Triumph Over Trials: The Ironman Experience

Do you want to know the secret to Success? Welcome to rulesforsuccess.com a platform that unites the accomplished and the ambitious. We're here to arm you with the invaluable knowledge of individuals who have paved their own path to success. And now let's get into the show with dynamic host Joseph Varghese. Everyone, Joseph Varghese here and I, we are on our amazing podcast, rulesforsuccess.com I'm excited, beyond excited. I've got a powerful powerhouse woman on our podcast, Ms. Jen Rulon. Jen and I met in recent weeks. She is a peak performance athlete coach. She's a midlife transformation coach for women. 15 time Ironman triathlete, she's a best selling author and speaker. After retiring from Ironman racing, relocating to Costa Rica, Jen now helps women in their 40s and 50s rebuild their strength, metabolism and identity through her rise, strong coaching programs and her upcoming Rise and the Tides women's retreat in Costa Rica this December. She's on a mission to help women reclaim their energy and redefine success through movement, mindset and meaning. Pretty excited to have her on. Tap into this podcast of rulesforsuccess.com you can tap into Jen's background and her website@jennrulon.com, j e n R U L O N. I'll repeat this at the end of the podcast too. I'm excited, beyond excited because I love engaging with people who are peak performance athletes. I believe that my clients, people that we engage with in our community success circles, we're all athletes in this playing field of life. And it's so great to kind of get in the arena to play, to execute, to have fun. Right? Embrace, relaxation, recharging, all those things. She lives by a lot of that herself and and then she also empowers her clients, specifically at this stage, women, midlife, to go beyond, right? To go beyond. To embrace and go beyond. So Jen, I'd love to hear about your journey. What brought you to your journey, what brought you to Costa Rica? I know you've been there for four years now, like all of that.

Wow, thank you, Joseph. Thanks for having me. And I'm so glad we connected at the I Heart Radio podcast. And it was the passage to profit. So that was, that was a nice connection. Like I said, it was nice to be in New York City to really get the energy and the vibe because I very much lived the Pura Vita life. So it's a lot easier to go surfing than it is to write a blog. And work on my business. So thanks for bringing that energy back to me and back to Costa Rica with me. So it was a joy working and talking with y' all for that podcast. So where do we begin?

Well, you're. I mean, you're. You're. You're a committed athlete. You got into 15 triathlon, Ironman triathlons, which is quite extreme. I mean, I've done a bunch of marathons, but the triathlon is a whole other level, and you were good at it. And on top of that, you're. You've coached people through it and beyond and got several clients you engage with. What brought you on that journey toward being an athlete, Stepping into being an athlete?

Yeah. Well, it's interesting because I never considered myself as an athlete in high school, and you tend to hear the story quite a bit. I was the basketball cheerleader. I played softball for years, but I never thought I was an athlete just because I didn't play basketball, baseball, football, or hockey like my brother did. And I actually did a TEDx talk about this journey, but it was 1989, and I was watching the ABC Wide World of Sports, and some of you may remember the tagline, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, and you see the guy rolling down, right? We all, if you're my age group, we know what I'm talking about. So. But it was the 1989 Ironman World Championship, and it was Mark Allen and Dave Scott doing this showdown, and these guys were neck and neck that whole time. And I was like, whoa, this is insane. And then an hour later, the first female crosses the finish line, Paula Newby Frazier. And I was like, wow. So she was on equal playing field. Same, same swim, 2.4 mile swim, same bike, 112, same run, 26.2 marathon, you know, 26.2 marathon run. Like they were all on the same playing field. And I thought, if she could do it, I could do it. And that was really what I said. And so then a couple months later or a month later, I went to Michigan, where I'm from, and. Or where I was born, I should say. And I went to my grandpa, and my grandpa is my mom's dad, World War II vets. Like, he was the it of. Like, of being a human being and man, like, he was my grandpa, right? And I told my grandpa, I said, well, grandpa, I said, when I'm. By the time I'm 30, I want to get. I want to go do the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. He goes, well, when you go, I'LL go with you. He didn't question that I didn't run. Like, I didn't, I didn't run. I played softball. I wasn't on track. I wasn't doing cross country. So he didn't question that. He just automatically was like, all right, when you go, I'll go with you. Didn't even question it. Yeah, and we talked about that on the podcast, you know, on the, on. Yeah. But it was such a beautiful moment with Grandpa.

Did he actually participate in it with you also? Was he orgy?

No, unfortunately, no. So my first Ironman was in 2002 at Ironman, Wisconsin. My grandfather passed in May of 2021. So before even 9 11, because knowing my grandpa, 911 happened, he would have got, went down and got his, his army. Army greens on him. Like, all right, where do you want me to go? You know, at 89 years old, like, he would have been like, let's go. I'm taking care. Let's go, let's go president. You know.

But no, he never, he fueled the vision for you. They kind of feel that this is happening, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, he fueled that vision. And, and it's something that I talk about and I still get emotional to this day, but I remember. So long story short, 1112 Ironmans later, over a long time period, I did qualify for the Ironman world champions, and it was a 20. So it really took me 28 years to get to the Ironman World Championship when I had that vision. And it took me 28 years. And so when I went to Hawaii, my mom was there, one of her best friends there, my best friend was there, another friend of hers, my ex husband was there. He, he and I raced the race together, which was absolutely beautiful and monumental in our relationship. And because he knew what I, he knew that goal, that I wanted to get there too. But when I was going down the hill, hill towards the finish line and I turn right on Alihi Drive, I see my mom and her and I locked eyes and we both teared up because like, I turned and I heard the, you know, you are an iron man. You are an iron man. And I saw the lights and I didn't want that moment to end because I didn't want to lose my vision of Grandpa.

Wow.

And so there. Yeah, so they're her dad. So there, there are photos of, of me going down that finish line, bawling my eyes out because of just that impact that he made on me. Wow. 28 years ago, like I said, I still get emotional talking about It. Because it was such a powerful moment. And then when I crossed the finish line, arms up in the air, Mike Riley, the famous voice of Iron man, was like. And Mike and I became friends, too, over the years. And he's like, jen Rulon, you are an Iron Man. And I looked up and I said, grandpa, we did it.

Incredible. Incredible. I'm sure it was quite an experience and kind of honoring your grandfather's legacy, being able to be with your mom and much more. And you've gone on to do so many more Iron Mans over the years, right? That whole journey, embracing it and wow. And how did that transform you as a person? Kind of go into those experiences that make you stronger and more intentional and driven and like, I know you've written books and you've done other things too. At some point you trans. You shifted to coaching. I love to hear about that, that transition. But how was that whole journey going through so many of those experiences?

Yeah, well, I started triathlon coaching, run coaching, cycling coaching, very early on in the journey. So I started coaching in 2001 online and even in person at that time. So I've been like, I started off with triathlon coaching and then, you know, changed ways because that's when I shifted as well. But being an Ironman triathlete really had some amazing opportunities. Amazing. Taught me a lot about mindset and grit and consistency. But it also. It also made me realize that I was very much. And I don't know if your. Your vibe or your peeps understand this, but I was very much as a woman in my masculine. I was very strong, driven, a type personality. Like, I had to achieve this, this, this, this. I had an organized, you know, and now as I have stopped doing the triathlons, I became more of a feminine woman and just sort of released and became who I was meant to be as a coach. But it taught me how to be. You know, I mean, I was very driven. I. I was. I had these goals. I was. I was trying to prove myself, trying to prove my worth. You know, I was doing all these things in that masculine vision or in that mash masculine space when I didn't really have the space to be a woman and be soft. And so. And I don't want to say soft because I'm not going to roll over and, you know, piss on myself, but you know what I mean? Like, I just.

I was that. Was that a factor of, like, environment, like, going through the competitive process? It was also maybe hormonally, too, because you're just so into the, the journey, the exercise, the intensity, it all was a combination of all of that that you see.

Yeah, it was. Now looking back, you're right. It was probably a combination of it all, for sure. You know, just trying to, trying to prove it, Trying to get to Kona. Because to get to Kona, it's very much like trying to get to Boston. You know, I had to be in the top one or two of my age group at an Ironman.

When you say Boston, it references me. Like Boston Marathon. Is that what you mean?

Boston? Correct.

Yeah. So like marathon, one has to get to like a three, three hour mile or something.

That's the worst, right? It depends. Yeah. Depends on. Yeah, yeah, it depends on also your age. Right. So like for us in the Ironman triathlon space, we had to be first or second in our age group to get to Kona.

Yeah.

And I mean, you're working hard. It's so, it's, you know, so lifestyle. Yes. Did I love that lifestyle, you know, getting to Kona? Absolutely. It taught me so much about mental, mental toughness, mindset, grit, consistency. And it wasn't so much about motivation. You know, people are like, oh, how are you motivated to work out? I'm like, it's a lifestyle now. I don't even second guess it. I don't even question it. You know, so it's, it's all about. And like seeing the results was fun too.

And identity, I guess your identity at that point, being a triathlete, stepping into it and having kind of even a bigger vision. Kona.

Yeah.

Pretty intense, like putting it out there, like, and you had support, your ex husband at the time, you had people, you had family, your mom was there early on in the journey. How vital was support during that whole journey? Have the structures, the people around you, the people who are coaching, like, how valuable was that?

Oh, so valuable. And I mean, I still to this day am forever grateful for my ex husband for providing the space for us to do that together. And that was the beautiful part of our journey was that we were, you know, we were two people in the business world. We didn't have kids and we were triathletes and we were badasses. Like, we were a power couple in that space. We really were, you know, and so like, I'm so grateful for him for helping me with that. And you know, one of my favorite books of all time is the Alchemist and.

Well, right.

Yes, I always jack up his name, but he, they talk about the universe. One of his famous, famous quotes is the Universe will conspire to have the right people around you to get to your dreams and your goals. And like, he was that person my mom knew. I mean, she heard me tell my grandpa that. So she's like, all right, let's figure it out. Like, she. She went to Ironman Wisconsin with me. She went to Ironman Brazil with me, you know, and then she was able to see like a lot of other Ironman Florida races. She saw my Last one in 2019. So yeah, yeah. And even where I qualified was at Ironman Mont Treblant in Canada. And my sister in law and my niece and my nephew were there and they just fueled me so much. I go, it was a tube. It was on the run. I'm for a girl who hated running, got really good at running and that's where I knocked everybody off. Like, I was just like, bam, bam. But for the two loops on the run. So I came around on that first loop and all of a sudden I hear aunt Jennifer, Aunt Jennifer. And I look over and there was Taryn and my nephew Jackson and my sister in law. And I go give him a hug and kisses. And they were like, go, go, go. And I'm like, no, that's my energy. Like, y' all just like, like you power surge me. Like I grabbed like the. Like Ms. Pacman. I grabbed that power pellet, you know, from those kisses, you know, let's talk about that.

So you're in the race and you're swimming and all the things going with Ironman, right. And biking, all of those things. Like, I have my own process. When I run a marathon, I kind of grab onto different anchors. Like I'll. I'll. When I was running this past Sunday, I. One of my best friends is pancreatic cancer. So I saw some people with shirt that said I fight for pancreatic cancer. I'm like, I grabbed some of that. Then I saw someone with a shirt said, I fight for Parkinson's disease. My wife's mom has dealing with dementia. So I grabbed that. And those things fueled me. They fueled my. Why as I'm going forward, every. All these anchors I was pulling at. How was it for you playing at this whole level as a triathlete? What drove you to kind of excel and to go beyond each of those moments? Even like you mentioned before with the marathon part of it, the. You excelled at that. But what were those anchor points? What are those things? Were there. You mentioned family in Montre Blanco, you mentioned all those people. Was there anything else?

Yeah, butterflies. So when my Grandfather passed. I was out on a training ride and I was in San Antonio. I lived in San Antonio for 25 years. And as I was out on this ride, I crest this hill and I'm going up this hill and I'm just upset, crying, wondering, like, why am I even out here? I just lost my grandpa. Like, he's not gonna see me race, he's not gonna, blah, blah, blah, like all these things going through my head, right? And as I crest this hill, all of a sudden I had a swarm of these like yellow butterflies just like went through my path and I just like stopped. I'm like, grandpa, like, you're here. And during some of the hardest times of my life, whether it was personal, whether it was on a race course, whether it was when I moved down to Costa Rica, butterflies have been my, my go to. And it's always has followed me everywhere I've gone. So even my house in Costa Rica is called Casitas de Maraes Amorphos. So little house of tides and morpho butterflies, those big, big gorgeous blue morpho butterflies. And every time I see a morpho butterfly, it's like, there's your sign. You're here. You're supposed to be here. What were you thinking about? So butterflies. And so like you said, like, you start seeing these signs and these synchronicities. Like you saw the T shirt and it reminded you of somebody. And so the. I would see that. And then, and then I had this little fun thing that I did. One of my girlfriends said to me, she goes, you're out on that run. She's like, I want you to be Ms. Pac Man. And when you see, when you go past people, you just gulp your power. People, right? And then all of a sudden when you go. And then I had this other vision when I went past somebody in my age group because at that time we would put our age on our calf. And so when I went past them, that they were my superpower.

Wow.

And so I remember two miles away from the, from the crossing the finish line, I saw a woman come out of the bathroom. And I looked at her age group, it said 46. And I'm like, and I'm like, you're going home. Because what's at home is your ex husband, your, your sister in law, your niece and your nephew. And you knew that that finish line was close. Yeah. And so I just pushed it. And even, like, even the people, the energy at the race, you know this about New York City Marathon. Like, I've seen pictures of Y', all, like, it's incredible. And just the people cheering for you. And I remember going into town and this woman's like, oh my God, you're still smiling. She's like, how are you still smiling? And I'm like, because I'm here, I get to do this.

Yes.

That's the beauty about it all.

I think there's a. I talk about this in my other trainings. The idea of being fully associated versus disassociated. Some people disassociate themselves where they listen to music and just disconnect and they're like in the zone that way and other people. And at times when I do this, I associate with experience, really connect with what's there. What I see kind of pull those experiences to pull me forward, to inspire me. Like you said, the whole Pac man, like, the acknowledgement, like all of that. And it's, it's just like it's a mental game, right? And life is a mental game too. Business and entrepreneurship and any, any, any role we have in life, especially when there's a lot involved, there's a lot at stake, it's a mental game. And it's like, it's tapping to those experiences, those anchors starting our day, priming, our day, closing out, our day, getting sleep, like all those things are really vital toward succeeding. And I mean, it's so great that that was your focus for so many years. You're so immersed in that journey. I'm curious what, like, as you stepped out of that and got into being an influencer, authorship, speaker, how has that been for you the past six years? Like being in your feminine past, four years, being in Costa Rica, shifting now toward helping people on the other side of that.

Yeah, it's beautiful because now I get to not only understand women a little bit better because of what I went through myself with the divorce, with the miscarriages, with the loss of my dad. Like, we didn't have kids, but I lost, you know, I lost children, right? And so now I get to have a little bit softer side working with women because I understand that we don't all have that crazy ass mindset of an ironman triathlete, right? So now I get to see how women are as, as, as individuals, and I get to see how, how women don't feel like they deserve to be, to invest in themselves, you know, because they're the, the caretaker, the doer, the. They're always trying to help, you know, help the husband or help the partner, whatever, help be the mom, you know, But a Lot of women forget to invest in themselves. And I'm always that person that really wants to push and be like, no, you have to invest in yourself because if you don't, then there won't be a you.

I remind my wife of that all the time. She's in her 40s, I'm in my 50s, and she pushes herself to limits at times. I'm astounded by all of all the things she does. I've gotten good at self care. 20 years ago, my dad passed away in my 30s, I went to nutrition school for a year to understand how to be better health wise. But the school had, it was like 90% female, like a thousand students and 10% were men. And there are things that I learned that I didn't know before from these women, what they were dealing with that gave me so much more compassion for that journey. The intensity of a journey like even wherever they live in the world, wherever we live in New York, just the nature of having security to certain challenges, hormones, just like going through life, midlife crisis, all of that. And a vital part of this that we were taught years ago is self care, like being able to take care of ourselves. Step away to pause. And I often remind my wife about that. I'm pretty good at it myself. Take care of myself. Much of what I've learned from my clients, the importance of like, maximum engagement, demands relaxation. What are some of your, what recommendations do you have for your. For clients? Women in their 40s and 50s going through the intensity of all of that, whether it's divorce, family, midlife crisis. That's like, what are some recommendations you have?

I am a big advocate. It's my pillars, movement, metabolism, food, meaning and mindset. So first and foremost, a woman is going to gain so much more confidence when they start taking care of themselves physically. Whether that's doing Zumba, whether that's going for a walk, whether that's riding your beach cruiser. I'm not going to ask you to do an ironman, you know, strength training. Oh, strength training plays such a huge role for a lot of my women. They start seeing that confidence. They start seeing their, their. It's so great because every Friday I have them do photos and you see the beginning of a photo, like the very first photo, they're like me and they're not even really looking at themselves. Like they're looking up, they're looking and then all of a sudden, like six weeks, two months later, they're like, like looking at themselves. Like looking at themselves in the mirror, right? So the the very first thing is definitely movement, metabolism. You can control what you put in your mouth, plain and simple. We all have the same options. So whether you choose to go and have pizza every night at the New York whatever, one of the best New York pizza places in town, that's your choice. Right. But is that the best thing. Thing for you? Maybe not. Maybe after. Maybe a couple days after you do, you know, two days in a row after you do a marathon 100, you're gonna, you know, you could do that, but. And then the meaning. So I'm a big advocate of. Of really finding your why. And we've talked about that. Like, finding your why. And it's not to be the hot mom or like, there's something deeper. There's something deeper in our souls than the physical appearance. Like, what is your why? And I had one. I had one mom say, like, I want to be moving with my kids when I'm older and my grandkids. I go, bingo. That's it. That's your why?

Yes.

Not to look hot, you know? And then last but not least is the mindset. So this is where I ask my clients, my women, to journal and meditate. And I don't expect people to meditate for two hours sitting outside on a beach. Not at all. I have. Sometimes I have five minutes, sometimes I have 12 minutes, and I will take that time to do that and then journal. Like, just if. If you're not a pen and paper person. Totally get it. But we have these little devices all the time, right?

Yes.

So you could do voice to text, you know, or voice notes. That's the best way to do it. So those are my four pillars.

So, so great. Yeah. So vital to capture all of that. And yeah, just. Just take. Taking a pause. Really important.

And. And sometimes, like, we've talked about AI a lot when we talked about on the podcast, but sometimes when I'm out walking, I will actually go to chat GBT and say, hey, chat. I'm just talking to you right now because I gotta get these thoughts out on. In my head, out of my head, onto paper, and I just talk away, and it's right there. So, like, you know, when I'm like, when I'm organizing my stuff for my retreat for my ladies, like, I'm like, all right, chat. I got, like, these five questions I want to ask these ladies. I'm putting this in here so you can remember.

For me, it's so vital to be able to get things out of. And AI, a lot of people is scary. We Do a challenge each month called three Day AI.

I know I want to sign up for that.

It's next week. I'll give you access to it. The idea of having a conversation with AI, it freaks a lot of people out. But when you see how easy and how human it sounds, it's fascinating. I'll mention this. Yesterday I was overwhelmed at Post Marathon, my basement, where we, my where I work here right now. It was a tsunami. Post Marathon just couldn't move things around. Rock has a function on top called counselor or counselor. You press the button and you have a conversation. And she navigated me to kind of simplify the area to get organized. And in like 10 minutes while I was talking, I organized and at the end of it, I felt great. So AI can be very fascinating as far as having conversations or even recording thoughts or capturing thoughts. A lot of it.

Yeah.

Talk about your retreat. So you're having a retreat this December, Your coaching, I'd love to hear about all of the rise strong and rise with the tides. How long? What is that about? What does your coaching program look like?

Yeah, so my rise. I'll start off with my coaching. So my rise Strong is one on one coaching. I'm not the, I'm not the coach that's going to say, hey, here's your PDF. Good luck. We'll talk to you soon. You know, I design workouts. I design programs specifically for women who need what they need. A lot of my women are looking for strength training, walking movement. So I will design workouts whether you are very new and you only have a home gym or whether you have a global gym or a boutique gym. Like, I will design it based off of where you're at. So I usually do usually do two calls a week with my ladies. So like a zoom call. Sometimes they take advantage of the two times a week. Other times I don't. Just. It just depends on life. Right. I do monthly calls with them as well as a group and then we really break down nutrition and I give them journal prompts. I say the zoom calls are about five to 10 minutes about nutrition and workouts. And then probably the last 50 minutes are more about like the mindset and the meaning and just really what they're struggling with on everyday life. Yeah.

And then the hand holding is a group element too. It's one on one and it's really where they're at, what resources. They have a jump rope, a gym, access to the gym, or something more at home. So it's really tapping at them individually.

Personally, what they have, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I said I'm not like, okay, good luck getting under a bar. Even though you never touched a bar before. You know, like, I'm not going to do that. Like, I just, that's not who I am. And then my Rise with the Tides retreats. It's my very first retreat. It's from December 7th through the 13th and I found the score. Gorgeous house in Samara, Costa Rica. And it's all about movement, mindset, meaning and metabolism. So we're going to have these gorgeous meals that we have a chef coming into the house for. And then I am personally dating a chef from Costa Rica. And so my last, the last day on Friday, we are coming up to my house that I built. I built a two bedroom, two bath container home.

Wow.

On top of a hill overlooking the river. I couldn't afford overlooking the ocean. Too expensive. And we're going to have yoga up here and then my boyfriend is actually going to cook for us and we're going to have like our closing ceremony here up at the top of the.

H. Sounds absolutely delicious. Like I love to be there.

Yeah, yeah. And so, but I'm also giving them food free time and, and we're going to go to the gym twice, we're doing yoga twice. And. But then I'm giving a full on free day. Like, hey, y', all, do what you want to do. Like you're in Costa Rica, I want you to experience it the way you want to. You want to.

So, yeah, this has been incredible, that whole experience. If you can give one piece of advice to either the 18 year old version of yourself or somebody who's out of high school, kind of on this journey exploring being an athlete. What advice, what wisdom would you provide that version of yourself with that person.

Wake up every day with gratitude. Because I think at that age we always wanted more, more, more. And you have everything that you need now. Like you have the roof over your head, you have healthy lungs, you're breathing your, you know, and so I don't think I was always, ever always grateful for what I had in front of me. I always wanted more, more, more. Now I wake up every day with great gratitude. I go to bed every night with gratitude and I am full. My life is full of abundance everywhere.

Great words of wisdom. Well, thank you, Jen Rulon. Great podcast for our audience out there. Tap into the summary, the notes, the mind map, all the things we offer for you@rulesforsuccess.com so go on Spotify on all our stations as well. Rulesforsuccess.com Tap into Jen's brilliance@jenrulon.com It's J E N R U L O N dot com. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

That's it for Today's episode of rulesforsuccess.com podcast. Join us next week for another inspiring conversation with a successful entrepreneur. Until then, remember to be bold, be courageous, and go after your dreams.