L'Etape du Tour Femmes

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.

With 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.