The next stop in my triathlon schedule involved another road trip, this time to Vancouver Island. I convinced Jen to join me for the trip, and tricked her into registering for the standard distance triathlon.
The Elk Lake triathlon was recently added to the Dynamic Series as a way to keep the Self Transcendence triathlon alive. This is the longest running triathlon in Canada (38 years!) and has always taken place on the BC long weekend. Despite its long history, this would be my first time racing, though I did volunteer at it once several years ago.
Having done the earlier race at Elk Lake I've not seen the grass this golden brown, it's always been green.
I chose to race the sprint in preparation for Super League two weeks later. The course was a single 800m clockwise triangular loop in Elk lake, an out-and-back loop along the technical old Saanich road, and an out and back loop on the east side trail of Elk lake.
The water temperature was a comfortable 24oC, which meant another non-wetsuit swim. The race was a floating start. And by floating, I mean waist deep water. We were told at the pre-race meeting to watch out for the stump on our way back onto the beach, which was marked with a small orange buoy. The sprint heat was smaller, but I found a good group to work with on the first two segments. The standard distance races started 10 and 20 minutes before we did. By the time I rounded the second buoy, the lead men from the standard distance race came flying past us. It was humbling to know that they were covering double my distance, yet swimming so much faster.
The bike course started fast as we rounded the lake and onto the scenic Old Saanich Road. The course was technical with several punchy hills and blind sharp corners. Even though we drove the course the day before, I still felt uncertain about what was coming. This is the type of course that rewards athletes with good bike handling skills and has familiarity of the route. The non-wetsuit swim tips the favour for swim-bike specialists, since the punchy nature of the bike course made it more difficult for bike-runners like me to estimate the gap.
The bike course had amazing support with the help of at least 50 local cadets. Huge shout out to them for doing everything they can to make us feel inspired. Passing by the roundabout with a group of them cheering felt like a little turbo boost of energy.
Kudos credit to Judah Paemka catching this photo! Riding the legal distance just behind Jeff.
Coming back into transition, I knew that there were a couple guys just ahead of me. I didn't know how many of them were in my age group, but knew that I would have to run hard to catch anyone I could. For the second time in two weeks, I watched the winner of my age group cross the finish line. This time the gap was only 9 s! And to add to the pain, Brendan Robinson from the UBC triathlon club just edged me by 1 s. These finishes make the race exciting! And also illustrate the importance of practicing your transitions and pushing right through the finish chute. I struggled to put on my socks in T2, which might have put me just out of reach of catching Jeff. Pretty sure Jeff ran without socks! :P Lesson learned.
I was happy that Jen decided to extend her triathlon season to eight days and compete. We saw her enter T2 during our cool down and take off on the run. She knew that she was in fourth and looked focused on reeling in the girls ahead of her. She ended up finished second female overall.
Photo credit to Judah Paemka: Jeff, winner of my AG, Me, and then Brendan Robertson eventually edging me down by 1s at the finish
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