Chris Douglas' scorecard
Odyssey Swimrun Orcas Island
Sunday 26th September, 2021
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 41gCarb per hour
- 417mgSodium per hour
- 316mlFluid per hour
- 1,319mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 0.54mg/kgCaffeine per bodyweight
How Chris hit those numbers
Before event (>30mins)
415ml x PH 1500 (Tablet)
2 x Slices of toast with butter
Event - During
2.07L x PH 1000 (Tablets)
5 x PF 30 Gel
1 x Energy gel with caffeine (22g carb, 40mg caffeine)
3 x Energy gel (30g carb)
- Chris Douglas and his Low Tide Boyz podcast co-host Chipper performed well at Odyssey Swimrun Orcas Island to finish 7th overall (4th men’s team) in the Long Course team event, completing the race in a time of 6 hours 33 minutes
- PH founder and Sports Scientist Andy had appeared on their podcast to talk all things hydration for swimrun previously, so we reached out to Chris before his race to see if he’d be interested in helping us to expand our swimrun case studies
- In terms of his hydration and fueling for the race, Chris said “I followed Andy’s hydration protocols and made sure that I drank PH 1500 the night before and again the morning of the race. I was consistently taking on hydration and fueling at regular intervals and I don’t think I would change anything”
- Unfortunately Chipper had picked up an injury in the run up to the race, so they knew they weren’t at the top of their game going into the event and that it was going to be a tough one. Nonetheless, they gritted it out and had lots of fun doing so
Hydration
- Chris drank a total of ~2.07L/70oz over the course of the race which equates to ~316ml/hr (11oz/hr). On the surface this may seem like a low amount compared to what we see in other races of this length, but you have to consider the intricacies of swimrun. There are large proportions of the race (i.e. when swimming) when you cannot get any fluid on board and you’re reliant on the available aid stations
- Although we don’t have data on Chris’ sweat rate, the conditions were cold and wet so his sweat rate will have been lower compared to warmer races. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that he was replacing a moderate amount of his losses and the fact that he peed 4 times during the race would suggest he didn't massively under hydrate
- Chris had PH 1000 in all of the fluid he picked up from aid stations on course. He also got a moderate dose of sodium from some of his energy gels. This meant in total, Chris took on ~417mg of sodium per hour
- In relation to the fluid he drank, the relative sodium concentration of Chris’ intake was ~1,319mg/L. When comparing his intake to his sweat sodium concentration of 1,719mg/L, we can see he will have been replacing a good proportion of his sweat sodium losses during the race
- Chris didn't cramp at all during the race and was happy with his hydration strategy. He said “I had Andy Blow’s voice in my head reminding me to take advantage of hydrating at the aid stations since running in a wetsuit causes a lot of sweating and I made sure to get over 8oz/237ml of PH at every opportunity”
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Before the race, Chris had two slices of wheat bread toast to top up his glycogen stores. He could look to eat a little more pre-race as the general recommendation for pre-exercise carb intake is 1-4g of carb per kilogram of body weight. The race had a relatively early start (7:30am) so it was a good effort from Chris get some high carb food on board at that time of the morning
- The Quick Carb Calculator would recommend Chris consume ~30g of carb in the last 30 minutes before a race of this length and intensity as a final fuel ‘top up’. The idea being that it hits your bloodstream quickly, spiking blood glucose levels, and sparing your stored glycogen stores for use later on. This is often down to athlete preference, but could be something for Chris to try before future races to maximise his fuel stores
- During the race, Chris consumed a range of energy gels, including PF 30 Gels and caffeine energy gels, to reach an average intake of ~41g carb per hour (this includes his overall race time spent both swimming and running). This is below our recommended range for this race (60-90g/hr), but is still a decent intake considering the fact that swimming and tricky elevated sections on the run limited opportunities to eat and drink
- Chris spread out his gels well throughout the race by choosing to consume one at each aid station (7 gels) and one in the middle of each long run (2 gels). This is a good strategy which will have ensured that he never overloaded the stomach, whilst he got fuel on board and managed to keep his energy levels up. Chris mentioned that his energy levels were “sky high all race!”
- Still, trying to push towards ~60g/hr in future races, by eating more gels or other sources of carbs, could benefit Chris as evidence suggests this can aid both performance and recovery (albeit the nature of swimrun as a sport does make fueling difficult!)
- Chris may want to undertake some gut training to be able to tolerate more carbs in future races. He’d “never taken that much in during a swimrun of that duration before”, so he did well to hit over 40g/hr and experienced no GI issues doing so (9/10)
- In terms of caffeine, Chris used one caffeinated energy gel which contained 40mg of caffeine. This may have boosted his perceived energy levels ~20minutes after taking the gel, but he may benefit from increasing his caffeine intake because between 3-6mg/kg body weight is recommended for optimal performance
Conclusions
- Chris enjoyed a solid race at Odyssey Swimrun Orcas Island and really enjoyed the event; he rated his race satisfaction as a 9 out of 10. His race partner Chipper struggled and thought that he ended up “bonking” because of “not taking enough in and being slightly dehydrated”
- In contrast, Chris hit solid numbers throughout the race despite the logistical challenges of swimrun. In future races, Chris could try to increase his carb intake to ~60g carb per hour to see if that further benefits his performance
Key info
Chris Douglas
Male74kg
Sweat sodium concentration1,719mg/L
Sweat sodium classificationVery High
* determined by our Sweat Test
Result
Position7th
Overall Time6:33:02
Event information
SportOther
DisciplineSwimrun
EventOdyssey Swimrun Orcas Island
LocationWashington, USA
Date26th September, 2021
Swim Distance6.0km / 3.7mi
Run Distance33.0km / 20.5mi
Total Distance39.0km / 24.2mi
Total Elevation1,862m / 6,109ft
Event conditions
Weather ConditionsMild
PrecipitationRain
Min Temp11°C / 52°F
Max Temp15°C / 59°F
Avg Temp13°C / 55°F
Humidity83%
Athlete feedback
Event Satisfaction9/10
Hydration rating8/10
Energy levels10/10My energy was sky high all race
Toilet stopsYesPeed four times
GI comfort9/10Felt fine and I was able to tolerate the gels well
CrampingNo cramping
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
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.