Sorry, Dev, but someone with your knowledge and experience should offer and explanation as to how a wetsuit might increase the risk of panic/hyperventilation. I am on record of agreeing with you. A wetsuit that is too tight in the torso probably does increase the work of breathing. The wetsuit used for racing might be tighter than the training wetsuit. Or, the wetsuit used in training might be tighter on RACE DAY, especially if we follow the feeding and hydration advice of pros like Lauren Goss (on her Facebook page).

"the newsletter doesn't prepare you for the shock of hitting 51 degree water with waves crashing over your head."

the newsletter tried to prepare you for the shock of 52 degree water with waves crashing over your head. to that end, it failed by 1 degree. otherwise, and i don't mean to be flippant, because i'm entirely serious: what would have prepared you? i ask because if there is text that folks like you can provide that would do a better job of describing what it really does feel like, maybe this could be a model for what this and other races write or say to describe to prospective entrants really what's in store for them.

I may be biased because I live in SF, but I do think they go out of the way to inform those who sign up that the race is different. They also tell you about unloading 2000 people from the boat in 6 minutes. My wife and I have both done Alcatraz triathlons before (first Escape for both of us) and she almost bailed on the race BECAUSE she knew the risks and didn't think she was sufficiently prepared for swimming in the cold/open water.

We stocked up on neoprene swim socks and ear plugs and headed out to Aquatic Park a few extra times to make sure she was comfortable. We didn't even swim far, just paddled around for 1/2 hour to be used to the cold water. Once she felt comfortable in the bay, she decided to race. Didn't have the best swim and had to get towed up-stream, but she said at no point was she fearing for her life - just fearing an extra long run to T1 if she missed the beach.

I do have to agree with Travis that it is pretty irresponsible to attempt this race without even entering the bay. Aquatic Park was packed Saturday before the race and those people weren't training. They were practicing and preparing themselves for the water on Sunday.

One thing I will say is that on race morning, they may want to consider making it easier for people to back out if they feel unprepared/overwhelmed. I didn't see any area to go if you wanted to ride back to the pier or abandon the race. Instead the intercom was booming with "Now is not the time to be mentally weak! Get to the edge and jump. Now is not the time to be mentally weak!"

I was there with my wife so it was a semi-vacation. She told me to go swim and I should have. I also should have done a short run on Saturday, however I felt guilty leaving her. I should have just woken up and gone to Marina Green and did a 30 minute swim. It would have almost zero impact on my time with her. She got on my case about it and she was right.

Probable something else the newsletter should really stress is getting your ass in the water on Saturday even if it's just to test your body's reaction. This should be a highly stressed item.

I will say I had a nice little bonus on Saturday. My wife and I were sitting on the bench watching the bay (waiting for 1pm meeting) when this girl walked by. My wife made the comment how she had a rock hard body. The girl then took out a wetsuit, stripped naked right in front of us and put the wetsuit on. She had a sport bra on but nothing downstairs. She then entered the water and swam around for a bit. She then got out, repeated the process, then walked back to athlete village. My wife and I both confirmed that she did in deed have a rock hard body. It was funny.

1. I'm glad you brought shoes, since the athlete village probably didn't have any.
2. I'm sorry that you couldn't find any GU gel in a city of 800k.
3. I'm surprised you didn't jump into the bay the day before the event like so many do. It would have prepared you for the shock.

Now to address the larger conversation...

I had 2 ironman events under my belt, yet I was scared to death of this swim when I did it last year. My training was almost entirely swim focused. My buddy in Seattle trained in 45 degree water to prepare himself. Everyone knows the difficulty of the swim. The race directors did more to warn, prepare and teach than any other event ever has, in my personal experience.

This is a terrible tragedy and I've felt extremely sad about it, probably because he's from ATX and I did the race last year. However, I must defend the race directors, and I'm put off by guppie58's whining about goo and lack of tee shirts. Go do a R-n-R half marathon, if you want a great show at registration; and shut up about what wasn't on the videos. They were terrific.

It is still better than Outside magazine's recommending this for first-timers:
http://www.outsideonline.com/...p;utm_medium=xmlfeed

That article just makes me mad because of how dumb it is.

Are you whining now, professor?

RE: GU
No gel (unless it was in a flask) was allowed because much of the bike and run course takes place on GG National Recreation Area and I believe that in order for the event to be staged there, the organizers had to ban gel packets because of the litter it leaves behind. Which, of course, doesn’t make sense because everything else from GU Chomps, Powerbars or Jelly Belly Sport Beans also come in little flyaway packaging and were allowed. All of these can produce litter as well. I don’t know if any race official would actually penalize a participant caught sucking a gel packet, but I saw plenty of people doing so anyway.

Re: “someone criticized those who were 'complaining'. There is a big difference between complaining and sharing feedback.

Thank you. I enjoy reading personal accounts from a variety of people and their diverse and unique experiences. I devoured every forum posting about the Escape that I could find prior to doing that race and it was helpful to get first person accounts. The person's posting who actually did the race is the most valuable to me, not the person sitting behind a computer who wasn’t even there, yet who feels the need to set everyone else straight.

Are you sure that gels were not allowed. I was never told that Gels were not allowed

guppie58 wrote:

bhobbs wrote:

Are you whining now, professor?

Nope, just waiting for you to substantiate your statements. You made the statements. I called you out on them. All you are doing now is avoiding it via trolling. Own up to it or sit this one out.

You're a very literal person, aren't you? I can tell that you need everything clearly explained in comprehensive detail, but I'm busy and I can't spend all week with you on this. This is my last attempt:

My quip about forgetting your shoes was related to your lack of preparedness (for the cold water, gels, nutrition on the boat). Had you forgotten shoes, would you have been upset because they weren't selling them at the athlete's village? The same athlete's village that was "a joke", probably lacked your style of tee shirt as well. I'm glad you didn't forget shoes, because we know you wouldn't have been able to find some if they weren't in that joke of a village. The idea of you trying to figure out how to put them on without a detailed video is more than I can bear to imagine.

You criticized the video for not showing the difficult sighting or what to expect when you jumped in. I think they were fully sufficient. I guess they could shoot videos in every possible weather scenario, but that still might not be enough for you. Would a full 90 minute feature directed by James Cameron do it?

Finally, you didn't literally blame the RD, but criticisms of the race are essentially criticisms of the RD. Just like my criticisms about your whining is a criticism of you as a person.

This was addressed in the Nutrition Newsletter.

A note about gels... We do NOT allow gels on course. This is due to strict rules in the local, State and National Parks where we swim, bike, and run. We do allow more solid items such as Energy Chomps and Energy Bars, but there is NO LITTERING on course and if you are caught, you are subject to a disqualification. Please help us keep San Francisco clean so they will continue to allow up to hold this race in their beautiful city.

I did completed the swim. Escape From Alcatraz was my first triathlon and first time in rough open water. I signed up for the race only a few months ago, on whim, through a charity bid, because I thought it would be a cool way to celebrate my 50th birthday. Plus gain some serious bragging rights to complete one of the world's most challenging triathlons where 80% of the participants are male and only 1% are in my age/gender group of females 50-54. But that kind of whimsical thinking may contribute to why triathlon deaths are on the rise...recreational athletes don't fully comprehend that this is not a staged thrill ride at an amusement park. It is something to seriously think through, research and more than sufficiently train for.

If I had known the valuable info in Oleander's post, I would have never put myself through the Escape's already challenging swim in these Winter conditions. After the race, I learned about the tragic death of a 46 year old participant. I haven't slept well since, as the brutal water conditions keep playing in my mind. I guess I'm allowing my fear to finally be released now. Somehow I kept from seriously panicking out there in the Bay. If I had known that someone died at the start of the swim, I would have never jumped off that boat. About 150 swimmers were plucked from the water and repositioned, 3 times the normal amount. 10 decided not to continue, whereas on a normal year only 3-4 make that call.

I'm not a strong swimmer, only having started Masters Swimming sessions a couple of months ago, and a month before that I couldn't even swim two pool laps without gasping for breath. If I was the race director, I wouldn't let someone like me get on the boat. But I figured that my mental and physical endurance training from marathon running would be sufficient to get away with only 3.5 months to learn how to ride a road racing bike with clipless pedals and swim in rough open water.

But swimming laps in a pool can not prepare you for being shoved around by the strong outgoing currents from the left and then slammed by the 6' swells formed by the 11 mph ocean winds coming in on your right. This information should be provided to the participants that morning so they were fully aware of what was out there and then make an informed decision about whether to continue or not. But the only thing we knew was that the water temperature was 51 and the air temp 52 (last year's race in June the water was 60 and air 70). I had no real idea what "rough" truly entailed under these unusually harsh conditions due to the race being held in winter instead of summer.

I'm sure that Ross Ehlinger initially thought the Escape was a fun and cool challenge, too. He probably planned to proudly show his finisher's medal to his three young boys. Instead, his wife had to witness his lifeless body on the dock while she cried "He said he could do it...", as first responders averted their eyes from the heart breaking scene. This could have been me and my family. Or yours.

So, can another tragedy like this be prevented? Perhaps requiring a signed certificate from your doctor saying that you have cleared a basic physical and appear to have the mental and physical ability to undergo such a demanding undertaking? Maybe a commitment from race organizers to not schedule races during the Winter's harsh swells and immobilizing cold? Proof that you've completed at least "x" amount of triathlons that involved open water swims? If this is your first tri, then a certificate from a swim program/workshop showing that you successfully engaged in an open water swim with currents and swells? The ability to clear a lottery and hand over $400 should not be the only firm requirement to engage in a potentially life threatening activity.

For those of you who did Kona and Alcatraz, can you compare the water conditions, in general? Txs

I did Kona in 2009 and Alcatraz on Saturday.
There is no comparison.
Kona just isn't very choppy and is certainly not cold.

Alcatraz was the first time I've panicked in a swim and I'm a 1hr ironman swimmer.
Certainly the risk of swim deaths was on my mind before we jumped off the boat as I've recently discussed this with Dan on the cardiologist thread.

As many others have said, we had expected the cold but the chop caught us off guard. I swallowed a lot of water in the first couple hundred meters and became nauseous so I decided to reset my expectations. I sat up, and breast stroked for a bit until things calmed down. Eventually I hit my stride and was able to swim to shore on my own in 37 mins.

If you weren't a strong swimmer you would have had a hell of a time making the beach.

As others have suggested there really should be several "sighting" boats with orange buoys, as the only one available was pacing the pros.

Otherwise I have to say I really enjoyed this race and would love to do it again.

As for Ross Ehlinger, my thoughts are with his family and certainly his death is devastating to the triathlon community at large.
However, as far as I know the cause of his death has not yet been identified. Certainly a heart attack is a possibility, but this is often the default explanation when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly.

I found the boat with the big orange ball on the back. It took me almost the entire swim to find it. However, I had to swim away from that boat because it was so far from swim exit. I missed the exit by 100 yards and that boat was probable another 50 yards to my right (toward the bridge, thus further from swim exit).

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