Top American triathlete Matthew Marquardt has shown he is more than capable of combining business with pleasure after posting video snaps of him training for his next race while on a holiday cruise with his girlfriend Sarah Board.
The 27-year-old embarked on the Enchanted Princess for a trip around the Caribbean to celebrate Sarah’s graduation from medical school despite being only three weeks away from his next IRONMAN event in Cairns next month.
A 3rd year medical student himself, Matthew combines his hectic training and competing schedule with his ongoing studies at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, where his passion is to play a role in the fight against cancer.
But with less than a month to go before he lines up under the palm trees of Western Australia, the decision to spend a week on a cruise ship has resulted in the need for even more schedule juggling than usual.
Posting on his Instagram account, he shared clips of him swimming in the ship’s pool and in the ocean, running on the gym treadmill and cycling both inside his cabin and on the balcony – having lugged his bike and his trainer on the trip with him.
Indeed, being able to take his own bike on the trip was perhaps the most important aspect of planning the week away, as he explained the risk of picking up an injury while using the ship’s own gym machines was too great.
Combining triathlon with life
“When I started triathlon four years ago, I made myself a promise that I wouldn’t let triathlon completely take over my life,” he posted.
“This promise stemmed from the love-hate relationship I had with swimming during high school and college. I was so committed that I probably skipped out on things that would have had no negative impact and might have even helped my athletic performance.
“As a pro triathlete, I can’t go totally rogue as I have commitments to my sponsors to race well and represent them in a professional manner but it is also really important to not put life totally on hold for racing and medical school. So it was a no-brainer (although admittedly a little anxiety provoking) when my partner’s family decided to do a 7 day cruise to celebrate her medical school graduation.
“Yes, a gym could work for a 1-2 day stint. But as a pro who regularly logs 15+ hours on the bike a week, sticking to a gym bike is not only counter-productive but could lead to injury due to improper fit and position.”
Real life, not a stunt
Matthew’s two races so far this year have seen him finish 15th in both the Intermountain Health IRONMAN 70.3 at St George and also the Memorial Hermann IRONMAN in Texas, with Cairns now looming large on June 15.
“This is real life, not a social media stunt….,” he added. “I have a race in 3 weeks and also wasn’t going to give up a once in a lifetime chance to cruise with family before my girlfriend starts residency in a few weeks.
“So far it has been a blast as I have been able to train during down time between our adventures on land and at sea! Definitely takes some resourcefulness, but I think it will be a productive week in the end.”
His desire to fight cancer was born out of seeing a series of friends and family struggle with various forms of the killer disease. His friend was diagnosed with pediatric leukemia when he was young, while a swimming mentor and two of his uncles have also struggled. In 2022, his grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, and passed away shortly before he competed in Kona.
He hopes to apply what he has learned about recovery as an athlete to research how best to improve patient recovery from difficult medical procedures like surgery or chemotherapy.
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