Marlies Mejias Garcia
Tucson Bicycle Classic Stage 4
Arizona3rd, FPROMarlies' headline numbers
Marlies' strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"My energy levels felt great all day. Last year I had to sprint through cramps and push myself through the 3km climb, just to make it to the final sprint. This year was completely different—no cramps whatsoever, and my sprint was explosive! "
As we saw in her previous race, Marlies prefers to maximise her fueling in the final 30 minutes before the gun goes off. Usually, we would only recommend ~30g of carb as a pre-race top up, but Marlies obviously managed this impressive ~120g of carb well, with no GI discomfort. Furthermore, it set her up for hitting a solid overall carb intake during the ride.
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.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I think I could hydrate a little better. I only had one bottle of water and one of carb, so I think I could improve this."
Marlies didn’t report any symptoms of dehydration in this race, indicating her hydration strategy was overall appropriate for the day. However, we would suggest implementing some sodium into her plan, especially for longer and/or hotter races where sweat rate is higher and net fluid and sodium losses can build up. Practically, she could accomplish this by adding a tablet of PH 1000 to both of her bottles to help her hit the average sodium losses we see in athletes. As races heat up this summer, hydration will become increasingly important so Marlies will need to ensure she’s accounting for her sodium requirements, as well as drinking enough fluid to match her sweat rate.
How Marlies hit her numbers
Here's everything that Marlies ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I think I should add more sodium, but the difference is incredible when I can eat and hydrate well. The PF&H carb products are perfect, the flavor is perfect, and I was able to adapt well after just a few training sessions using the product. ”
Marlies“Marlies had a great race at the Tucson Bicycle Classic, taking home a podium finish. That’s two events in a row now where she’s hit over ~130 grams of carbs per hour! For future races as the conditions warm up, it will become more important for Marlies to nail her hydration by including sodium and aiming to increase her fluid intake, ideally preventing dehydration from affecting her performances. ”
PF&HMarlies' full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
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.