Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon - TriathlonOther

The water was cold, but not terrible. I had on a full wetsuit, neoprene cap with silicone ear plugs, and neoprene booties. Glad I had them all on. I was one of the first off the boat (get yourself close to the doors before the start!), which meant I had little to work through, but also almost no one to draft off of.

Next time, go straight, even if alone. I was strong enough to have gone straight and could have saved 5 minutes.

The transition included a 1/2 mile run. I came out of the water, peeled my wetsuit to my waist, and ran to T1. Most age groupers stopped at the water exit, found their bag, took off their wetsuit, and put on running shoes. I am glad I didn't spend the time to do so. Was 24th in my age group out of 204.

Transition went very well, might have been able to run a little faster on the 1/2 mile though.

I rented a bike (Trek 2.3) with a triple ring up front. I only had one ride on it before the race. Regardless, the bike course was very difficult due to my lack of training.

Spend time on a bike trainer... a lot of time. I focused my training on the run and swim, as I thought those would be the biggest challenge. Turned out the bike was the hardest (although possibly because I was so prepared for the swim and run).

I didn't go very hard through T2. It was well laid out, but I was feeling the effects of the bike hills already. I was 134 out of 208 in my age group.

I got stuck behind a few people in the chute. Next time I should pay more attention to coming into the bike finish, as it might be worth a little more effort to get in front of other people going down the transition chute.

At the top of the first large hill, just past the golden gate, My right quad locked up into a ball... took a minute to elbow it a few times to get it to let go. I did not have much left after the bike. The bike leg took more out of me than I thought it would. The course was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Train the bike... the bike really hurt the rest of my race.

10 minutes of walking, and massage.


Lack of bike training, plain and simple. More training = better results!


The race venue was unbelievable. Truly the experience of a lifetime. If I ever have the chance to do it again, I will be spending a lot of time on the bike getting ready :)