3-Seen-Triathlon: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

All three disciplines start and finish at the Badi Hüttwilen. The swim is three 500 metre laps in the Hüttwilersee, followed by two bike laps through the Seebachtal and two run laps along the shore. Since 2025 the transition area has been outside the lido grounds: you run into T1 from the south and leave it to the north, then come back into T2 from the north and head south onto the run. The way through the area reverses between the transitions, which is worth knowing when you lay out your spot.

The Seebachtal is a nature reserve with three lakes in northern Thurgau, and the race stays inside that basin all morning: the Hüttwilersee carries the swim, the country roads above it the bike, the shoreline paths the run. The lido is start, finish and festival ground in one on the day, and the usual access road is closed to cars during the race. The Olympic Distance starts first and is the last category still out on course once the day has warmed up, and its prize giving closes the programme.

Swiss Triathlon rules apply. Drafting is allowed on the bike, a wetsuit only if the water measures below 24 degrees at seven on race morning, which in mid July can go either way. The limits are set per discipline: 50 minutes for the swim, 120 for the bike, 90 for the run, plus ten minutes for both transitions, adding up to 280 minutes.

Pacing Strategy

At roughly 44 kilometres the bike is by far the longest block of the day and accounts for a good half of your total time. That is exactly why it gets ridden too hard. Plan the race backwards and pick the power you can still run ten kilometres at goal pace off, not the power that just about works for 44 kilometres.

The Olympic Distance is decided on the second bike lap and in the first kilometres of the run that follows. The second lap is geometrically identical to the first and still comes out slower, because the field has strung out and the wind on the open valley floor builds through the morning. Forcing the first lap pace there is paid back ten minutes later, in T2.

The second trap sits right at the start. Three swim laps in a mass start mean three passages through buoy traffic and three changes of rhythm, and without a guaranteed wetsuit you also lose the buoyancy that normally saves energy over 1500 metres. Swim the first lap deliberately controlled and take the time to work calmly in transition: ten minutes for both transitions together is generous, while seconds grabbed in a hurry are expensive.

Training plan for 3-Seen-Triathlon: 12-week build

For an age group athlete the Olympic Distance takes roughly two and a half to three and a half hours, with an overall limit of 280 minutes. The demand is a long, largely steady endurance effort with two hard seams in it: the move from water onto the bike, and the move from the bike onto a flat ten kilometres.

The most valuable training is therefore not the single disciplines but the way they are chained together. One weekly brick of 60 to 90 minutes on the bike followed by 15 to 25 minutes of running at goal race pace reproduces the demand better than a faster bike session plus a separate long run. Add one or two full race distance rehearsals at easy pace during the build, so that fuelling, transition routine and kit choice get tested once under realistic conditions.

In the water, race form matters more than volume. Train in open water with sighting practice, since you are sent around the same lap three times, and swim part of your sets without a wetsuit so that warm water on race morning is not a surprise. Rehearse the exit and the run into transition two or three times before race day.

On conditions: the start is in the morning in mid July, and of all the categories the Olympic Distance reaches furthest into the middle of the day. Plan heat sessions and a drinking strategy that starts on the bike rather than at the two run stations. Training only at dawn through the summer prepares you for a different time of day than the one you race in.