Episode 92 – Jackie Hering on Consistency, Racing as a Mom, and the Ironman Pro Series

We’re back with another pro interview, and this week we’re joined by the always honest and endlessly consistent Jackie Hering – professional triathlete, Ironman and 70.3 champion, mom of two, and one of the top contenders in the Ironman Pro Series.

Jackie dives deep into her journey from first-time age grouper in 2005 to standing on pro podiums across the world. She opens up about training through the chaos of parenting, fueling strategy (spoiler: she eats real food and a lot of it), her love/hate relationship with the T100 format, and why she’s not mad about Kona being back to one day.

📌 In this episode
✔️ How Jackie got into triathlon (and her first Ironman in swimwear!)
✔️ Her rapid rise from age grouper to pro
✔️ What changed once she became a mom—and why it made her tougher
✔️ How her 2024 season is shaping up with Oceanside and St. George
✔️ Fueling secrets (including her go-to gas station snack!)
✔️ Her honest take on T100 vs Ironman
✔️ Why she's all in on the Ironman Pro Series
✔️ Thoughts on Kona returning to one-day format
✔️ Training vs. racing fueling breakdown
✔️ Her guilty pleasure? (Hint: it’s hazy and hoppy)

📸 Follow her racing and training on Instagram: Jackie Hering 

📺 Subscribe to her YouTube: Jackie Hering

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube
📲 Follow us on Instagram: @anothertriathlonpodcast

Transcript

Jenna-Caer (00:01.497)
Welcome back to another Trathlon Podcast and we are doing the same thing we've been doing the last little while with bringing you some professional triathlete interviews to get a little bit more insight into their training and racing and what goes on at the slightly faster end of the field here. They go a little bit quicker than we do, but we are excited to have Jackie Herring on today. She's a professional triathlete, mom, and just had a fantastic result at Ironman Oceanside 70.3. But let's jump in and say hi. Jackie, how are you doing? We're happy to have you on.

jackiehering (00:31.317)
Hi Jenna and Josh, thanks for having me. Yeah, glad to be here and glad to get to talk to your audience. This is honestly, I didn't know much about this pod, so it's been good to listen through a few episodes and kind of get to know you guys a little bit too. So I'm excited to chat.

Jenna-Caer (00:49.716)
fantastic. We're really glad to have you on here. And where are we talking to you from?

jackiehering (00:54.48)
I live east side of Madison, Wisconsin.

Jenna-Caer (00:58.442)
very cool. Hopefully things are getting a little warmer and nice for you guys at this time of year.

jackiehering (01:03.292)
here and there. mean, maybe similar kind of to where you're at Josh, but it's like one day it'll be, you know, sunny and 70 and then today it just rained all day and it's, I think it's in the 40s. So you don't quite know what you're going to get.

Josh (01:20.75)
Keep that trainer bike ready to go.

jackiehering (01:23.67)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:25.625)
Well, let's dive in a little bit. You've been in triathlon for a little while here. We just wanted to know a little bit more about how you actually got started in the sport.

jackiehering (01:34.971)
Okay, yeah, I have been in triathlon for a little while. You're right about that. I did my very first triathlon and I hate to actually age myself right off the bat, but I guess people know that already. So I did my first triathlon in 2005 and I didn't start the way that many normal pros start. I was just a normal person and I just started at my local sprint try where I was, it was

right as I was almost graduating college was when I did my first sprint try. And yeah, from there, I just started acquiring the gear like everybody does and signing up for longer and longer races. And after only like a year or two, I kind of did my first Ironman here in Madison and I was just completely hooked straight off the bat. was, you know, in my, I think I was like 23 and I had no money. So my gear was

pretty low level, but at that point it actually didn't matter because you can do an Ironman as long as you have a bike and some running shoes and I grew up a swimmer so I had all the swim stuff. So yeah, I was hooked on the long stuff pretty early and yeah, from there I just have raced a lot of Ironmans and half Ironmans and I still love to race any local thing I can do just for kicks. So yeah, it's been a journey over the years.

Josh (03:03.106)
We'll have to grab a picture of that original sprint try and compare who looked the worst between the three of us.

Jenna-Caer (03:05.221)
Definitely.

jackiehering (03:07.303)
I

jackiehering (03:10.937)
I was pretty, I'm sure I was bad looking. I don't even think there was photos back then.

Josh (03:17.346)
Well, here's a picture of mine. I wore a cycling kit underneath my wetsuit in my first sprint try. was like not even a, not even a tri suit.

jackiehering (03:25.415)
I wore a swimming suit because I was a swimmer, like as my identity and so in transition I didn't realize that people didn't do like a full change. I thought we were meant to be changing into our next outfit for the next sport. So a lot of things to learn.

Josh (03:41.774)
That's going to take longer than 30 seconds in T1.

jackiehering (03:45.453)
yeah, minutes, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (03:47.365)
So what was that point I guess, obviously you got into triathlon, you weren't doing it through the ITU, you were coming up through the college or anything like that. What was that point where your headspace started to shift and you thought maybe I can do this as a professional athlete?

jackiehering (04:05.193)
Um, well, that is a tough question. I, I was pretty good right away, I think just because I was a swimmer and I had been just an aerobic sport athlete my whole life. I was, I was a runner and, um, yeah, like I said, a swimmer. So yeah, I did the first couple and actually in my first Ironman, I'm qualified for Kona and set some age group record or something. And I had no clue.

Jenna-Caer (04:32.261)
That's a good sign.

jackiehering (04:32.505)
that I was actually good at this. And it was funny during that race, there was these like two guys that I think were either the husband or boyfriend or dad or somebody of these girls that I was supposedly racing against that I had no clue I was racing against. Cause I was in my mind just trying to complete an Ironman. But they were like yelling splits at me and I had no clue what they were talking about. So I qualified for Kona and

Jenna-Caer (04:50.725)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (04:57.012)
You

jackiehering (05:01.495)
At that point I was like, wow, I'm I'm good at this and I really didn't train much. And it wasn't that, like, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was hard to finish, but it was, I really enjoyed the suffering aspect of it. And then I did Kona that first year and that was a very eye-opening experience. I did make it up on stage. I might've even won or second or something in my age group, but I realized there that

Holy cow, there's this whole big world and I really don't really know that much about what I'm doing. I just happen to be kind of like good at it. I'm good at just like digging in and suffering for a long time and not quitting is what it comes down to. I stayed. I think I qualified to go pro right away, but then I stayed age group for for another season so I could get one more age group or Kona under my belt and just try and learn a little bit more.

But it was pretty early that not that I thought it would be my profession per se, but that I realized I think I belong, you know, I'd like to explore the professional ranks and see if I could get faster and actually compete with some of these people that I really, I mean, had stars in my eyes and I really looked up to, so.

Josh (06:21.346)
What was the difference between year one and year two training for Kona?

jackiehering (06:25.794)
Well, both years I had a full time job. it was my training really was like when work would get over. I had pretty much one or two routes as many new cyclists do. You know, you're not as brave about exploring and I don't even know if I knew how to change a flat back then, but I would ride this one road. My training was like essentially ride for five minutes till get to the start of this road, ride as hard as I can for an hour.

Jenna-Caer (06:53.678)
you

jackiehering (06:54.689)
fill up my water bottles right as hard as I can back and then I would be dead essentially like every other day I did that and then on the other days I would like go for run if I wasn't too dead and I only swam twice a week because I was like I'm a swimmer I don't need to run need to swim at all so I saw I'm to 2k swims a week for about those first few years actually I didn't do much swimming at all it's great

Jenna-Caer (07:25.131)
And to have that swim background, a few of us on the podcast here definitely wish we had that.

Josh (07:28.226)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (07:33.775)
came to doing your first race as a professional, how did that go? Like, what was the big difference between the two?

jackiehering (07:42.355)
It was a night and day difference for me. When you're an age grouper, or at least for me, I got really used to winning everything pretty easily. And I really enjoy that feeling. I really like winning. I like being at the front. And the first pro race I did was New Orleans 70.3, and it was terrible weather, and the weather was so bad.

that they had to cancel the swim. And at that time, it's different now. Now there's a ton of fast swimmers and I don't really look like I'm a swimmer anymore. But back then there was not as many fast swimmers and I truly did identify as a swimmer. I was only a couple years, you know, I swam a couple years in college. I was only a little bit out of it. And I was terrified because it was a time trial start on the bike. I had never done it. was just...

Jenna-Caer (08:13.339)
no.

jackiehering (08:38.826)
completely overwhelming. was in tears. I was an absolute mess. So I completed it, but it was not without like absolute like emotional destruction. So it left me having a lot of questions. I was like, maybe I shouldn't do this. This was too much. It's overwhelming. But I was there with some friends and they're like, this wasn't even a triathlon. You know, you've never done a duathlon in your life. So,

I can't even remember actually what the next one was, but I know for a fact that it had to have gone better because I continued on.

Jenna-Caer (09:16.926)
That's fair enough, questioning those life choices at that point.

jackiehering (09:20.166)
Yeah, yeah.

Josh (09:22.594)
What was the community that you kind of had around you in those early years? I mean, obviously now you know everyone and all you guys get together and the races, pretty much all the pros are become friends and it's a pretty cool network. And as an age group, or it's really neat to watch you guys interact. But how was it back then as a newcomer and really not that same level of fandom that we have now.

jackiehering (09:48.316)
Well, I think it was probably pretty different because that was like pre social media. mean, we're talking 2011. So the only time the only pros that were famous were the people who won Kona because that's the only people the only way people knew of the pros. Otherwise, it wasn't how there wasn't as many people that pros that people would know. And I think now, you know,

Trolls become friends, you become friends with who you kind of race with the most often and who is kind of around you at the races. So I think still now, even if you were a pro starting out now, I could see that it would still be a little intimidating coming into it because it would still be a similar situation. It's like going to a new school. You don't know anybody. You're like, hey, I'm here. I'm brand new. if you're like most new pros, you're not like

Jenna-Caer (10:44.28)
you

jackiehering (10:47.962)
busting onto the scene winning. You gotta like, chink your way up little by little and improve and hopefully I think the way to do it is like to meet some pros that are in a similar spot than you. Or become friends with me, I love helping new pros. You either find a young pro or an old pro, cause those are the people most like, yeah, they wanna help, you know, they wanna be friends, whatever, so.

Jenna-Caer (11:07.589)
it.

Jenna-Caer (11:11.321)
Thank you, people.

Josh (11:17.218)
Might be even harder these days just because you might be more starstruck because more of them are recognizable from social media and the internet too. mean, you get in, it's like, I'm the number 75 person in the field and I've been watching the top 30 for how long?

jackiehering (11:31.713)
Yeah, you're watching them on on all the coverage and in people's YouTube's and stuff. Yeah.

Josh (11:37.357)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (11:38.565)
Absolutely. you have, we've seen more in triathlon these days, kind of women in the sport. And we know with long distance triathlon, kind of your peak years are in your thirties, which is typically the time that women are kind of becoming moms and you have, I believe two children. Yeah. How do you, how did you find your training kind of changed once you did become a mom and had to adapt to not only the physical changes, but the scheduling changes I know get difficult too.

jackiehering (11:54.501)
Mm-hmm.

jackiehering (12:07.748)
Yeah, very, very difficult. And I think that's why a lot of women, especially if they're like kind of at the top of their pro racing, are a little hesitant to have kids because it is of course a humongous life change. It changes every single thing about every minute of your life practically. But I think the way it can work is if you have a supportive partner and potentially some family around because

It makes you realize and that you really, if you do want to do this, you really have to depend upon your tribe and your community. And, you can't do everything by yourself and many triathletes I think are very headstrong and. You know, maybe stubborn, maybe independent and normally would not rely on other people as much. And I think for me and for many women, I think there's that, just

The kids are just the dose of reality that you can't do it all and you need help. And I think if you can allow that to happen, people do want to help because people in your life love you. so if you make these goals clear and stay flexible, then I think it is possible.

Jenna-Caer (13:28.325)
That's fantastic. Did you notice, like myself, when I had my son and stuff, I noticed some physiological changes. For me, I noticed I felt like I had a little bit more lung capacity. Also might have been that I was pregnant in Denver, so I got some of elevation too. But your body just kind of changes how it moves after that for the first little while while you're getting back. Did you kind of notice some of those changes, or is there anything that you found was of benefit or not, kind of after pregnancy?

jackiehering (13:55.958)
Well, I think after pregnancy it opens your mind that you are maybe a lot tougher and more capable and resilient than you might have realized. I remember I used to always think I was so tired and so busy and like, gosh, I don't think I was actually ever tired before having kids. And then you're like, actually this is tired. So I think it just opens this space in your mind that

Jenna-Caer (14:07.375)
very

jackiehering (14:24.905)
you can probably do a lot harder things than you might have realized before. That's what it did for me, is I was like, I think I have a significant more capacity to handle things than I thought.

Jenna-Caer (14:41.123)
I like that. That's a good perspective.

Josh (14:43.534)
And I think you even posted this week, you were just trying to figure out the struggles of it all with, think your husband was away and you were single parenting. I was like, when do I train? And I've got a race coming up.

jackiehering (14:54.665)
Yeah, yeah. Well, what really happens when I'm I'm okay when they're in school, you know, and then they get out of school and you play and you got sports and doing all that is fine. But my problem comes when it's like 9 p.m. and the kitchen's a wreck. I'm like, wait, nobody's helping me here. Like, you know, the stuff we're pretty good at, like sharing household duties and no one's taking the garbage down. I got to do that. Like.

Jenna-Caer (15:00.698)
Mm-hmm.

jackiehering (15:22.708)
Man, I was like, please come home now.

Jenna-Caer (15:25.701)
you

Josh (15:27.951)
The village usually doesn't show up to help with those things. That's the problem.

Jenna-Caer (15:30.873)
Yeah.

jackiehering (15:31.518)
Yeah, well, I didn't call them in. got to save it. We got too many races coming up. You got to save it.

Jenna-Caer (15:38.073)
Yeah, you're starting to get into the thick of it now with things kind of picking up. You had an awesome result at Oceanside. Do want to tell us a little bit about how that went kind of your season opener this year?

jackiehering (15:48.959)
Sure, Yeah, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but you know, first race of the year, you never truly know until you kind of get out there and test it with the other people. the race itself went as good as it could have. You know, for me, different than it used to be, really like some days I just have good legs and some days I don't. And when I have good legs, I can just tell right away like,

Jenna-Caer (16:18.949)
you

jackiehering (16:19.604)
And even in the swim, I can be like, okay, I feel like I have a little something today. And then on the bike immediately, I can tell I have good legs and I'm going to be fine. And so that makes the race go by pretty smoothly and can actually be enjoyable for some portions of it. yeah, Oceanside felt good. It was just really fun to be up at the front. That's not where usually I get to be on the bike. So that was fun for me. And then...

Yeah, to have actual running race, having to use a little bit of, you know, trying to play my cards best I could and see what I, if I could win or not was, was a fun experience. Yeah. Have of course happy with it. Couldn't have started out any better.

Josh (17:07.672)
Did you feel like you had put her away when you passed her on the run or did you believe Paula was coming back?

jackiehering (17:16.099)
I, when I first passed her and I saw that I got a gap pretty quick, I thought, okay, yeah, because I knew she wasn't feeling good. And like when I went by her, was like, okay, come on, run, we can go in this race. And she says, I'm not, I don't feel great. Like, I'm really proud of you. And I was like, okay, I gotta go. So I went like, this is my chance. But then I started going, I thought right away I got a gap, but then.

After, at the next turn when I saw it stayed the same, then I was like, okay, that's where I thought it was possible she might catch me. I didn't know how bad I would die or if I could hang on or not. So you just never know. I mean, but if I wouldn't have gone right there, if I would have stayed with her, then I would have probably lost by more. So I think that was like the only card I had to play.

Jenna-Caer (18:14.713)
No, and it was really fun for us to watch as spectators. It's always fun when you have those passes back and forth. I know you probably wish it went the other way, but it's just fun to see you really go for it and see what can happen in there. But it looks like this year you're chasing down the Iron Man Pro Series. Why don't you tell us kind of what races you have coming up here and just kind of what your goals are with the Pro Series.

jackiehering (18:38.342)
Yeah, so I had good success at the pro series last year. Finishing second was much better than I imagined it would go. So that gave me lot of, I guess, confidence and momentum leading into this year that it is a good space for me to hang out in. And yeah, so I kind of planned my season the same way where I'm starting out with like my 270.3s and then I'm going to tackle the Ironmans.

Jenna-Caer (18:44.58)
you

jackiehering (19:07.405)
I find it a little hard. My body doesn't like to go between 70.3 and Ironman that easily. It's just a little bit different training and you know, I raised 70.3 without full Ironmans for a lot of years. So I do, I am pretty dialed on that training. I know how to get in good fitness for 70.3, but getting into that after an Ironman, takes a little bit of a transition.

just getting the speed back up and the higher power. My body does not want to do that. After I'm in Ironman mode, it's like, it feels like I'm stuck there. So I need to wait to get into that till, you know, later second half or like mid year, I guess is where we kind of kick into that.

Jenna-Caer (19:54.821)
Start to pick it up.

Josh (19:57.774)
So you got St. George coming up soon, right?

jackiehering (19:58.019)
Yeah.

Yep, St. George. I think I'm going to leave Monday, it looks like. So yeah, get out there. I've done St. George a whole lot of times. I love it there. And I like to get out there a little early because you know their weather is going to be pretty much good. So we're going to get out there, get some riding in and get used to it a little bit.

Jenna-Caer (20:22.329)
And when you travel to races, do you travel down with the family? Do you travel by yourself? How does that go?

jackiehering (20:27.822)
Well, it kind of depends. You know, the kids are seven and nine now, so they're in school. So they missed a lot of school last fall because we brought them to Nice and we spent December in New Zealand. So. We went heavy on the family travel, so I went by myself to Oceanside and stayed with a friend there. Last minute, we decided to bring him to St. George because it's the last one and we've been going there.

Jenna-Caer (20:36.887)
Thank

Jenna-Caer (20:55.695)
Yeah.

jackiehering (20:57.823)
as a family many, a lot of years, like since the kids were little. we thought we better hit that, but they'll come to some and they stay home for some. It's kind of like weighing out the cost of travel. If it's a cool place that is kid friendly, like that type of stuff.

Josh (21:16.962)
You think St. George is going to come back eventually? Like it just seems like too many of you love that place.

Jenna-Caer (21:21.701)
It's hard to imagine it gone.

jackiehering (21:24.799)
I agree. Yeah, it is hard to imagine that it would stay gone. I feel like they would even come up with a new contract and do it next year. But maybe that's just me. I don't know.

Jenna-Caer (21:36.197)
places with a giant m-dot like in their town square right? No, that's awesome. With St. George is there anyone you're kind of fired up to race against there that's kind of front of mind at this point?

Josh (21:39.566)
It's got its own tattoo.

jackiehering (21:40.512)
Yeah!

jackiehering (21:45.591)
Right.

jackiehering (21:53.665)
Well, it's a pretty similar crew to Oceanside, I think, except for we've got Chelsea, Sadaro coming. If she is feeling better, she was, I think, like very, very sick, obviously. And then a friend of mine who did the pro series last year, who was third, Lottie Wilms, is already over there. And I'm really interested to catch up with her. She was...

Jenna-Caer (22:05.303)
better.

jackiehering (22:22.998)
What did she have? She was super sick. She got shingles and it like knocked her out over like the whole month of like January. She was in pretty rough shape. So I'm interested to see how she's come up from that.

Jenna-Caer (22:26.911)
So thank you.

Josh (22:35.455)
I some serious stuff.

Josh (22:40.694)
It's a pretty good field that you've got. And obviously Paula again too. So, I mean, this is a big race and in the pro series, do you feel like, do you feel like there's a lot of pressure on yourself to, perform at this one, to get the points in terms of the pro series itself? So you don't have to add another 70.3 down the road or would you even not like, wouldn't even worry about it.

jackiehering (23:02.835)
It takes care of itself. mean, I get confidence from the fact that I'm a consistent racer, so I don't feel a lot of pressure necessarily. I just know I'm just gonna show up and do a triathlon and, you know, either I have good legs or medium legs or crap legs. Either way, it's gonna go at least okay. And, I mean, yeah, I don't feel too much pressure and honestly,

You know, I'm a 40 year old mom trying to race these people who like this is their life. They do it full time. So when I take a step back and think about that, there is no pressure. I am just like, glad to be here, folks. So I don't know. I'm I like to do well, obviously, but also I have grace with myself if it's if you know, if I'm not winning, I'm not beating myself up over it.

Jenna-Caer (24:04.045)
Yeah, that's quite the quite the difference in lifestyle. If you think of someone like a Taylor Nibb who again lives and breeds it, no real obligations outside of trap on training, racing, recovering. You're chasing two kids around in between that.

jackiehering (24:15.581)
Yeah. Right. Yeah, we've got a real normal life actually going on over here.

Jenna-Caer (24:21.957)
So speaking of the Ironman Pro Series, which Ironmans will you be hitting up before the World Championships down in Kona?

jackiehering (24:30.151)
Yes, so I'm going to go to Hamburg again since I had good success there last year. Fingers crossed we get a nice day again and that can go well. And then what do we got? Lake Placid again. I'm kind of repeating last year. It's so boring. I don't know. Lake Placid didn't really work, but we're going to try again and see if it works. And then Kona. Kona's actually on my birthday this year, so it will be fun.

Jenna-Caer (24:46.105)
It can't work.

it.

Jenna-Caer (24:58.384)
no way! Get a little extra buzz there from the birthday wishes.

Josh (24:59.018)
nice

jackiehering (24:59.688)
Yes.

jackiehering (25:04.006)
I hope so, yeah.

Josh (25:06.124)
I was just starting to look at potentially going to watch you guys. And then I realized it's the same weekend as the Chicago marathon, which is like my a race at the end of the year. So I was like, so much for that next year, which was also big news. So

Jenna-Caer (25:12.631)
Ugh.

jackiehering (25:17.274)
Yeah. That's huge news, guys. Did you guys talk about this on your pod?

Jenna-Caer (25:19.567)
Yes.

Josh (25:23.488)
Yeah, we had Rudy yesterday right after it was announced. So we had him on and talked about it a little bit. But yeah, what's your take? I saw you were one of the ones that they collaborated with on that. So I'm sure you're pretty happy about it.

Jenna-Caer (25:23.641)
We did a little bit.

jackiehering (25:35.846)
I am happy about it. I have raced in Kona four times, twice as an age grouper and twice as a pro. And I love it. I haven't been there for a long time and I was never there when it was just men or just women. So I didn't experience what that was like, but I did experience the women only niece thing and I really just prefer the men and women to be together. So that's my take.

Jenna-Caer (26:03.769)
Yeah.

jackiehering (26:04.023)
And also I love Kona. So if it's in Kona, that's wonderful. It's interesting the some of the comments I got on my videos and in my DMs where people are expecting women to be mad about this. And I do not feel mad about this. I wasn't just saying that video because someone's telling me to say that video. That's how I really feel. And anybody who follows me

knows that I just say how I really feel. But especially, think a note maybe to like, I got messages from some male coaches, male athletes that seem to be standing in there standing up for the women or something. And I'm like, yo, it's supposed this is just a note to the age group women and maybe to the men, whatever. It's supposed to be very hard to get to the world championships.

It's like a quest that people go on, right? Like, I don't know. I think I want a ton of women doing triathlon, of course, but not all of them get to go to the world championships, just like not all men get to go to the world championships.

Jenna-Caer (27:07.981)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (27:22.765)
Yeah, and that's something like myself personally, I got so close to that Kona spot in the first Iron Man, but

then decided to take the downtime from triathlon, have my son. And that's what drove me to get back into the sport was I had this Kona itch and wanted to chase that down and kind of finally get there. And that was one of the biggest moments for me getting that first Kona qualification. And it's, it's tough because I have seen with a few female, female athletes that I've coached was Kona is so the pinnacle that they went to Kona, did the race, and then they were done with triathlon. Cause they already reached that high and

Ironman is something that a lot of us do because it is so hard, so challenging. And then you start chasing those world championships and trying to get there. And when it comes easier, I saw a lot more turnover, just because people like, hey, check the box, onto the next adventure, right? But it should definitely be equal for the professional athletes. I think there should be equal men and women in Kona for the professionals, but for the age groupers, you know, it should still be a challenge to get there. It shouldn't be rolling down all the way.

jackiehering (28:12.942)
Totally.

jackiehering (28:27.233)
Yeah. Well, and yeah, I agree with everything you said. And I think that's right. I mean, I can only imagine young me if I wouldn't have qualified right away and then I would have learned of Kona. I would have began my quest to get to Kona as many Ironman athletes do. And also, like, there's many Ironman athletes that

will not make it to Kona because they're not fast enough and that's why they have cool things like the Legacy program. You know, that rewards people who it's their lifestyle. This is, you know, they're part of clubs, they're doing it with their friends and they're going to race a ton of Ironmans because they love it. There's a spot for those people at Kona too and there's a way to get there. That's great.

Josh (29:18.926)
There's the Ironman foundation too. mean, you can always go that route. mean, you're spending how much money on all of these registrations to chase it. Might as well just dip into your own charity and donate towards it. But I think coming from my end too, I mean, like that's something that maybe one day, right? But the sport itself is why I'm in this community. And I think that's another message that they're trying to grab onto too, is this.

Jenna-Caer (29:18.969)
Yeah, I think that's Yeah.

jackiehering (29:21.143)
There's that. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (29:27.683)
Hahaha.

jackiehering (29:32.214)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (29:37.999)
Thank

Josh (29:46.602)
sport in this community is all about getting the best out of people and doing it together. And yeah, you're off training individually, or maybe you're lucky enough to train with a group and stuff, but it's this whole community. like, if I can go to the podcast, maybe I'll get there one day, but actually getting fast enough, you never know. But I'm all for it. And especially having it on Kona. And if the only way to do it on Kona was to have you both race at the same time, then that's way it's got to be.

Jenna-Caer (30:14.307)
Yeah, and being to the women's only race, unfortunately, you saw a very different kind of vibe on the island. The sponsors didn't show up, the crowds didn't show up, the people didn't show up. It wasn't to the same level. it was really a stark contrast, which was sad to see because we want to bring attention to the sport. And that means having everyone racing together at the same time so we can create this big buzz instead of two separate locations where it's like, well, is there another one going on? It just, yeah, I think we need to all work together.

elevate the sport so excited about that one.

jackiehering (30:47.198)
And the funniest, I don't remember who was posting this, but the funniest ever to me was these guys posting pictures. You know how they do the underwear run in Kona? And just like, I think they didn't realize it till they got there. I think it hits different when it's the men only underwear run. They're like, hold up. It's not as fun when there's no women in their underwear as well for most people.

Jenna-Caer (30:58.245)
you

Josh (31:06.542)
Hahaha!

Jenna-Caer (31:07.109)
Thank you.

Josh (31:11.022)
Jenna-Caer (31:12.837)
that it was even more stark at the after party. The after after party was a bar with me, two other women, and like 50 guys dancing together and stuff. I don't think they really foresaw those things out of it.

jackiehering (31:20.567)
no.

jackiehering (31:26.94)
Yeah, that's where you know you need you just need everybody there. You know, the couples that race together, they need to go there. So I think it's good.

Jenna-Caer (31:31.717)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (31:36.663)
Yeah.

Josh (31:36.686)
was a big point Rudy made too. It's like, I mean, there's so many triathlon couples now and to split them, mean, some of them had to make decisions. Which one do we go to if it's Nice or Kona? So I think you'll see a lot more couples still staying after it and now going together and making it even a bigger picture.

jackiehering (31:41.161)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (31:54.885)
Well, I wanted to ask a little bit about, obviously you've done so well in the Ironman Pro Series and you're racing it again this year, but last year you jumped into some of the T100 races. I wanted to get your thoughts on kind of how those felt and how they were different from more than 70.3 in Ironman.

jackiehering (32:11.154)
I only went to the 2-100 races to hang out with my friends.

Jenna-Caer (32:14.789)
I love it.

jackiehering (32:17.656)
I am not, that's not the race for me. I like that organization. Honestly, the way they treat the pros is amazing and it is a extremely positive experience for us and for any pro that goes there. It makes you feel like a real pro because they're taking care of you and I do like, I do really enjoy that. I do not.

particularly enjoy the race itself. It's very stressful for me. I don't like multi-loop bike courses. I don't like a million loops of run courses. I like things to be very interesting and changing. I like variety and I don't like racing that many fast swimmers. So it's and it's all these young girls. They're just straight from ITU. It's just

Jenna-Caer (32:54.798)
a lot of that.

Jenna-Caer (33:07.973)
Fair enough.

jackiehering (33:14.589)
It's very, very different, I'll just say.

Jenna-Caer (33:18.095)
So we're probably not gonna see you picking up any wild cards this season.

jackiehering (33:20.899)
I'm not, no, not at all. No, if I'm doing any other races besides my five pro series, it would be a random 70.3 somewhere probably.

Josh (33:34.274)
He wants that really big $200,000 check at the end of the year. You were pretty close last year.

Jenna-Caer (33:36.933)
That's fair,

jackiehering (33:37.437)
That's really unlikely, but you never know. That's the thing. Yeah, you never know. Weird stuff happens in long distance racing. You can't predict this stuff.

Jenna-Caer (33:51.363)
Yeah, that consistency definitely pays off.

jackiehering (33:53.809)
Yeah.

Josh (33:54.796)
Maybe you're the first one to go sub 8.

jackiehering (33:58.94)
I mean, I thought I went way faster than I ever thought I would go last year in Hamburg and if I went faster than that I'd be shocked. Personally, but I guess you never know.

Josh (33:59.178)
you

Jenna-Caer (34:01.092)
you

Jenna-Caer (34:11.033)
to Erika.

A couple questions from the audience here, mostly around nutrition. Do you happen to have those, Josh?

Josh (34:14.551)
No.

jackiehering (34:16.249)
Josh (34:21.878)
I do actually one of them is from our friend Lisa at AG1. She wanted to know, actually there's a couple of them around. How do you feel your workout? So why don't we go with that? then Lisa's got a second question that I'll throw you away.

Jenna-Caer (34:25.711)
Don't.

jackiehering (34:34.179)
Okay, how do I fuel my workouts?

Josh (34:35.598)
Yeah. How do you fuel your workouts as opposed to just racing? Um, and, and I would say, what is the difference between like a hard workout, easy workout, and then, um, is there a difference between 70.3 blocks and Ironman blocks?

jackiehering (34:51.575)
I always fuel my workouts, every workout. I eat when I wake up in the morning, first thing. I have never done a fasted activity in my whole life. I believe in putting fuel in your body and then you can feel good every day, all the time. And you won't get injured. So those are the secrets right there, folks. I'm sponsored by Raw. Raw makes some great stuff.

Jenna-Caer (35:11.343)
love it.

jackiehering (35:21.612)
actually, I only started I mean, they're really new company and I only started with them last year. And during the time I was starting to train like, okay, I'm going to do Ironman again. So I was on the feed, which I'm not sponsored by, but I was ordering everything because there's been so many new nutrition things. I was like, all right, if I'm getting into Ironman, I need to just do like a full on test, like a normal

Jenna-Caer (35:39.311)
Yeah.

jackiehering (35:48.733)
you know, consumer would of all the items and just see what is working best for me. And so I was in the middle of that trial process when I actually met Natasha, who's now my coach at T 100 in Miami. And she was she works for raw as well. And she was like handing out all the raw stuff. And I tried it and I loved it. So that's the back story on that. But for training, I put a scoop of

Like fuel is their carbohydrate drink that also has carbs and electrolytes in it. I put a scoop of that in my bottle for swimming. for biking, I do, if it's easy, just a scoop. If the harder it gets, the more scoops the bottle gets. and you know, and I, they have an essential amino acids blend. I also put a scoop of that in my bottles on the bike.

I think that helps for just recovery actually, but getting it enduring seems to be good for my body. Running is the thing where I'm usually just running by myself, so if it's under an hour, I'm fine. I've eaten probably fairly recently and I'm probably going to eat afterwards, so I don't take anything. But if it's a little longer, I might take a little flask of the fuel or I'll just have a gel.

with me or something. yeah, and I just make sure to eat something afterwards. I like to eat sandwiches. I don't know. It's not real rocket science for me. I just try to eat as much real normal regular food as possible. And yeah, just.

Jenna-Caer (37:41.829)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (37:42.744)
Keep it simple.

jackiehering (37:44.183)
Yeah, that's really, yeah, it is. It's like, just get some stuff in the system and bring a water bottle with stuff in it with you where you go.

Jenna-Caer (37:55.117)
Yeah, and there's been lots of talk these days with kind of changing opinions on nutrition. Now people are realizing you need to eat and more fuel helps you do better. Would you be open to sharing with us kind of how many carbs per hour you're looking at when you're racing in an Ironman on the bike and on the run?

jackiehering (38:12.246)
Yeah, it seems that it actually, my coach worked this out for me, because I've never really like mathed it out. I kind of just do whatever. But I think it works out to be around like 90 some, 95 maybe on the bike. And then on the run, it varies based on conditions and how I'm feeling. But I think I do try to get like a lot of swigs of Coca-Cola.

and at least one gel per hour when I'm running. So whatever that equals.

Jenna-Caer (38:46.469)
Yeah, that coke is magic. When you're suffering that hit of caffeine sugar easily digested, it's so good.

jackiehering (38:55.197)
I love Coke. Yeah.

Josh (38:56.462)
I always miss it. It's like that last station on each of the tables, especially at Oceanside. was like, where is it? And then I think I got it once. And I was like, it was a good little jolt though.

Jenna-Caer (39:01.189)
you

Jenna-Caer (39:07.213)
I find once you start taking it, you need to keep taking it because it burns so hot and fast. You need to keep the sugar coming after that.

Josh (39:10.798)
Hahaha!

jackiehering (39:15.763)
Yes.

Josh (39:17.4)
So the other question before Jenna hops into like our standard questions that we do rapid fire, but what's your guilty pleasure is what Lisa wanted to know.

jackiehering (39:27.765)
Guilty it well.

Josh (39:29.73)
We talked about sandwiches, so it can't be that. I was hoping not. I was hoping that.

jackiehering (39:32.293)
Sandwiches? That's not a guilty pleasure that's eating.

Jenna-Caer (39:36.357)
No, that'd be kind of sad.

jackiehering (39:38.164)
I mean, I do really like beer. I drink a lot of, well, I'm not drinking lately much, I'm trying not to, but like a good hazy IPA. I can see in like a later life, I could actually just be having like a beer and drinking it old fashioned while I'm making dinner or something like people might do.

Jenna-Caer (40:04.613)
Perfect.

Josh (40:05.836)
You're from Wisconsin. I mean, it's just part of life.

jackiehering (40:05.98)
Ha ha!

jackiehering (40:09.587)
It's a little too much part of life here. And I can say, since I have mostly stopped drinking and I do feel quite healthy, so I think there is something to it. It is a good movement. But I just like the taste of it. It's fun.

Josh (40:12.137)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (40:21.637)
you

Josh (40:27.48)
We got to get you sponsored by athletic brewing next year so you can stick with the hazy IPA and still stay healthy.

jackiehering (40:34.513)
Yeah, I do buy some of that. That does help.

Jenna-Caer (40:38.104)
Okay, so like Josh mentioned, we have a couple of kind of quickfire questions in here. Nothing too crazy. We'll start off with, well, this kind of goes hand in hand with it. Have you ever had a moment where you've eaten something really weird in training or racing? Maybe you're bonked with a gas station nearby and you just grab whatever. What would be the weirdest thing to happen?

jackiehering (40:56.624)
All the time. Yeah. Like every weekend. I love to buy those like, like Reese's, like chocolate covered pretzels. They have those. We have Quick Trip. Do you guys have Quick Trips where you live? It's an amazing gas station. They have an amazing selection of hot food. And sometimes like if you're out and it's kind of like crud weather.

I like to buy, they have these like hot ham and cheese melts and it sounds gross if you're thinking of a normal gas station, but it's actually delicious at this gas station.

Jenna-Caer (41:38.005)
I used to live in Scotland for a while and like training in the rain and the wind and the cold all the time. A hot sausage roll from some of like the good cafes or gas stations there would hit the spot. It's like salty, warm, just kind of... I could see how that would be really good on a ride. If you had to race a triathlon as a pair with another pro, who would it be? Now this could be a pro that's faster than you that'll help you go faster.

jackiehering (41:50.414)
Yeah.

jackiehering (41:54.139)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (42:04.365)
Or could just be something that you want to spend the eight hours of an Iron Man with and have some fun with it.

jackiehering (42:09.485)
an Ironman or can it be shorter? If it was a half, would, if it was a half, I'd be fine. I'd race with Paula or maybe I could race with Holly Lawrence, but she'd probably yell at me because I probably wouldn't be going fast enough. We may have some friend issues there. I train a lot with Alice Alberts. I could definitely do an Ironman with her. She's very positive. This girl does not get in a very bad mood. So that would be.

Jenna-Caer (42:12.043)
Iron.

Josh (42:12.206)
Not a T100.

Jenna-Caer (42:24.845)
you

Jenna-Caer (42:30.947)
enough to hang out for the day.

jackiehering (42:38.427)
That would be fun.

Jenna-Caer (42:39.621)
That's what you need when the carbs are getting low. You need a little boost with some positivity. Next one, if triathlon had a fourth discipline, what would be the activity that you would add that would give you an edge over your fellow competitors? Had some odd ones like the Canadians say hockey. We've had a lot of skiing. Skiing is a popular one.

jackiehering (42:44.39)
Yeah.

jackiehering (42:54.277)
Hmm.

jackiehering (43:01.251)
Hmm. We could add stroller running. I'm a very... I was a really fast stroller runner. And if people haven't run with a stroller, I could just destroy them in stroller running. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (43:06.679)
Ooh, there you go.

Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (43:17.935)
whole different muscles in there. You've to that core strength and upper body strength.

Josh (43:21.932)
What's your Morgan Pearson Zone 2 stroller pace?

Jenna-Caer (43:25.142)
Hahaha

jackiehering (43:25.615)
I'd have to go back and look I was actually so sad when I had to get rid of my stroller That was probably like one of my saddest Mom or baby items to get rid of because I did so much stroller training, but I ran some fast 5k's with that stroller. It's good

Jenna-Caer (43:31.066)
what?

Jenna-Caer (43:36.069)
Thank you.

Jenna-Caer (43:41.655)
Isn't it so fun passing people when you're pushing a stroller?

jackiehering (43:45.081)
Yeah, like nothing makes you feel like more of a beast than doing that.

Jenna-Caer (43:49.537)
my son used to love sticking his hand out and waving bye to people. my God, that's amazing. Okay. Do you have a guilty pleasure kind of pump up song that gets you going before a race or a hard training session?

jackiehering (43:55.833)
So good.

Yeah.

jackiehering (44:08.931)
well, I've got two. I've got the Tiesto, let's get down to business. And then sometimes if I'm really like dragon, I'll do that Britney Spears work bitch. Which makes no sense for me because I don't want any of those things.

Jenna-Caer (44:15.077)
a good one.

Jenna-Caer (44:23.941)
I use that same song of my FTP test. Something about it is just like go. That's awesome. I love it. Last one here. What's a piece of advice that you've been given over the years that's really kind of resonated with you?

jackiehering (44:33.772)
Yeah.

jackiehering (44:44.717)
Eww.

I've gotten a lot of advice over the years, but I think the main thing that sticks with me and that I think about on a daily basis is just the idea of just showing up and giving it a try and not thinking too hard, like not overthinking it. If you aren't feeling great and the workout's overwhelming, just start the activity.

and don't stress about the workout. Maybe you'll do the workout, maybe not, but you need to get started and give yourself a chance to at least do something. So yeah, it's the idea that something is better than nothing and you might get better once you, you might feel better once you get going.

Jenna-Caer (45:32.419)
I like that. Now that's some very good advice.

Josh (45:33.312)
Yeah. My last question, it kind of goes along those same lines, but where does the fire still come from? What keeps you going?

jackiehering (45:43.616)
I don't know, I'm really strangely enjoying it quite a lot now and I think it's because I think it's because I'm having success and that definitely helps the momentum. I think if things were hard or if my body was fighting me or if I was injured, I honestly would probably stop because then it wouldn't be fun. But right now, mean knock on wood, like my body's all for it. Everything feels

good. I'm not struggling. And that we have a good rhythm going in our family now that the kids are in school. It just feels like, man, if I'm going to be working all day at any job, I'd rather be working out all day than going to some other job because that's probably what I would end up doing. I got to do something. So to me, this seems like the best option.

And as long as I can keep doing it, I think I will probably try.

Josh (46:44.366)
Thanks for watching.

Jenna-Caer (46:44.431)
Fantastic. Now, where can people kind of follow along with you? What's the best way to keep up with your training and racing?

jackiehering (46:51.69)
If they care about training then they should go follow me on Strava I Have every single thing on there that I practically have ever done. Nothing's a secret for me Because guess what you can go on there and realize that there is nothing magical happening I Just show up every day and exercise So yeah Strava I'm also on Instagram

Jenna-Caer (47:02.597)
you

Josh (47:09.495)
you

Jenna-Caer (47:09.733)
Thanks, so many presents.

jackiehering (47:19.794)
I don't know, I'm just me plus whatever contractual obligations I have.

Jenna-Caer (47:24.281)
Fair enough. Well, we will definitely post it.

Josh (47:25.216)
And every once in a while, YouTube too,

jackiehering (47:27.946)
yes, I do YouTube. Please. My YouTube is so sad. People should definitely subscribe to YouTube. There is a really nice guy who's in college. I think he lives in Ohio who's trying to get better at making videos. So he's helping me. So it's, think, mutually beneficial that my videos are getting a little better and he will gain some skills while making these videos. So yes, please find me on YouTube.

Jenna-Caer (47:29.354)
you

Jenna-Caer (47:35.417)
Hey.

Jenna-Caer (47:55.205)
Perfect.

Sounds good. We'll link to everything down in the show notes. So definitely go give her a follow across all of the platforms and we will be Yeah, following you for this season seeing how that pro series goes, but good luck in st. George will be cheering

jackiehering (48:11.591)
All right, thanks guys. Thank you.

Josh (48:13.326)
Thanks, Jackie.