The Traka 360

Mathieu worked closely with the Sports Science team at PF&H to finalise a solid fueling strategy in the days leading up to the race. This included a combination of Drink Mixes, along with PF 30 Gels and PF 60 Chew Bars all of which he topped up with at the three assisted feed zones on course. Unfortunately, an early crash saw him lose a bottle containing a key serving of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, but thankfully he escaped this incident relatively unscathed and was able to continue with the race. Mathieu also missed another bottle containing 60g of carbohydrate at the second assisted feed zone, and as a result he fell short of his target intake of more than 90g of carbs per hour for the event. Despite these setbacks, Mathieu fueled consistently throughout and managed his energy well. Aside from a small dip in the final hour - expected after more than 12 hours of racing - he reported feeling strong overall.

Mathieu had a Sweat Test the day before the race, which revealed he loses 1,073mg of sodium per litre of sweat. With this in mind, using our PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix in two of his litre bottles was a suitable choice to help replace his sodium losses. However, during the race he also consumed a considerable amount of PF Carb Only Drink Mix and over 500ml of plain water from his hydration pack, which contained no sodium and in addition, the bottle he lost in the early crash contained 1,000mg of sodium. As a result, the relative sodium concentration of his fluid intake was lower than his target. Fortunately, he didn’t experience any noticeable symptoms of dehydration during this race. That said, in future events - particularly in hotter conditions - it would be advisable to ensure a higher proportion of his fluid intake contains electrolytes, in order to better offset sodium losses via sweat and avoid a significant sodium deficit.