Escape from Alcatraz 2013 Race Report
This is more of narrative race report. If you just want the quick stats,summary and some pictures skip to the bottom but for me this race wasn’t about numbers ; )
Pre-Race:
As for many folks with Alcatraz I threw my hat in the ring for a lottery spot not really thinking I would actually get in on first try. Since they moved the race to March this year because of America’s Cup I guess maybe less folks initially signed up and I got in on the second round. During the race meeting the director said they were originally thinking they would only get around 1000 people but at the end of the day 2000 people signed up.
My training up to the race was not optimal with the winter illnesses taking out my family one by one since Christmas. After taking care of them I ended up with a nice URI and bronchitis myself. I was left with little motivation or ability to train. I even stopped logging onto EN because it was depressing to see all the great workouts while I just sat on the couch. So let just say I was not super prepared for this race.
I built a shiny new Cerverlo R3 with Zipp 404 tubulars and my Quarq for the race and was pretty excited to ride it on this course. I shipped it our 8 days early using shipbikes.com which is plenty of time to get it to CA. I used them for IMFL in November and was happy with the service. More on this later**.
Arrival Friday:
We arrived on Friday and the race was to be on Sunday morning. We stayed at the Hyatt in Fisherman’s Wharf. This is about 2 miles or so from the transition area and ½ from aquatic park. As soon as we got settled we headed down to Aquatic park which is a protected part of the bay with some permanent buoys setup for swimmers. My plan was to try several combinations of caps and squid lids to see what I was the most comfortable with for the swim. Water temp was around 51-52.
I first tried full wetsuit, earplugs, two swim caps. I didn’t have booties. Trying to mimic the swim start I jumped right in without hesitation and the water immediately took my breath away. It was plenty cold. I swam a couple hundred yards and got out. My eye sockets definitely felt the cold as well as my feet and hands but it was tolerable, but then again it was only a few minutes.
Next up was full wetsuit, earplugs, squid lid. My head was nice and warm which further emphasized the cold around my eye sockets. The biggest downside was you definitely lose a little balance and the biggest issue was it was harder to breath because of the strap.
Lastly I tried a full wetsuit, earplugs and single swim cap. This was noticeably a lot colder on my head.
Conclusion for me based on my test plus hearing from Eric Gilsenan was to just use two swim caps but get some neoprene booties. Also I can’t recommend the pre-swim highly enough. Unless you swim in cold water all the time you cannot predict how you will react to cold water and I would not use race day as the first time to test this.
I also have a waterproof Lumix camera which I stuffed in my wetsuit. I wanted to test to see if I could attempt some in water shots on the swim. I tested this with a couple of variants and decided I would try it as it didn’t bother me while it was in the wetsuit.
So now it was onward to pick-up the bike put it together and prep all the pieces for the race, except, wait for it, yes my bike was in Sacramento and would be delivered Monday March 4 for a race on Sunday March 3rd. Because of some Midwest storm fedex could not get it to me on time. Even driving to Sacramento was not an option since it was at the sort facility.
We scrambled and walked up Columbus Ave which has a couple of bike rental places. First shop nothing but the second shop – Blazing Saddles - actually had one unreserved (most had been reserved for months) Specialized Roubaix left. I took the bike, they put some pedals on it and away I went.
That night we were going to pre-race session at the Sports Basements to go over race details and we’d also get a chance to meet Andy Potts and Jesse Thomas. Well now I needed Look cleats for the rental bike, nutrition and booties so it worked out well. The session was pretty cool Andy and Jesse are very nice guys and answered every question folks asked. Jesse’s wife was also there with their Picky Bars setup.
Saturday Packet Pickup:
We walked down and this year you had to bring your gear you would need for the ½ mile T.5 run – bottle of water, small towel and running shoes – to packet pickup. It was very organized and we got done with things quickly. One note is if you are buying swag from the race do not wait until Sunday. I’m superstitious and do not like to buy stuff from a race until I actually complete it. My version of never walking over the finish line before a race I guess. At Alcatraz if you don’t buy it on Saturday you won’t get it as stuff was literally flying off the racks. So my compromise was to have my wife buy for me and I would pay her back after I actually earned the gear ; )
Race Plan:
Pretty simple. Survive the swim and based on my limited fitness just enjoy the amazing scenery and have fun without worrying about results.
Sunday Morning:
Woke up at 3:30 and had my applesauce, protein, banana and sports drink. I then put on all the gear; the applesauce kicked in I stripped off all the gear and did this two more times before actually leaving. 2.5 cups of applesauce definitely does the job.
The hotel lobby had a nice spread with oatmeal, fruit, coffee setup and bike pumps, a nice touch. I grabbed my bag and bike and rode the 2 miles down to transition.
Transition and Shuttles:
Transition is dark, bring a headlamp. Once you have things setup you grab your bag they gave you that will hold all of your swim goodies plus I recommend some nutrition/hydration for the boat. Plenty of buses no problems getting over to pier 3. They really discourage you from bringing any gear on the boat that you want back quickly. So the clothes you wear over to the pier you should put in the bag and they get left behind for you to reclaim at the end of the race otherwise you have to wait until the afternoon to get your bag back. We were taking a red-eye home that night and had to be out of the hotel by 2 so I didn’t want to wait for my stuff. On the boat I was wearing tri-bib shorts, a singlet and put on the booties and pulled the wetsuit around my waist. I carried my goggles (yellow tint), 2x swim caps, body glide, some nutrition and camera.
Ferry Ride:
The boat leaves promptly at 6:30 don’t be late they will leave you. At this point it’s just starting to be light outside. The boat spends some time getting into position off the island. They moved use around a couple of times, I guess because of the swirling currents which were now quite visible. Some more pre-race guidance to include sighting suggestions etc. This year there was also a cruise ship that came through 3 hours early and had to be escorted through our swim line so the start was delayed by about 5 minutes. I waited until about 7:15 to fully put on my wetsuit since I didn’t want to overheat but I saw some folks sit around in their full wet suit for an hour.
Swim Start:
By this time you can see the city quite well since it wasn’t foggy but what was also visible was some crazy chop. Just watching the kayakers trying to stay in position left a huge knot in the pit of my stomach. I was genuinely scared. At IMFL I was nervous before the swim here I was plain old scared looking at that water which looked just plain angry. Water temp was hovering around 51 and air temp was about the same but with the wind it felt more like mid-40s.
The old folks like me 40+ all go to the second deck. They have little stickers on the poles to try to organize where you should sit but there is no structure really nor enforcement. The bar is open on the ship should you need a stiff drink before the swim. Just kidding but they did have a server behind the bar serving up water and I assume cytomax. You will be on the boat at a minimum of 1 hour if you get on the last minute, not recommended, so do bring something to eat and drink. Also a hot tip for the 40+ folks on the second deck. There are bathrooms on the second deck but the lines were ridunkulous. So do yourself a favor and go up the flight of steps across from the bathrooms which lead to the next deck up and also have bathrooms with no lines. You’ll can thank me later.
Sighting guidance is as follows:
Two tall Fontana apartment buildings to the left of Fort Mason
Trees at Fort Mason
Three long piers at Fort Mason
Dome of palace of fine arts
Small yellow yacht club building
Red roof Buildings St. Francis Yacht club
The pros went into the water and they swim pretty much point-to-point because they can. Then the rest of start to go. They are quite serious about getting everyone off in 6 minutes. My favorite announcement quote was “once you are at the door it is time to jump and get away from the boat it is not the time to be mentally weak”.
The lower deck starts to go and from there it’s just a free for all heading down the stairs. There is no organization by age group, relay etc. it’s just get off the boat. If you want to exit the front of the boat stick to the stairs on the right so you don’t have to fight from the back of the boat to the front. There are more currents back there and you could see those folks immediately start to get dragged to the right towards the Golden Gate a lot more then folks jumping from the front. I went for the front exit.
I held my goggles did my best to do a scissor kick on entry pushed down with my free hand so I didn’t go too far under. As soon as I came up someone was already on top of me and a wave gave me my first of many full mouthfuls of bay water. I was gasping for air immediately and gagging. I cleared that and started tarzan swimming right away to get away from the boat and the mass of people. The waves were crashing pretty steady and each time I tried to actually swim the chop was really bad and I kept sitting up. Notice what I have not mentioned at all, the temperature. I didn’t even notice it. All my efforts were on trying to get away and clear and even at 100 meters already realizing how strong the current was pulling me to the right. I aimed to the left of the Fontana building in essence swimming sideways and that’s when I could sort of stay on course. This is why I think that you need to really commit to strong swimming until you clear the turn at Ft. Mason. I saw a lot of folks swimming directly toward the fine arts dome and my wife told me later that she saw a lot of people swimming past swim exit past the rocks to the secondary beach because they over shot the exit point. Through this mish mosh of pretend swimming I did manage to flip over get my camera out and snap a few pictures. I attached them below.
I continued to swim and navigate as much as I could while keeping water out of my mouth. The up and down of the chop plus the stomach full of water was starting to make me feel not super great about half way in. I sat up for a moment looked at what I had left and just made a mental decision to push through whatever the bay had for me, it was not going to beat me, for today this was my one thing. The last 200 was a sheer fight to try and stay on course for the first beach. I was drifting faster and faster no matter how hard I pulled and it took most of what I had left to stay on course. I ended up exiting just past the two large triangular buoys, I made it to the 1st beach.
After the exit on the beach you go up a couple of steps and they had a heating tent if you wanted to get warm, I passed on that. A parking lot had all your T.5 bags and the volunteers were awesome at giving your bag quickly. I dumped the wetsuit, goggles, booties and caps in the bag. It’s on you to make sure your stuff goes back in the bag. I washed out my mouth with my bottle of water and put on my running shoes. The T.5 run is a ½ mile. They just paved the whole stretch of the run so I guess if you are trying to PR or GC then go for it barefoot, but for me a half a mile in wrinkled frozen feet was not worth trashing my soles for a few seconds.
My swim observations:
The cold is very hyped up as the main thing to worry about but based on my n=1 experience it was not a huge factor for me. The pre-swim really made a big difference in setting up my expectation for the temperature so please don’t skip it if you do this race. Yes it was cold, yes my feet were numb even with boots and I couldn’t feel my hands and my face was frozen but the currents and waves were a much bigger deal. I breath to my left so at least I wasn’t breathing into the waves coming from my right but even then they curled around and I swallowed a great deal of bay water. Compared to the ocean in IMFL these waves were shorter and choppier. I would go to pull on the right and just grab air but the next wave came so fast that it slapped my whole body down on the water and then the next wave gave me a giant mouthful of super clean bay water. From what I can see and if I get in again I will certainly try this which is to pull really hard in the beginning to make the turn by the Ft. Mason tree line then enjoy the help of the current. If you don’t pull hard to get away from the boat currents and continue to pull hard to get across the river current it is so strong that you end up fighting just to not miss the beach. Again, this is easier said than done at least for me but I will surely try if I get another chance. I was really proud of myself for making that swim as it was the hardest swim of my life.
Transition:
I dumped my running shoes and put on arm warmers, skull cap, bike vest and tried to put on socks but my right arm just didn’t work at all. I think I did a lot of the on the swim to stay on course with the right arm and it was frozen and worn out. So I put on my socks with just my left hand. Rest was standard transition but of course I forgot to put on my full finger gloves.
Bike:
I’ve ridden the bike course on previous trips to SF so I knew what to expect. The rental bike was not a super fit, I was kind of scrunched up on it so I couldn’t really generate a ton of power, but I thought to myself you made the swim now enjoy the rest. It started to warm up a little bit cruising along Crissy Field and by the time I made the left turn to start heading up to the Golden Gate Bridge I was warmed back up. So again the cold not being such a factor in my opinion and I was ok without gloves. I did have toe covers on my shoes and the vest did a great job keeping the wind off my chest. The rest of the bike was uneventful but beautiful. The scenery is spectacular and you owe it to yourself to take it all in as you go along. As race docs will tell you it is hilly and technical, I really had fun ripping it on the descents. They don’t allow gels on the course so if you use your own nutrition just remember to bring a couple of gel flasks. I just put my powerbar gels in the flask and stuffed it in my jersey and it worked just fine. The bike course has no water refill station so make sure you bring your two full bottles for the ride.
Run:
The run is mostly trail. A note on the run; aid stations are every mile with water, cytomax and gu chomps but no port a pots. The only restroom is right by the mouth of the Golden Gate past the second rest stop at the Warming Hut. I had to go something awful since the swim and I was out of my mind by the time I finally got to that rest room. It is not advertised I just knew it was there from previous visits to SF so plan accordingly.
The first two miles on Crissy Field is crushed stone and from there it goes trail until you hit baker beach. There is a tunnel, stairs, sand, narrow trails with two way traffic on all parts. Just a lot of fun and once again beautiful scenery. Once you drop down to Baker beach you run 1 mile out and then turn back heading to the sand ladder. The beach out has deep soft sand but on the turn around you can keep by the edge of the water for more solid footing but it’s still pretty soft. At the end of Baker Beach you hit the sand ladder with its 400 steps for 300’ rise then another 50’ rise of just sand once the steps are done. It will hurt but everyone was smiling going up, it was a lot of fun. You will run under the Golden Gate bridge and then be presented with a view of where you came from at 7:30AM which is Alcatraz in the distance. Again take it in and enjoy it, the view is spectacular. The rest of the run is retracing your steps back to the finish line and enjoying a nice finish with bleachers setup for your cheering squad. Post-race has the usual vendors and food plus you can pick up your swim and morning bags. The volunteers are excellent and very helpful so make sure you thank them.
Summary:
For me the quality of a race is usually measured by whether I would do it again. I would definitely race Alcatraz again and this time not just to complete it but to try and really push myself – also really train for it. My name is going down for the lottery again Sept. 1 when it opens. Despite the unfortunate death that occurred I think the race was well organized and safe. Regardless of the crazy swim in March with colder temps I’m glad they decided to have the race rather than cancelling it because of the Americas Cup. With the right modern gear, common sense and some practice that swim was completely doable and the resulting experience of the race as a whole made it a great adventure. I can see why this is a bucket list race for many but I hope to be a repeat customer.
** Bob over at shipbikes was very supportive and stood behind his product. He was very upset that my bike did not show up in time for the race and is personally handling getting my bike returned from CA and also refunded my to/from shipping. I will continue to use them for future races just based on this interaction and his follow-up. Not always easy to find a stand-up company so props to them.
In closing as always I want to thank the support of my wife and family for all their help in letting me do this in their words, crazy stuff. Without my wife’s ability to get things organized like having her mom up from Florida to watch our kids in New Jersey while I’m off doing a race I would be nowhere. So hats off to her.
My results are here:
http://edge.raceresults360.com/rr36...2405268026
Some Links to race video footage:
http://www.youtube.com/user/menloparko/videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoNWBpCeevo
My garmin files are here:
Swim:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280714992
Bike:
The garmin decided to take about 10 minutes to turn on so this does not reflect the whole ride.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280715001
Run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280715012
Here are a bunch of pictures I took while doing this race using the lumix waterproof camera.
It doesn't look like the EN picture uploader thingy is working correctly so I put the pictures here on photobucket as well. Follow the link to see them:
http://s1285.beta.photobucket.com/user/photoreach/library/Escape from Alcatraz 2013
Pre-boarding on Belle
No structure on second deck, sit where you want.
The Rock
Ummm I think this dude is lost....
Swirling currents. This is why you want the front exit getting off the Belle.
Pro start, you can see the fine arts dome in the distance.
Age group start, look how wide the field is already from the crazy current.
Heading out into the abyss
Quick shot looking back at island and belle.
One more looking at the rock
Go that way as fast as you can. Fontana towers; Ft. Mason Trees; Ft. Mason Peers.
Yeah it was just a little choppy!
Riding back up to Golden Gate bridge.
Crissy field with quite a view
Baker beach heading out
Baker beach heading back
Yup it's a little steep ; )
Heading up
Old Civil war tunnel. I'm 6"1 and had to duck pretty good to get in there.
The scenery makes it all worth it!
Comments
Think you went into the event w/the right attitude and perspective.
I've swam in 52 degree water, cold but doable, but the current and chop appear to be the real challenge .
Too bad about the bike issue.
Probably see you at HoH?
I agree with you completely that an important question to ask for any race, especially one that involves quite a bit of logistics to get to an do, is "Would I do this again?" I'm with you there, that despite the cold, the chop and the winds, I definitely would, I just thought it was a fantastically fun event.
A few other miscellaneous points. For the swim I went with 'Emillio's swim-cap sandwich' which is a latex cap, a neoprene cap, then another latex cap over it. With this setup my head was plenty warm and I did not find the water temperature to be a huge issue, however I disliked the feel of the chin strap of the neoprene cap on my throat. I'm not sure if it actually impaired me or not, but I simply did not like the feel. In the future I think I would try simply going with double latex caps and ear plugs, or going with a neoprene cap with no chin strap.
On the topic of booties, I saw a ton of them out there this year. The BlueSeventy swim socks seemed to be the most popular ones I saw and I would check them out next year. I'm not sure how much they actually impair your swimming, or how effective they are at keeping your feet warm but I can say going bootie-less I had absolutely no feeling in my feet coming out of the water nor for for the duration of the bike. I did not have feeling in my right foot until about a 1.5 miles into the run.
Lastly, on the topic of bike shipping. Although it may be exceedingly rare, what happened with your bike is one of the risks that I consider when thinking about shipping my bike via Fedex or UPS. I also had a negative experience with going that route in the past where the bike box was compromised and my bike was damaged during shipping.
For this race, I decided to give up shipping and bought a bike travel case, a Pika Packworks EEP. Airline bike fees vary, but I flew Virgin America and they were very reasonable, $50 each way, which is less than any other option to ship it from San Diego, all with the piece of mind that my bike was available to me right up to my departure and immediately upon my arrival. As long as I can swing it, I don't think I'll travel with my bike any other way going forward.
Congrats on your race and thanks for taking the time to put together such a detailed RR.
Almost makes me want to do that race... Almost. Sorry about your bike mishap, but sounds like you took it in stride.
Good start to the season, now keep that Road bike warm for HoH and Battenkill!
Thanks Attila...Awesome effort! Congratulations....
Bucket list...yes...but I will admit our report had me cold and reaching for air....
Thanks for the pics....
Seriously, Attilla, this is an epic report. It needs to be put in the Wiki to aid future lucky lottery winners.
Great job on getting it done.
Still thinking this is on the bucket list....but really better work on my swimming!!
Thanks for a great report!
Excellent report. And those pics in the water are epic! Congrats!