Christine O'Connell's scorecard
Liege-Bastogne-Liege Sportive
Saturday 22nd April, 2023
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 61gCarb per hour
- 220mgSodium per hour
- 232mlFluid per hour
- 952mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 0mgTotal caffeine
How Christine hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
2 x Electrolyte Capsules
500ml x Plain Water
1 x Bowl of Overnight Oats with Fruit
2 x Rice Cakes with Marmite and Peanut Butter
200ml x Apple Juice
Race - During
6 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
3 x PF 30 Gel
2 x PF 30 Chews
1L x Plain water
1L x Energy drink mix (80g carb)
2 x Energy bar (36.6g carb)
2 x Energy bar (41.1g carb)
1 x Banana
2 x Orange slice
1 x Cookies and Cream Waffle (33g)
6 x Salted Cracker Biscuit (3g carb)
- Christine is a member of the Voxwomen Performance Project who recently completed the iconic Liege-Bastogne-Liege Sportive to prepare for her goal race for 2023 at Etape du Tour
- Currently on life-long treatment for secondary breast cancer, Christine finds her “escape” from her health uncertainties, in cycling, and tackling long endurance bike races allows her to focus her energy
Hydration
- As someone who’s invested a lot of time into dialling her fuel and hydration strategy, Christine, with the help of PF&H’s Sports Science squad and the team at Supersapiens, came into this sportive armed with a spreadsheet detailing every planned calorie and drop of fluid
- Ahead of the race, Christine faced a small obstacle when preloading in that her medication is contraindicated with numerous things, including one of the ingredients found in PH 1500. However, Christine devised a plan to use three Electrolyte Capsules and drinking ~500ml of water to create the optimal 1,500 milligrams per litre concentration recommended for preloading
- During the ride, Christine executed a similar strategy to closely match her moderate-high sweat sodium concentration (1,167mg per litre / 32oz), by taking two Electrolyte Capsules with each 500ml (16oz) bottle she drank
- Alternating between carb-only drinks and plain water, Christine took six Electrolyte Capsules in total, and drank ~2L (64oz) of fluid, creating a relative sodium concentration on average of ~952mg/L (mg/32oz)
- Christine rated her hydration plan a solid 9 (out of 10), saying she never once felt thirsty, but also wasn’t sweating that much either, so “probably drank an adequate amount for the conditions”, which was probably true as she didn’t experience any hydration related issues
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Christine carb-loaded well for this sportive, aiming for ~8g of carbohydrate per kg of her bodyweight. This culminated with a bowl of overnight oats on race morning, along with some rice cakes covered in marmite and peanut butter - a combination which is certainly going to divide opinion, but Christine loves it!
- She also made the most of the local Belgium delicacies and delivered some glucose to her bloodstream with some carb-rich waffles ~20 minutes before the race began
- During the ride, Christine was wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) from Supersapiens which she had worn for most of her training to see how her body responds to different fueling strategies. She found that a little-and-often strategy, using mostly liquid carbohydrates kept her glucose levels stable and prevented large drops or spikes
- She seemed to experience less spikes and drops in her glucose trace, and as a result she could “drip feed” the carbs, and keep her energy levels more stable
- As these bottles emptied, she gradually switched to some more “real foods” towards the second half. This included some orange segments, another waffle, and some salted crackers from the on-course checkpoints, and some energy bars which she’d taken with her just in case
- The reason Christine avoided simply topping her bottles back up with more energy drinks from the aid stations, is her wariness against what her medications are contraindicated with. For this reason, she chooses to rely on a self-sufficient plan
- Overall, Christine averaged ~61g of carb per hour, which is almost spot on our Planner’s recommendation for carb intake for an event of this duration and intensity
- Christine’s main target was to simulate her fueling and hydration strategy over long durations as she prepares for Etape du Tour, a 160 kilometre race with 4,000+ metres of climbing. Whilst this race wasn’t perfect, and her energy levels suffered early on as she didn’t begin fueling for 35-40 minutes after the start. She finishing feeling like she could have continued for a while, and rated her energy levels 8 out of 10
Conclusions
- Christine enjoyed the Belgian countryside during the famous LBL Sportive, all the while crushing her fuel and hydration plan, and finished feeling strong
- She also mentioned after the race that her recovery was quick, and she was back to hard training before long
Key info
Christine O'Connell
Female
Sweat sodium concentration1,167mg/L
Sweat sodium classificationHigh
* determined by our Sweat Test
Event information
SportCycling
DisciplineRoad
EventLiege-Bastogne-Liege Sportive
LocationSprimont, Belgium
Date22nd April, 2023
Total Distance156.0km / 96.9mi
Total Elevation2,915m / 9,564ft
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsMild
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp8°C / 46°F
Max Temp14°C / 57°F
Avg Temp12°C / 54°F
Humidity71%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction8/10
Hydration rating8/10I wasn't sweating that much, and wasn't overly thirsty either
Energy levels8/10I felt so sleepy in the first 40k, but picked up and had to reign myself in towards the end
Toilet stopsYesTwice
GI comfort10/10
CrampingNo cramping
Christine's Thoughts
I achieved what I wanted to, finish in a good time and had plenty more to give
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
There is good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).