On any weekday at 4.30am, when most of the business world is still fast asleep, Stef Oud, a senior partner at consultancy Deloitte, tiptoes through his house in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven, quietly closes the front door and launches himself into a bracing 15km run with his pet Labrador at his side.

每个工作日的凌晨4点半，当多数商界人士还在沉睡时，咨询机构德勤(Deloitte)的高级合伙人斯特夫伍德(Stef Oud)都会踮起脚尖穿过他位于荷兰南部城市埃因霍温的家，悄悄关上大门，在他的宠物拉布拉多犬的陪伴下，精神抖擞地跑上15公里。

“Most mornings it is still dark and often cold and raining,” says Mr Oud, who, at 50, has participated in seven triathlons, including four world championships.

“多数早晨天还黑着，往往很冷，还会下雨，”50岁的伍德说道。他曾参加过7次铁人三项，包括4次世界锦标赛。

The kind of triathlon Mr Oud favours is called an Ironman 70.3, a torture test involving a 1.2 mile (1.9km) open-water swim, a 56-mile bike race, topped off with a 13.1 mile road race. Then there is the “full Ironman”, which is twice that distance.

伍德喜欢的一种铁人三项名叫半程铁人三项(Ironman 70.3)，这种耐力赛包括1.2英里（合1.9公里）的露天游泳、56英里的自行车骑行、最后是13.1英里的路跑。还有“全程铁人三项”，赛程是半程赛的两倍。

“A triathlon is a lot easier on the joints than just running,” notes Mr Oud, without any trace of irony.

伍德不带任何讽刺意味地指出：“对于关节而言，铁人三项要比只跑步容易多了。”

Mr Oud is one of a small but growing number of senior executives for whom the cut and thrust of the boardroom is not enough. They train intensively to take part in extreme endurance sports like triathlons, ultra-marathon runs through deserts and gruelling bike races.

有一些高管像伍德一样，觉得董事会议上的短兵相接还不够过瘾，他们目前的人数还很少，但正在增多。他们进行高强度的训练，参加各种极限耐力运动，包括铁人三项、穿越沙漠的超级马拉松跑以及艰苦的自行车骑行比赛。

One such event is the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, a 100-mile heart-pounding test in the Colorado Rockies that starts at an altitude of 2,800m and climbs another 1,000m to the finish. By contrast, the highest peak in the Tour de France is 2,600m.

类似的赛事包括莱德维尔100英里山地自行车赛(Leadville Trail 100 MTB)，这场令人心跳加速的赛事是在科罗拉多州落基山脉上骑行100英里，从海拔2800米开始，最后到达海拔3800米的地方。相比之下，环法自行车赛(Tour De France)的最高海拔是2600米。

Nate Orders, of West Virginia, a 35-year-old chief executive of a construction company, finished that race last year in eight hours and 20 minutes, which is considered to be nearly world class. He then went on to run the Boston Marathon.

西弗吉尼亚州的纳特攠德斯(Nate Orders)现年35岁，是一家建筑公司的首席执行官，他去年以8小时20分钟完成了这项比赛，这一成绩被认为接近世界级水平。接着他又跑了波士顿马拉松(Boston Marathon)。

“The word obsessive is an understatement,” says Alain Villeneuve, 48, a patent attorney in Chicago at global law firm Vedder Price who has run 10 marathons and competed in seven Ironman 70.3 races, posting photos online of his trophies.

48岁的芝加哥专利律师艾伦维尔纳夫(Alain Villeneuve)表示：“迷恋这个词还不够。”他供职于跨国律师事务所Vedder Price，跑过10次马拉松，参加过7次半程铁人三项，还将他获得奖杯的照片贴在网上。

For Mr Villeneuve, who travels constantly and is involved in legal battles over intellectual property, exercise provides stress relief.

维尔纳夫总是出差，处理知识产权法律纠纷案件，对他而言，锻炼是一种解压方式。

“You beat the crap out of yourself because sports releases endorphins,” the brain hormones that are the body’s natural opiates. “All the high-powered people I train with are exactly the same. I t’s their little island of peacefulness. It’s the way Type A people like myself relax.”

“你会把身体内的疲惫都赶走，因为运动会释放内啡肽。”内啡肽是一种大脑荷尔蒙，是人体的天然麻醉剂。“所有与我一起训练的精力旺盛的人们都完全一样。这是他们的一小块宁静乐土。这是像我这样的A型人的一种放松方式。”

Rich Williams, chief executive of Groupon, the daily deal website, was motivated to resume training following an eight-year break when he noticed that his weight had ballooned 9kg (20lb) after years of working 90-hour weeks.

团购网站Groupon首席执行官里奇威廉姆斯(Rich Williams)注意到，在多年每周工作90个小时以后，他的体重增加了9公斤（20磅），这促使他在中断8年后恢复训练。

Now, he tries to participate in two to four endurance events a year, including the Leadville race.

如今，他尽力每年参加2到4场耐力赛，包括莱德维尔100英里山地自行车赛。

“These events give you something to focus your training on and they make a great destination, so we make these races into family vacations,” Mr Williams says.

威廉姆斯表示：“这些赛事让你的训练有的放矢，它们会为你树立伟大的目标，因此，我们把这些比赛变成了家庭度假。”

The one question that keeps coming up is when do these super busy executives find the time to properly train for an event?

人们一直想问的一个问题是这些超级忙碌的首席执行官们怎么找到时间为比赛进行适当的训练呢？

Harri Sundvik, vice-chairman of Nordic corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, asks his PA to put workouts into his diary as meetings so that they are not crowded out in his schedule. Many other people start or end their day very early or very late.

美银美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)驻伦敦北欧公司和投行业务副主席哈里縠德维克(Harri Sundvik)要他的助理把健身计划像会议一样放入每天的日志中，这样它们就不会从他的时间表上被挤掉了。还有很多人要么早起，要么晚睡。

Sami Inkinen, co-founder of Trulia, the real estate website sold for $3.5bn to competitor Zillow, trains one to two hours a day even while travelling.

房地产网站Trulia联合创始人萨米因基宁(Sami Inkinen)每天训练一到两个小时，甚至在出差时也是如此。Trulia以35亿美元的价格出售给了竞争对手Zillow。

“There’s plenty of scientific evidence that physically fit people have the healthiest brain, least stress and best ability to focus,” says Mr Inkinen, a triathlon competitor and self-described nerd who tracks every data point of his life in Excel spreadsheets.

因基宁表示：“很多的科学证据显示，身体健康的人大脑最健康、压力最少且专注力最佳。”他是铁人三项选手，称自己为书呆子，会用Excel表格记录自己生活中的所有数据点。

“I would think carefully how well somebody can do their job if their lifestyle is very unhealthy. I think of that when hiring people.”

“我会认真思考，如果生活方式非常不健康，人们怎么能很好地工作。我在招聘员工时会想到这个问题。”

During the working week, Mr Williams puts his road bike on a contraption called a Wahoo Fitness Kickr, which replaces his bike’s rear wheel and allows him to simulate cycling at 11 different levels of difficulty without leaving his house.

在工作周内，威廉姆斯会把他的公路自行车安装到一个名为Wahoo Fitness Kickr的装置上，这个装置取代了他的自行车后轮，他可以在不离开房间的情况下模拟11个不同难度水平的骑行。

“You have to make a conscious decision not to let your training slip,” Mr Williams says. “Because I care about my family as well as doing my job, that means I do it before they wake up. I’m usually up around 4.30am and do 90 minutes on my trainer,” he says.

“你必须做出慎重的决定，不让训练出错，”威廉姆斯表示，“我既在乎我的工作，也在乎我的家庭，这意味着我会在他们醒来之前训练。我通常在早晨4点半起床，在我的训练器上训练90分钟。”

Ted Kennedy, who organises events for executives within larger competitions such as the New York and Chicago triathlons, says he often asks when executives find the time to train and the answer is boringly the same. “They get up at 4.30, they’re in the pool at 5 and at their desk by 7.30. They just get up before everyone else.”

在更大规模赛事（比如纽约和芝加哥铁人三项）中为高管提供组织服务的特德肯尼迪(Ted Kennedy)表示，他经常问高管们怎么找到时间训练，答案无一例外地一样。“他们早晨4点半起床，5点游泳，7点半工作。他们比其他人起床都早。”

Mr Kennedy’s organisation, CEO Challenges, offers senior executives special handling and logistics at endurance races, and now helps 1,200 CEOs and business owners to participate in events, with some taking part in up to 10 races a year.

肯尼迪所在的组织CEO Challenges在耐力赛中为高管提供特殊招待和后勤服务，如今正帮助1200名首席执行官和企业所有者参加比赛，一些人每年参加的赛事多达10场。

While 80 per cent of Mr Kennedy’s clients are American, the competitions are held in such places as Tuscany and Havana. Surprisingly, only rarely does he encounter an executive who is not adequately prepared.

肯尼迪80%的客户是美国人，而比赛在托斯卡纳和哈瓦那等地举行。令人意外的是，他很少碰到没有做好充分准备的首席执行官。

At some events like the Leadville Race, CEO Challenges provides mechanics to assemble executives’ bicycles and a house to shower and change after the race.

在莱德维尔100英里山地自行车赛等一些赛事中，CEO Challenges会配备技师来为高管组装自行车，还会准备一个房子，用于赛后淋浴和更衣。

At triathlons, Mr Kennedy handles all of the executives’ logistics, including securing good starting times to ensure that the CEOs are not kept waiting for several chilly hours.

在铁人三项中，肯尼迪负责所有首席执行官的后勤，包括争取到良好的出发时间，以保证首席执行官们不会在寒冷的天气里等上好几个小时。

Catering to top sporting executives is becoming a big business. CEO Challenges was once part of the races hosted by the organisation that owns the Ironman brand, the World Triathlon Corporation, which was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda last year.

满足爱好运动的高管们的需求正成为一笔大生意。CEO Challenges曾是拥有铁人品牌的世界铁人公司(World Triathlon Corporation)举办的赛事的一部分，去年，世界铁人公司被中国企业集团大连万达(Dalian Wanda)收购。

After the Ironman organisation offered its own executive programme in 2009, Mr Kennedy went his own way and CEO Challenges was eventually acquired by Life Time Fitness, a Chicago-based maker of sporting goods that also sponsors endurance races.

在世界铁人公司于2009年推出自己的高管项目后，肯尼迪离职，CEO Challenges最终被总部位于芝加哥的运动器材制造商Life Time Fitness收购，后者也是耐力赛的赞助商。

One recent trend is that older executives are now joining the endurance competitions despite the wear and tear on their bodies.

最近的趋势是，年纪较大的高管尽管体能不足，但也正在加入耐力赛。

“It used to be that most competitors were in their 30s, but 40 per cent of the CEO competitors are now over 50. That was a real rarity 10 years ago,” Mr Kennedy says.

肯尼迪表示：“过去，多数参赛者是30多岁，但如今40%的参赛首席执行官超过50岁。10年前，这种现象确实少见。”

He adds that executives often use the events to network with like-minded businessmen.

他补充称，高管们经常利用赛事与志趣相投的商界人士交往。

“They start talking about lactate thresholds and heart rates but often end up doing a lot of business with each other because they enjoy each other’s company.”

“他们开始会讨论乳酸门槛和心率，但到最后往往都会与对方做很多生意，因为他们都感到一起相处很愉快。”