Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast: What Training for a 70.3 Taught Me About Using Ai

The Surprising Lesson Hidden in 70.3 Miles

Training for a triathlon — especially the 70.3 — has a way of humbling you. When I first started, I assumed the program would be all-out effort every day. I expected intensity, exhaustion, and mile after mile of “pushing the limit.”

Instead, the plan slowed me down.
On purpose.

Long, easy runs. Steady rides. Calm swims.
Workouts that felt too simple to matter — until they did.

What the training plan knew, and what I had to learn, was this:

If you don’t build the foundation slowly, you will not go fast when it counts.

It’s funny — because the last six months of my life building our first mobile app taught me the exact same thing.

Learning to Build the First App Was Like My First Month of Training

Over the past six months, my co-founder and I built our first mobile app from scratch.
It was overwhelming.
Nothing about it took 30 minutes.
Nothing was “push-button easy.”

We spent weeks learning, experimenting, creating workflows, fixing mistakes, building again, and tweaking everything from design to infrastructure. It felt a lot like the first month of tri training, when even a short session feels like a mountain because you haven’t built the rhythm yet.

But just like training, something changed over time: a process started to emerge.

We built templates.
We documented steps.
We learned how to avoid the mistakes we made early.
We understood where the real challenges were hiding.

Six months later, we crossed the finish line.
Not with adrenaline.
With structure.

And now, as we begin our second app, it’s obvious: It still won’t take 30 minutes — nothing meaningful does — but it also won’t take six months.

Why?
Because repetition breeds efficiency.
Because once you understand the course, you know how to pace yourself.
Because the plan makes you faster.

Exactly like triathlon.

The “Brick” Workouts

I’ll never forget my first “brick workout” — bike then run, back-to-back, legs wobbling like they belonged to someone else.
It was a shock to the system.

Building the app felt similar.
Design → code → testing → redesign → deploy.
Different disciplines, zero breaks.

But the second time?
The third time?
The transitions get smoother.
Your mind stops panicking.
Your legs stop fighting you.
You know what’s coming.

That’s what structured repetition gives you.
That’s what triathlon teaches you.
That’s what building systems — or apps — teaches you.

You stop reacting and start anticipating.

The Transition Bag and Why Preparation Is Everything

In triathlon, the transition bag is survival.
Forget sunscreen? You’ll regret it.
Forget nutrition? Race over.
Try a new gel on race day? That story never ends well.

You don’t improvise your way through a race.
You prepare for it.

And I learned quickly that app development is the same way.
Every decision matters.
Every tool matters.
Every hour of prep saves you five hours of rework.

If you don’t slow down early, you pay for it later — usually at mile 40 of the bike when your legs are screaming and you still have to run a half marathon.

AI works exactly the same way.

If you jump into automations or workflows without a plan, AI won’t save you — it will accelerate the mess.
If you slow down and design intentionally, AI becomes a force multiplier.

The 80/20 Surprise — Why Going Slow Makes You Faster

Most endurance programs follow the 80/20 rule:
80% slow, 20% hard.
It’s counterintuitive.
It feels too easy.
But it builds something deeper than fitness — it builds durability.

Building our first app followed the same rhythm.
Most days weren’t flashy.
Most days didn’t feel like big progress.
But the base we built now lets us move faster with confidence.

A funny thing happened in my consulting work too.

As I learned more about using AI — not just prompting, but building true workflows — I found that the same principles applied.
Slow down early, build structure, and the speed comes later.

Take the customer research project I'm working on:
500+ survey responses.
70 interviews.
Hours of transcripts.
Themes, quotes, insights, recommendations — the kind of work that used to take four people months to analyze.

This time, with a structured workflow and the right AI tools, I'm doing it solo — and doing it better.
The technology didn’t replace the work.
The plan amplified it.

Just like triathlon.
Just like app development.
Just like operational leadership.

The Finish Line No One Talks About

Here’s the part people don’t advertise — in endurance sport or in business:

The real speed happens long before the race.

It happens when you commit to the slow, unglamorous work.
It happens when you build your plan.
It happens when you show up daily, even for the easy sessions.
It happens when you learn from your first app so your second becomes smoother.
It happens when AI becomes a partner because you gave it a workflow, not chaos.

The leaders who succeed with AI, app development, triathlons — anything long and difficult — are the ones who understand one simple truth:

Fast is fragile.
Smooth is sustainable.
Slow is unstoppable.

JG Consulting helps growth-focused companies build the operational clarity, discipline, and long-term systems required to make AI a genuine accelerator — not a distraction.

Book a free consultation → jgcsolutions.com/contact