How IRONMAN Transformed Jen Ator of Women's Health's View of Goals

Athletes spend their lives fighting for a spot in a field of 2,000 triathletes in the most grueling competition on Earth. Their prize? Thrashing through a 2.4 mile open-water swim in the Pacific, fighting trade winds and a convection oven of heat on a 112-mile bike and finishing with a marathon - a 26.2-mile run. Becoming an IRONMAN at the World Championships at Kona wasn't a dream of Jen Ator's. As Fitness Director at Women's Health and author of The Women's Health Fitness Fix, she was happy to fit runs through Manhattan and no-nonsense strength-training workouts into her busy days. That all changed when reps from Chocolate Milk called with an offer to make her an IRONMAN. And while she said it took her a few days to accept the branid's invitation - an invitation to compete in a race that allows athletes 17 hours to finish - she now counts it as the goal she's proudest of accomplishing. Alongside her on the journey to Kona that she details on this week's episode of #WeGotGoals was an all-star cast. Eight-time Olympic medalist in speed skating Apolo Ohno would train with her and both Ator of Ohno received guidance from world-class coach and seven-time IRONMAN World champion Paula Newby-Fraser (a woman who does not know the word quit). Like most audacious goals, it didn't come without brief periods of imposter syndrome. Three months before her trip to Kona, Ator recounts a night spent crying and questioning her own abilities as the minutes slipped away between her and her first half IRONMAN race - a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run. "Kind of by a act of God or stroke of grace or something, my watch kind of malfunctioned after the swim in the transition to the bike," she recalled of the race. "All I could do was be in the moment and do it. And I kind of just plugged along and I worked the plan that me and my coach had figured it out and really paid attention to my effort." Ator blew her "self-deprecating goal" out of the water and turned her new confidence and attention to Kona - the true test of her training. Because Ator was among an elite group of invite-only participants at Kona, she wasn't required to qualify for the race like the majority of participants. The thought of that made her feel unworthy of the field of competition. "I had a talk with one of the pro Ironman athletes before and he said, 'look Jen, maybe at the beginning of this you didn't deserve to be here. Sure maybe at the very beginning. But now you've done everything that all these other athletes have done to get here,'" She said. "That kind of attitude kind of helped carry me through the rest of the day." Even, she recalled, in the lava fields known for their heat and for the clear path that's left for unexpected gusts of wind known to knock riders clear off of their bikes. The wind was everything she'd heard. Ator recalled riding her ultra-light road bike in what's known as the arrow position. As she leaned over her handle bars, she shook with the fear that she may too have her race cut short by a fall. Newby-fraser preparing Ator for that exact moment: "You're going to be tempted to sit up and sit back because that's the instinct that feels safer ... that is the time that you need to lean in and commit because the safest thing you can do, practically speaking, is lean over that front wheel." Listen to how Ator's run at Kona concluded and where this author, editor and IRONMAN is setting her sights next. And if you like what you hear, be sure to rate and review #WeGotGoals on iTunes and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. --- JAC:Welcome to #WeGotGoals, a podcast by aSweatLife.com on which we talked to high achievers about their goals. I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen; with me, I have Kristin Geil and Maggie Umberger. KG: Good morning Jeana. JAC: Good morning. MU: Good morning. Jeana,  you spoke with Jen Ator, who is the fitness director of Women's Health this week. JAC:I sure did. And what an inspiration Jen is. Throughout our talk I think I gasped, I had a smile across my face and I definitely cried. MU:Good summary. And she is also an Ironman Kona finisher which I didn't know what that was prior to hearing this interview. JAC: So what’s actually really interesting about this is the campaign that Jen was a part of with chocolate milk is actually something I worked on in my past life the year before she was on it. So in 2013 I was a part of that campaign working on chocolate milk. And I got to see sort of the journey that she went through and I just missed her by a year. So throughout her explanation of sort of what she went through and how she was trained by Paula Newby-Fraser and how she had these incredible teammates like Apolo Ohno I could identify with that journey so deeply because I'd seen it once before. But her sort of personal take on it was so interesting to hear, one because she had been an athlete before and two because she had this sort of wavering journey of self-doubt accomplishment and in believing in herself just as I feel anyone does. The first time they do anything. KG: While she was training with chocolate milk team she had some sort of realization that she mentioned during the podcast. Can you speak to that and describe what her big epiphany was? JAC:She realized that she was the thing standing in her way which was incredible to hear her say because I believe that was the moment I cried. So Jen realized at the end of her half Ironman which is a 1.2 mile swim of 56 mile bike ride and a thirteen point one mile run she realized that she blew her own projected time out of the water because she wasn't running with a watch and there was a malfunction with it in her actual swim. She saw that she actually could accomplish so much more than she was giving herself credit for when she just sort of let go and was in the moment as an athlete and trusted her training. MU: And her training really is pretty simple she talks about loving just straight strength and running amidst being the fitness director of Women's Health. JAC: Yes. So her preferred training normally is not Ironman training. Ironman training is really involved. Oftentimes athletes will have to do two disciplines in one day sometimes morning sometimes evening or sometimes they'll have to stack them in a brick workout. But she is generally a big fan of just down and dirty strength training program sort of similar to what you'll see on the pages of Women's Health and also in the pages of her new and second book Fitness Fix. They have a mix of a lot of different things but they'll always have the sort of tried and true, pick up some dumbbells and do this workout kind of routine. And that's her preference and it works for her. But when she was training for Ironman she was doing these long workouts these distance workouts. She was running more than five or six miles because she had to finish a day of fitness with a marathon. JACShe'd never run a marathon before doing Ironman Kona which is sort of nuts to think about but she did it. She got through it and she was able to hug her dad at the finish line. MU: We can't wait to hear your interview with Jen here. JAC:I’m Jeana Anderson Cohen and I'm here with Jen Ator, who is the fitness director at Women's Health. Jen, thank you for joining me. JA: Thank you so much for having me. JAC: So Jen you have a really cool job and we're so excited to have you but you're also an accomplished athlete and a writer and a pub