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Given to Tri

Given to Tri

A triathlon training & racing blog by Guillermo Esteves, a late-onset triathlete based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

@giventotri.com0readers57posts9d ago

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Escape from Alcatraz changes starting procedures for this year's race

The swim start for this race seems chaotic---athletes jump from the San Francisco Belle into San Francisco Bay en masse, and the entire ship is emptied in less than eight minutes. From what I've read, last year's start was more rushed and disorganized than in previous years, which led to an athlete being paralyzed after someone landed directly on his head during the swim start. Needless to say, I've been fairly anxious about this since I signed up for this year's race, so it's encouraging to hear that the organizers are making changes to this year's start procedure. According to this year's athlete guide, there will be three start locations on the ship instead of the usual two, which should space people out more, and race staff will signal athletes to jump only when the landing area is clear. Hopefully these changes are enough to make the start safer for everyone.

T-2 weeks to Escape from Alcatraz

I've been reading a lot about this race to prepare for it, including this race report from Ray Maker, this course preview from two-time winner Eric Lagerstrom, and this race review by Kelly O’Mara, and suffice to say, I'm more than a little anxious about the swim. To ease my anxiety, I built a swim conditions dashboard for San Francisco Bay southwest of Alcatraz, using forecast data from NOAA’s San Francisco Bay Operational Forecast System. Not sure it's helping with the anxiety part, but it looks cool and gives a good idea of what to expect in terms of currents and water temperature.

Ironman updates their competition rules for 2026

This year's rules formalize the 20-meter bike draft rules for pros, which they announced last month, and clarify how they will work when age groupers interact with pros. They also lessen the penalty for having an unzipped trisuit from disqualification to a warning and a time penalty if not remedied, ban video recording during races (so leave those Meta Oakley glasses home), and rename the Physically Challenged and Intellectual Disability Open Division to Para Open Division, plus a handful of minor wording changes. They've also published a summary of the changes and an FAQ. Nothing too earth-shaking, but I'm surprised that after last year's confusing changes to the hydration rules, which were only communicated by World Triathlon through a "rule interpretation" document and which Ironman said would only be enforced for pros with "ample notice" given before they took effect for age groups, none of those rules made it into either the 2026 Ironman or World Triathlon rule books, except for the one that limits attachments to the top tube of the bike to a maximum height of 10 cm. I'm assuming this means the rest of the rules in the "rule interpretation" document are still not in effect for age groups, but it would be nice to get some clarification from Ironman one way or the other.

No more Mortal Hydration in Ironman aid stations in 2026

From Ironman, via email: Ahead of your race next year, we wanted to introduce you to Precision Fuel & Hydration, our Official Hydration Partner for the 2026 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 Global Series, including the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawai’i and the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. Trusted by reigning IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth and 2x IRONMAN 70.3 Champion Jelle Geens, Precision Fuel & Hydration’s PH 1000 electrolyte drink will be available on-course globally next season. I use PH 1500 tablets frequently during training in the summer and vastly prefer them to Mortal's excessively-sweet, stevia-laden electrolyte drinks. This is great news, and exactly what I hoped would happen after Ironman announced Precision Fuel & Hydration as their hydration partner in Europe a couple of years ago.

IronmanIronman 70.3

I'm Escaping from Alcatraz next June

I entered the random drawing for a race entry for next year's Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon on a whim, and to my surprise, got a slot in the first drawing. It's a bucket list race, which involves jumping from a ship near Alcatraz Island into the icy cold waters of San Francisco Bay for a 2.4 km swim, a 29 km bike ride through the Presidio of San Francisco, and ending with a 12.9 km run that includes climbing 400 steps up Baker Beach's infamous Sand Ladder. I'm not quite sure of what I have gotten myself into, but I'm equal parts excited and terrified.

Race Report: 2025 Hole Half Marathon

I finished all three of my local half marathons for the first time, a neat little milestone.

Half MarathonRace Reports

Race Report: 2025 Ironman 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities

I finished my tenth Ironman 70.3 with no regrets.

Ironman 70.3Race Reports

Paula Findlay's recap of Ironman 70.3 Boise

I don't normally post about professional triathlon racing, but I enjoyed Paula Findlay's race recap from Ironman 70.3 Boise on the That Triathlon Life podcast. It's interesting, and sometimes validating, to hear about I race I did from a pro's perspective: The swim was choppy, and long; the buoys were hard to sight---I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Ironman 70.3Triathlon

Race Report: 2025 Ironman 70.3 Boise

A solid result despite a sleepless night, a rough swim, and one judgmental cowboy.

Ironman 70.3Race Reports

Ironman announces new performance-based qualification for Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Championships

This new system, which takes effect with the 2026 qualification cycle starting this month, basically does away with the old roll-down system, in which unclaimed slots would roll down indefinitely within an age group. Ironman has a good explanation in their FAQ, but the short version is: Each race is allocated a number of World Championship slots, as before. Winners of each age group automatically get a World Championship slot. If they decline it, the slot can only roll down to second or third place. Any unclaimed slots go to a global "Performance Pool" for that race. The finish times of the remaining athletes are normalized by multiplying them by some factor for each age group, so they can be ranked together. This factor is derived for each age group from the top World Championship finish times over the past five years, and will be updated every year. The remaining slots are offered to the top finishers in this age-graded normalized ranking, and roll down until they're all claimed. For Kona, there's a single age-graded ranking including men and women; for 70.3 Worlds there are separate rankings for men and women, since they're separate races. It sounds complicated, but the examples they have in the FAQ make it easier to understand: Anne is 42, she finishes IRONMAN Kalmar in 9:19:51, giving her an age-graded finish time of 8:07:26, applying the Kona Standard of 0.8707 (9:19:51 × 0.8707 = 8:07:26). John is 43 and finishes IRONMAN Kalmar in 8:50:31, giving him an age-graded time of 8:33:42, applying the Kona Standard of 0.9683 (8:50:31 × 0.9683 = 8:33:42). Anne would rank above John in the age-graded rankings due to her age-graded time of 8:07:26 being faster than John’s age-graded finish time of 8:33:42. For me, this means any hopes I had of getting lucky with a deep roll down in my age group at a late-season race are probably dashed, but I like this change; it makes qualification fairer and more competitive. I'll simply have to git gud, or outlive everyone and qualify in the 90–94 age group.

Race Report: 2025 Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene

A cold snap in Coeur d’Alene ultimately gave way to an almost perfect day for racing.

Ironman 70.3Race Reports

Race Report: 2025 Grand Teton Half Marathon

My second half marathon in as many weeks—and a final tune-up before Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene.

Half MarathonRace Reports