Escape From Alcatraz 2013 - Round 3!

Escape From Alcatraz

San Francisco, California

March 3rd, 2013

1.5 Mile Swim --- 18 Mile BIKE --- 8 Mile RUN

Round 3 of the Escape from Alcatraz adventure!

Since I didn't win my age group in 2012, I had to enter the lottery for this year's race. I entered into the lottery because I knew my friend Gabby was racing, my friend Nicole was going to enter the lottery as well, and I knew I could get to SF pretty easily. Luckily, Nicole and I both got into the lottery when they sent out the list and we were all in!

I used my mom’s 2012 Felt ZW3 for this race because the bike elevation profile is either straight up or straight down for most of the race. I learned my lesson from the previous year, and since I had my mom’s new bike at my disposal, I decided to go for it with the road bike. It definitely proved useful! I could move much faster up the steep hills and I felt more confident on the technical curvy downhills.

Swim = 34:07
43rd OA, 1st Division (already 2.5 min faster than last year's choppy swim)

Pace = 1:12

T1= 5:36

Bike= 58:16
97 OA, 1st Division

Average speed = 18.5  

(a little less than 3 min faster than last year)

T2= 1:39

Sand Ladder= 2:41 (32 seconds faster than last year)

Run = 1:02:09
195 OA, 1st Division

Run pace = 7:47

(a little less than 3 min faster than last year)

Overall time = 2:39:02
2012 Time = 2:47:33

Overall Place = 62 OA, 12th Female OA out of 290 women, 1st Division

Heather Jackson went a blazing 2:18:08. Her bike split was epic and she went so fast on the run. I would love to have that kind of power some day. It was awesome to cheer her on! Sarah Groff came in close behind her as well even after injuring herself on the run. And the fact that I was only 5 minutes and 20 seconds slower than the 2012 KONA Ironman World Champion Leanda Cave was some pretty nice icing on the cake for my weekend : )
I have officially qualified for my pro card with USAT and I can send in an application after this race! However, seeing as Age Group Nationals is going to be my big "A" race for the year, I'm going to wait on the whole pro dream until I've got some more experience under my belt.

Results posted HERE

Can't wait to find out when the race is scheduled for 2014!!!

Tritonman Draft-Legal Sprint

Fiesta Island, Mission Bay, SD
February 23rd, 2013

750m SWIM --- 12 mi BIKE --- 5km RUN 

The first collegiate-run draft legal race in the nation!! For someone who fell in love with the idea of this kind of racing after participating in the collegiate draft-legal relay in Alabama last year, I was so excited for this!

3:45am roll out of bed
4:15 roll out in the truck with my parents
5:15 arrive at Tecolote Shores

I ran into Jeff Dahlen and Rachel Marcuson during the check-in process. Jeff’s an old MVN friend, and Rachel of course is a fellow Stevens Swimming alumnus. It was really nice to see the both of them there and actually on the same team seeing as I know them from two completely different walks of life haha.
It was a nice quaint race, so check-in and setting up transition went quick and painless.

Swim = 9:04
6:39.45 /mile pace.
About half a mile paralleling the path right on Tecolote Shores. It was cool to be able to walk by and see the men’s race swim by right next to you before our race.
I definitely wasn’t warmed up enough for a half mile hard. I should’ve gotten in earlier and actually swam instead of jumping around pretending to warm up the muscles. I got going well enough and held 3rd out of the water.

Bike = 34:03
Best part of the race right here, seeing as the title of this racing style “draft-legal” specifically highlights the bike portion. I got out on the bike ahead of some girls who came in behind me on the swim, and eventually backed off to regroup with them. We slowly grabbed the two girls ahead of us after 1 lap of Fiesta Island and then all worked together (a group of 7 of us).
Some girls pulled more than others, I tried to put on the hurt when I was out front, and some girls needed serious pace-lining lessons and etiquette.
I broke away at the last little bump in the road on lap 3 and pushed it HARD to stay in the lead coming back around the island, over the bridge, and into the transition area. I did it because I knew I had no chance at out-sprinting any of those girls on the run, so I’d make my parents a little bit excited at least for the bike finish ; )

Run = 20:22
6:33.3 /mile pace.
Faster than the first 5k of my duathlon the previous weekend. Right on.
It took a while to get into a rhythm because I completely pinned the last couple miles of the bike to get ahead for fun, but once I got going, my cadence picked up and I was alright. I was really pushing the last straight section back to the finish line, but couldn’t catch the girl ahead of me. Good reminder for me next time that I just need to focus on moving my arms faster… and the legs will follow!

Overall time = 1:04:49
Overall Place = 7th Female

There were 25 ladies in the female wave of the race. In comparison, 55 men started in their heat. Probably would’ve been cooler with a deeper field, but it was super fun and the lead pack was still rockin’!

Major kudos go out to the UCSD Triathlon Team for putting on a fantastic race! And ditto to USA Triathlon for being there for support and seeing that this super FUN style of our sport continues to grow for high schoolers, collegiate athletes, and all the rest of us : )


Results posted here: http://ucsdtriathlon.org/race/2013_Tritonman_DL/All_F.html

Click here for UCSD's Photo Albums of the Race

https://plus.google.com/photos/113588319883027361953/albums/5848332825916195441

https://plus.google.com/photos/113588319883027361953/albums/5848741738240755329