Adam Bowden
Dublin Marathon
Dublin11th, MPROAdam's headline numbers
Adam's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"I always feel like there’s some room for improvement to my strategy, but I felt good and it’s not far off now."
Adam has been dialling in his marathon fueling strategy for many years, working with the Sports Scientists at PF&H. Having been a competitive IRONMAN triathlete, Adam has already trained his gut to a point where it is able to tolerate a high carb intake. Adam’s issue now is finding the ‘Goldilocks’ amount for him when marathon running. It can’t be so much that it interrupts his ‘flow’ (opening packets or slowing to pick up bottles) but it needs to be enough to provide ample energy for his working muscles. While the ~77g per hour in Dublin is significantly better than we observed during his 2021 Newport Marathon (~26g/h) and 2022 Manchester Marathon (~39g/h), his subjective feedback and the current scientific literature suggests he might benefit from slightly increasing his intake further to ~90g per hour.
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.
Adam778mg/L
Adam 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 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 moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I felt like I could’ve peed right at the start, but as soon as I’d started running it went away and I didn’t feel like I would’ve changed anything."
After the 2022 Dublin Marathon, Adam made a significant change to his hydration strategy by introducing preloading with a serving of strong electrolytes. He has found that he feels well-hydrated at the startline as a result, and hasn’t had the same strong urge to drink during the race, which previously led him to drink an additional ~1.5L (48oz) of fluid unnecessarily at the same race the year before. While Adam is a ‘low salt sweater’, we would still recommend taking *some* electrolytes during his race as they can positively impact fluid retention and mitigate significant blood plasma sodium changes.
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.
T - 0-4hrs: Had a final hit of caffeine
Adam took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel during the race, which provided 100mg of caffeine. The coffee he had with breakfast also contributed to his caffeine intake, impacting his perceived exertion and level of focus due to its long half-life. The science suggests in order to make the most out of these benefits, Adam could have increased his intake by swapping out one or both of his regular PF 30 Gels for caffeinated alternatives.
How Adam hit his numbers
Here's everything that Adam ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I had about a week of full recovery and reflection from this race, and still feel like I want more out of my future races. I first want to understand why there was a drop in pace towards the end.”
“Adam continues to improve his fueling and hydration strategy as he learns from each marathon he completes. As he mentioned, there are only a couple of minimal tweaks until he’s fully nailed down his fueling, and his hydration only requires a slight increase in sodium.”
PF&HAdam's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
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.