Aimee Warnke
Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run
Glen Rose, Texas1stAimee's headline numbers
Aimee's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"My energy felt pretty great! I normally have GI issues, but after a couple of laps with lower energy and some early stops, my stomach did WAY better than expected and my energy always returned."
Over her 100-mile race, Aimee impressively surpassed the carbohydrate intake recommendations solely using PF 90 Gels, PF 30 Caffeine Gels, PH 1500 (Drink Mix) and even a few strawberries. Relying almost exclusively on sports nutrition products (predominantly gels) compared to ‘real foods’ is an increasingly common trend, which we also observed at Western States Endurance Run. This gel-focused strategy differed from Aimee’s previous races where she used more liquid carbohydrates to hit her fueling targets but experienced GI issues. This time, she decoupled her carbs and electrolytes to enable her to ‘pull on’ each lever as much (or as little) as she needed throughout the 19 hours of racing, ultimately limiting her stomach discomfort.
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.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I just had one lap when it was hotter and I ran out of fluid during a loop, so after that, I started carrying additional flasks which worked well."
Aimee used a straightforward hydration strategy by drinking two 500ml soft flasks containing PH 1500 for each 10.5 mile lap. She then listened to her body, and increased her fluid intake when temperatures got hotter, picking up an additional two soft flasks of plain water from her crew. This helped to replace her increased sweat losses from the heat, and brought her intake closer to four flasks per lap. This meant that the relative sodium concentration of Aimee’s intake fell into the moderate range, which she felt effectively kept up with her sweat sodium losses. Before future 100-milers, Aimee could look to dial in her hydration strategy even further by collecting some sweat rate data and carrying out a Sweat Test to understand and match her individual losses.
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
By incorporating one PF 30 Caffeine Gel into her strategy on laps 4, 6 and 8, Aimee reached the general caffeine recommendations in an attempt to reduce her levels of fatigue. Given the scientific guidelines for caffeine do not consider such long events, Aimee could continue to test higher doses, as long as she can avoid negative side effects, and look to utilise the stimulant in the late hours when her body could benefit the most.
How Aimee hit her numbers
Here's everything that Aimee ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I’m pretty dang satisfied, but can always do better and that is what keeps me coming back to race more.”
“Aimee learnt from her past fuel and hydration mistakes to implement a simple, decoupled strategy that allowed her to hit her carb, sodium and fluid numbers. Her impressive intake supported her course record-breaking performance, allowing her to take 1st overall by over an hour, all whilst avoiding her past woes of cramping and stomach issues!”
PF&HAimee'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 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.