The Dragon Devil

For Tash’s longest ultra-endurance cycling event, she knew the key to maintaining her energy levels and performance would be eating consistently to avoid any significant drops in her blood glucose levels. Ahead of the event, she filled her glycogen stores through carb-loading, aiming for ~10 grams of carbohydrate per kg of body weight the day prior and then having a carb-rich breakfast on the morning of the event. On course, Tash utilised the numerous feed stations to replenish her jersey pockets and often chose more ‘real-foods’ that tend to feel good on her stomach as well as to help prevent flavour fatigue. Additionally, she incorporated a few PF 30 Chews and PF 30 Gels, as these were easier to consume on the climbs. With the increased duration and goal intensity of the event being lower than her race the week before, her target carb intake was subsequently 30g less and she hit this almost perfectly with little to no GI distress.

Tash has struggled severely with migraines and dehydration for several years and knows how important it is for her to stay hydrated and maintain her blood plasma levels to prevent low blood pressure. She purposefully chose a sodium concentration slightly higher than her losses, throughout the event by carrying PH 1000 and PH 1500 tablets to use at the feed stations when she refilled her bottles. To her surprise, even with the humidity and milder temperatures, Tash had a greater sweat rate than expected so she adapted her strategy to slightly increase her fluid intake and take on a few bottles of plain water to keep her sodium intake closer to her individual losses. By over-concentrating her bottles, she was inevitably going to average a higher relative sweat sodium concentration, hence the ‘amber’ rating, but fortunately this helped to retain water, maintain blood plasma and avoid the dreaded headaches.