Alcatraz 2013

My first race in the Northern hemisphere in 2013 was last weekend in my favorite place to race; San Francisco.  Because of the America's Cup sailing race, The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon was moved from its normal date in June, to the first weekend in March.  This change of date, meant that the conditions for this notoriously tough race could be much worse than normal.  Fortunately, there weren't any storms this weekend; but, the water temperature in the San Francisco Bay was a frigid 51 degrees!!! Even with the cold water I was very excited to be able to return to the Bay Area to race.  I have such a great support network in the bay between my family, friends, and Olympic Club teammates.

I think Alcatraz is a race that every triathlete should try at some point in their career. I know it can be difficult to get into, but it is such a unique and exciting experience.  This was my 4th time doing this race and I was just as excited as I was the first time that I competed.  There is just nothing like jumping off a boat into the bay and swimming towards shore.  Between the swim, beautiful views, and other challenges on the bike and run course; this race has it all.

Since returning from South Africa I have been hitting the training pretty hard and the week of this race was no exception.  With that being said, I was really happy with my 9th place finish.  I had one of my best swims for this race (for swimming being my strength I have never had a good swim here), was solid on the bike, and ran 90 seconds faster than I ever have on this course.  This was the first time that I used a road bike for this race. I thought that I would give it a try because of the steep climbs and relatively few flat sections.  However, it was a bit windy on the course this year and I ended up loosing a lot of time through Golden Gate park to the group that I was biking with. This left me going into T2 in 10th place.  I quickly caught up to 9th and ran with Matt Lieto for about half the run.  Having him with me was great.  Matt is an awesome guy and we were both helping each other out a bit on the run. Running on the sand is my least favorite part of this race but I think I managed to keep it together during this section for once. As usual for this race it wasn't mistake free.  I have these great flats from Reno Running company and I didn't use them until race day.  That mistake wasn't very pleasant for my calves!  I also won't be riding a road bike on this course again.  But hopefully I'll be doing this race for years to come and I can learn from my mistakes.

Overall I had a great experience racing and being back in California.  I got to see so many friends at the race and had a great time with my brother and friends post race in my favorite city in the world.  And I even got to go surfing in Santa Cruz the day after before flying back to the snow in Colorado.  My preparation for Oceanside 70.3 is going great and this race was a good indication for where my fitness is right now.  Looking forward to the next few weeks before getting to return to California! (and surf with my brother again)

(Photos curtesy of Chad Leto.  @chadleto)

Races

Recently I was able to come up with my 2013 race schedule. In years past, I have always come up with a tentative schedule; and somehow manage to change everything around as the season progresses. This year I am very excited to have an actual schedule in place. My main focus for 2013 will be the Rev3 series. This series puts on fantastic races and I look forward to having the opportunity to take part in many of their races. Specifically, I will be racing at Knoxville, Quassy, Wisconsin, Maine, and Branson. Last year I did a race that was probably the most fun race I have ever done; a F1 race in Coronado, and I can't wait to do a couple more of these this year! While I don't necessarily train for a sprint race, I had way too much fun with this style of racing to miss out! The season gets underway in a hurry because I am racing in just under a week at the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon!

South Africa

It seems that when I go through long periods of time without writing a post it is either because I am really busy, or I feel like not much has been happening.  Fortunately for me, this long absence has been due to an amazing trip to South Africa! I had the great opportunity to spend the month of January in South Africa visiting my friend and training partner from last summer, Travis Johnston.  It was exactly what I needed at just the right time.  I was starting to get a bit jaded with training and triathlon and this trip gave me the opportunity to have FUN and put my mind in the right spot. I am now back in Boulder and once again very excited to be getting ready for the 2013 season!

 So much happened during this trip that I don't even know where to start.  So I am just going to go over some highlights and share some pictures.

-I flew business class.  This was pretty amazing for international travel.  A bed, legit food, and booze.  Wish I could fly that way all the time.
- Cycling in the Cradle of Humankind.  Johannesburg is a HUGE city with crazy drivers and what I would consider pretty dangerous roads.  Not ideal for cycling; but, Travis lived about a 30min bike ride away from this huge open space area of game preserves and private land.  It is where everyone goes to cycle and it was incredible.  On a Saturday morning there has to be over 1000 people out riding the roads. During our rides out there I saw a Lion, white Tiger, Rhino, Giraffe, Baboons, various game animals, and probably other things I'm forgetting.  They call this area by that name because they have found some of the oldest homo sapien fossils in these caves.  Travis and I actually went and toured the caves and they are massive.  There is an underwater lake and they have no idea how big it is.  In the 80's they sent scuba divers down to explore it and one died so they won't let anyone dive there anymore.  To get an idea of the size they put die into the water and found the same dye over 100kms away!
-I did do a race during this trip; the South Africa 70.3.  It is the largest 70.3 in the world and a huge deal there.  They shut down an entire freeway for the bike.  There were 3500 athletes.  It was pretty tough racing in January but it was a good way to stay motivated to train while there.  I finished 10th overall.  The afterparty was definitely the best after party of any race I've been too.
-After the race I got to do some exploring.  I went to Cape Town which was probably the highlight of my trip.  There I saw the sunset from Table Mountain, went cage diving with Great White Sharks, and toured the city.  I also went and spent a night in Stellenbosch (thanks to Will Clarke) and after just one afternoon/evening there I am seriously considering spending next winter there.  Reminded me of Napa Valley in California but a lot less expensive.
-Kruger National Park is a giant protected land area and where some of the best safari is in the country.  We were fortuante enough to be able to stay on this amazing golf course outside of the park. This area of the country was pretty intesne as far as animals. Right outside our place was a river that Hippo and Crocodile in it.  During a run around the golf course I ran within about 10meters of a croc and fortunately scared it because I didn't see it at all.  And I saw a green mamba snake.  It was a good feeling when I got back to the states and I wasn't as concerned about dying while I was training.  During this part of the trip we went on a morning game drive and saw a ton of animals.  We also went on a night safari, white water rafting, and went to an African Cup of Nations soccer game.

That probably is just about half of the things I did while in South Africa.  I was so lucky to have amazing hosts in Travis and his girlfriend Stacey who graciously allowed me stay with them and let me be a tourist.