Alcatraz

Sunday was the Inaugural SF Tri at Alcatraz. 1.2 mile swim in SF Bay, followed by 25 miles of biking and 7 miles of running. I've been alternately looking forward to and dreading this race for a while now.

I got up at 3 on Sunday morning, after maybe 4 hours of sleep (never sleep well the night before a race). I had prepared my transition backpack the night before, stuffing everything I needed in there (it was quite heavy). I had to ride from Union Square to Marina Green to get my bike to transition. This wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be... not too much of a hill to get over to get there. I got up there early enough that I had time to get some breakfast from Safeway (forgot to do that the night before). Transition opened at 4, and the first bus was at 4:30... they recommended that first timers take the first bus, so I did that. I got all set up, and grabbed my wetsuit bag and boat gear bag and got on the bus.

Pretty much the second the bus started driving I realized I had forgotten my sunscreen and Body Glide in transition... oops. Being on the first bus was a bit of overkill, now we just had to wait around a long time at the pier. Finally got on the boat and found a spot to sit and wait.

Ended up falling asleep a bit on the boat, listening to music with my head under a table. I got up when we finally started moving out. The race directors pointed out the sighting landmarks, so I made sure to note those. It was cool to see the city from out there, and cool to see Alcatraz up close. The boat got into position and people started lining up for the penguin-jump.

Getting into the water was actually pretty fast. People would jump out to the right, to the left, to the center, everyone just finding an empty spot. I jumped out toward the center, but was surprised by how deep under I ended up going... I guess I was higher up than I thought. My goggles got knocked off a bit, so filled up with water. I started swimming a bit, then got my goggles back empty and on right. The water was not too bad as far as temperature. I used the neoprene socks I got, but not the hat again, because I don't like the strap that goes under my chin, feels uncomfortable. I went along with the swim, and I felt really really slow, like everyone in the boat was passing me in the first few seconds. This wasn't the case because there were always some people behind me when I looked back, but in general, I was one of the slower swimmers. I followed their sighting recommendations, first at the 3-masted ship, then the twin apartment buildings, then the Ft. Mason Piers. I couldn't feel the current moving me out toward the Golden Gate, but it definitely was... following their tips I ended up right where I needed to be. I had predicted 50 minutes for the swim, felt like I was out there about an hour and a half, but ended up doing it in 47 minutes. Didn't break my 1.2 mile record like I had hoped for (would be a stretch), but I'm very happy with the result. I climbed up on the stairs (with help from the tons of volunteers there), and jogged my way into my transition area.

On to the bike. The path up across the base of the Golden Gate Bridge was actually easier than the way I had done it on Friday. Still a good climb, but was not bad. The downhill on the other side was fast and fun, then it was the next climb up to the Legion of Honor that was tough for me. Slow and steady, then seemed to just keep going, and got steeper and steeper through the golf course. I made it to the top, and grabbed an extra water bottle there, but I couldn't manage to get it in my back pocket very quickly. Right here is a fast downhill too... I was fumbling with trying to put it back there, trying to steer with just my right hand, and screaming down the hill trying not to run into anyone. After a sec, I decided to just hold the bottle at the handlebars before I kill myself. The road there was not exactly smooth either, a lot of potholes and bumps in it. Made it down, managed to slow down enough at the bottom to make the corner and start heading back uphill. Now I finally got the bottle put away... I should have just waited until getting back up there to grab one, then I could've finished one of my bottles and put an empty in my pocket to begin with.... anyway, I didn't die. Made it up the small hill here, and then down through the really steep part, then down the nice fast hill by the Cliff House. This description is getting a bit long here... let me sum up. I did better than I expected on the bike. I was always trying to take speed when I could (go fast on the downhills), and I worked a lot to get up those hills. For a second I thought I was in the Tour de France, I was stomping on it and wrenching my bike around to get up the very short very steep section on the way back up. There were far too many people who didn't seem to know the rules or didn't care, getting in the way by just sitting out on the left, sometimes very dangerously. Anyway, I beat my estimate by almost a half an hour, so happy with that too.

Got out on the run and I immediately had problems. My calves were super cramping up again. I stopped a number of times to try to stretch them out, with not any noticeable effect right away. I found that running with a forefoot strike seemed to help a bit, so I did that (a bit awkwardly at the slow speed I was going). Made my way up and under the Golden Gate Bridge road, and down the other side. On the downhills I let gravity help out a lot, just going kindof dead-leg Frankenstein style. Maybe not the best for shock absorbing, but let me rest. Made it down to the beach, then the fun really began. There was a short section of really sandy beach, and then the sand ladder... now I know what the fuss is all about. Climbing up this thing, trying to step only on the posts across the ground instead of the sand... everyone was down to a crawl. Made it up okay, decided to dump out my shoes instead of carry 5 pounds of sand the rest of the way, and made my way back to the finish. Only other eventful part was when descending by the GG I nearly ran over a group of 8 girls who had decided to take up the whole path in the middle of the race... after I had to yell they made room for me to get by. My overall goal was to beat 4 hours, and I thought I had a good chance... but I came up 25 seconds short at 4:00:24... I'm calling it close enough.