Ollie's headline numbers
Ollie'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.
Ollie has trained his gut to tolerate high volumes of carbohydrates whilst experiencing little to no GI distress. This has helped him maintain his energy levels and push a high effort level across such an enduring event. After an early start to get a good spot in the pack of cyclists at the race, Ollie didn’t eat much the morning of the race. He did, however pre-fuel with a couple of PF 30 Chews and a PF 30 Caffeine Gel in the final 30 minutes before the start to prime his body for the tough race ahead. He consumed a mixture of gels, chews and real foods throughout the race to avoid flavour fatigue and keep on top of his carb intake. This also helped Ollie to navigate a small dip in energy just after the halfway mark, and after having a five minute break off the bike, he was able to get back on track for the rest of the race.
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 Ollie’s losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreWith only a week between his previous race and The Traka, and having had his sweat tested, Ollie chatted to our Sport Science Team to slightly amend his hydration strategy. By slightly reducing his sodium intake, he was able to more closely match his sweat losses. This worked well and left him feeling hydrated across the duration of the race. The only thing we would recommend Ollie to consider would be to carry some Electrolyte Capsules during races so that in the event of warmer conditions or the need to take on more fluid, Ollie can supplement his intake to stay in line and hit his relative sodium concentration target.
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.
Despite his caffeine intake being slightly above the scientific recommendations, as a keen coffee drinker, Ollie comfortably tolerates this higher dose during races. He pre-caffeinated ahead of the start knowing that it would hit his blood stream once he was on the bike, and then he topped up throughout using PF 30 Caffeine Gels to keep his perceived energy levels high.
How Ollie hit his numbers
Here's everything that Ollie ate and drank on the day...
Ollie's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Ollie
PF&HOllie'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.