I did my 1st Olympic distance Triathlon last week (I generally race Duathlons) and managed to qualify for the EtA race next year. I am sure it will be an excellant experience. I wondered how tough/daunting is the swim? How much of a factor is the water temprature(I am quite skinny so not to much insulation)?
I have a very limited swim background - Sunday was my furthest Open water swim and the 1500 lake swim took me just under 29mins - so I am not the greatest swimmer! - though I had only been doing one swim a week. I only started coach swim sessions last summer so hopefully with a bit more work my swimming will be a bit stronger by next year - but will it be swim enough.
DO IT! It is one of the most memorable races you will ever do. The course is fantastic. The swim is tough. But you practice for it. Get earplugs and a hood and you won’t even notice the water once you start racing. DOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOIT!
Water temp isn’t a big deal because you can mitigate the negative effects of cold with equipment. Surface conditions on the other hand can be wildly varying- from almost glassy smooth with a current pushing you toward the swim exit to insanely choppy and windy with no current at all. It helps if you can get some rough water swims in prior to race day or at least go for a swim in the Bay a day or two before race morning just to get a feel and prove to yourself you CAN make headway through chop even when it doesn’t seem like you are going anywhere.
Keep swimming (your sub-30 1500 meters is plenty good enough to handle the Alcatraz swim on a typical morning) and you’ll be in super shape come race day next June. You’ll have a blast in the most beatiful race venue in North America.
I did it this year and am a slower swim than you. I had heard and prepared for the cold, that really wasn’t a problem. I’m also pretty lean. What did get me were the currents. If I had it to do over again I might have done one of those practice swim deals they have in May. Again that might have been a little unrealistic since I live in Illinois. I’m ashamed to admit that I got off course enough, or was slow enough, that they put me in a boat and repositioned me. I still feel like I cheated but they still let you finish the race. I would definitely advise doing the race and I hope to at least do the swim again. One piece of advice I would give is to wear those Tyr swim booties. After the swim there is a long run to T1 and they give you the option of putting on shoes. Since my feet were numb and the booties protected my skin I was able to just run straight to T1 and saved a lot of time. Didn’t feel my feet for about another hour but it really wasn’t painful or a big deal.
Is it legal to wear booties during the swim? Whats it like jumping in of the boat (I am not of a diver!). I am UK based so Unfortunally I think a course reccy will be out of the question. I have done a bit of swimming in the sea this year (though it was in a harbour) - but the temprature was usually around 18degrees.
I wore booties and was told it was legal. Nobody complained after my pathetic swim but maybe it would be wise to double check. Jumping out of the boat was cool. I was expecting to lose my breathe from the shock of the cold but nothing like that happened at all. I had practiced swimming in Lake Michigan several times before and the temp in the Lake was similar to the bay. I did get swum over by, in my terms, a beluga male, In other words some huge guy. Everyone unloads really quickly so you want to move away from the boat quickly. After that I, unfortuneately, had ridiculous free water as I veered off course. It was cool to stop and look at the city and marvel at being in the middle of this cool bay. I would advise totally hammering the bike course. The only disappointing part of the race for me was that on the run you get into a lot of spots where you have to somewhat follow other people. Running is my strength and by the time I got out of the water and off the bike I was in the slow crowd and I think that hurt my run.
I really love SF and if you’re coming from the UK I would definitely recommend staying and eating yourself to full American Obesity. SF has amazing restaurants. I’m not a native but would be happy to suggest restaurants.