Escape from Alcatraz 2012 report

Here's my short Escape from Alcatraz report from 2012, copied from Heiaheia.com.

1,5 mile / 2.4 km swim.
Race started with a 10 feet jump from a boat (Belle) parked next to Alcatraz to 55'F / 12'C water. 2000 people exited the boat in less than 10 minutes so the main concern was to not get hit / jumped on by anyone else.
After the initial “ohh sh*t I’m freezing to death” it took less than 5 minutes to get warm. The weather was beautiful, sunny and pretty calm in the morning. I was swimming and sighting pretty well until closer to the beach when I headed toward to finish line probably 500 yards/meters out. The current was really strong and swept me to the wrong end. So I ended swimming upstream about 15 minutes, people were getting picked up and towed with a jetski around me. Rookie mistake which cost me a lot of minutes and precious stamina. The best way to describe the current: you look up, see a buoy, take three strokes, look back you and you've moved 5 yards / meters sideways (3 knots / 5.4 kmh).
Immediately after exiting the water you get rid of your wetsuit, put on running shoes and run a 0.5 mile to transition – an Alcatraz specialty. Felt the first cramp in my right hamstring, had to walk a bit. Had a cappucino gel and water.
PEKKA PEKKALA | Swimming 2400 m in 56 min 24 s, 10.06.2012


18 mile / 29 km bike.
T1 went pretty smooth, the run plus everything else took 11 minutes. The bike section was super hilly going to Golden Gate park (see course map)
I took uphills easy and kept rolling my legs all the time and usually passed people on the top of the hills – others seemed to really push the uphills and went bonk right after the hills. Downhills were great and not scary at all, thanks to great weather. Drank a bottle of Perpetuem and water. Most enjoyable part of the race for me.
PEKKA PEKKALA | Cycling 29.0 km in 1 h 14 min 27 s, 10.06.2012

8 mile / 13 km run.
T2 transition went in 3:27, didn’t hurry and tried to line up for bathroom but gave up. Running felt ok until mile 1 and I had a massive cramp in right hamstring. Ouch. Stretching – walking and back to running in few minutes. Drank some water and sports drink at the aid station, bathroom break and then it was time for the uphill towards Golden Gate once more.
Alcatraz running is nothing like normal running: first uphill was stairs. Then you go though paths that hardly fit two runners and it’s a two-way route. A tunnel that’s about 5 ft from the other end. Running a mile in the sand and climbing a steep sand ladder (4:39). So you end up running or walking in a line a lot. Last three miles was downhill so I tried to run it as strong as I could.

Overall I’m a bit disappointed by the time but it was ok considering the ankle problems, cramps and missing the shore when swimming. :D I’m probably never going to do this again because a) the weather is probably never going to be this good and b) I don’t want to spend $400 on the race.

Totally doable race, don’t be intimidated by the swim. Highly recommended, I had a blast!
PEKKA PEKKALA | Running 13.0 km in 1 h 30 min 58 s, 11.06.2012

My race results