Need some washington 70.3 motivation help

Chelanman is a great race. People I train with did the half (i did the olympic) and it's a tough but good course. Chelan has things for people to do, but if you try to leave town expect big backups during the race as highway 97 is essentially 1 lane for the race.

I'm just now getting back into Tri's and already signed up for Chelanman. Also planning on doing Black Diamond, which you mentioned.
I figured CM would include the family, while BD would be more solo.

Others I researched were; Boise 70.3, Victoria Tri, and Vancouver HIM. Sorry I don't have 1st person experience with any of these as we recently moved up Issaquah area.

For motivation I'm thinking of joining one of the local tri clubs, but haven't figured out which one. Looking at TN Multi, Pauole Sport, and V02 Multi.
In the meantime I setup the trainer and downloading some Sufferfest videos.

Welcome!

I live in Issaquah and I am on the VO2 Team.

ChelanMan--I've done the Olympic race three times...haven't done the HIM. I can tell you it is one of the best swims you'll ever get. Most of the time the lake is flat in the mornings and it's just beautiful. The water is so clean it's just spectacular. I love this race because of that. Chelan is a great place to vacation for a few days as well. Just be sure to get reservations now because hotel space fills up fast. If you want to save money, you can stay in Wenatchee a lot cheaper and then drive the 40 miles on race morning...which is what I do since I live in Wenatchee.

They get a large field and this tends to be what I call an "entry point" race...lots of people signing up with limited experience in either triathlon and/or the specific distance. I think the Oly field alone was over 400. The good news is the HIM starts first and has the smallest field, so if you do that race you'll be out in front of the mass of bodies and you really won't have to deal with them much. It's tougher in the Olympic as there are a lot of people to pass if you are older and in one of the later starting waves.

The bike course is fun. It's up and down on the Olympic and fairly challenging. The HIM course looks VERY challenging. You'll want to get in a lot of hill training as there are some tough hills with a fair amount of elevation gain in a short distance.

The run is on the highway along the water. It's nice scenery along the lake, but it's still a highway and for me is the most boring part of the race.

Be prepared for heat. Temps can easily be upper 80's by the time you're out on the run course. But it's a dry heat....

Volunteer support is great and it is a solid, well run race.

I think you'll enjoy this race if you do it.

Sorry. Double post so I deleted this one.

Edited by lutzman 2013-11-20 11:20 AM