Andy Sloan
The Oner - 84 Miles
Dorset1stAndy's headline numbers
Andy'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 was flagging a little bit before I got some solid food in me overnight, then felt a bit tired again with around 4 hours to go. Other than that, I felt strong. "
Approaching this race with an Achilles injury and suboptimal training volume in his legs, Andy planned to *only* run 20 or 30 miles of the course before calling it a day. In the heat of the moment, he felt better than expected and decided to battle through to the finish line. However, because he didn’t expect to be out on the course for the full duration, he didn’t pre-mix his PF 90 Gels in his Soft Flask like he usually would. Instead, Andy decoupled his fuel from his hydration and mixed up the format of his fuel intake between sports nutrition, including the PF 30 Gel, PF 30 Caffeine Gel, and more real foods like chocolate and nut bars to help satiate him through the latter stages of the race. Due to his injury, Andy was taking anti-inflammatory tablets to which he attributes his *urgent* need to go to the toilet during the last 30 miles of coast path. Without this, he believes that he would’ve gone much quicker and been able to rate his GI comfort higher than the four out of ten he ended up giving it on the day.
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.
Andy859mg/L
Andy 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 Andy's losses are on the moderate 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
"Nothing is ever perfect, but this is the first race I've done where I haven't suffered from major cramps. "
Andy relied on PH 1500 (Tablets) throughout the race for his hydration, drinking ~8L (256oz) total across the 16 hour race. He was confident in increasing his fluid intake around half way when he saw the colour of his urine become slightly darker. While the relative sodium concentration of Andy’s intake was slightly higher than his sweat sodium concentration, he tends to favour the taste of higher concentration electrolyte drinks, and they help him avoid muscular cramping. At one point during the race, Andy started to feel some twinges of cramp coming on and decided to consume four Electrolyte Capsules to keep them at bay. This strategy worked well for him, as he never felt the twinges again.
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.
Consuming caffeine in the hours before the start may have increased perceived energy levels
Caffeine is an important tool for ultra-distance competitors, especially when the events mean they’re running through the night. Andy made sure he was getting a consistent stream of performance benefits from caffeine by spreading his intake out through the event, consuming both caffeine tablets and PF 30 Caffeine Gels. This put him over the general performance recommendation of 3-6mg per kilogram of bodyweight. However, given the duration of the race and caffeine’s half life of 4-5 hours, exceeding the recommendations is expected, especially considering that Andy tolerates it well and did not report any negative side effects.
How Andy hit his numbers
Here's everything that Andy ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I did a really good job, but without those toilet stops I think I could knock some more time off the course record, especially considering my injury and low training volume leading into the race. ”
“Andy did incredibly well to finish 1st place in the 2023 ‘Oner’, breaking his own course record in the process. Comfortably hitting his carb, fluid and electrolyte targets throughout, Andy crushed it, especially as he did not plan to complete the whole race! He knows that he should avoid taking anti-inflammatories during his future races in order to gain back some toilet time he spent in the portaloo. Looking forward, he’s eyeing up a couple of ‘smaller’ ultra events, and maybe a HYROX event or two… although the 200kg (440lbs) sled push may have to wait until after his Achilles rehab. ”
PF&HAndy'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 low confidence in the accuracy of the numbers reported. The intake reflects a rough guide to what an athlete consumed but quantities volumes or specific brands might be unknown. It is a loose insight into what the athlete did but the room for error is high-to-very high. This level of confidence most likely reflects the nature of the event (for example an ultramarathon 24 hour or multi-stage event).