Eliza Wunsch
L'Etape du Tour Femmes
Eliza's headline numbers
Eliza's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Eliza had a clear plan going into this race in order to tailor her fueling to the demands of the different sections. During the flatter first half, she relied on a PF 60 Chew Bar each hour for fuel which she enjoyed and tolerated well. When the climb of the Col de la Madeleine started, she began using PF 300 Flow Gel in a flow-flask kept in her jersey pocket, meaning she could focus on the sustained effort of the climb without having to open a gel or chewing solid foods. Throughout the event, Eliza supplemented her carb intake with two 750ml bottles containing two scoops of PF Carb Only Drink Mix and two scoops of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix each, as well as some classic French food from aid stations. This gave her an overall average of ~82g/h, which allowed her to push hard up the final climb while still enjoying the ride and avoiding flavour fatigue. Going forward, Eliza will continue to train her gut to tolerate more carbs so she can fully enjoy the French aid station experience.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Whilst Eliza’s losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still important if she wants to perform at her best.
Learn moreWith the cold conditions, Eliza’s sweat rate will have been low, meaning that her intake of ~291ml/h likely replaced a sufficient proportion of her sweat losses. She found it hard to drink for the first 25km because she needed to pee; to prevent this from reoccurring, Eliza should preload with PH 1500 in the morning (instead of drinking just plain water) to increase fluid retention. Eliza doesn’t lose a lot of sodium through her sweat, so she was able to effectively replace it using PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix. She almost perfectly matched her sodium intake to her sweat sodium losses and nailed the relative sodium concentration of her drinks to support the maintenance of blood plasma volume and reduce the risk of cramps.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Eliza didn’t include caffeine in her race plan as she didn’t want it to amplify her nerves or sit badly in her stomach. While caffeine can provide ergogenic benefits to performance, it should only be used if it can be well tolerated and has been practised with, so Eliza made the right call for her individual needs.
How Eliza hit her numbers
Here's everything that Eliza ate and drank on the day...
Eliza's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HEliza's full stats
Data Confidence?
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.