Adam Bowden
Manchester Marathon
Adam's headline numbers
Adam'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.
Adam’s planned strategy during the marathon involved consuming a PF 90 Gel during the first 12 miles and collecting another one at the halfway mark from the Elite Men’s aid station. Despite his good intentions, in practice Adam didn't manage this as he ran ~27 kilometers (17 miles) only taking sips of the first PF 90 Gel and didn't pick up the second one from the aid station. He did carry an emergency PF 30 Gel but unfortunately, Adam started to get a nasty stitch which worsened when he ate or drank, so he chose not to consume this extra gel. Adam doesn't believe the stitch was due to his fuel or hydration strategy per se, but he did find that eating and drinking interferred with his pace and that it might have played a factor. As a result, we would encourage Adam to do some structured gut training and practice taking on fuel during training sessions, particularly those at faster pacers to ensure he can tolerate both food and fluid during his races.
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.
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 Adam’s losses are on the low side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreAdam didn't preload prior to this race in the conventional way (i.e. 500ml of PH 1500) but he did drink 1L (32oz) of PF Carb and Electrolyte Drink Mix in the hours before the start. This, combined with drinking PH 1500 the night before helped ensure he started the race hydrated. With mild temperatures on race day, and Adam's low sweat rate, his hydration strategy was lower on his list of priorities. As a result, his plan was to pick up water from the on-course aid stations whenever he felt he needed it. This seemed to appropriately replace his sweat losses, but on reflection, Adam could try and increase his fluid intake slightly to avoid the risk of dehydration.
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.
Adam didn’t use any caffeine during this race but could consider exploring the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant for future races.
How Adam hit his numbers
Here's everything that Adam ate and drank on the day...
Adam's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Adam
PF&HAdam's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.