Course Summary via a Yelpster

Yelp.com had a member who wrote a pretty cool summary about the race course. Check it on out!
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The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon is one of the most famous and anticipated triathlons in the world, with major-market media and TV coverage across the country. Its popularity in the triathlon community (it was picked as the #1 race in the world in a recent Inside Tri magazine poll) has made it one of the most difficult races to get entry into. At this point, you basically have to enter the lottery or do well in one of the several qualifying races to get a slot to race. There aren't many other options.

There is no other race in the world like this one - no other race where everyone boards a giant yacht/small cruise ship and heads out to a famous landmark in the middle of a large body of water (we're talking about Alcatraz Island here, the Rock), sends everybody (1500 or so) off the boat in less than two minutes for a 1.5 mile swim in the Bay ending at the St Francis Yacht club at Mariana Green (note - the Bay is usually 54-57 degrees, it can be quite rough, and the currents are usually strong - if you don't have open-water experience, I suggest you sign up for a practice swim from Alcatraz led by expert swimmers, especially if you live somewhere near the Bay Area - I've led several swims before and trust me, it will make all the difference come race day. Also, get a good wetsuit and neoprene swim cap, and swim in Aquatic Park if you get a chance). The views are spectacular from the boat, and swimming toward the city from the island is an amazing thing.

From there, it just gets better. You have 3/4 mile "warm-up" run to get to the transition area in the grassy field of Mariana Green. The bike course - 18 miles long - is one of the tougher but more scenic bike course in any triathlon you'll ever do. You head out on Marina Drive, then climb up through the Presidio on Lincoln Blvd, drop down into Sea Cliff (say hello to Robin Williams, who will be watching from just outside his house right by the course if he's not competing in the race himself or off on a movie shoot), back up to the Legion of Honor, down to Ocean Beach on The Great Highway (rough road here), then you'll do a loop in Golden Gate Park before returning the way you came. Four reasonably challenging climbs (four fun downhills!) plus some other shorter ones and terrific scenery. Keep in mind, if you're an average swimmer, there will be quite a lot of bike traffic out there. For some people, that can be a real turn-off.

The run heads toward the Golden Gate Bridge on the Crissy Field path, then takes the stairs and the hilly coastal trail, under the GG, and down to Baker Beach before turning around and heading back the way you came, with the exception that you will be going up the infamous Sand Ladder (think a very steep 200 ft vertical climb straight up a sand dune) to get back to the coastal trail. It's fairly narrow and two way traffic on the coastal trail section, so be sure to exercise caution and stay on your left. Watch out for the pro triathletes charging back as you're heading out, enjoy the spectacular cliff-side scenery.
Once you're back down to Crissy Field, you just have a two miles of flats on the trail to the finish line and eternal glory!

The volunteers, officials, and organization at this race are world-class.

If you are a triathlete, or an aspiring triathlete, try to do this race at least once. It's the best triathlon in the world, and it's right in San Francisco.

Great Swims and Run this Week

Training is going well. I had two great 1.5 mile swims this week in the pool. Focusing on the form and what an incredible difference it makes. It's almost second nature now to rotate sides with breathing too.

I ran a 5 miles today on the treadmill in 35 minutes, which I was very satisfied with since I haven't been focusing on speed. I guess shedding 10 pounds can make a huge difference with the pace.

Bike is back from it's tune-up, so I'll be hitting that this weekend.

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon send out a pretty informative email on training. I'll post that here too.

There are also a couple slots for the race available on ebay. I think auction is up early May. Sooooooo.....if anyone has an itch to do the race this year, you now have an opportunity.

Cheers, P

Yesterday's Training

I haven't provided a summary of a day's training in a while, so here's a quick snap on yesterday.

I had a great weight workout in the a.m. People tell me I really don't need to be lifting weights right now, but that's something I'm a bit stubborn with and manage to keep going. Strength wise, I think it has really helped out my swim out quite a bit.

I then swam at lunch and did about 2,000 yards (about a mile and a quarter) and everything felt great. Everyone must be learning to swim right now, because I had another flounder in my lane and had to dodge him most of the swim. I've been learning to breathe on both sides (every third stroke) and this was the first swim where it kind of clicked in and I didn't have to constantly focus on when to breathe. Before I was breathing every fourth stroke and for longer swims like Alcatraz, it's suggested to breathe every two to three strokes for more oxygen supply. Being able to breathe on my right will also help me out if there happens to be quite a few waves on race day and the suggested side is the right. At the training clinic, we had to breathe on the left due to waves and thank goodness that was my breathing side, either wise it would have been an extra stress having to do it on the right. Now I'm all balanced. :)

Post work Walter and I headed down to the lake for an easy 5 miles. That too felt great. The knee tendonitis and planters fasciitis are doing much, much better. I think taking most of last week off provided the body with some healing action. I also think this magic acai juice might be helping things out too. I'm still amazed at my constant energy level after I take 2 oz of the juice. Also want to report that Walter's picking up his pace too and has shed a few of those winter pounds, so he's a happy pooch.

Sea Lions, Tigers and Bears.....Oh My

I forgot to mention that over the weekend I had my first 'creature encounter during my swim' dream . . . . . and it wasn't too bad of an experience. It was a sea lion (about 6x bigger than the one in this picture) and it went underneath the swimmer in from of me and threw them up in the air about 20 feet . . . . . then I woke up. :) So no sharks, no jaws movie soundtrack . . . . . just a friendly, large sea lion. :)

Dad Came to Town

This past week has been a whirl and my bad for not providing any new entries. Pops has been visiting for a few days, so we've been going non-stop since his arrival. I've still managed to get my workouts in and everything is feeling great. I ran 8 miles this a.m. The knee's a tad sore post runs but not any worse w/ the gradual increase in mileage. Increasing the mileage has always made it worse, so no complaints from this guy.

I swam on Thursday and Saturday and broke my 500 yard record, which felt great. I also had a great spin class on Saturday. My training camp in San Francisco is the following weekend and we'll be riding the entire bike course at the camp, so this weekend I must get on the bike.

It also seems like my energy level is much higher than normal since I started taking the magic acai juice.

That's the excitement for now.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

I hope you're wearing your green. Yesterday I ran the annual St. Patty's race in Seattle and below are a few snaps from it. Lots of fun.....over 17K people, and the sun even peaked out for the race.

Belly Dancing Spin Class

Over the weekend I was chatt'n w/ my buddy Jame's about my training and he asked how the bike part was going and if I had taken my bike out yet for a ride. Well.....the answer is no and I keep thinking I have plenty of time but in less than three weeks I'll be riding the bike course at the training camp so I best be getting my butt in gear. Biking in the cold and rain isn't my favorite thing to do but it's time to buckle up. So with that said, I avoided the bike (outside) this weekend and decided to do two spinning classes back to back.

In the first class, it was about 10 minutes into the class and no instructor. The guy next to me says 'Carol (the spin instructor) is a friend of mine and she's at Whistler right now and she couldn't fine a substitute teacher'. Great....I finally get motivated to work on the bike portion and no instructor. The dude on the other side of me said 'I have my wife's belly dancing cd in the car that we could spin to'. The gal next to him says 'hell no' and I say "it's definitely better than no music at all', so he runs out, comes back w/ the cd and the next hour we were spinning to ching, ching, ching...belly dancing ching. About mid way through a gal hops off her bike and starts doing a ching, ching, ching next to her bike for a couple of minutes and says she knows how to belly dance. It definitely wasn't your typical spin class.

I then stayed on the bike through the next class (where the instructor did show up), so it was a great workout for me, even though I wasn't on the actual bike outside. Maybe next weekend. :)

Best Commercial Ever if You're a Triathlete

He also needed to have had someone kicking him in the face, pulling at his feet and another clawing at his face while pulling off his goggles to get the 100% experience of the Human Washing Machine triathlon swim start.

No Sherpa Swim

Well....I decided to not do the four swimmers and a sherpa swim. I think that type of swim would have been more stressful than the actual swim on race day. I would have been under pressure keep up w/ those three (and pulling up their info on some races I could tell they're much faster than me) since that's part of the deal w/ this swim in that all four swimmers have to swim together. For some reason, lots of other swimmers in the water is a bit more comforting that just four. If I could find some type of larger group doing that swim prior, I might be down for that. Or to keep things exciting, probably best if I just wait til race day.

Training:
I had a great run on Saturday. I'm guessing I did about 8.5 miles. Post run wasn't the best. Up until Monday morning, I could feel my heartbeat in my knee (due to the pain) so I'll be going to the doc tomorrow to have it checked out. Arrggghhhh. Two years ago, I had to cut back on the running due to the same type of pain. I'm being optimistic though.

I also did Bikram last night (bbhhuurrfff.....yes, someone did it again) and it kicked my butt but it was exactly what the body needed. Somebody threw up in the class, so kept things exciting.

Four Swimmers and a Sherpa

Alright……guess this is what I get for being a bit to pro-active on the training experiences for the race. I joined Yahoo’s San Francisco tri group, thinking I’d meet other’s doing the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon race. Well I most certainly did meet some others and now three of them are inviting me to do the actual swim with them from Alcatraz to San Francisco on Sunday, May 11th. Yikes oh mighty…….now that freaks me out even more.

We would purchase a ‘U.S. Coast Guard Marine Event Permit” that allows us to cross that channel during the designated time and then hire a kayak sherpa to follow us. I honestly can’t imagine that one……but it would be the perfect solution to calm my nerves a bit between May 11th and June 8th, as I would then have already experienced the true swim. Just trying to think swimming w/ 2,000 people on race day (seems a bit chaotic) or 4 people….which one is less scary. They both seem pretty darn scary to me.

A shot them a note this morning w/ a few more questions:
1) Is the sherpa a lifeguard?
2) Does the sherpa have arm floaties for us (if needed)?
3) Is the kayak a two seater, so I can hop in if freak out?
4) Will the cruise ships and barges be able to see us coming across?

Lets see what they say…...

Found this clip...give's a good feel of what it's like to jump off the boat into the water at Alcatraz.


Latest Training: Swam last night w/ my swim group for an hour and 15 minutes....lost track of the laps but guessing it was around 2,500 yards. Felt great. If knee feels better today, hoping to do a 9-10 mile run today or tomorrow.

A Few More Swim Camps

I'm here in bed at 6am and trying to get the energy to make it to the pool for at least a 45 minute swim. It's just too freak'n comfy to think about stepping outside of this little slice of heaven. Alright....a few blurbs about the swim camps and I'm on my way.

Adam from the San Francisco Triathlon Club emailed me a couple more camps ideal for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon and even more ideal if you live in in San Francisco. Check it on out if you're interested.

Leslie Thomas of http://www.swim-art.com/ offers a weekly Monday night open water group swim with experienced leaders at Aquatic Park. These are a great way to get use to swimming in the bay water if you're completely new to it. She also often offers longer piloted swims from point-to-point in the bay and may well offer a pre-triathlon Alcatraz swim. Her Monday night group starts on March 17th and they have a kick-off party to which all SF Tri Club members are invited on March 12th at Sports Basement Presidio.

Another local coach is Coach Pedro and he's one of the most experienced Alcatraz swimmers ever. He offers clinics and regular Alcatraz swims throughout the year. You can find more info on his programs at http://www.waterworldswim.com/workouts/default.asp Click on the "alcatraz" link to see details on his upcoming clinics.

Finally, this year SF Tri club will offer a few piloted swims from point to point in the bay. The first one is on June 1. You can find details here: http://www.sftriclub.org/cgi-bin/event.cgi?e=3241