Race Report Challenge Daytona

December 14-15, 2019

THE OFFER
At the last minute, I got an offer from a friend that she'd use her airline points to help me fly down and do this race if I wanted and I could stay at her place which is 20 minutes north of Daytona Speedway.  It wasn't that helpful financially since the race cost $300 and the ticket with bike transport was nearly $300 again and the car rental was $260 but still, it was a great offer and I accepted since I was looking forward to seeing my friend's new place in FL on the beach!  (I also have a house in central FL and needed to visit it to prepare it for renters in 2020 so part of the trip cost would be tax-deductible)  So sure, I'll bite, why not?

THE CHOICES
This race site has a listing of the racers signed up so I checked on my age group for the various race choices.  They have short course, relays, aquabike, duathlon and mid-course choices so there were a lot of ways and costs to racing.  I chose the midcourse (70.3 miles) because I like that distance and it could lead to a championship in Slovenia (top 6 racers) and there were only 4 signed up when I checked so it appeared highly likely I'd receive an option to go to the championship.

RACE SCHEDULE
The check-ins were on Friday and Saturday (short course raced Sat and long course was Sun)  and in order to spend more time with my generous friend I chose to be with her on Friday and check-in on Saturday.
The Base Performance Team was there enforce and a team dinner at Catfish Annies was our evening dinner plan.  She came with me and we had a lovely conversation with my teammates Jay and Danny.  The dinner was nice.  Lovely salad bar with lots of choices plus a warm bar with cheese grits and cornbread and few other items.  I got shrimp and she got a chicken sandwich.  It wasn't too expensive.

PRE RACE PREP
On Saturday I got up and assembled my bike.  I have a soft side bag for shipping my bike and it was still in the bubble wrap from my trip to Dun Laoghaire Ireland race.  I was a bit worried about the bike condition but I moved just after that race and hadn't had time to reassemble or even check it.  It all went together well until I tightened the screw on the seat post.  The screw on the tightening ring sheared off leaving the seat loose.  I wasn' too worried since I knew there were bike mechanics at the race and I was hours early for the check-in, but I decided to stop at the LBS and get help since it was possible I'd end up waiting behind a crowd.  The LBS sold me a new ring and installed it and I picked up CO2 and an adapter for my emergency kit.

I tooled down to the race and as I entered to check in I found some good friends I had known from Chicago who were doing the 5K that day.  I was excited to see them and stood and talked for about 30 minutes before heading to the check-in tent.  Picked up my envelope but due to latex allergies, I always have to ask about replacement caps.  Some races have their own silicone and prefer you use those, but normally I carry a cap in the right color if I know it (I have a rainbow of colors) but that day I only had a lime green IM cap.  They said to use that but to please turn it inside out.  I agreed to do this.  I knew Base has red silicone caps and thought perhaps I could get one at the Base tent but they had not brought any.  Kristin offered hers and said she'd try to find me in the morning to hand it over.  I told her not to worry if she missed me, I'd have my green one.

Challenge Daytona as optional bike check-in so I checked my bike knowing it saved a lot of time on race morning.  Bib # 1408.

RACE MORNING
I got to bed a bit later than I wanted but still got a good amount of rest and for up about 5:15 AM, left for the race venue at 5:30AM and arrived between 6 and 6:15. Parking is spacious and close to transition so that's very nice.   I got my transition set up pretty quickly. Met my fellow AG competitor Alex #1407 and headed out to find the portapotty.  Instead, I found warm restrooms which was awesome.  I got my wet suit on but had forgotten that HUUB suit I have has a detachable zipper at the bottom and this is a challenge to get on alone so I went looking for help.  Finally found a couple from Romania and the woman was a seamstress who understood zippers and she finally got me zipped up after others made some false starts and gave up.

THE SWIM
In the swim wave, I met Bob from central FL who was excited to race.  We chatted about everything and then headed into the swim.  You swim in the lake inside the arena which is a rectangular spring fed lake.  It was 70F so warm and calm.  Nice OWS!   I had a 42 min goal for this swim and made it even with several stops to wipe out foggy goggles and get my bearings after swallowing a mouth of water as one of the aquabike racers flowed by.  I got a cramp on the ramp as I tried to walk out and yelled at a young volunteer who told me "Keep coming!" that I had a cramp.  I felt bad later but had no way to know who he was an apologize later.  I finally got out  and managed a jog to my bike where the other racer had just arrived.  I followed her out with my bike  4 minutes later.

THE BIKE
The first 6.5 miles are on the Daytona Raceway.  It's smooth as glass and fun to ride on but hot.  You go 2.5 laps and head out onto the streets eventually going onto 92 for a long out and back.  That was fine but windy.  The course had one lane closed for riders.  We were instructed to ride to the right and pass left there but the traffic whizzed by on the right side so I was quite nervous on the ride.  Especially when I got to feeling a bit sleepy (dehydration symptoms).

Alex and I traded places on the course several times, exchanged names, talked about our age group etc with each pass.  Eventually, she sped up and I lost her.  What I didn't know was that my bike seat was sinking each mile.  I finally figured it out about the end of the first hour.  That was quite frustrating since my hips were sore and aching and I was feeling like I couldn't' spin another mile.  Once I got it fixed (of course I was talking to myself about should I stop now, or wait until the turnaround?) and got back on, everything eased up.  Clearly, a good bike fit is very important!  I got a bit faster for a while but the wind was very tough on the backside of the course.  I also began to notice a squeaking in the gears on certain gears which annoyed me.  I think I needed some lube pre-race and was going to do that but forgot!  I managed to stay in aero for most of the ride and I knew I'd be a bit slower since I was on my older, heavier road bike but I was happy that I posted a 3:35 time for my bike.  My goal was 3:30 so I was happy.  (Especially since my ride was slowed by the mysterious sinking seat and the stop to fix it...I might've had a PR if I hadn't had mechanical issues!  woot!)

THE RUN
I had been trying to pre-hydrate with electrolytes and freshwater for days.  Between several plane rides, the cold and cold weather in Chicago, the congestion and phlegm were all working against me being fully hydrated pre-race.  I rode into transition feeling pretty good but bronchitis like cold all week prior and the wind combined to have me pretty dehydrated I think.  I tried to keep up with hydration on the bike.  I used my "magic elixir" formula with electrolytes, Base aminos, UCann starch and the IM accelerator formula which kept me going pretty well, plus 2.5 bottles of water, 1 sport beans, and 1 gu.  I felt pretty good, no stomach issues and energetic.  However, my legs were very heavy so I knew I'd be walking at first at least.

My new shoes had not arrived before I left for the race so I was in my old Altras which felt comfortable but were pretty beaten down.  I got myself going in 4 minutes and headed to the raceway.  You run two laps.  These laps include the raceway which is not shady and very hot and around the access roads to the raceway which are also not very shady.  About mile 4 I was getting blisters on the bottoms of my feet.  Go figure, this is the same thing that happened to my friend I saw on Friday..he had told me about that.  I have NEVER had this happen so it was weird to have the same thing going on.  Anyway, I toughed it out but thought about quitting about mile 6, 7, 8 and 9 and finally said.."nope I'm finishing" at mile 9 and soldiered on.  I tried to run occasionally but it really wasn't working.  My legs were not only heavy but told me they would cramp if I tried to run at all.  I could feel the danger signals as I jogged along.  I wanted to do my 2 min run 1 min walk pattern and did this a bit but eventually, I had to give in and just walk.  I was disappointed.  I had been hoping to a PR with the other two times coming out so well.  I knew my time would be no faster than 7:30 (3:15 run) if I had to walk and my best time was 7:39 for a 70.3.  Oh well, another day.

THE FINISH
I ran across the finish line feeling better than I expected at 7:59, just under 8 hours.  I took my medal and went to join my Base Teammates and someone gave me a beer.  As I sat I saw Alex going by and hollered at her.  She came over and said, "you got second place!"  OMG What?  "Yeah, we're the only two in 60-64 AG so we got 1st and 2nd place!"  I limped with her to go find our podium awards and get our golden ticket to the Championship!

LESSONS
Check your bike carefully.  It's one of the things you do have control of and can fix on a race.  Spin the wheels to make sure they are freely rotating and not dragging.  Check the tires to be sure they are pumped up and in good condition.   Check the chain, lubricate it!  Check the screws on the handlebars and seat if you have recently made any changes to them.

Update your running shoes regularly.  Running 13.1 miles on old shoes is not advisable.

Don't give up. Just goes to show you should always try to complete no matter how you feel or what's going on.  That finish, no matter how disappointing, slow, or painful, brought some rewards I wasn't expecting and that was thrilling to receive!

Now I have to decide if I want to spend the money to go to Slovenia!