The Traka 200km

Between the stormy weather and a course recce that took longer than planned in the week leading up to The Traka, Hayley’s race started out in pretty rough conditions. Hayley noted her energy levels were in the negatives for the first ~50k, which she attributed to the cumulative training load from the weeks prior and lack of sleep. However, she set fueling alerts every half hour on her watch for this race, which proved invaluable, as she stuck to her plan and hit her highest carb intake numbers yet. She credits the frequent, consistent fueling for getting her energy levels back up and enabling her to overtake many of the riders who’d passed her by in the early portion. We’d recommend Hayley continue to work on increasing her overall carb intake to closer meet the recommendations and further top up her energy availability.

Staying on top of her fluid intake was another reason Hayley was able to refocus and finish strong. Every time an alert went off, she made sure to have some fluid, most of which came from Carb Only Drink Mix. While she had one of her bottles dedicated to electrolytes with PH 1000, most of her fluid didn’t include sodium, leading her to a far lower than ideal relative sodium concentration. Thankfully, the temperature wasn’t too warm on this day, so her sweat losses didn’t mount up enough to cause any major dehydration-related issues like cramping. However, it’d be beneficial to include Electrolyte Capsules or additional PH 1000 to her plan to more closely match her losses and prevent potential issues, particularly in hotter races, in the future.

Hayley’s caffeine intake exceeded the scientific recommendations, but because she tolerates the stimulant very well and didn’t experience any adverse effects, we wouldn’t change this part of her strategy. She strategically consumed one PF 30 Caffeine Gel before the start, and then two back-to-back PF 30 Caffeine Gels around the middle of the race for a larger dose to make a more notable impact on her energy levels.