Not sure on Elk Lake, but had friends at Thetis on the weekend who measured it at 14C. I'd say Elk Lake must be at least that cold, if not colder.

Elk Lake gets more quite a bit more sun than Thetis and I *think* it's also shallower. I recall that it's usually warmer. We almost never swam at Elk though. I remember Thetis in May being quite chilly... But it's been pretty cool and rainy up the whole west coast, so I would not bet on a balmy swim. Still three+ weeks for it to warm up though.

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Cold.

Elk Lake does get warm later in the summer. But, this year the race is earlier in June than in the past. Add that to the absolute crap spring and cold winter we had, and I imagine the lake is still pretty cool. Haven't been in yet and don't plan to for another few weeks. Count on that event having cooler water conditions than usual.

Wow!
Thanks for this tidbit!
No wonder ironman doesn't state a water temp for Elk lake if 3 weeks before the event it is in the upper 50s!

Anyone else with data on Elk or Beaver Lake? Doesn't the National Rowing team train on beaver lake?

Thank you!

True Elk Lake gets much more sun, not sure on depth. Either way I think its going to be chilly, given the spring we've had.

Some of your posts weren't showing up before I posted a second time.

I appreciate the feedback from you all up there.

We've been watching the weather in Vic from Colorado all spring seeing that it is not warming up much at all.

Time for a cold, swim, it seems!

 
This week the weather is supposed to get warm with sun. (18-20 degrees)

I have seen people swimming in the lake already though.

Unsure the water quality, testing of the water starts in next week.

The national rowing team does train there and I think there is a temperature reading somewhere down by the docks. I'll check with my father in law as he rows out of there with his masters team.

I'm planning to swim from Hamsterly beach this weekend so I'll let you know how it feels. My guess is that it's cold. I raced in Nanaimo on Sunday and the water temp was 15 degrees. It's probably around that.

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Team Every Man Jack

freaking freezing if it's like any other lakes around here that i've been swimming in!

We were up there last weekend to ride the route, and when I checked the lake temp (next to shore - too dang cold for me to swim!), it was 62F.

The forecast, as I'm sure you know is calling for a stretch of sunny days, the first we've had here in the PNW, so I'm hoping that the lake will warm up a bit before race day.

Thanks for this input! It is wonderful to have someone on site send feedback!

It does seem that a warm up is happening! And the water temp about a week ago was 60.8 so things are looking better for not losing feeling our extremities!

How was the bike course? It looks fairly flat with some minor rollers here and there and one climb around 75km?

I raced at Westwood lake in Nanaimo last weekend (about an hour north of Victoria). It's a shallow, typically warm lake but it was freezing. Low 60's maybe. I would wager that Elk lake is not any warmer right now. With the warm weather coming, hopefully that changes!

As for the bike, I certainly would not call it flat. The course is slightly different than list year due to different swim start, but last year I had the course measured at about 730metres of elevation (2400ft). You're right, the climb at km 70ish is the big one. It's a hilly course with a lot of turns.

I guess 730m of gain isn't flat, you are right! Living in colorado makes a lot of other topographies look flat but i know my legs will not agree!

The massive amount of turns on the bike course seems to be what slows folks down, not to mention possibly wet conditions like last year (at least what it looked like on video reports).

I'm looking happily at the upcoming 60s and 70s and sunshine in victoria to warm the water up, at least a few degrees!

I live on the course and ride it often. The vast majority of the elevation gain comes in the back half. Most of the climbs are short and punchy (steep) so they sap your legs. Combined with the turns in the back half it ends up being deceptively hard.

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Team Every Man Jack

I swam off Hamsterly today. The water felt a little chilly when i first jumped in but the air temp was around 20 degrees so that would be expected.
I raced last week and the water temp was 15 degrees. This was much more comfortable. No brain freeze at all. I'm going to guess it was 17 or 18 in there. A good temperature I would say

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Team Every Man Jack

Currently we are at 59-60 DegF on Sproat Lake just up the highway. It's warming up quickly now that the sun has finally shown up. It's been a rough spring for sure - I need the sun too, as I get weak without it.


Westwood lake was 55 DegF last weekend, but Sproat was just over 50. If it's June 4th, couple of weeks yet, my guess is mid 60's. There is a Dynamic race @ Elk on August 6th. That one will be toasty I bet.

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I live just south (Seattle). Same climate and lake temps. Our big lakes sit at 60F/15C right now. Elk Lake is consistently a little warmer than the larger lakes.

The sun literally just came out this past week. It's been cold and drizzly since early November until, well, now. Forecast is sunny for the next many days. The lake will probably warm up pretty quickly in the next two weeks if the weather cooperates. Educated guess: it will be around 65F/18C on race day, unless cold spell or rains come back.

Weather update - sunshine - been swimming without a wetsuit, but did 200M's and it was tough slugging.

Just swam a 1500M with the suit not an issue in Sproat Lake. I could take a surface temp reading - probably low 60's& of course by next week it'll be higher.

Also signed up today for the 4000M swim @ <https://raceroster.com/...conic-challenge-swim

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Great, thanks for the update. As long as it's above 16C / 60F you won't hear complaints from me! Good luck on the 4k, seems like a fun event.

60F+ is fine. 65F is better. About 68F is perfect.

There's a real time temperature monitoring buoy on Lake Sammamish (80 miles from Elk Lake). Water temp there was 57F just 2 weeks ago. Today 64F.

Edit: oh yeah. Can anyone tell us about the seaweed situation in Elk Lake? Last year the swim was shortened because of sea weeds.

Agreed, I'll take warmer water in the 65-70 range any day. I'm pretty bad about timing my water warm up wrong and spending too much time getting the chills before the start.

This is my first year racing Victoria but my understanding is for this year they have moved the swim back to the ~2015 location. Last year the seaweed situation was partly due to starting on the south end of the lake (Beaver Lake/Beach).

No issue with the lake this year. It will be 1900m
Last year they moved the swim from the North beach (where it had always been) to the south to try to allow for more parking. That section isn't good for swimming, hence the shortened swim.
This year will be all good

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Team Every Man Jack

Well forecast was sunny next 10 days until this morning when it changed to this:

https://weather.com/...nday/l/CAXX0523:1:CA

Rain Tue-Sat and highs in high 50F! Lake is probably 65F right now and will probably drop to 60F by race day.