Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon
San Francisco, CA
June 10, 2012
Start Time: 7:30 am
1,713 Participants (389 women)
Distances
- 1.5 mile swim
- 18 mile bike
- 8 mile run
Conditions at Start
Water: 53.6 F
Air: 58.9 F
Surf: Rough (3-5ft)
Wind: Calm
Current: .1 knots/hour
Skies: Clear
Visibility: Excellent
Swim Start: Mass Start from Boat
Pre-Race
Our taxi wove through the city streets, charging towards the marina. What little breakfast I had managed to put down threatened to end up on my shoes. The closer we got to the race site, the more athletes I saw riding their bikes to transition. After the cabbie dumped us on the corner, I headed towards the red arches marking bike in/out. Aside from the race logos on the arch, the morning so far felt like just another race.
A friendly volunteer checked my bracelet and bike number as I wheeled into transition. I was relieved to discover my number on the first row of rack after the pros, as close as I could have possibly gotten to bike in/out. Score! No wheeling my bike over fellow athletes as we scrambled to find our way through transition! My good luck charm has always been my lime green transition towel. Then I headed back across the race site to find Chad for one last hug before the race. My amazing Sherpa offered a few words of encouragement and lead me towards the bus lines. As I climbed on board the bus to the docks, the first realization of what I was about to attempt truly began to set in.
A 10-minute bus ride dropped us off at Pier 3 just as dawn broke over the bay. I suppose it would have been stunning, but I was focused on the task at hand. I pulled off my sweatpants and was surprised to find that it wasn’t as cold as I was expecting. I shimmied into my borrowed long sleeved wetsuit up to the waist, applying body glide (think Vaseline packaged like deodorant) as I went. Then, I sat on the dock for a few moments before marching up the gangplank of San Francisco Belle for the longest one-way boat ride of my life.
Athletes under 40 were directed to the first floor of the boat. I was one of the first athletes on board, so I picked a spot of carpet and stretched out on my back and began to focus on lowering my heart rate and slowing my breathing. I’m not sure how long I had been lying there before I realized that the boat was beginning to fill up. I sat up and a few minutes later, I was chatting with a few other women, several of who were also first time Escapees. By the time the boat pulled out of the docks, we were laughing and swapping race stories.
The Belle made its way out into the San Francisco Bay towards Alcatraz and finally turned so we could see the far side of the island. Then, it slowly began to ferry its way into position. With the island about 100 meters away, the race director came over the loud speaker to begin the count down. 5 minutes!! The playing of the Star Spangled Banner instantly brought everyone to their feet. 3 minutes!! The pro athletes were escorted outside onto the deck. They climbed over the rails and hung off the edge of the boat. We all pushed as close as we could get to watch. The coast guard gave the all clear as the clock counted down from 30. Outside, the horn sounded the start for the pros. Inside, the sea of neoprene clad athletes pushed towards the door, carrying me with them.
Quicker than I expected, I was pushed out onto the deck. I quickly ran towards an opening about half way along the deck, squeezing between the gap of the railing and a deck-mounted canister of some sort. Neoprene booties dangled over the edge of the deck, I took one last glance at the island before I jumped….
Swim
…Feet first into the water! But it felt like my face was the first thing to reach the chilly black water. I bobbed to the surface and let out an exhilarated “WHOP WHOOP!!” I quickly pushed my face back into the water and swam away from the boat. The cold water had already filled my wetsuit. After swimming with the crowd for a few strokes, I began to sight towards land. (I bet no one ever told you that this race DOES NOT have buoys!!!) The general idea is to “cross the river” towards shore, then swim with the current to the swim exit.
As I made my way further into the current, the chop picked up. It was high enough that if I came up to sight while in a trough, I couldn’t see the shore at all. I fell into a rhythm of stroking, breathing and sighting, timing it with the rhythm of the waves. I got a couple mouth-fulls of salt water. Several times I stopped to bob and reorient myself. But finally the orange tiled roof of the yacht club was only a few hundred meters off.
Coming into shore, I kept reaching for the sand with my fingers. The beach was so steep! Please! I just want to touch the bottom!! I could feel the course sand swirling around my hands so I knew I was close. My fingers grazed the bottom as a final wave rolled in from behind and pushed me forward onto my knees. I tried to stand but was amazed at the power of the wave rolling back into the bay, trying to take me with it! I continued to kneel, not wanting to waste any energy, until the wave had almost completely receded back into the water. Rising to my feet, I headed for the swim exit arches.
Warm Up Run & T1
The swim exit arches are at the top of a few black stone steps. When my feet touched the steps, I noticed that they were almost completely numb. I began to unzip my wetsuit and noticed that my fingers weren’t cooperating either. As I struggled out of my wetsuit, thanks to another extremely patient volunteer, I noticed that my face was nice and tingly as well.
I found my bag set out in the first row. My uncooperative fingers could only rip open the bag to get to my towel and shoes. I’m not quite sure how I managed to get my shoes on the correct feet, much less tied, but quickly enough I was jogging the half-mile to transition.
Once in transition, I rinsed my face with water and wiped off my kelp beard. Slipping on my aero helmet and new Sidi T3 bike shoes, I moved headed towards Bike Out.
Bike
There were spectators lining Old Mason Road cheering us on as we headed out on the bike. The first 1-2 miles are relatively flat, so my plan was to get some fluid and fuel into my system. Thanks to a last minute rule change, no individual packs of gel were allowed on the course. I (along with several hundred other athletes) was forced to buy a gel flask the night before the race, but I think I ended up with a dud flask! I desperately tried to extract the gel from my new flask, but eventually gave up. “Oh well, I’ll just do what I can with the calories from my fluids.” What else can ya do?
The first ascent was a curvy 250-foot climb past the Golden Gate Bridge. At the crest of that first hill, I got my first glance of the Pacific Ocean. What a sight! But only for a moment! I knew that the bike was going to either be up or down and in order to succeed, I was going to have to focus on the task at hand.
My watch chimed mile 4. Great, playtime is over! I began my second climb and steepest climb to the highest point on the course to over 360 feet to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Focused on pushing myself up the hill, I hardly noticed the truck headed towards me in the opposite lane. As it passed, I realized that it was the lead male on his way back in. I wasn’t sure who was in the lead at that point. Whoever he was, he was absolutely FLYING!!
Superman and Wonder Woman greeted us at the Legion of Honor, along with about one hundred other volunteers passing out water and Cytomax. I cruised through the aid station and grabbed some water. Returning to aero position, I began a short decent through a neighborhood of absolutely gorgeous homes. One more quick climb before I was again looking out over the Pacific.
The next portion of the bike could have been one of the fastest descents of the day for me, but as I looked down, I freaked! It was straight down! Flinch, and you would be over the bars and into the guardrail, if you were lucky and didn’t end up on the rocky hillside down to the beach! I cautiously pumped my brakes the whole way down. Flying down the hillside, I noticed the other athletes cranking their way back up. Ugh, I was next!
Before I could begin the long climb back up the hill, we went through Golden Gate Park. This was one of my favorite portions of the bike. The smells were amazing!! As I came into the park, someone was cooking something, and man did I want whatever they were having. It smelled salty, like Chinese food. Mmm! Then I noticed the smell of the trees. It was sweet and woody, unlike anything I had ever smelled before. I was so busy smelling that I hardly noticed the climb through the park and decent back down to the Great Highway.
The longest climb of the day took me back up to the Legion of Honor. Besides being long, it was also going to be the second steepest portion of the bike course. I don’t remember very much of this portion of the ride aside from the screaming in my legs, and their relief when Superman passed me another cup of water at the top of the hill. From there on, it was mostly downhill.
Along the final curvy decent back to Old Mason road, I reached my max speed of the day. The group I was with held formation without overtaking any rider. Just as we were reaching the bottom of the hill, some prick started hollering “On your RIGHT!” What in the world?! Before any of us could react, the guy flew past us on the RIGHT (as in incorrect) side of the road, narrowly missing us all. Several of us shouted out a few choice words.
The speed that I was able to build on the final decent carried me quickly back to transition, with the assistance of a generous tail wind. I shifted into an easy gear and began to spin my legs out for the last mile, gearing up for the run.
Overall Elevation Gain: 1,527 ft
T2
As I rolled into transition, I could hear Andy Potts crossing the finish line, and I still had 8 miles to go!
Meh, the crowd was cheering for me! ;-)
Run
My legs felt springy as I headed out of transition. The crowd was still fired up from Andy’s finish just a few minutes prior to the start of my run. About 1/3 mile in, Leanda Cave passed me in the opposite direction on her way to win the women’s race. The smile on her face was awesome!
The first 1-½ miles were very flat and fast. I felt the day beginning to warm up (to my relief). The first aid station was at the base of the first hill, a set of stairs and about 100 feet of climbing. I knew that these couldn’t be the infamous Equinox Sand Stairs, but the sight of the wide steps was daunting none the less. I focused on my breathing and followed a “one – two – step” pattern for the climb. A few steps in I looked up to see Jussi passing on his way back in. We exchanged a high-five as I continued my climb and he bounded the other way back down the hill.
At the top, we were looped to the right and began to run along a very narrow trail. I was nervous about breaking an ankle so I took small steps and watched the ground closely. Often times, the trail was hardly wide enough to allow more than one runner across, which made it interesting when runners came from the opposite direction. Passing was also difficult, and I got stuck behind a slower runner s a few times.
The course took us through a tunnel. With very little light to begin with, it was pretty difficult to see while wearing sunglasses and a visor. But the cool air was great, even if it was only for a few moments. The tunnel was like something out of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The further you went in, the smaller the tunnel became. Even I had to crouch to avoid the brick ceiling and we stepped back out into the blinding sunlight.
A quick, steep climb brought us back up to the same road that the bike headed out on. From behind, I heard some guys shout “200 pounds coming down!”. I scooted over just in time for him to come barreling down past me. I jumped on his heels and let gravity take over. To our right, I was again able to see the Pacific Ocean and the breach. But there seemed to be ants running around down there. I realized that was the beach portion of the run, just moments before I passed by the top of the Equinox Sand Ladder. The faces of the athletes I saw told me everything I needed to know about what I was in for next.
We cut to the right again and I continued bounding downhill all the way to the beach. Remember going to the beach as a kid and trying to play Frisbee or beach volleyball? Remember how difficult it was Yep. I looked out across the beach and saw the red mesh of the turnaround point, as well as an aid station. Everyone already out there was crawling! But we all had the same idea; run on the wet sand. I headed for the water as quickly as I could manage.
This portion of the run was painfully beautiful. The waves from the ocean came crashing into shore and made an amazing roaring sound. The waves coming in brought foam with it and threatened to make my shoes wet. The sand along the beach was very interesting. In some areas, it was powder fine and brilliantly white. In other places, it was almost black and extremely course, like small pebbles. And of course, it was the beautiful white sand that made its way into my shoes as I cut up from the water towards the turnaround. Ugh, I was only HALF WAY!!
I ran back down towards the water and began looking for the sand stairs. I could see where we were headed, about ½ mile down the beach. But the brush on the hillside hid the Sand Ladder from my sight. Sizing up the hill, I knew I was in for a major butt-whooping. As I reached the bottom of the sand ladder and looked up, I think the color must have drained from my face. There is a reason that thy call it the Sand Ladder. It was practically straight up! I crossed the timing matt and began the death march uphill.
You could almost crawl on your hands and knees up the stairs. With each step, I steadied myself on one of the pillars next to the stairs as I reached my legs forward and up to the next step, avoiding the momentum-crushing sand in between like hot lava!
I finally reached the top of the steps. There were a few spectators cheering and ringing cow bells. We turned left and headed up another climb, but this time it was trail and not sand. One of the spectators reported that this was the LAST climb of the day. I ran over the course in my head and realized she was right. Boy, did I need to hear that! It was like someone lit a fire in my heart! I willed my legs to pick up the pace.
As they say, it truly was downhill from there. I am proud to say that I am pretty efficient on the downhills. I felt like I was flying! As I bounded past the last water station before the flats, I dumped water over my head. Salt ran into my eyes. I panicked as my eyes began to burn. I had never had so much salt on my skin, and I worried about my nutrition. Since I was unable to get the gel to come out of my flask on the bike, I knew that I was behind on my calories but I figured that the Cytomax was keeping my sodium levels in check. Just as my eyes began to clear, I saw the bay again. Then I remembered. I had just swum in that SALT WATER!! I laughed and began my charge into the last 2 miles of flat course before the finish line.
The last 2 miles through the park are mercifully flat. BUT! There is absolutely ZERO shade. The warmth that I had welcomed just an hour earlier was turning into HEAT. The gravel was white and the heat and brightness was reflected back on to me as I ran. But I didn’t care. I could hear the finish line announcer.
At the end of the park, I turned left onto the sidewalk. Relief! Now I could actually SEE the red finish line arches about 1/2mile away! I bounded down the sidewalk. The spectators had lined the streets! It was awesome! Then, I could make out the words “Bike In/Out” on the red arches. I knew the finish couldn’t be much further past. Then I was able to make out the grandstands and I knew what I had to do.
I dug deep and gave it one last hard kick as I turned in front of transition and stepped up the curb into grassy finisher’s chute. Then I saw the words “Finish Line” suspended overhead. The euphoria began to kick in! I had done it! I was going to finish! When the announcer called my name I began to WHOOP! I was so excited!
As I crossed the finish line, I had never felt more accomplished.
Overall Elevation Gain: 609 ft
Finish Time: 3:41:46
