Last Sunday I placed 1st in my age group (males 35-39, field of 145) at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon Classic Distance #NauticaMalibuTri. After finishing I didn’t realize that I had even made the podium so we just took off – had to drive back to San Jose from LA. I would have liked a picture of me on the podium; never have had one of those. I attribute the win to a combination of great training, a good day and luck. Luck, meaning the reality is there are faster people than me, but they didn’t show up that day.

I’ve received a lot of congratulations this past week and questions about my training. One comment along the lines of “I thought triathletes spend all their time training.” I’ve been pondering this and the reality is I spend as little time possible “training”.  45-60 minutes in the weekday mornings, an approximate 10-mile run and 3 hour bike ride on the weekend. No workouts on Monday.  I’m a big multi-tasker so my morning workouts are done in my garage on a treadmill or bike-trainer while surfing among ESPN, CNBC, Bloomberg and local news.  I feel like I’m multi-tasking on my bike rides as well; I get a lot of thinking done and make a lot of decisions out there.

I have a full-time job and two daughters that keep me very busy.  My goal is that training never gets in the way of family or career.  Approached properly and strategically, it should complement those and enhance your overall quality of life. And if you stick with it and get a little lucky, you may get to climb up a podium.

Sean