Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon: Finding My Pace in Fog, Rain & Mud
Reduced visibility and slick roads made for a wet but memorable race.
Every year seems to bring something new and different to the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. This year it was swimming in the fog, biking in the rain, and running in the mud.
Yet, even in the cold rain, I was able to cut nearly 8 minutes from my previous best Alcatraz time. This was my fourth time doing it.
For days in advance of this year’s race—which took place on June 5, 2022—the weather forecast showed a 50% chance of precipitation. Sure enough, a drizzly rain fell throughout much of the morning, causing weather-related challenges through each section of the course.
I somehow managed to set a new personal best of 3:31:28. That placed me 742 of 1,371 finishers, which was the 54th percentile of all competitors. That’s my best overall finish in the four times I’ve done Alcatraz, which shows that experience with the challenging course helps.
Alcatraz is a modified Olympic distance triathlon: a 1.5 mile swim in San Francisco Bay, 18 mile bike past the Golden Gate Bridge, and 8 mile cross-country run that includes the steep, unforgiving Sand Ladder.
Here are my results for the four times I’ve done it:
- In 2018, the weather conditions were near perfect, and I finished in 3:44:14.
- In 2019, the sun came out and the temps soared into the mid 80’s, but I was able to knock 5 minutes off the previous year’s time, finishing at 3:39:18.
- In 2021, I recorded my slowest race—3:56:32—due to an unusually long (2 miles) swim against the current that added 20 minutes to my overall time. You can read more about the swim in my 2021 race report.
- In 2022, I was able to maintain my times on the swim and bike, then pick up the pace on the run, where I shaved nearly 5 minutes from my 2021 run time.
All things considered, I’m a middle-of-the-pack competitor at Alcatraz, which draws top-notch triathletes from around the world. I finished 30 out of 57 in my age group (60–64), which isn’t too bad.
Watching the Weather
This was the 41st year for Escape from Alcatraz. Because San Francisco’s weather is so unpredictable, you never quite know what you’re going to get until you wake up at 3:30 a.m. and get out on San Francisco Bay.
In 2017, the swim had to be canceled due to rough conditions on the Bay. I wasn’t there that year, but I read about it, and it weighed on my mind the first time I did Alcatraz in 2018. I remember looking out on the water the day before the race and being nervous about the wind, chop, and white caps. I didn’t sleep well that night.
However, as it turned out, race day swim conditions in 2018 were perfect — sunshine, light breeze, balmy weather. I’ve come to learn that San Francisco Bay tends to be calmer in the mornings than the afternoons, so I no longer get as anxious as I did that first year.
That said, the weather was indeed a factor this year. The air temp was mild — low 60s (Fahrenheit)—but overcast skies turned to fog for the swim, reducing visibility to the San Francisco shore. And once we exited the water, it was raining lightly but steadily throughout the bike and the run. Following is my full race report.
The Swim
On race morning, I woke up around 3:15 am, made a cup of coffee and pulled things together in my hotel room in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. Some people take a shuttle bus to the transition at Marina Green, which is about 1.5 miles from Fisherman’s Wharf, but I rode my bike with my gear bag over my shoulder.
The transition opened at 4 a.m. It was the usual hustle and bustle of triathletes topping off air in their bike tires and getting their gear organized. During the small talk, I learned the guy racked next to me was from my home town on Long Island, New York. It’s a small world even 3,000 miles from home.
From transition, we took shuttle busses over to Pier 3 on The Embarcadero (the road along San Francisco’s waterfront), where we boarded the San Francisco Belle, a multi-story paddle boat. Everyone finds a place to sit on the floor, and the boat pushes off at 6:30 a.m. for the short ride over to Alcatraz Island. I nibbled on some dry Cheerios, a banana, Stinger waffle, and some water.
I should note that, despite its name, the triathlon does not actually start on Alcatraz Island. The competitors jump from the San Francisco Belle as it idles near the island.
As we headed out on the Bay, the weather was mild with a light breeze and no rain. However, the overcast sky turned increasingly foggy and the further we got from shore, the more visibility was reduced. You could still see the San Francisco shoreline through the mist, but apparently race organizers were concerned that, should visibility get worse, swimmers may have difficulty seeing the landmarks used for sighting.
So they repositioned the boat to bring it a bit closer to shore, while maintaining the 1.5 mile distance to the swim exit at Marina Green beach. The net result in this change of position was favorable because it gave us the benefit of swimming with the Bay current rather than across it.
Theoretically that should have made for an easier swim. However, to be honest, it didn’t feel very different from my previous Escape from Alcatraz crossings. In 2018, my swim time was 38:12. This year, it was 39:10. So about the same.
People sometimes fuss about the jump from the boat at the start of the race, but I’ve always found it to be a highlight as you plunge into the 58-degree Bay water for the first time. The key thing is to get the hell out of the way as soon as you resurface. I read on Facebook that one unlucky person suffered a broken leg this year when another jumper landed on them. (They didn’t realize it was broken until they got to shore and tried to run.) So it can be dangerous, and caution is warranted.
I had a good swim, but it was crowded the whole way. A few out-of-control swimmers bumped and kicked me. I cursed one dude who knocked the goggles off my face, but it’s unlikely he heard me or cared. For experienced triathletes, this is not unusual, but the crowded swim lanes did slow me down because I could never really hit full motion in the water. I searched for open zones and stayed with them as long as possible.
I’ve come to realize that I’m a slower-than-average swimmer in my age group, placing 45 out of 57 on the swim. That’s surprising to me because I think of myself as a good swimmer. (You can read all about my swim experience in this earlier blog post.) However, I do not have a swim trainer, nor do I participate in a Master’s swim program. And I also tend to take a conservative approach in San Francisco Bay to save a little energy in case I need it (as happened in the 2021 swim). I’m definitely not pushing 100%.
So the swim is an area where I could probably take 5+ minutes off my time with some formal training. But I’m always thankful just to make it across the Bay in one piece.
The Bike
The 18-mile bike course is known for its hills and curves. I mean, just look at this crazy chart.
For me, the bike ride tends to be the most uneventful leg of the triathlon, and this year was no exception. My times have been remarkably consistent over the years: 1:16 in 2018; 1:15 in 2019; 1:15 in 2021; and 1:18 in 2022.
The roads were wet from the get-go and there was light rain, so I didn’t attempt to outpace my earlier times. I was more likely to tap the brakes than crank hard on the pedals, due to the surface water on the road and the rain on my glasses. My top speed was 28.9 mph, compared to 39.9 in 2021.
Under the circumstances, I rode cautiously and avoided any mishaps. Not everyone was so lucky. I passed a few riders who were down or sidelined, including at least one requiring an ambulance and EMTs.
My Felt AR3 road bike has caliper brakes. Those worked fine in previous years on dry roads, but I missed having disc brakes under these conditions.
On the bike, I placed 32 out of 57 in my AG, not quite midpoint. However, my ranking on the bike was better than during the swim, so I guess I moved up a few places.
The Run
The 8-mile Alcatraz run is essentially two long, steep climbs, as you can see in the chart. The first steady climb is from transition, past the Golden Gate Bridge, up along the Presidio, which is a national park with awesome views of the Pacific Ocean. Then you descend to Baker Beach, through the sand and along the water, then up the notorious, 400-step Sand Ladder.
The run course was a mess—puddles, mud, stairs, and sand. Most of the run takes place on cross-country trails of dirt and rocks, which turned into brown goo as hundreds of runners pounded the course in light rain.
My run got off to a bad start because my nutrition (a banana and half a peanut butter sandwich) got soggy, so I tossed them aside and grabbed a gel from my transition bag. But the gel feel out of my pocket in the first mile, so I had no food for the run, when I most needed it.
Fortunately, I carried a small packet of electrolyte tablets which helped me maintain my energy level. The first year I did Alcatraz, in 2018, I cramped on the run and had to walk it off. This year, I was able to keep a good, steady pace through the last few miles. In fact, according to my Garmin watch, I ran exactly 9:00 minutes for the first mile and exactly 9:00 minutes for the last mile, so I did not suffer the letdown of a few years earlier.
That said, I definitely slowed down between miles 5 and 6, which is where you encounter the beach and Sand Ladder. At that point, I was running a 13:00 minute mile, but no complaints as my Sand Ladder time (3:54) was the best of the four times I’ve done it. To be clear, I didn’t actually run up the Sand Ladder. Like most others at that point in the race, I walked and just kept on moving. (The photo below is from a sunnier day, not race day.)
Breaking Down the Numbers
I find the race-day data very helpful in understanding not only how I performed individually and in comparison to others, but also how to fine tune things year to year.
The Escape from Alcatraz results page provides a lot of detailed data, and my Garmin watch offers a ton of additional info. Here’s an interesting fact: This year, I placed 1,039 overall on the swim; 783 on the bike; and 731 on the run. In other words, I improved my position through each leg of the event, passing more than 300 people along the way.
Also, my gradual improvement over the four years I’ve done Alcatraz is entirely attributable to faster runs: 1:36 in 2018; 1:32 in 2019; 1:23 in 2021; and 1:19 in 2022. So I’ve gotten 17 minutes faster even as I’m five years older! This is primarily due to the fact that I joined a running club in 2021 and have benefited from increased mileage, trail running, and track work.
For athletes like myself in the upper age groups, it’s encouraging to see these kinds of improvements even as we get mailings from AARP!
The one area where the data is frustratingly inconsistent is the swim. After my GPS failed in 2021, I got a new Garmin 945 in 2022 and unfortunately the GPS failed again. I didn’t get an accurate reading. Thankfully, on the ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ Facebook page, other competitors reported distances of 2,800 to 3,000 yards (slightly more than 1.5 miles), so I know we covered the right distance.
What I’ve Learned
Far be it from me to offer advice when it comes to Alcatraz, but I’ve learned a few things:
- Open water swimming is almost impossible in New York leading up to Alcatraz because the local waters are still too cold. So I made an extra trip to San Francisco three weeks in advance of the triathlon to get a few practice swims in, though not in the open Bay.
- Many athletes take a short (~500 meters) swim in Aquatic Park a day or two before Alcatraz to get acclimated to the water.
- The race is always on Sunday, so I like to arrive on Thursday. After the long flight from New York, having Friday to rest and recharge has really helped me.
I’m undecided on whether to do Alcatraz again in 2023. Either way, it’s been a fun adventure with many great memories. Good luck out there!
