The arid Okanagan Valley in July is a far cry from the frozen Yukon in February.

But two Whitehorse athletes are gearing up for more than a dramatic shift in scenery and climate.

Duo Karl Blattmann and Kerrie Paterson entered in Sunday's Whitehorse Fun Triathlon to test their mettle before shipping down to Osoyoos, B.C., for the 2011 Desert Half Iron on July 10.

In his first ever attempt at a triathlon, Blattmann took top spot last weekend with a time of two hours, 10 minutes and five seconds in the Olympic Distance-Individual category, beating out second-place finisher Judson Deuling (2:18:54) and third-place finisher Stefan Wackerhagen (2:22:57).

Paterson, meanwhile, settled for second in the women's Olympic Distance-Individual event with 2:37:23, behind winner Maura Sullivan (2:30:14) and ahead of Laura Salmon (2:41:44).

Blattmann said he finished each leg of the triathlon where he expected.

"I found the run quite a bit more challenging than I expected, though. My legs are still sore today,” Blattmann said Tuesday.

The Olympic event led triathletes through a 1,500-metre swim at the Canada Games Centre pool, a 40-kilometre bike ride on the Alaska Highway and a 10-km run.

Blattmann, who said running was his strong suit, finished first in both running and cycling and third in the pool.

Paterson said the bike leg is her specialty. And it showed.

She lagged in the swim, falling to mid-pack, but made up ground to take first in the bike portion before being passed by Sullivan.

"I wanted to get under 2:40, so I was relatively happy with the time. I was really hoping my run would have gone better, and it certainly did go better than I expected,” said Paterson, a teacher at Whitehorse Elementary School.

Both Paterson, 35, and Blattmann, 31, will be pushed to the limit come July, when they take on the Half Ironman – which consists of a 1.9-km swim, 90-km bike ride and 21.1-km run – all through some of the hottest, driest terrain in the country.

Paterson gained experience at the Half Ironman held in Vancouver last summer, an event she competed in while suffering from plantar fasciitis, a condition which affects the connective tissue running from the heel to the toes.

Not exactly conducive to jogging, let alone taking on the Half Ironman.

With five weeks left until Osoyoos, the triathlon was a difficult test.

"This year I've been running a little bit more, so I was hoping my time (on Sunday) would have been quite a bit better, but it wasn't a whole lot better. That's something I should be working on, but because I like to bike so much, that's usually where I put most of my time or energy,” Paterson said.

That extra energy in biking has shown in results over the past few years.

Paterson won the solo category in the 2008 and 2009 Kluane Chilkat International Bike relay from Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska, and finished first at last year's event in the two-person team division with Nadele Flynn, who will also be competing in Osoyoos.

Blattmann recently took second in the Skagway Hill Climb and has notched strong running experience with stints in the Mayo Midnight Marathon and the Klondike Trail of '98 International Road Relay, in which he was a member of the winning team the Scarecrows last year.

In November, Paterson convinced Blattmann to partake in the Desert Half Iron, and since February, the two have been training intensively.

"It takes a lot of commitment to be in the pool, to be running through the winter, to be on the bicycle in your kitchen watching videos in February – and to try and maintain the enthusiasm through all that for quite a few months,” Blattmann said. Paterson agreed.

"Like with any sport, you have to put the time in; and if you don't, then you're not going to get the outcome that you want. We haven't really done a whole lot of anything else since February other than train,” she said.

Part of that training involves keeping an eye on pacing. Blattmann uses a heart monitor as an objective measure to gauge his effort throughout changing courses and conditions.

It was especially revealing during the Whitehorse Triathlon, he noted.

"I've come away with my information from this past race so I know what levels I used and I'll know that for Osoyoos I'm going to have to bring it down a good 10 or 15 beats per minute on the bike.

"With my running experience, I know a bit about how much is too much, and that really helps me pace appropriately on the bike.”

Paterson said exchanging these bits of information with a training partner is a huge help instead of going it alone.

The two will continue to train roughly 13 hours each week before the end of June and start to "taper” their workouts down to four hours each week leading up to the Desert Half Iron.

"With the Olympic (triathlon) I think you push it so much more because it's so much shorter … whereas with the half (ironman) you're out there so much longer – so I guess there's that – but you're not going as hard,” Paterson said.

What drives someone to do something like this?

"I don't know,” Paterson said. "I've thought about it, but I don't know what the answer is. I guess mostly I like to see what I'm capable of doing, and I'd like to better it each time I try it. I like following a plan, I like feeling healthy and I like feeling fit; but mostly to see what I can do, what my body is capable of doing.”