute rule for when 'life is life-ing', as Carly calls it. The 2-Day Rule is just a gentle boundary that keeps momentum alive without punishment. Why doubling up missed workouts digs a fatigue hole you can't climb out of. And what athletic maturity really looks like, not in theory, but at 5 am after two solo weeks with a one and two-year-old.

Carly doesn't just coach athletes. She coaches mothers back to themselves.

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She watched strangers cross a finish line in Hamburg and cried. A week later she signed up for her first 70.3 on a $200 road bike with no training plan and no idea what she was doing.

In this episode, Caitlin (@caitlin.thompson.tri) shares how losing one path led her to discover something deeper, a fire she couldn’t ignore. What began as a weight loss journey turned into a relentless pursuit of what she’s truly capable of.

We talk about the moment everything shifted, from simply wanting to finish to choosing to compete, and what it takes mentally to stay in the race when things start to fall apart.

This is a conversation about belief, identity, and the courage to go after more, even when you’re not sure you deserve it yet.

If you’ve ever felt the pull toward something bigger, this one will stay with you.

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Sarah Whelan is a special ed teacher, spin instructor, mom of three, and nine-time Ironman finisher. But the through-line isn't the race count. It's the girl who walked into a Marine recruiting office as a teenager, got laughed at, walked next door to the Navy, and still ended up exactly where she was supposed to be.

In this conversation, Sarah talks about how athleticism became the thread connecting every role she plays, why giving back isn't something she does on the side but the engine that runs everything, and what it actually looks like to show up fully in the classroom, at the finish line, and at home.

None of this happens alone. Sarah trains with Sonic Endurance under the guidance of coach Stacey Miller, and has been inspired and supported by Jess Kelly, her spinning colleague, friend, and the woman who first showed her what an Ironman mom could look like. This episode is a reminder that behind every woman showing up fully, there are other women lifting her.

If you've ever wondered what "anything is possible" looks like lived out over a lifetime, this is your episode.

If this conversation resonated, follow Strong Core and share it with another mother who needs to hear this. Connect on Instagram at @iris_strongcore for more conversations on mental and physical strength in motherhood and sport.

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If this conversation resonated, follow Strong Core and share it with another mother who needs to hear this.
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When asked to describe herself in one word as a teacher, Jacqui Giuliano said efficient. As an athlete, she said persevere. As a mom, she said loving. Three words. Three roles. One person who has never separated who she is from what she does.

She is a seventh grade math teacher in Illinois, a mom of three kids under four, a nine-time Kona qualifier, and a ROKA STNDRD Racing Triathlon Team athlete coached by her husband Ryan, who races alongside her and shares the weight of everything it takes to make race day possible. The clarity and accountability she brings to her classroom are the exact same tools she uses to hold training, motherhood, and herself together without losing any of it in the process.

She tells her seventh graders that 2.4 miles is from their school to the corner, that 112 miles on a bike is all the way to Madison, Wisconsin, and that the run is from school to the mall. She does not just inspire them. She makes 140.6 miles feel real. That is how she moves through every part of her life. Present, goal oriented, and always making the abstract concrete for the people around her.

This one is for every mom who understands that a strong village is not a luxury. It is the plan.

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