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Paul Newsome

Rottnest Channel Swim

25th February, 2023
Australia
Perth
Individual, M40-44
Swimming - 19.7km
25°C
, Hot
4hrs 55mins
more race details

Paul's headline numbers

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?
?
~43
g
Carb per hour
Recommended 90g/h+
~356
ml
Fluid per hour
Recommended 250-750ml/h
~714
mg
Sodium per litre
Recommended 600-1000mg/L
0
mg
Total caffeine

Paul'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.

Carb-loaded
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T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
Didn't pre-fuel
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Paul would benefit from taking in a final dose of carb <30 minutes before
Carb per hour
Recommended 90g/h+
~43
g
Paul's Energy Rating
9
/10
"Just the usual fatigue in my shoulders, I definitely didn't bonk which I think is part fueling and part pacing strategy."
Our thoughts

Paul planned to focus on fueling with more carb per hour than he ever had previously, which ended up being ~43g per hour. While from a scientific point of view you would have to double this carb intake to reach the top end of general recommendations for optimal performance at an event of this length and intensity, this was still a significant increase for Paul and provided him with more available energy than he’s had for his previous 11 outings at this race. To increase his carb intake further, Paul could undertake a period of gut training to push his carb intake further. During the race Paul also had to contend with the impracticality of having to tread water and not touch his accompanying paddler’s boat while fueling, which naturally makes getting anything on board very tricky. For this reason he opted for a strategy of stopping every 30 minutes, alternating between gels and drink mix.

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.

Paul819mg/L
Paul has been Sweat Tested to dial in his hydration plan

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 Paul’s losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still crucial when it’s hot and/or humid as his higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.

Learn more
Pre-loaded electrolytes
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T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
Fluid per hour
Recommended 250-750ml/h
~356
ml
Sodium per litre
Recommended 600-1000mg/L
~714
mg
Paul's Hydration Rating
7
/10
"I felt I could have taken on more fluid, although the practicality of swimming made this hard to achieve."
Our thoughts

We know from experience that getting fluids on board during long swims can be difficult due to the practicalities of stopping to drink, so it's important to make sure you start optimally hydrated. Paul sensibly made sure this was the case by preloading with a PH 1500 tablet in 500ml of water before the race started. Paul drank a total of ~1.75L of fluid while swimming, which averaged out to ~356ml per hour. The one thing Paul would have changed about this race was drinking a little bit more. However, he was held back by some bladder discomfort, and being unable to pee in his very tight swim skin suit. Weighing himself before and after the race meant we were able to calculate a sweat rate of ~720ml per hour. For context this means if he hadn’t drunk anything, he would have lost ~3.5kg (7.7lbs) in sweat, which is equivalent to ~4.5% of his body weight. This is important to know, as the scientific literature generally suggests that physical performance may start to decline in individuals after around 2-4% dehydration, and so could have caused some issues. Although, having done this type of event successfully for a long time, it’s likely that Paul’s tolerance to moderate dehydration is more robust than others.

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.

Pre-caffeinated
?
T - 0-4hrs: Had a final hit of caffeine
Total caffeine
0
mg
Our thoughts

In future events of this length, Paul may look to reap the benefits associated with caffeine. Weighing in at ~77kg (170lbs) he would need to take 230-460mg to optimise his intake. An easy tweak to his race strategy if he were to do this is to swap out one of the PF 90 Gels for three PF 30 Caffeine Gels, although he’d have to consider the practicality of the smaller packages when in the water.

How Paul hit his numbers

Here's everything that Paul ate and drank on the day...

Paul's weapons of choice

Final thoughts

Paul's Satisfaction Rating
10
/10
I'm really happy to have achieved my quickest time here at 44 years of age, having tried to go sub 5 hours since I was 31.
Paul
In a race field containing several Olympians, Paul was incredibly satisfied with his new personal best time and the achievement of finishing in under 5 hours. He took more carb on board than ever before, which gave him plenty of energy for the race and confidence going into the next one.
PF&H

Paul's full stats

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?
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Overall
210g total carb
43g per hour
1,750ml total fluid
356ml per hour
1,250mg total sodium
254mg per hour
714mg
Sodium per litre

Data Confidence
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We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
1
2
3
4
5

There is some confidence in the quantities and brands of products consumed but the data may lack specifics (e.g. volumes specific flavours). A high number of estimations have been made and the room for error is moderate-high. There may also be the possibility that some intake has been grossly over- or under-estimated.

Paul's recent case studies

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