San Jose International Triathlon SJIT

I agree this race was poorly organized. No volunteer seemed to know where the transition entries and exits were and the first body marker didn’t arrive until about 6:30am. Interestingly, she had about 5 pens in her hand but only had herself to mark people until more volunteers arrived later. As for the late start, I was in a later wave so it didn’t bother me too much as I imagine it would to the earlier groups because I didn’t have to warm up for 45 minutes and freeze in the lake while waiting for the start.
True, water stations were not where they were as described on the website and the entry fees are pricey, but I still would have given this event 2 – 3 stars for the Pro Racing and food, if it were not for the BONUS 1.25 MILES some idiot added to the run.
I paced out the first 3 miles, took a gel shot, then ramped it up on mile 4. During mile 5, it was so obvious that the mileage was incorrect as the out-​path kept going and going. My GPS read 7.5 miles at the end. This is a 20% increase to what the athletes train and prepare for on race day and to pull a gaffe of that magnitude in an event that is supposed to be ‘premium’ is simply inexcusable. I want to know what the person who put mile marker 6 out there was smoking because it was on the opposite side the underpass before the last .8 loop around the lake. It doesn’t take a genius or any sophisticated technology to realize that it’s just a little longer than what a 10k should be.
I hope some of the organizers take these comments seriously and address them for future races because I’m really going to think twice about entering again. You expect a lot more out of an established event like this that occurs year after year.

I have to agree with what Kirk said… Total chaos! I thought that they would be better seeing as this is their second event. Wrong!
Whoever put that 6 mile marker out that far from the finish should have realized that something was up. And the 4^th mile marker was WAY off. That «mile» might have been a kilometer…
There was also NO water station at the top of Bailey as I’m led to understand they always have. And there was no water bottle in the packet the way there was supposed to be (so you don’t have to throw out one of your own water bottles to get a new one at the water station!
And Jill, I’m pretty sure I did see a three-​eyed fish out there. That was some nasty water! I could still smell that in my hair when I took a shower after getting home…
Skip it!

Now has a new organizing group, USA Productions.
The event started 30 minutes late.
The run was more than a mile LONGER than it was supposed to be.
The water stop with a mile to go was out of water.
The body marking and packet pick up was chaos.
Award for finishing was a plastic water bottle.
I hate to dis a local event but… man I’d skip it…

I went a little triathlon crazy this year and did 7 ½ races this year (the ½ of a race was DNFing at Barb’s Race because of a bike crash). This race was my fourth of the year, and here is short recap.
swim: Almaden Lake is kinda gross and smelly. I half expected to see three-​eyed fish like in the Simpsons swimming in it.
bike: once you get off Santa Teresa –which has quite a few cars – the bike portion is quite nice. I love cycling in the Uvas backroads area.
run:pretty freakin’ hot. The shaded trail portion was nice, but the last three miles are torturous in the sun.
Volunteers: awesome. High school kids were passing out water at the aid stations. At the last aid stations, they asked if I wanted water. I said, «no thanks.» Then they asked, «Splash?» I said, «Sure, why not?» And then SPLASH! four high school kids doused me with water. It was the perfect kick in the pants I needed to finish the race strong.
This is a great race to do if you want to stick around town and be done early enough to get some brunch on a Sunday.

Held at Almaden Lake Park, this venue also holds a nice little post race event for participants and their rooting sections. There’s a great playground beside the race course with a nice little water play area in it to keep little cheerleaders cool. Race day is usually REALLY hot! There are also nice areas for riding a tricycle around in the event if your future athlete is in the mood. Always be sure to make sure the trail you choose isn’t part of the race course.
I’m knocking off a star because the parking is a challenge. If you’re lucky enough to find a spot, you aren’t going anywhere until the race is long over.
Find out more about this race at:

This race is for you if you’re just starting out in the sport or stepping up from sprint distances. It’s easier to convince friends and family to wake up early to come watch and support you when the race is in your backyard. Luring them in with an invitation to a free lunch will also help.
Many people use this as a tune up race for Vineman 70.3 in July or the full Vineman in August. Tune up races help gauge your fitness level and test out your nutrition plan. If this is your «A» race for the season then there are plenty of fast people to push you to the next level and go for that PR.
Unfortunately, I had to deduct two stars for the following reasons:
1. This race is technically not an Olympic distance race since the swim portion is short by 250 meters.
2. In order to get up to 1.25K distance the swim course has you doing zig zags around the lake instead of swimming in a triangular or rectangular path. (Yes, I know the lake is small)
3. Every year, days leading up to the race the water is not safe for swimming due to a high bacteria count (you’ve got all the lovely little birds doing their duty in the water) so they add more water into the lake and it miraculously becomes safe come race day. Hmmmm.
4. The cost. Yes, the post race food is great but there are comparable races out there for much less.

This review is for the 2007 event, held June 24.
SJIT is an International/​Olympic length course, 1.25K swim — 40K Bike — 10K run, staged at and around Almaden Lake Park. It’s obviously a smaller scale affair than the Accenture™-sponsored Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, but younger and more competitive than many of the other events held locally.
Swim course was held in Lake Almaden and started at about 7 am. The start line was a short distance off-​shore in deep water. The lake has a very steep drop-​off maybe 20 feet from the artificial sand beach. This was the first race where I used my wetsuit, which made the effort very much less than without. I think my preconceived notion was that wetsuits are mostly for swimming in cold water. However these tri-​specific suits add buoyancy and massively decrease water resistance. They make a 1500 m seem like 500 m — I am totally sold!
Bike course exited the San Jose burbia and made a loop along Santa Teresa in the very beautiful area where IBM’s Almaden Research Center is located. A 1 – 2 mile climb up the hill on Bailey Ave brought my speed down to 9 mph and had me huffing. Needless to say, I took advantage of the water station at the end of the climb. Once the climb was over, the 40k flew right by.
They set up the run course on the trails around Almaden Lake Park. Unfortunately these narrow community trails aren’t the easiest on the eyes, and most everything is dry and brown and dusty. At one point I ran at least 1 mile around the perimeter of a nasty, stagnant, blue dyed lake — you know the kind I’m talking about, the bloo water that was used to make fountains in front of Sears in the ‘60s. Anyhoo, I’m not the biggest fan of running in the first place, so I just tried to zone out and trudge my way through the 10k.
After the finish, they had water and a nice selection of food: fruit, burritos, BBQ chicken, and some kind of salad. Once I had a chance to sit down, I made some small talk with the other racers and noticed that SJIT gets a large fraction of collegiate and 20 – 30 aged entrants, more so than what I usually see. Entry fee was knocked down to $ 70 for the youngins — did that make the difference? Not sure. But it’s a good sign.
Overall I give SJIT 4 stars — one half off for insufficient parking in the residential areas adjacent to the park, one half off because it’s just not quite like Escape from Alcatraz which earned its 5 stars.