Brian Maiolo; Escape from Alcatraz Race Report
Escape from Alcatraz Race Report
by Brian Maiolo
This past Sunday I did the Alcatraz Triathlon. Technically speaking i think Alcatraz did me due to a brutal work schedule, but I digress. Normally I scrutinize every element of my pre-race plan. In this race, I found myself on Saturday night wondering what time the race was on Sunday. I’ve been racing competitively for the past few years so this was fresh territory.
To understand the type of shape I’m in, let’s take a look at my last two weeks of training. I logged in 4 workouts. Total. In two weeks. Last year I had many many weeks over 20 hours and couple weeks over 30. There were a couple of all nighters at work and many nights till almost midnight. I’ve done exactly two speed work sessions and one hill work section. Yes, this was going to be ugly.
I had considered bailing on the race but decided to go and try to enjoy it. Try to enjoy what makes this race so different. Worry less about time. And more about having a weekend off from work in beautiful San Francisco with my girlfriend.
You start this race just off Alcatraz Island. You jump off the ferry cause it’s too rocky to start on the actual island. I was “racing” with my friend Biff Capune who is preparing for Couer d’Laine IM. We were about to jump off the pier and I had just lost the argument that he should take his wool socks off. Oh well.
Turns out Biff is no dummy. The swim was a bit rough. It’s more like trying to swim across a swift moving river than an open water swim. However, once out of the San Francisco Bay, you have an 800 meter run to the transition area to grab your bike. There is an option to leave a bag with sneakers, but I figured why complicated things. Next time I’ll take things a little more complicated and a little easier on the feet. Or I’ll swim and run to the bike transition in wool socks like Biff.
The bike section is rather hilly with some tight turns, a couple narrow sections and some rough pavement. I tried to push the bike, probably more than my fitness level warranted, but one of my goals for the last two years has been to push the bike more and depend less on the run. Ah, the run.
The run started and there were four or five runners around me who were running like they had either stolen something or it was a 5k. I looked down at my race bib…yup, it was an 8 mile run. An 8 mile hilly run, with a sand section and a sand ladder. Right along the argument of “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” is the “it’s not the hills that kill you, it’s the downhills.” As tough as the infamous sand ladder was, flying down the trails takes a serious toll on the legs. As my co-workers will attest to as I hobble around the office today.
All in all it was a great day. I got a chance to do a race I’ve always wanted to do. I didn’t stress too much leading up to the race. I finished a respectable 84 out of nearly 2,000 athletes. And I’m really looking forward to training more and pulling fewer all nighters at work. Oh, and there’s an In and Out Burger in San Fran. Yum!
by Brian Maiolo
This past Sunday I did the Alcatraz Triathlon. Technically speaking i think Alcatraz did me due to a brutal work schedule, but I digress. Normally I scrutinize every element of my pre-race plan. In this race, I found myself on Saturday night wondering what time the race was on Sunday. I’ve been racing competitively for the past few years so this was fresh territory.
To understand the type of shape I’m in, let’s take a look at my last two weeks of training. I logged in 4 workouts. Total. In two weeks. Last year I had many many weeks over 20 hours and couple weeks over 30. There were a couple of all nighters at work and many nights till almost midnight. I’ve done exactly two speed work sessions and one hill work section. Yes, this was going to be ugly.
I had considered bailing on the race but decided to go and try to enjoy it. Try to enjoy what makes this race so different. Worry less about time. And more about having a weekend off from work in beautiful San Francisco with my girlfriend.
You start this race just off Alcatraz Island. You jump off the ferry cause it’s too rocky to start on the actual island. I was “racing” with my friend Biff Capune who is preparing for Couer d’Laine IM. We were about to jump off the pier and I had just lost the argument that he should take his wool socks off. Oh well.
Turns out Biff is no dummy. The swim was a bit rough. It’s more like trying to swim across a swift moving river than an open water swim. However, once out of the San Francisco Bay, you have an 800 meter run to the transition area to grab your bike. There is an option to leave a bag with sneakers, but I figured why complicated things. Next time I’ll take things a little more complicated and a little easier on the feet. Or I’ll swim and run to the bike transition in wool socks like Biff.
The bike section is rather hilly with some tight turns, a couple narrow sections and some rough pavement. I tried to push the bike, probably more than my fitness level warranted, but one of my goals for the last two years has been to push the bike more and depend less on the run. Ah, the run.
The run started and there were four or five runners around me who were running like they had either stolen something or it was a 5k. I looked down at my race bib…yup, it was an 8 mile run. An 8 mile hilly run, with a sand section and a sand ladder. Right along the argument of “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” is the “it’s not the hills that kill you, it’s the downhills.” As tough as the infamous sand ladder was, flying down the trails takes a serious toll on the legs. As my co-workers will attest to as I hobble around the office today.
All in all it was a great day. I got a chance to do a race I’ve always wanted to do. I didn’t stress too much leading up to the race. I finished a respectable 84 out of nearly 2,000 athletes. And I’m really looking forward to training more and pulling fewer all nighters at work. Oh, and there’s an In and Out Burger in San Fran. Yum!
Comments