I'm in! Will be my first tri actually... (Doing the Vineman 1/2 in July as well.) Can't wait! Been training hard for the 1/2 for months and have fit this into training for that.

Alcatraz is intense I wanna see some write ups on this one :)

anyone?????

I've been on mental break, so just getting now back on the forums since IMAZ. But my sister and I both did Alcatraz in June.

Maybe since I just came off of an IM, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I spent about 1 whole month recovering, then had about 2 weeks of regular workouts, then taper week, then Alcatraz. They make it sound really scary, but once we got out there, it was just exciting and fun. The organization was top notch.

The swim was pretty awesome actually. I had done about 3 cold water swims and with the neoprene cap you stay warm. Just your face hurts for a few minutes upon submersion. Forget organized wave starts, you're just jumping en masse from the deck. The water was a bit choppy, so we were going up and over the waves most of the time, breathing only to the left to avoid a mouthful of salt water. The current picks you up the closer to shore you get. 1.5 miles in 36 minutes for an average swimmer like me. Not bad. Helicopters, jet skis, boats - you feel like a rockstar. As soon as you're out of the water, you can take your wetsuit off and throw on some shoes, then have to run about 1/2 mile to T1. You can't feel anything, but no pain either. It was maybe 60 degrees, but did not feel cold. The water at entry point was 57 degrees and 54 at the shore.

Bike was 2 miles out flat, 14 miles of steep up and downs, 2 miles flat in. Beautiful scenery and neighborhood. The downhills are not for the inexperienced though - winding and steep. There was one pretty bad crash. I'm slower on hills, so my ave. was 16.5, but my sis pulled out about 18mph.

I was most worried about the run, but ended up liking it the best. 8 miles of a trail-like run with a spot down the beach. 2 miles out on flat, 2 miles narrow rocky trail with short hills, terraced stair climb, super fast downhill on pavement overlooking the bay, 1 mile along the beach (with a short section of deep sand), the sand ladder, 2 miles back along the rocky trail, 2 miles flat back in. Since there were sections of varied terrain, it made it feel fast and kept me entertained. Take out the 2-3 minutes of stairs and another 2-3 minutes for the sand ladder, and my run average was about 7:30/mi.

We both finished in under 3 hours. It was an expensive trip, but sooo worth it. This is definitely a race any triathlete should try to do in their lifetime. Good luck getting in though. How we both managed to win the lottery, I have no idea... I think the lottery sign ups are in Nov., so mark your calendars!