2023 Challenge Taiwan: race report

My first Challenge Family race was a two-day triathlon festival in Taiwan featuring every distance from sprint to full. While the travel logistics were nerve-wracking, the race experience was fantastic and I would absolutely come back.

I had never done a Challenge Family race before, but it was on my bucket list. They seem to be a bit more popular in Europe (hello, Challenge Roth) and in the US they take place under the Clash brand name on race tracks for a unique athlete and spectator experience. I think there are only a handful of Challenge races in APAC, and this particular race in Taiwan was a two-day triathlon festival with everything from sprint to full distance.

Saturday's race boasted nearly 2,000 middle distance athletes and 1,000 long distance (full IM) athletes. There were also apparently about 4,000 more athletes registered for the shorter distances and the youth/junior events for a total of 7,000 (later, they would say 8,000...) athletes over the weekend.

In early March, the race organizers sent out an email for an elite wave. I initially applied, but later found out that it would disqualify me for age group awards and I felt I had a shot at the podium (top six) so I withdrew my application.

I don't regret that decision, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference besides a cooler swim cap that says "elite", a distinct bib, and a slightly earlier start time (0732 vs 0755). At the end of the day, I managed to beat the six women in the elite field. Honestly speaking, while this was a BIG race, the competition was not super stiff. It would have been a different story in say, Australia. 

I looked forward to the food in Taiwan but the travel logistics were not ideal, and the weather forecast for the 10 days leading up to race day on Saturday, April 22 was bleak - either rain and thunderstorms and/or a high of 35. Splendid. And it wasn't until a few days before departure that I realized Taiwan drives on the right side of the road. I unclip from the left and riding/keeping right feels odd but in the end, it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it might be. We wound up having generally cloudy skies with an average temperature of 23 to 28 degrees Celsius (or about 73 to 83F) with moderate humidity of about 75%.

TRAVEL 
On Tuesday, I flew into TPE from NRT on Scoot with added luggage of 40kg - smooth sailing and no problems with the bike. Altogether, I think I paid about USD 500 RT for flights, including excess/add'l baggage. Due to the flight arriving later in the afternoon, I opted to stay a night by the airport (TPE) and take a taxi in the late morning to the smaller airport in Taipei (TSA) to board the domestic hopper flight with Uni Airways to Taitung -TTT.

I was worried about the bike as there was no way to contact them online to book sports equipment or extra luggage. Lo and behold, it was a small prop plane on both domestic trips and with lots of triathletes on the return. Despite the odds, the bike made it onboard. I paid approximately USD 36 total (round trip) in oversize fees, which I happily accepted. 

Finally arriving on Wednesday in Taitung, I checked into the Formosan Naruwan Hotel, a large and slightly dated accommodation about 4km from the airport. All the pros and many, many other triathletes opted for this hotel as well, which was an event shuttle bus stop and about 4k from the expo/finish area but also about 9k from the swim/transition area. Having had opportunities to chat with the likes of Meredith Kessler, Rebbeca Clarke, and Els Visser in New Zealand, it was pretty cool to see folks like Amy Van Tassel, Caleb Noble, Amelia Watkinson, and Dimity Lee Duke wandering around the hotel. Pros, they're just like us (hahaha, no).

PREP 
Mostly out of some weird personal superstition, I cut out caffeine for the week leading up to the race and I was much more deliberate about calculating carbs and sodium. My quads had cramped intensely almost immediately on the run at 70.3 New Zealand and while I pushed through it, I spent the next week nearly crippled and unable to stand up or walk normally. It was a massive effort I was proud of but I had really done a number to my legs. 

I opted to wear the two-piece Women for Tri kit from Santini that I had worn in New Zealand. In the past, I've raced exclusively in a onesie, but the Women for Tri one-piece has some VERY unfortunate seams that make the bike uncomfortable. I spent a lot of time trying to make it work, but the Santini tri shorts are a real winner in my book. So, I wore separates and a wetsuit for both NZ and Taiwan - I swam in the tri bottoms and a sports bra, then shimmy into the tri top in T1. I also forgo a bib belt and just use a shoelace now. I call it my lucky shoelace. Finally, I take it SUPER chill in transition before the swim start - last one out! 

The swim was announced as wetsuit legal for age-group athletes the day before the race. I had done my swim recces in just a swimsuit but I had also just swam 70.3 NZ in a wetsuit, so I decided to wear my wetsuit for this race as well. I feel I made the right choice, but I did start to feel quite warm towards the end - the water was just barely wetsuit-legal at about 23.7 degrees.
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MORNING OF 
OMG COFFEE! I had a relatively sleepless night (my Garmin said something like 4 hours), but the coffee perked me right up at 0500. After a week without caffeine, it was like rocket fuel. I had a bowl of oatmeal, went potty, jammed out in the hotel room getting ready, then moseyed down to the lobby, where I waited just a few minutes for the race shuttle.

I was at my bike by 0545. This was less than ideal since my race start was at 0755, but I had wanted to bank extra time since the athlete guide said the trip could take up to 50 minutes. In reality, it took about 12 minutes. With nothing to do, I wound up waddling over to the swim start (one-way is about 850m) to watch the full distance athletes commence their day. 

After that got old, I returned to transition, laid down by my bike to stare at the clouds, then finally got my wetsuit halfway on in time for the 0700 transition close. I waddled back to the lake and I did some warm-ups on the side as I watched the full distance athletes start to emerge out of the lake, towards the bike racks. With about 15 minutes before my start, I finished my bottle of electrolyte drink, ate a Gu, and put on the top half of my wetsuit.

Swim 35:30 (1/54)
Women 18-44 were lumped together in pink caps and while I refused to put on my swim cap until I got in the water (it's a great way to overheat - something we learn quickly when you've trained in South East Asia), we set off rather unceremoniously at 0755 on the dot without much of a battle. There were two women who went out pretty aggressively but I could see that I was in the lead after a few hundred meters - this is absolutely unheard of for me so that was...cool? Also slightly alarming because I am by no means a good swimmer. I was hoping for a 36 min swim and I knew I was on track at the midpoint.

Overall, the swim in Flowing Lake wasn't much to talk about except that it's an easy out and back swim in clear, crisp waters. There were a lot of breast strokers, and I caught up to the men almost immediately, which was immensely chaotic. In hindsight, that makes sense since I entered the water when most of the 1,000 or so of the full distance triathletes were working on their second lap, plus about half the middle distance athletes who had entered before the women's wave.

On the return leg, I realised I wasn't actually sure where the swim out was and I wasn't sighting as much as I maybe should have because I began to feel I was swimming in all directions but straight. I probably could have navigated the other swimmers better instead of coming to a standstill to assess the situation. But it's ok! I got out the water in 35 minutes and change with some help from volunteers up a boat ramp, and began my looong red carpet run in what I correctly assumed as the lead age group woman. I have to mention this one more time, because it will never happen again 

T1 7:24 (1/54)
After the 850m trot to transition, I grabbed my transition bag off the hook and opened the changing tent. In the heat of the moment, I'd forgotten the full distance triathletes who had started nearly 2 hours ago would still be changing, so I was surprised to see women already there. After getting a glimpse of their bib numbers though, I realised they were full distance athletes :-) 

At the tent, I shimmied into my tri top from bottom up - I had learned the hard way in NZ that my nutrition would fall out the pockets otherwise. Slapped on my helmet, shoes, and shoelace of a bib belt, shoved my wetsuit and all into the bag and chucked it in the drop zone. The bikes around me were all still racked so I knew I was in a good place. Grabbed Max (my bike), waddled to the mount line, and off I went.​

Bike 2:41 (3/54)
Wow, I hadn't even dreamed of this bike time. I had been banking on something like a 2:5x, especially because I really wanted to hold back on the power output and spin at a slightly higher cadence compared to NZ. I don't regret going so hard on the bike in NZ and I was very pleased with a 2:48, but I felt strongly that I had paid a price for it on the run. In hindsight, I also did not fuel as well as I could have. I did NOT want to make that mistake again. 

The race website claimed +775m but I had seen a Rouvy course on Strava and the actual elevation profile image did not look like +775m would be possible. Ultimately, I recorded about +430m. Comparatively speaking, Taupo was about +370m. Similarly, I averaged 121 watts (max 388) in Taiwan compared to 132 in NZ (max 408) - I am aware these power numbers are mere warm-up watts to most but I am the size of a 12 year old and don't weigh 100lb soaking wet. However, the headwinds were much stronger in NZ, particularly on the return. Conversely, there were excellent descents on the return in Taiwan where I made a significant amount of time. 

I averaged 33.6kph or about 20.9mph and did my best to not die as that had the potential of ruining my day. There was a lot of drafting and athletes NOT keeping to the right, which was frustrating. On the bike, I passed by my first of six elite female athletes - one down, five left - they're very distinct because they have a different colored bib.  Also, 99% of the bike course was open - this was WILD - and while the cycling lane was very wide (about two or three abreast), there were some moments with vehicles making turns or vague signaling from traffic police that made me slow down and pump the brakes. I'm relatively confident with my bike handling skills but I saw several ambulances, so I tried to make smart decisions...Kinda. *flashes back to screaming down the descents at 56kph/35mph behind vehicles*. Maybe not. 

Overall, I kept to my nutrition plan, downing something like my two bottles of electrolytes, a bottle of water, and a bottle of sports drink, along with four Gu gels, two Gu liquids, a mochi snack, and some electrolyte tabs. If I remember correctly, I took in about 160g of carbs and 2700mg of sodium for the bike. After experiencing my quads seizing in NZ and knowing that it would not get cooler going into the afternoon, I had opted to go heavy with the electrolytes. 

T2 3:27 (2/54) 
T2 was pretty uneventful. I have a habit of holding onto something when I run - it's also something that I've found helps me loosen up my shoulders as I tend to run with very tense shoulders. In New Zealand, I realised that the tri top does not do well with nutrition in the back pockets because everything moves about too much and it *just doesn't feel right*.

See, I hadn't actually RAN in this top until race day (haha, good job Faith...). I'd forgotten about all this and had shoved my nutrition in the top's back pockets at T2. As soon as I started running, I quickly remembered, "Oh right, I hate this."

FORTUNATELY, since I'm accustomed to running with something in my hands - whether it be a phone, Gu, or a handheld water bottle - it was a quick fix. And this is why you'll see me running with Gu in my hands in most of my race photos - it's easy to tell roughly where I am on the run based on what I'm holding in my paws. 

Run 1:35 (1/54)
The run was very flat (about +50m) and about 650m too short.  By and large, this was where I 'made' my time. Up until Taiwan, my fastest 70.3 run had been a 1:49. My HM PR came in November last year with a 1:35 so recording a 1:35.58 for the run at Challenge Taiwan 113 was truly a run of a lifetime (but again, the run was short). 

I had ran a faster than expected pace (4:18 when I had estimated 4:26) at the Shonan Fujisawa 10-Miler in late January and felt like my run was strong enough for a new HM PR, but I stuck to my training schedule (which did not include an all-out HM effort or race at that point). It's also worth noting that late last year, I began wearing carbon plated race shoes.

Almost immediately on the run, I found another female elite athlete on the Flowing Lake lap. After throwing out some encouraging jiayou and good work commentary, I passed her and did the same for the next three female elites. It took me until the first 5k of the run, but I felt pretty good about passing five of the six elite females that had started 23 minutes before me.

I was a woman on a mission but after passing them in succession, I had some concerns about the pace I was running. I was averaging 4:35-4:40 and I felt this was unsustainable...but my legs also felt good and I felt in control, so I decided to just *go for it*. My goal run was a 1:48 and I knew I'd probably begin to fall apart in the second half but hey, I'll bank some time now and let's see how far I can go at this pace (note: generally not a strategy I would recommend but I was feeling brave). I distinctly remember musing to myself, "Well, this ain't gonna last long but let's ride it out while the going is good." 

Towards the second half of the run, it became incredibly lonely. There were some stretches where I was entirely alone and I started to feel very uncertain about the course.  I knew I had collected the two wristbands to signify completion of loops but in the big picture and with a lack of signage, it was hard to tell whether I was even going in the right direction. I only saw runners sporadically and most of them were from the full distance or middle distance athletes with no wristband or one wristband. At 16k, I found some staff and asked them to confirm that I was on the right course - they replied affirmatively but I was still filled with doubt. 

I continued on but from the 17k mark my run started to falter and for the first time that day, I started recording splits in the 4:50s. The last bit towards the stadium and finish area is a winding boardwalk with no shade and very few athletes. Then the last km is through town before spitting into the stadium area - it was a bit confusing and chaotic with vehicular traffic and pedestrians, but when I FINALLY SAW THAT FINISH CHUTE...I felt like I was hauling ass but I really wasn't.

I looked back and realized I had the chute to myself, but also I was dying and everything was starting to hurt. I knew I had probably done pretty well in the women's side of things and assumed that the tape actually you know, had meaning. Turns out they put the tape up for just about everyone, haha regardless, it felt good breaking the tape. But it felt better seeing the results later! ​

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YAY, I DID IT
At the end of the day, I walked away with a 5:03 as the women's champion and the age group win. I came in after 14 men and 1,939 athletes followed.  It's not a hugely spectacular time and especially not for women's champion but well, that's just how it turned out.  I'm much more accustomed to waffling around the top 5 in my age group and I had thought 5 hour, something in the teens (like 5:15) would be a friggin' awesome day. I'm not sure how I will ever replicate a race like that to be honest, everything just clicked and came together marvelously.

It only took six 70.3s for that to happen, haha I suppose my next 70.3 goal is to sub 5.  That will have to wait until after IM Philippines - but I plan to take a break from racing (just as everyone else's seasons are getting started, haha) after IMPI :-)

Some folks seem to have found the race very hot (ahem, the pros in their interviews) but I felt it was pretty comfortable - especially compared to the blistering sun on the rolling hills run in Taupo! Overall, I would recommend the race - but overcoming the travel logistics can feel a bit of a mess. 

​The locals seemed to have all had their bikes hauled into the back of a made-for-purpose 10 ton truck / 18-wheelers. I wish I'd taken photos of these trucks, it was an amazing sight with racks on racks on racks of bikes. As far as I know, there was no information about a bike transport service on the Challenge Taiwan website. It's a HUGE gamble to take that flight from Taipei to Taitung on the prop plane with your bike - fortunately, it worked out for me. Overall, it all kind of worked out and I'm grateful for the race of a lifetime. #wegettodothis 

P.S. Taiwan is big into vegan/vegetarian food, which I thoroughly enjoyed (former vegetarian, still likes vegetarian meals). ​