Escape from Alcatraz Finish

Last Sunday I took part in the iconic Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I was there with CAF ambassador “One Arm” Willie Stewart, who’s completed this race a dozen times along with 2 paratriathlete relay teams: Mohamed Lahna/Alan Shanken/Geoff Turner and Barry McKeown/Creighton Wong/Lindsay Moorehead.

These guys inspire me, I’ve raced with Willie a couple of times, he maybe 10 years my senior and an above elbow amputee (so less of an arm than I), yet he kicks my butt every time…by a long way! And Lindsay, a double leg amputee completed the run for her relay team…and this is one tough mother of a run with steps, hills, dirt, narrow twisting cliff paths, sand and the infamous sand ladder.

For me the race started 3:30am in Danville after a very restless nights sleep…it’d been a tough couple of days with not much sleep. We left the house at 4am, Kerry driving, me trying to sleep. Since my last big race at Wildflower a month back I literally hadn’t trained. Not the best of preparation in the world…

Race Start at Alcatraz

We arrived at transition around 5am in the dark and I quickly setup my bike and transition area, grabbed my wetsuit and headed off to catch the bus to Pier 3 for the boat ride to Alcatraz and the race start.

There’s over 2,000 athletes on the boat and in around 6 minutes after race start everyone has jumped off in to the cold, San Francisco Bay water…it’s quite an experience…and sight to behold.

For me the race didn’t start well, as I was getting ready I put my swim goggles on only to have them snap in my hand, leaving me with no goggles. With maybe 5 minutes to go I was fortunate to find someone with a spare pair that I quickly donned before lining up behind the Pro athletes ready to start. By my side was Willie, Mohamed and Barry…now to give you some perspective, Barry needs assistance to “jump” in to the water as he’s paralyzed below the waist and can’t use his legs…he swims the 1.5 miles to shore on his back. Damn!

Swim All Finished

The horn blew at 7:30am, the Pros jumped off the side of the boat quickly followed by us paratriathletes…wow, this was my first time in the ocean this year and the cold was a BIG shock to the system…I couldn’t breath…literally. I put my head in the water to swim, took one stroke and ran out of breath and had to stop. I just couldn’t swim, I’d never experienced anything like it before. It took me a good few minutes to catch my breath, adjust to the temperature before I could swim properly. It did at least give me an opportunity to take in the view…the Bay Bridge, San Francisco skyline, Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz…amazing.

It’s a long 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz, about 20 minutes in the swell started to build and I had to get a little assistance as I gathered my strength…I was definitely wishing I’d trained a little harder for this one.

After exiting the swim it was up the sandy beach and time to strip of my wetsuit and run the 1/2 mile back to the transition area. I kept my little booties on to protect my feet a bit.

Bike Course

The bike is only 18 miles, but includes over 1200 feet of climbing through San Francisco’s twisty and often badly paved roads. I believe there are over 20 turns on this course! Even though the swim had seriously kicked my butt, I put that behind me and focused on pushing hard, completing the ride in an hour and 7 minutes…Willie was 10 minutes ahead of me.

With the bike done it was off for the run, 8 miles along one of the most unusual triathlon run courses out there. The first 2 miles is relatively flat as you run by Crissy Fields towards the Golden Gate Bridge. From there you climb up a 100 or so steps and head under the bridge to hit dirt and cliff top paths…that said, the views are spectacular as you wind your way along the cliff tops to Baker Beach.

Once you hit Bake Beach you are running on sand, trying to stay on the firm stuff…not too soft and not too wet! I was running with Alan at this point (lower limb amputee) and saw him take his first of several tumbles! This is not an easy run for lower limb amputees, I take my hat off to you.

Climbing the San Ladder

After the turnaround on the beach you head back the way you’d come and towards the 400 step sand ladder. This is around mile 5 and a real leg burner. They time you up the ladder, took me a leisurely 4 minutes, the Pros are up that thing in under 2.

After the ladder it’s the final climb back towards the bridge and from there it’s all down hill back to the Marina Green and the finish. The run took me an hour and 20 minutes and I finished the race in a total of 3 hours and 25 minutes.

It was a tough, yet fun day and an honor to be racing with my fellow CAF athletes, a great turnout for a great event. I’ll be back next year, better prepared and ready to give “One Arm” Willie a race for his money.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

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At Kings Beach

Last year my wife and I completed our first 100 mile ride around like Tahoe, it’s called America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride…except last year due to the weather it was anything but. We came back to do it again and this time it truly earned it’s name…what a beautiful ride (although this time we only did the 72 mile ride).

We were up with a few of our friends and all headed out at 6:30am from our house in the Tahoe Keys to join the ride, there were already lots of people ahead of us as we joined highway 89 heading to Emerald Bay and the first climb. It was already light and the sky was blue and the temperature was quite pleasant.

The first climb up the zig zag road to Emerald Bay went without a hitch, from there it was downhill and onto to a few rollers and a mostly flat ride to Tahoe City. For those doing the 100 mile ride there’s the out-and-back to Truckee…we all decided just to enjoy the day and left the crowds behind as we continued around the lake for the 72 mile ride.

AMBBR Finish Line

From Tahoe City it’s mostly easy climbs to the half way mark at Kings Beach and a rest stop with music, sandwiches and a sandy beach. I was really enjoying the ride and feeling strong as we headed out to Incline Village and then the 9 mile climb up to Spooner’s Summit at 7,000 feet.

From Spooner’s it’s a long, windy downhill and then all that’s left are rolling hills, through Cave Rock and into South Lake Tahoe and the finish…although our finish was another 5 miles or so away at our house in the Tahoe Keys. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a ride as much as this, it was breathtaking at times to be pushing hard on the bike while taking in the scenery as it flashes by…truly magical!

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Wildflower Long Course Finish

This weekend was the 30th Avia Wildflower Triathlon festival at Lake San Antonio, a mecca for triathlon enthusiasts. Over the course of a weekend they put on long (half Ironman) & olympic distance triathlons along with a sprint distance mountain bike triathlon. Some 7,500 athletes come to compete, watched by 30,000 spectators, all camping under the stars…Wildflower is often referred to as “The Woodstock of Triathlon”.

I had originally entered for the long course on Saturday, but figured I might just do the olympic distance instead on the Sunday due to a distinct lack of training. That and the fact that the Wildflower is viewed as one of the most challenging long courses out there…well respected by amateurs and pros alike.

Suffice to say, I ended up doing the long course…what can I say.

The long course is a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile half marathon…the swim is pretty standard as it’s in the lake, what makes this course tough is the 4500 ft or so of climbing on the bike…with ‘Nasty Grade’ kicking your butt at mile 41:

Wildflower Long Course – Bike

and the 1500 ft of climbing on the run, 60% of which is on trails:

Wildflower Long Course – Run

Wildflower Long Course Swim

My wave started at 8:10am, this was my first open water swim since my Ironman in 2010. Thankfully the wetsuit still fitted and hadn’t perished away. The first half of the swim went well, unfortunately on the way back my goggles started to leak and the baby shampoo I’d used to stop them fogging began to sting my eyes. It got to the point where I thought I’d stop and rinse them out. Bad idea as it just resulted in my calf muscle cramping as I tried to tread water. I had to resume swimming whilst trying to flex my foot to stretch out the cramp, it was like swimming with a club foot…so one armed and one-legged! After a few minutes or so I could resume swimming somewhat normally again and when all was said and done the swim took me 47 minutes, 38 seconds…slower than my Ironman pace where I wasn’t even wearing a wetsuit…not a great start.

Wildflower Long Course Bike

Up the boat ramp to transition and a not so quick change (7 minutes) to the bike. This was my first time doing the long course, back in 2010 I had done the olympic course. I’m grateful that I didn’t know what was ahead since if I had I’d have called it a day after the swim. I’d heard how hard this course was and was pleasantly surprised as I peddled along, it really didn’t seem that bad, yea certainly some ups and downs, but all-in-all I was making a pretty good pace. At mile 35 there was a bit of a climb, but I figured there was only 20 miles to go so how hard could it be…then came mile 41. As you can see from the elevation chart it just keeps going up for about 4 miles, then down, then up again, then down and then up again. At this point I was pretty much done. In my mind I was convinced that I’d call it a day after the ride, I didn’t need to complete the run, after all I’d only trained up to 6 miles due to calf issues.

This was my story coming in to transition after 3 hours, 41 minutes and 7 seconds on the bike. I was done! The thing was Kerry was waiting for me in transition and of course figured I’d be heading out on the run…so I kind of went with the flow, got changed, put my running shoes on and headed out for the 13.1 mile run…what was I thinking.

Amazing what you can push yourself to do and how quickly the mind will give up even when the body can continue to go.

Wildflower Long Course Run

I set an easy pace, ran 4 minutes and walked for 1. I walked up hill (of which there was lots) and ran down and tried to keep my heart rate mostly below 163. It’s a tough run, there really isn’t any flat section, it’s either up or down. At mile 4 it starts to climb, gets steeper and just keeps going until mile 6. At mile 9 you figure the worst is behind you, then you start downhill, however there are people running up hill on the other side of the road…that means you have to turn around somewhere. So as you head down hill not being able to see where the turn around is you keep thinking that the further down you go the further you have to climb back up. This is just plain evil. As you round each bend you keep hoping to see the turnaround, to no avail. Then at mile 10 you turn around and climb back up. I was kind of walking at that point.

I must say I surprised myself, given how hard this course is and how lax my training had been things could have gotten ugly. They didn’t and I finished the run in 2 hours, 33 minutes and 42 seconds for a total race time of 7 hours, 17 minutes and 46 seconds. Faster than my Ironman pace and good enough for a podium finish, 3rd in my class. I’m glad I did it, glad I pushed myself and glad I had no idea what the course was like beforehand!

Wildflower Long Course Podium Finish

My next race is coming up June 3rd, the AMBBR 100 mile (or maybe just 72 mile) bike ride around Lake Tahoe, it’s all for a good cause, so why not help me out and make a donation.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $1,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Finishing the Rhodes Race 5K

Sunday was the 5th Annual Rhodes Race 5k around Lake Merritt in Oakland organized by our friends Claire & Matt Rhodes. It’s a fun run to raise  money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (Matt’s a cancer survivor).

All are welcome, adults, children, babies & dogs with awards going to fastest in age group, fastest kids and even the fastest dog. I wasn’t out to win any awards myself, it was just a great training run surrounded by friends from Team in Training.

Kerry & Jake

Kerry ran as well with our new family member, Jake. He’s a little long-haired, wired-haired terrier mix that we had been fostering for Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation and then ended up adopting. Now if there was an award for the scruffiest dog we might have been in with a chance.

Back in 2010 the Rhodes Race kicked of my 10×10 Challenge and I completed the 5k in 25 minutes and 50 seconds, this year I’m ashamed to report it took me 27 minutes and 36 seconds…oops! I must admin the last couple of months have not been good on the training front, especially when it comes to running. Next year it’ll be a personal best I promise!

My next triathlon is coming up May 5th & 6th at Wildflower, I have to decide if I’m fit enough to attempt the long course (half Ironman distance) or instead play it safe and do the Olympic distance…or maybe do both…who knows. You’ll have to check back next month and see and as always I’m doing it all for a good cause, so why not help me out and make a donation.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $1,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Motley Crew

After taking last year off from any serious training (only completed a century ride around Tahoe and a marathon) I’ve started to get back at it again and kicked off the year with a century ride.

My wife, Kerry, had been training with Team in Training (TNT) for the Solvang Century and I decided I’d join her for the ride.

This was the 30th Annual Solvang Century ride and our first time. Solvang is the “Danish Capital of America”, a  9000+ acre enclave in the verdant Santa Ynez Valley just 125 miles north of Los Angeles. It’s a pretty unique tourist destination and really does look like something straight out of Holland.

The ride is a 100 miles through Santa Ynez Valley with 4000 ft of elevation gain. For us it was just a fun ride and I was fortunate to join in with one of the TNT teams and tag along for the day. The photo is from the top of one of the last climbs at around mile 85.

Even though the day started out frigid at 5:30am with thick fog, finally about 3 hours in the weather started to clear and as you can see ended up a beautiful spring day with blue skies…definitely stripped off a few layers as the day wore on. The ride took over eight hours to complete, although only about six and a half of that was riding. You’ve got to make use of the food stops along the way and riding with a team means waiting sometimes for people to catch up.

All-in-all a fun day and a great kickoff to my 2012 season. As I’ve done since 2010 I’m fundraising for the Challenged Athletes Foundation again throughout this year. So far, I’ve got the following events lined up:

• Rhodes Race, a fun 5k run lined up in April
• Wildflower Olympic Triathlon in May
• AMBBR century ride around Tahoe in June
• Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in June

So why not help me out and make a donation…

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $1,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Muddy Faces

On Sunday Kerry and I completed the 20th Annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride, a 100 mile ride around lake Tahoe. Beautiful yes and also a little brutal too…as you can see from our muddy faces.

We awoke at 4:30am to the sound of heavy rain outside, not fun. With temperatures in the low 40’s it was time to layer up and put on those waterproofs (and shower cap). Funny, the day before we’d dropped into the local Pearl Izumi store, it was packed and they’d pretty much sold out of all rain gear…with riders from across the country I’m guessing most didn’t expect California to be this cold and wet in June!

Emerald Lake

At 5:45 Kerry’s TNT ride-group headed out from the hotel with me tagging on behind, it was raining and just getting light, 100 miles stretched out ahead of us, rain or shine. From the state line in South Lake Tahoe we headed clockwise and I quickly realized that I should have had breakfast a little sooner, so time for a quick rest stop and then a fast peddle to catch up with Kerry at the top of the first climb at Emerald Bay. The rain was letting up a little as we headed to the next rest stop at Homewood and mile 30.

Finally some sun and it was off too Tahoe City and an out-and-return to Truckee. At mile 50 we arrived at the Truckee turn around and the next rest stop. On the way back from Truckee one of our group took a tumble after their front wheel got caught in a rut, thankfully they didn’t take out anyone else and jumped right back on their bike…this is a hard-core bunch.

From Truckee it was on to Kings Beach, lunch and the 70 mile mark. It was still chilly but thankfully mostly dry…although clouds ahead indicated that was soon to change. I donned my waterproof trousers again in preparation for the rain ahead, which greeted us just up the road heading into Incline Village. At mile 75 the last big climb up to Spooner’s Summit began just as the rain eased again. Spooner’s is a 9 mile climb to over 7000′ from lake level, after 6+ hours on the bike that’s a hard climb. An hour and a half later I was at the summit and the sun was out again…mile 86 and mostly down hill from here. I basked in the sun waiting for Kerry who’d stopped to help one of her team mates who’d had a flat earlier on.

The 5 mile downhill was just reward after that climb and it was rolling hills through Cave Rock and back to the state line for the finish…although by that point rolling hills didn’t feel quite so rolling!

100 miles and 9 hours 30 minutes later it was all over, total ride time was just over 7 hours…that’s a lot of stopping time, more than expected…what can I say, I blame the weather.

All-in-all a challenging ride, truly beautiful and one I hope to do again on a sunnier day.

By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.

Help me raise $2,500 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Crossing the Finish Line

Wow, holy cow, oh my god, *add your own exclamation here*, was that hard! But I’m pleased to report I am officially an Ironman, 140.3 miles in 14 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds…the hardest 14 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds of my life.

What started 10 months ago reached fruition this Sunday with completion of race # 11, Ironman Cozumel. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run, back-to-back.

It’s hard to describe how intense it was. It’s obviously been quite a build up to this point and spending the 5 days prior to the race acclimatizing in Cozumel all added to the experience. Come Saturday night I went to bed at 9:00pm, alarm set for 4:30am. Unfortunately, I was wide awake at 1:00am, sleeping fitfully through to 4:30am…not unusual for race day, but a little more sleep would have been nice.

Starting the Swim

After a quick bowl of cereal and cup of tea off we headed on the shuttle bus to the race start at Chankanaab Park. And what a crazy start it was.

I’d setup for the swim/bike transition the day before, so prior to the start all that had to be done was check the bike, walk the transition and then watch the pros head off at 6:40am. As soon as they left 2,500 competitors jumped into the sea ready for the mass in-water start. I now know what it feels like to be a fish in a shoal as we bobbed around waiting for the start…and then all hell broke loose and it was every man/women for themselves. That’s the largest mass start I’ve ever done and to be trying to swim in a sea of bodies was challenging to say the least.

The upside was the beautiful, crystal clear, aquamarine sea and 80+ fahrenheit temperature. Looking back now the swim seemed to pass quickly, if an hour and 27 minutes can be called quick, that is. Actually, I’m very pleased with the swim, I was hoping to complete the 2.4 miles in an hour and a half, but thought that might be too optimistic, so I did well. Along the way you get to thump and be thumped by your fellow competitors, watch the divers below blow “air rings” up at you and do your final turn as you reach the submarine…yep, a little different from your average triathlon.

Biking Around Cozumel

After the swim it’s a short run to pick up your bike transition bag and into the changing tent to get dried off and into your bike gear, the pros are all done in under 2 minutes, me, more like 13…but, hey, what’s the rush. With the swim done, 112 miles on the bike beckoned. This consisted of 3 laps of the island (yep Cozumel ain’t that big).

I started out feeling good, my first lap averaged over 17 mph, but for about two-thirds of each lap you’re peddling into wind (head or side wind). To give you an idea, normally, when training on level terrain, I’d be in the large cog on the front, here I was having to pedal in the small one (I only have two). It was as if you were constantly going uphill and the best part was, with each lap, the wind picked up, so by lap two I only averaged 16.5 mph and by lap 3 I was down to 16 mph. I’d hoped the bike might take between six and six and a half hours, it took me 6 hours 46 minutes (that did include a pee stop and rest stop to restock my nutrition) and I’d definitely used more energy than I’d figured into the process, which didn’t bode well for the run.

Start of the Run

Once you finish the ride you hand your bike off to be racked and grab your run transition bag and head to the changing tent, by way of the porta-potty, of course. The run transition is usually the quicker of the two, but for some reason it took me longer than my bike transition, nearly 15 minutes…must have been one long pee! Anyway, after changing and putting on more vaseline (don’t ask) and sun block off I went for the run, full of vim and vigor…and that, ladies and gentleman, is where a tough race turned really tough.

The run also consisted of 3 laps, the first 8 and a bit miles weren’t too bad, I ran for nine minutes and walked for one, probably averaging around a 10:30 / mile pace. Approaching the halfway point of 13.1 miles I’d slowed to a 12 minute / mile pace, running 4 minutes and walking one. I managed to drag myself around to complete the second lap, but, knew I was toast as I came around the turn point for the last lap. I saw Kerry, who’d be out supporting me the entire day, and told her I was well and truly pooped!

Start of Lap 3, is it over yet?

As I approached the 18 mile mark I hit the proverbial wall. In all my races to date I’d never reached the point were I felt I just couldn’t keep moving. For the next 8 miles even walking was hard, my pace slowed to 18+ minutes / mile, time dragged on and only sheer will power and determination kept me moving forward. I knew if I stopped I likely wouldn’t start again, I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and let the finish line come to me.

Post-Ironman Ice Bath

I can tell you waves of emotion wash over you at that point, you’ve been going 14+ hours, your legs ache, your back aches, your feet ache, heck even your aches ache. The sun had set several hours ago, the winners crossed the finish line just as you were starting your run, the field has thinned out so it’s just you out there, maybe occasionally someone who can walk faster than you passes you by…that is why they call it an Ironman.

You just keep moving forward.

And so it was that after just over 6 hours since starting the run I reached the finish line, not pretty, but then again Ironman is not about being pretty, it’s about grit and determination, perseverance and will power, conquer or be conquered. To all those that have trained for and completed an Ironman I salute you, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done…but I am IRONMAN!

You can view more pictures of my race on Facebook

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