Alex Leprêtre
London Marathon
Alex's headline numbers
Alex'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.
As someone who’s always specialised in shorter distances, this was the first time Alex ever has had to eat or drink during a race. In the days leading up to his debut marathon, he followed the advice of the PF&H Sports Scientists to a T and carb loaded, even including a ‘pasta party’ the night before. He fully embraced the need for additional carb during longer events while burning so much energy (averaging 3:16 mins per km) and so incorporated gut training into his marathon-specific sessions to make this as comfortable as possible on race day. His strategy was relatively simple: a PF 30 Gel every 25 minutes. He was due to have another gel during this race but felt full so didn't manage to get another in. However, if Alex had, he would have been closer to the recommended intake and felt more energised going into the back end of the run. Alex rated his overall energy levels as an 8 (out of 10) with a bit of a lull towards the end of the race, but certainly no ‘wall’ or ‘bonk’ in sight.
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 Alex’s losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreSince going into endurance events dehydrated is actually a common performance-limiting issue for athletes, Alex preloaded with a PH 1500 both the night before and morning of the marathon, ensuring optimal hydration levels at the race start. With this proactive approach combined with the mild (13°C / 55°F) and rainy weather, it wasn’t surprising to hear that Alex never felt particularly thirsty throughout the race. While he only drank ~250ml of plain water across the two and a quarter hours, we would still recommend including some sodium in his plan. One of the main reasons for this is the key role that sodium plays in assisting with carbohydrate absorption, via ‘glucose sodium cotransporters’.
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.
Alex could try optimising his future intake by making the most of caffeine and its performance associated benefits. His two coffees in the morning would have contributed somewhat to boost his perceived energy levels, especially with the morning race start time, but taking it a step further by swapping one or two of his regular gels for a PF 30 Caffeine Gel may have helped reduce his perceived exertion and increase focus.
How Alex hit his numbers
Here's everything that Alex ate and drank on the day...
Alex's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HAlex'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.