My Actual Experience Doing the Square Lake Team Triathlon

Anyone who likes to swim, bike, run, and/or compete, I definitely recommend doing a team triathlon. From my experience with my own training and competing is very individual. I like programming my own training based off of my own knowledge and experience along with the knowledge and experience of others. I like challenging myself to new personal records and see how well I can perform when I need to perform at my best. Doing a team event adds a new element to competing. It is no longer about just you, but the rest of the team. Especially in a triathlon.

Since the run is the last part of a triathlon, I like the added challenge of finishing the event for the team. On Sunday, I showed up to the event around 9am. I wanted to get there early so I had time to mentally prepare and get warmed up. The event started at 7:30am, but with the swim and bike beforehand, we knew I would be running around 10:15-10:30ish. The most exciting part of the race is waiting for the bike to show up in the transition area. The anticipation of not knowing when your exact start time will be. In a marathon, you always have the same start time. You know what time you are leaving the gate.

Sitting there waiting, I felt the adrenaline pumping. Suddenly 2 guys came into the transition area. These were the 2 individuals doing the entire event on there own and were in 1st and 2nd. A couple minutes later a 3rd guy comes in. Still waiting in anticipation, I see my biker come in! We are currently in 4th place. We grab the chip, strap it on my ankle, and I take off running! Of course no matter how many times they tell me where to go, I take off in the wrong direction! Within about 15 seconds I figure it out and take off running the other way!

Going into the first couple miles, I knew I would be mostly running uphill. The course for the run, went 6.5 miles out and 6.7 miles back with the finish by Square Lake. Considering I am a treadmill runner, I wasn't sure how my body was going to respond to the hills. Running out, I knew what I would be facing on my way back. I felt extremely strong and took each mile as a challenge. I kept myself going strong and kept a good pace. Around mile 4 one of the guys dropped out. This put our team in 3rd place. As I was approaching the 6 miles mark, the 2 guys in the lead were crossing back over the 6 mile mark. They were about 1 mile ahead of me. I knew if I could keep up my pace, that I might be able to catch one of them by the end of the race.

As I was running on my way back, I started passing everyone that was on there way out. Cheering everyone on, I continued on my pace to catch the guys ahead of me. As I started getting closer to the finish line around mile 10 and 11, other runners started telling me that the 2nd place guy wasn't too far ahead and that I might be able to catch him. Half way through mile 11 I saw him in the distance. Still running strong I was determined to pass him. By mid way on mile 12 I passed him going up a hill! At this point my legs were burning and I wasn't sure if I could keep pace. With less than 1 mile to the finish I knew I had to finish strong. The course winded down around to a boat launch - at the beginning of the race, this is where I went the wrong direction :) - I went down the hill and finished right by the lake! I ended up getting our team 2nd place overall and 1st in the team division, but I was still amazed by the 2 guys that placed between me. The individual that won the event and beat our team did the swim, bike, and run! Same with the guy behind me that I passed! I was still very happy for our team, Team Wood. I was also happy that I was able to run under 1:22 minutes and pace 6:15 per mile with a hilly course.

I know that the 3 of us will look to do an event together at least once a year! This was my first Team Triathlon for the Half Ironman Length (Square Lake Long Course). Last year we did the Olympic Length for the Lifetime Fitness Outdoor Triathlon where we placed 2nd in the team division.

Feel free to post anything! I would love to hear about your experiences!

Happy Team Triathlon Experience Running :)