Anna-Marie Watson's scorecard

• Anna-Marie Watson, a long time Precision Fuel & Hydration ambassador and a professional performance coach, hadn’t raced the marathon distance since July of 2021 because of an ankle injury
• Despite her time away from racing, Anna-Marie finished the South Devon Marathon as the second-fastest woman in a time of 4 hours, 45 minutes and said that she finished with a smile on her face
• In mild conditions (9℃/48°F), she performed well and after “getting into her groove after 15km”, she averaged 6:46min/km over the marathon, which included a staggering 1,397m of elevation, and rated her overall race satisfaction as 10 out of 10

• For future races, we would recommend that Anna-Marie preloads before by drinking PH 1500. Preloading with an electrolyte drink containing a high amount of sodium before the race would help make sure she was starting optimally hydrated
• Over the entire race, Anna-Marie stopped three times to refill her 500ml/16oz soft flask of PH 1500, drinking a total of ~2 litres (68oz), equating to an average of ~421ml/hr (14oz/hr)
• Without data on Anna-Marie’s sweat rate, it’s hard to determine whether this will have adequately replaced her sweat losses in these mild conditions, but she did pee once during the race which suggests she didn’t under hydrate

-In total, she consumed ~3,019mg of sodium, which worked out an average of ~636mg per hour. Given she drank solely PH 1500 during the race, the relative sodium concentration of Anna-Marie’s fluid intake was a high ~1,509mg/L. Anna-Marie has a high sweat sodium concentration - we know from her Sweat Test that she loses 1,187mg of sodium per litre of sweat - so benefits from a proactive hydration strategy when total sweat losses are high. That said, temperatures were mild (which will naturally result in a lower sweat rate) and Anna-Marie could have considered drinking slightly less PH 1500 and more plain water on this occasion

• Regardless of this, Anna-Marie was extremely happy with how her hydration strategy went (rating it 10 out of 10) and she didn’t experience any cramp

• Anna-Marie ate a bowl of porridge with seeds, goji berries and peanut butter alongside a cup of tea and a glass of water on the morning of the race. This is a nutritious pre-race meal, in which the carb-rich porridge will have topped up her glycogen stores ahead of the early race start (9.00am)
• Anna-Marie could benefit from taking a final ~30g of carbohydrate in the last 30 minutes before the race. This is usually in gel form, but as she doesn’t like gels, Anna-Marie could consider other sources of carbohydrate in order to achieve this final spike in blood glucose level and spare glycogen stores for later in the race
• During the run, Anna-Marie stopped three times at aid stations, consuming a third of a banana at each stop as well as having two energy bars, an energy gel and PF 30 Chews throughout the race
• Using this strategy, she consumed an average of ~33g of carbohydrate per hour. During a race of this duration, the Quick Carb Calculator would recommend Anna-Marie tries to push towards 60g/hr, as there is a correlation between higher carb intake and performance
• She rated her energy levels as 7 out of 10, and said “I felt like I ate more than I usually do and that eating more will have made me bloat”
• To help Anna-Marie increase her carb intake in future races, we would recommend that she begins to gradually train her gut to be able to tolerate higher volumes of carbs in training (learn more)
• Anna-Marie didn’t consume any caffeine before or during the race. The use of caffeine will come down to an athlete’s personal preference and Anna-Marie knows from experience that her body doesn’t tolerate caffeine well, as it makes her jittery. Therefore, in this situation, consuming no caffeine was the optimal choice for her

• For future races, we would recommend that Anna-Marie preloads before by drinking PH 1500. Preloading with an electrolyte drink containing a high amount of sodium before the race would help make sure she was starting optimally hydrated
• Over the entire race, Anna-Marie stopped three times to refill her 500ml/16oz soft flask of PH 1500, drinking a total of ~2 litres (68oz), equating to an average of ~421ml/hr (14oz/hr)
• Without data on Anna-Marie’s sweat rate, it’s hard to determine whether this will have adequately replaced her sweat losses in these mild conditions, but she did pee once during the race which suggests she didn’t under hydrate

-In total, she consumed ~3,019mg of sodium, which worked out an average of ~636mg per hour. Given she drank solely PH 1500 during the race, the relative sodium concentration of Anna-Marie’s fluid intake was a high ~1,509mg/L. Anna-Marie has a high sweat sodium concentration - we know from her Sweat Test that she loses 1,187mg of sodium per litre of sweat - so benefits from a proactive hydration strategy when total sweat losses are high. That said, temperatures were mild (which will naturally result in a lower sweat rate) and Anna-Marie could have considered drinking slightly less PH 1500 and more plain water on this occasion

• Regardless of this, Anna-Marie was extremely happy with how her hydration strategy went (rating it 10 out of 10) and she didn’t experience any cramp- In future, Anna-Marie may benefit from trying to increase her carb intake towards the 60g/hr mark with the aim to enhance performance. This would require some gut training prior to race day in order to make sure that she’s able to increase her carb intake without experiencing any gastrointestinal issues
• Anna-Marie has a number of upcoming races throughout the warmer summer months and we’re looking forward to helping her adjust her strategy accordingly