Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon - TriathlonOther

Upon the boat -horn sounded, and the pros took off. Everyone else watched and started pressing toward the front of the boat. There were basically 2 exits and then 3 jump points while on the deck. I think I cleared the boat within about 3 minutes after the horn (supposedly they cleared all 2,000 athletes in about 6 minutes!). It felt like a scene out of a war movie. No time to panic - you better jump! Thought I was holding my goggles on, but honestly I hardly knew what I was doing at that point. I tried to scissor kick when I went into the water to keep myself up -but the drop was a little bigger than it seemed (maybe 8 feet). My goggles immediately filled up with water, and I had to clear them. Hardly had time to think about how frickin' cold the water was (however, my practice swim at Aquatic Park 2 days prior had allowed me to know what to expect). I was not prepared for the congestion early on in the swim. I figured I would have to avoid jumping on top of someone, but I thought that after that the current and spacious bay would separate everyone out quickly. I was wrong, and I found myself fighting for position for what felt like at least 200m (probably was more like 100m). Did get a chance to flip on my back and take in Alcatraz though (who gets to do this?!!!). My goal was to keep about 2/3 on my right and 1/3 on my left, as I am an average swimmer at best (in the water, this was hard to ascertain - just had to make sure I had people on both sides). My goal in sighting was to go Fontana Towers - 3 Piers of Ft. Mason - Gold dome of Palace of Fine Arts - Red Yacht Club - finish on the high-side of the beach. We were told that the currents that day would be fairly strong (approximately 5mph). Now I am an inexperienced ocean swimmer, but I wasn't feeling that 5mph at all during the first half of the swim. I felt like we were all over-estimating the currents, so I started to take a more aggressive line about 5-10 minutes in. I stopped sighting on the towers, because I felt like I was not being pulled by the current too hard. I started sighting on the 3 piers for what seemed like another 5-10 minutes, and then I realized that I still didn't feel like I was being pulled - so I switched to the tall radio tower just to the right. This ended up being a good call, and I sighted off this for probably the next 5-10 minutes. At one point, I didn't really see anyone around me at all. I got slightly nervous but trusted my race plan, especially since I didn't see any support vessels around (which were obviously on the fringes guiding those who had gone astray). Finally, I started sighting off the dome which brought me into the final 1/2 mile. Still didn't feel a huge pull from the current but I figured it was doing something. Then, about 500 yards out - I felt it big time! By then, I was sighting off the yacht club and could see shore. It seemed so close, but I could tell I had some work left. I began to get nervous thinking that I might miss my exit because the shore current felt extremely strong, so I began to put the hammer down. I hit the high side of the beach as planned and really executed a pretty good swim all things considered. I heard from my buddy Peter later that a bunch of them had gotten swept past the exit and had to walk the rocks back to the swim exit. Easy to see how this could happen, given the unassuming current during the middle of the swim and stronger shore current. There is truly no great way to plan for this, as I'm sure it could change year to year. Helps to be lucky sometimes I guess. I was hoping to swim under 40 minutes based on past race reports, but seeing as the current wasn't as strong overall this year - I was extremely happy with my time.

Try to find a better line early and avoid the congestion. Get into a groove sooner. Sighting really couldn't have gone much better though.

T1 was basically 2 parts: T1-a involved running up the beach to an area which had our numbered bags in order by number (I actually found mine right away). This bag had a pair of shoes to run to the actual T1 where our bikes were (about 1/2 mile away), a small towel, a bottle of water, and 3 endurolytes. I opted to run with my wetsuit down to my waist, so I could warm up a little more. Plus, I didn't want to waste time folding up my suit and getting it back into the bag (any items left outside the bag are typically never to be found again). My feet were numb from the swim through about the first 1/4 mile, but the weather was so mild that day - I warmed up fairly quick.

Not much. I had a pretty fast transition compared to a lot of people in my age group. I don't think I would go without shoes - a little too much on the feet for that 1/2 mile. Next time, I might mark up my race bag with some colorful tape. I saw some people doing this, and it looked like a great idea. I actually got lucky and went right to my bag, but I saw some people searching all over frantically.

First 2 miles and last 2 miles are where you can cruise on the flats. Used this time going out to get some nutrition down. I basically had 2 bottles of HEED over the course of the ride with an endurolytes Fizz in the 2nd bottle. I wasn't sure what to expect with this course, since I didn't have a chance to ride it prior to the race. Judging by elevation charts and previous race reports there were going to be about 3 brutal (category 5) hills. There were. I didn't notice the challenge in going up them as much as the technical challenge in descending. I was scared out of my mind because nothing was straight on. It was all curving and pinpoint turns at the bottom. I freaked out a little bit on one - partly because the turn at the bottom came up on me so fast. After that, I started riding the brakes pretty hard. I didn't see any accidents but after talking to some people after the race, they said that there were at least 3 and one involving an ambulance - yikes! I could see how this might happen though if you were not familiar and cautious. I didn't get too aggressive again until Golden Gate Park around mile 7-8. The park was closed and had great roads to really put the hammer down. I pushed a little more here and took some more nutrition. This was an out and back course so whatever fast descent we had coming out, we had to climb going back - again, killer. Turning onto Clement St. was particularly memorable. After climbing about 3-4% grade for about 1/2 mile, you think it's over and then take a hard right and an even worse climb is awaiting you for another 1/2 mile. Everyone around me just groaned as we saw what was ahead. I almost ran out of gears on this course! But, again, about what I had expected. I had hoped to average close to 18mph but I was below that at 17.3mph. If I had know the course better, I might have made up some of this on the descent - instead of riding the brakes like a 5 year-old girl.

Build cornering skills on fast descent (30+mph). Become more familiar with course. I think my overall strategy for when to take in nutrion and when to push worked well though.

My rack was close to the front which helped. However, my landmarks weren't great to remember my rack. There were a whole bunch of international flags, the only problem was that some of them repeated. Anyway, I missed my rack by one and then quickly found it (may have cost me 5 sec). I did put on socks for this run (since I knew there would be sand). Glad I did, because I think it would have killed to get sand in the shoes on this course. Even with socks, I got horrible blood blisters under a couple toenails from all the cutting/obstacle course type running. I didn't notice it though until after the race. I grabbed a Hammer gel for the run and set off.

Pinpoint a better landmark to find rack. Avoid getting out of shoes so early coming back into transition.

I got a tip that seemed to help me on this run course. Run the first 2miles and the last 2 miles like a 5K, save your energy and "enjoy" the obstacle/off-road course in the middle 4 miles. So, I pushed the first 2 miles right around 7:00 pace as planned (cramped a little in my R quad but the gel seemed to help). Then all of a sudden everything bottlenecks and you are climbing stairs and trails (hard to pass here as pros are sailing back down brushing shoulders with you - literally). It seemed to do this on/off for a while - then all of a sudden we were descending - and then running on the beach. This was harder than expected, because the sand was really not as packed as I thought it might be (it just sucked your energy out of every impact). Tried to stay toward the waters-edge going back out where it was a little more firm. Then, the ladder. Actually, this was not as bad as I had anticipated. Most everyone walks it. I found that pushing off my thighs with my arms helped. Heart-rate soared, but it was over before I knew it. I think my splits at this stage were around 10-11 min/mile pace. Now you can see why my goal pace of around 8:30 was not really as slow as it seemed. Didn't have as much to push coming back in on the flat as I thought I would (not quite the same pace I had going out), but I did average a better pace than I had planned for at 8:23.

Train a little more volume for this run course. Only had a couple 8+ mile runs prior to this event. I was definitely feeling it at the end. No real way to train for this course, aside from running on your local sand volleyball court, finding a stair master to pound out 5 hard minutes and then running some more crazy trails.

Surreal feelings of pride that I had just ESCAPED and exhaustion. By this time, it was very warm. I grabbed a water, chocolate milk, banana, and found Jodi. I had to sit down for awhile just to recover. My shorts were crusted with saltwater and sweat - nice ornate salt-ring patterns. Bounced back pretty quickly but did not have an appetite for the hot food they had available. Looked like a decent spread, but hot food on a hot day was the last thing I was in the mood for. Andy Potts was very gracious talking to age-groupers and signing autographs after the race, though he finished a full hour before I did!


Lack of knowledge of the course, especially on the bike. First race that took 3+ hours, so my lack of endurance probably showed toward the end. Was hoping to break 3 hours but was really pleased with 3:03 and a top half age group finish, all things considered.


A bucket list race for sure! I had a lot of expectations going into this race, and I left having almost all of them met. No other race like this in the world which is obviously why so many come from overseas. I would do it again in a heartbeat.