On the first weekend of spring break, junior Doug Williams, president of the Hillsdale men’s swim club, wasn’t relaxing at home or on vacation. He was busy winning a 45 minute indoor triathlon.
Twenty-four athletes competed in the fifth annual Train, Try, Triumph Indoor Triathlon that Williams won on Sunday, March 24. The triathlon was hosted by the YMCA in Williams’ hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich.
Although all triathlons include swimming, biking, and running, this triathlon was unique in the fact that it was indoors, and in how it was set up. Instead of having a set distance for each of the sections, the athletes were provided 15 minutes for each segment to swim, bike on a stationary bicycle, and then run on a treadmill for as far as they could. The competitor with the top score in each category was awarded 100 points, and for each place value down, this amount was decreased by two points.
After all three portions of the triathlon, Williams had a total of 296 points. For the bicycling portion, no other competitor reached 400 watts, yet Williams attained 446 watts for the win, earning him 100 points. He placed second in swimming with 1250 yards, and second in running with 2.59 miles, both earning him 98 points.
This was not the first time Williams competed in the YMCA’s Indoor Triathlon. Williams won the event last year, and came in second place three years ago.
“It was nice to come back and win again,” Williams said.
Williams said this year’s win was more meaningful to him because his parents were able to watch and that he looks forward to competing in the event again next year. However, next year he doesn’t want to simply win for a third time, he wants to score 100 points in each portion of the race.
Williams started running track and cross country in fifth grade and continued competing in it through high school at Huron High School in Ann Arbor. During his senior year, Williams joined the swim team and loved it.
“I just fell in love with swimming. I still enjoy running, but swimming’s my favorite,” Williams said.
After graduating from high school, Williams joined ROTC and attended North Carolina State University, but after a year, decided to transfer to Hillsdale College.
It was during his last semester at NC State that Williams became interested in triathlons.
“I took a triathlon course at NC State and that really got me into it. Our coach would set up courses for us like swim, run, swim for different distances, and we competed in some relay triathlons. I always did the swimming leg,” Williams said.
After returning to Michigan, Williams began competing in triathlons.
Williams said his long term goal is to complete an Iron Man Triathlon, and he is working towards that goal here at Hillsdale. An Iron Man Triathlon consists of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running.
Williams’ training regimen includes swimming twice a day and weightlifting throughout the week. He doesn’t practice running or biking because he said that his training in swimming prepares him enough for those components.
“I was a big runner in the past, so I can be in good running shape without really running,” Williams said. “And for biking, all you do is peddle, which just requires endurance. So for me, swimming is the key. It’s the best way to train. It takes care of running and biking.”
Vice president of Hillsdale men’s swim club and Williams’ training partner, sophomore Evan Gensler, said that he believes Williams is “one of the most dedicated non-athletes at the school” and that he will probably be able to complete an Iron Man soon.
“My neighbor, who competes in Iron Mans, said that most people aren’t as comfortable with the swimming, so as long as you can get that leg down, the rest falls into place,” Gensler said. “Doug is strong in swimming. For only swimming his senior year, he’s really good. He ran track in high school, and I know in the summer he biked like 100 miles in one day, he’s crazy. He commits a lot of time to his training.”
Williams’ sister, freshman Clare Williams, said his competitive streak is why he loves triathlons.
“Doug has always loved competition. I think that may have started with the fact that he has four sisters. Being the only guy, sports were a big thing for him because he could play with other guys,” Clare said.
Clare added that Williams is very dedicated and never takes time off.
“He is a very focused and determined person. He has a direction for his work ethic; he knows what he wants to do and he’ll plan out how to do it. He knows what he’s going to do when he gets to the pool every day, and he never thinks ‘oh I just don’t feel like going today,’” Clare said. “Over spring break, it was like, ‘Where’s Doug?’ ‘Oh, he’s probably at the pool.’ It’s super intense.”
Williams’s next task will be competing in his second half-Iron Man this summer.
