Strong Core Podcast

This Summer She's Racing With Both Her Daughters. Cindy Kelecic on What Sport Looks Like When It Becomes a Family Language.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/fan_mail/new] This summer, Cindy Kelecic (@citakacs [https://www.instagram.com/citakacs/#]) is toeing the line at the Philadelphia Women's Triathlon with both her daughters by her side, all three of them on the course together from start to finish.  It started with her older daughter volunteering at a water aid station, watching women cross the finish line, and saying out loud: Women can do anything. That was the moment. The younger one has been waiting for her turn ever since. This is her year. After her second daughter was born, Cindy found her way back to sport and kept going further than she ever expected. What followed was a half-marathon, two half-ironman races, a full marathon she treated as a mile-by-mile experiment, and an eight-mile open-water relay in the Florida Keys with a close friend. She is also a clinical psychologist who spends her days with older adults. When asked what they regret most, her answer is clear: lost connections, friends, family, and not having a support system. It is a thread that runs quietly through everything else she talks about in this episode, the training partners she prioritizes, the community she builds, and the life she is choosing to show up fully. This episode is for the woman who understands that the life you build right now is the one you will look back on. Cindy has a front row seat to that truth every single day at work. And it is changing everything about how she trains, how she parents, and who she brings to the start line. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/support] 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.

"Today Is the Best Day of My Life." Erin Song on Optimism, Motherhood, and Going After Big Goals.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/fan_mail/new] Erin Song (@erinmsong) is a mindset coach, mom of four boys, and first-time Ironman finisher who trained for Lake Placid starting at nine miles per hour, unclipped, on a bike her coach wasn't sure could make it around the block. She got there anyway. This conversation goes deep on what optimism actually is, not the bumper sticker version, but the trained, practiced, daily decision to believe that something good is coming even when you're at mile 85 with a flat tire and a 10-mile run scheduled for the next morning. Erin draws a sharp line between positive self-talk and actionable self-talk, reframes imposter syndrome as something far more useful, and explains why she coaches athletes to crave the feeling of self-doubt rather than run from it. She also talks honestly about what it took to train for a full Ironman with four boys at home, the youngest just one year old, and a business she built from scratch one month after losing her dad. Including what made it possible: a husband who was all in, and a support system she built around every gap in the schedule.  The thread running through all of it is a sentence her father said to her for as long as she can remember: today is the best day of my life, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world. That sentence is the whole episode.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/support] 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.

"I Want to Be This Busy." Jess Kelly on Building a Life You Actually Love.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/fan_mail/new] Jess Kelly lights up every room she walks into. You can feel it in how she talks about her athletes, her team, her boys, and the two hours on a Friday afternoon that are entirely hers. In this episode, Jess talks about what happens when you love every part of your life so much that none of it feels like it's pulling you apart. She's a mom, a coach at Sonic Endurance, a studio director leading 60 people at Lifetime, and a competitive athlete. Not in spite of each other. All at once, all the time, all feeding the same fire. We talk about racing Ironman Worlds in Nice and the tears she didn't expect on the start line. Going back the following year as a coach and crying all over again watching her athlete cross the finish line in France. What she tells the women she coaches who are still figuring out how to make room for themselves. And the life she's building next, one she's not shy about wanting out loud. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/support] 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.

From Bored in the Garage Gym to Kona: Kate Weaver on What Keeps Pulling Her Back to the Start Line.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/fan_mail/new] Kate Weaver (@kateweavertri) was a marathoner before she had kids, Boston qualifier and all. Then life got full, and the miles got shorter. By the time her youngest started kindergarten, she was lifting weights in the garage every day, going through the motions. Her husband could see it before she said it out loud. You're bored. Let's get you a bike. Two years later, she was on the start line in Kona. In this conversation, Kate talks about what that journey actually looked like. Training on downloaded plans until she realized she needed someone who could see her, adjust for her, and spend months doing one thing: building her engine on the bike. The friend who has walked or run with her every Tuesday and Thursday for ten years and showed up on the Queen K hill in Kona when she needed a hug. She also talks honestly about the cost. The under fueling, the hamstring that didn't let her run for three weeks before the race, the rebuild year she is choosing now, instead of pushing through. And about what keeps bringing her back. Not the finish line. The feeling of knowing she can do it better. This one is for every woman who knows she hasn't reached her full potential yet.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/support] 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.

She Shows Up the Same Way for Her Students, Her Kids, and Herself. Jacqui Giuliano on Training, Teaching, and Never Losing the Thread.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/fan_mail/new] 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. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595413/support] 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.