ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championships

James woke up at 4am to allow himself time to consume and digest a carb-rich meal before his first 75km swimrun. This topped up his glycogen stores going into an event with 46 transitions between swimming and running, providing a logistical challenge for fueling. James used a variety of gels and real foods to take on ~46g/h. While this is significantly below the 90g/h recommendations for an event of this intensity and duration, the prolonged periods of swimming where fueling isn’t possible make high carb numbers more difficult to reach. James is aware that he underfueled and would have benefitted from taking on more carbs to help him push harder for longer, saying he would carry more gels with him next time to be more self-sufficient.

James has conducted sweat rate testing in a variety of conditions and so he knew that even though it was mild in Stockholm for race day, he still would still have a very high sweat rate especially being in a wetsuit for the whole race. This, combined with his very high sweat sodium concentration, meant he needed to be proactive in replacing his individual losses. James used 1.25L of PH 1500 (Tablets) and 8 Electrolyte Capsules to replace his sodium losses, and also drank 3.2L of plain water which brought his relative sodium concentration down to ~1289mg/L. Over the long duration of this event the mismatch between his sodium and fluid losses and what he was replacing built up. His pre/post-weights showed he exceeded the levels of dehydration the body can tolerate by accumulating a ~4.9% decrease in bodyweight, and likely led to the mild cramping he experienced in his forearms. In future, James would benefit from relying on a greater proportion of PH 1500 instead of plain water throughout the race.

James’ caffeine intake was just below the 3-6mg/kg recommended dose for an event of this duration. He had two coffees with breakfast to give him a boost to begin the race with but since he only consumed two caffeinated gels during the 9 hours of racing, his intake didn’t maximise the ergogenic performance effects that the stimulant can provide.