Gritfest

After a few heavy weeks of racing and some great performances, Ollie struggled with some fatigue across this weekend of riding at Gritfest. He focused on fueling consistently throughout the separate stages in an attempt to maintain his energy levels as best as he could. In doing this, he averaged ~121 grams of carb per hour on Saturday’s stage (65km and 1600m of climbing) and ~70g/h the following day (57km and 1360m of climbing). Ollie used a combination of PF&H products and some food from the aid stations to hit these numbers and did well to average close to his target total target intake of ~90g/h of carb overall.

With each stage taking less than 4 hours, Ollie focused on replacing a good proportion of his fluid losses during and after each stage, and consumed sufficient fluids over the event to avoid building up a large fluid and sodium deficit. Despite not supplementing with sodium during the stages, he ensured his sodium needs were accounted for by pre-loading on both mornings prior to the race start with PH 1500. With cooler, shorter races, like at Gritfest, this is likely sufficient and aligns with his subjective ratings of his hydration strategy. In future races where conditions are hotter, Ollie could carry some Electrolyte Capsules as a back-up or swap a bottle of PF Carb Only Drink Mix to PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix to mitigate any hydration-related issues and ensure he takes on some sodium during the intense efforts of racing.

Ollie sensibly consumed a couple of PF 30 Caffeine Gels across the weekend, staying in line with the scientific recommendations, and ensuring he reaped the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant and hopefully provided a little more energy to his already fatigued legs. When considering this was total caffeine intake, Ollie could possibly have benefited from an additional PF 30 Caffeine Gel on each stage given the fatigue and depletion he was feeling.