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Alcatraz Challenge - Aquathlon


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San Francisco, California
United States
Tri-California
60F / 16C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 48m 53s
Overall Rank = 113/294
Age Group = M40-49
Age Group Rank = 21/62
Pre-race routine:

Flew into SFO on Saturday, rented a car, and took the wife to Golden Gate Park to the Conservatory of Flowers. Didn't want the weekend to be ALL about me, after all.... Then headed to checkin at Sports Basement. What an amazing store. Crissy Field was windy, cold and foggy. Couldn't see more than one footing of the bridge. I had done an Alcatraz swim to Aquatic Park in '05 and '06, and had wanted to do another, but never got around to it. I hoped the conditions would clear on the bridge (and the fog made me a bit nervous)

Off to _____ for lunch. Was told that there was a briefing at 4, so I battled Saturday SF traffic for 1/2 an hour to go what should have taken 5 minutes. Of course, the info was wrong, and briefing was at 6.

Walked around, Pier 39, Boudin's for dinner, then back for an early evening.

Woke up at 5 and drove to Ft. Mason. Wendy was going to sleep in and walk the two miles to the transition area later.
Event warmup:

Not much. Set up transition, ride the trolley to Pier 3, wait around, get on the boat,wait around, etc etc.

Was going to wear a neoprene cap, but having been on the boat for over an hour, it was warm, could feel my heartbeat in my head, stripped off the cap and put a second swim cap on.

On the boat,Gary Emich - with 802 crossings - gave us siting instructions. Ft Mason Piers, then Palace of Fine Arts, then St. Francis Yacht Club. As the fog wasn't lifting, they decided to drop us closer to shore and gave us revised instructions, just head for the Palace dome. All in all, they took about 5-7 minutes off the swim.
Run
  • 00m
  • 0 miles
  •  min/mile
Transition 1
  • 00m
Swim
  • 40m 7s
  • 2640 yards
  • 01m 31s / 100 yards
Comments:

Got the clearance, jumped off to the side, started coming up and BAM, knee right to my kidney. Turned and glared at the girl that just jumped on top of me. Man, that hurt. Turned up this was all filmed from above and put on the Tri Cal website,so I have proof.

Water temp wasn't bad, got used to it in a few seconds. Started heading for the golden Palace dome. Sure enough, a few minutes in the fog completely lifted and the GG Bridge was bathed in morning sunlight. Stopped to look around, the bridge, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, the City, Marin, it was gorgeous. I had bought a waterproof camera to tie to my wetsuit pull but in the rush of getting on the trolley didn't get it sorted out.

Found a guy without a wetsuit about my speed so I decided to draft off him, figuring he had experience here. Unlike other Alcatraz swim, I never really felt all alone out there, there were always swimmers and kayakers about. And the course is a funnel to the beach, so we're easy to wrangle I guess.

The other guy and I got near to the yacht club breakwall. We had been told that near shore wasn't the best as eddies formed there that reversed the current, and I think we were a bit too close. Naked guy swam out a bit, but I thought I knew better and stayed inside. Next time I saw him, I was about 100 yards behind him.

Soon enough, the beach was right there. Some had angled in and were running on the shore. Some were still swimming at an angle to the finish. I am a slow runner, but still faster than swimming, so I swam in and ran to the transition area.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, lots of fun
Transition 2
  • 02m 57s
Comments:

It was weird coming out of a wetsuit into running shoes and no bike. There were lots of rocks embedded in the dirt, and I stepped on one hard, giving me a nasty bruise and painful run.
Run
  • 1h 05m 49s
  • 7 miles
  • 09m 24s  min/mile
Comments:

Started out the run feeling OK, except for the foot. Nice run flat along the dirt promenade with good bridge views. About 1.5 miles in hit the uphill. First about 100 stairs, then 2 or 3 paths upward, under a troll-ish bridge with about 5 feet of head clearance, then up to the bridge.

What a great run this is! There are suicide fences about 100-200 yards in. Stopped about halfway across to look down. It was the first run I had with "Don't Give Up Hope" signs, I'd like to make a joke, but having looked down from the bridge, it's not very funny.

The "up" on the bridge is verrrrrrry long. Sort of a false flat, but the middle takes a long time to get there. Then it's downhill, then back up to the turnaround. I was getting passed a lot, but that was OK. I was still enjoying it mostly.

Coming back is more down than up, which is nice. Finally got to the end of the bridge and back down. The steep down was tough on the quads. By the time we hit the flats, I was pretty much done and looking for the finish line. No all out sprint here.

This was overall a tougher run than I was expecting. The bridge is hard. There were two aid stations, one about 1.5 miles in before the stairs and one at about 3.5 at the turnaround. Speaking of which, have a minor issue with that since it should be an out and back, with the back probably a bit quicker. My splits are 34:10 for an 8:59 per mile (ummm, no) and 31:39 for a 9:53 (more like it). But one of those distances is off (it's like a 3.2 and 3.8.... but it's an out and back... weird)

Was pretty happy with my overall time, and I wanted about a 1:05 run. Voila!

What would you do differently?:

Nothing, it was just fun. Would definitely do it again. For the swim only earlier this year they gave out cool Alcatraz Challenge beanies. They didn't for this race, but I was able to buy one from the website.
Post race
Warm down:

Drive back to the hotel and walk to breakfast. My planned raid on Ghirardelli's didn't pan out, primarily because it was only 10:30 a.m. :(

Event comments:

Fun, unique race. Definitely recommended, and enjoyed this more than just the Alcatraz swims I've done (but I prefer ending in Aquatic Park, as the hotel is then right there).




Last updated: 2011-01-18 12:00 AM
Running
00:00:00 | 00 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 0/62
Overall: 0/294
Performance:
Course:
Keeping cool Drinking
T1
Time:  00:00
Overall:
Putting on cap, goggles and wetsuit:
Getting out of shoes:
Swimming
00:40:07 | 2640 yards | 01m 31s / 100yards
Age Group: 21/62
Overall: 61/294
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: Swim Alcatraz to Crissy Field
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time:  02:57
Overall:
Removing cap, goggles and wetsuit:
Getting into shoes:
Running
01:05:49 | 07 miles | 09m 24s  min/mile
Age Group: 43/62
Overall: 206/294
Performance: Good
Course: Along the Promenade to under the bridge, up to the bridge, to the other side and return
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2011-08-01 7:14 PM

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Subject: Alcatraz Challenge


2011-08-03 11:57 AM
in reply to: #3624581

Subject: ...
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2011-08-04 8:33 AM
in reply to: #3624581

Melon Presser
52116
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Subject: RE: Alcatraz Challenge

Super job, Chris! (I mean about not punching the girl who kneed ya ... )

Awesome swim and great placing. Great job on the run, too, and right on target!

Sounds like a blast of a race and one I'd love doing. Hmmm ... Sydney has a bridge ...

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