40 Years of Ironman, Crohn's Disease and the System of One with Sean Luitjens
About this episode
Sean Luitjens shares his journey as a lifelong triathlete living with Crohn's disease and discusses adapting training and nutrition while maintaining competitiveness.
*In this video: How do you keep competing at a high level when your body changes the rules? Sean Luitjens shares 38 years of triathlon wisdom, living with Crohn's disease, and what it really means to be a system of one.* Nick Day and Hari Kalymnios welcome their very first guest on episode 87 of the Mindful Paths Podcast. Sean Luitjens is a lifelong triathlete, corporate executive, and performance coach who has competed for nearly four decades across Olympic distance, half Ironman, and full Ironman events. The conversation covers what happens when late onset Crohn's disease forces you to completely rethink training, nutrition, and race day fuelling. Sean breaks down how he adapted his diet, learned to read perceived exertion over raw data, and found a way to stay competitive while managing a chronic illness. They also explore the mental game of aging in endurance sport, including how identity gets tied to performance, why the journey matters more than the finish line, and what happens when you lose the happiness of training. Sean shares his "system of one" philosophy, the importance of gratitude in sport, and practical advice on balancing 12 to 16 hour training weeks with a…
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