Saturday night has a low of 46F/7.7C (coldest so far this week looking on my weather app) which means a cold morning but not sure how fast it will warm up.
Whistler is in a Mountain Valley with high mountains to the east and west. Thus - the sun is late to come up in the morning and warm things up.
Alta Lake is a reasonably cool to cold lake swim and then you will be heading out into cold (less than 10C air). For proper performance, you need to dress appropriately. Triathletes seem to be obsessed to the point of being crazy about "over heating" on the bike. The ONLY time in any triathlon race, I felt like I was truly over heating on the bike, was on the 2km uphill section at the IRONMAN World Championships when you climb back up from Kawaihae, to the Queen K, with a dead tail-wind, making it still and stifling hot!.
Back to IMC in Whistler - for conditions like this, and knowing that it will not REALLY start to warm up in Whistler until late in the morning and around noon. Here's what I would wear:
Over your race suit -
- full fingered gloves
- arm warmers
- Tight fitting wind or thermal vest
- Knee warmers
- Socks in cycling shoes and possibly over shoes
- Helmet liner
To put all of that on in transition takes maybe about a minute+ if you know what you are doing. It will be the BEST minute you spend on race day and you will be sanding me a note of thanks afterwards.
Just generally about the weather in Whistler - people seem to forget it's a mountain town in the Pacific Coastal Mountain Range. As such the weather can be very fickle and change quickly. Last year high pressure and heat were locked in. I was there 10 days before the race and every day including race day was full on sunshine and scorcher. But it could just as easily been a week or so of overcast, cool to cold weather as well!
I recall a hike we went on from the Round House up on Whistler Mountain years ago. Started off in brilliant sunshine and complete blue skies wearing t-shirts and shorts. However, by mid afternoon as we were arriving back at the Round House foreboding black clouds had formed, and the temperature had dropped precipitously. In a matter of minutes it started to pour rain, then snow! Fortunately we had brought along extra clothing gear with us (which you always carry in the mountains). The weather got so bad that they had to close the lift back down for about an hour, and many tourists caught out had to stand around in t-shirts and shorts, as the rain and snow came down! They got cold and miserable fast!
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Whistler is in a Mountain Valley with high mountains to the east and west. Thus - the sun is late to come up in the morning and warm things up.
Alta Lake is a reasonably cool to cold lake swim and then you will be heading out into cold (less than 10C air). For proper performance, you need to dress appropriately. Triathletes seem to be obsessed to the point of being crazy about "over heating" on the bike. The ONLY time in any triathlon race, I felt like I was truly over heating on the bike, was on the 2km uphill section at the IRONMAN World Championships when you climb back up from Kawaihae, to the Queen K, with a dead tail-wind, making it still and stifling hot!.
Back to IMC in Whistler - for conditions like this, and knowing that it will not REALLY start to warm up in Whistler until late in the morning and around noon. Here's what I would wear:
Over your race suit -
- full fingered gloves
- arm warmers
- Tight fitting wind or thermal vest
- Knee warmers
- Socks in cycling shoes and possibly over shoes
- Helmet liner
To put all of that on in transition takes maybe about a minute+ if you know what you are doing. It will be the BEST minute you spend on race day and you will be sanding me a note of thanks afterwards.
Just generally about the weather in Whistler - people seem to forget it's a mountain town in the Pacific Coastal Mountain Range. As such the weather can be very fickle and change quickly. Last year high pressure and heat were locked in. I was there 10 days before the race and every day including race day was full on sunshine and scorcher. But it could just as easily been a week or so of overcast, cool to cold weather as well!
I recall a hike we went on from the Round House up on Whistler Mountain years ago. Started off in brilliant sunshine and complete blue skies wearing t-shirts and shorts. However, by mid afternoon as we were arriving back at the Round House foreboding black clouds had formed, and the temperature had dropped precipitously. In a matter of minutes it started to pour rain, then snow! Fortunately we had brought along extra clothing gear with us (which you always carry in the mountains). The weather got so bad that they had to close the lift back down for about an hour, and many tourists caught out had to stand around in t-shirts and shorts, as the rain and snow came down! They got cold and miserable fast!
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog