Brennan Townshend
OCC by UTMB
ChamonixTop 50Brennan's headline numbers
Brennan's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
Brennan would benefit from taking in a final dose of carb <30 minutes before
"I could’ve had a few more carbs, but overall my energy levels felt good."
Brennan opted for a straightforward fueling strategy of either a PF 30 Gel or PF 30 Chew every half an hour, guaranteeing at least 60g/h. The small amount of carbohydrate that’s in each PH 1000 (Drink Mix) sachet topped up his intake and resulted in a solid carb average, just shy of the recommended 90g/h, which would have helped to maintain his energy levels right until the finish line. For future races, Brennan may benefit from taking an extra gel within the last 30 minutes before the start to spike his blood glucose and save some of his stored glycogen for later in the race.
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 drank a lot more than I thought I would."
Brennan kept his hydration strategy simple, mixing PH 1000 into eight Soft Flasks to provide his sodium across the race. Other than a small bit of cramp in his hip flexor and hamstring near the end of the race, Brennan didn’t suffer from any dehydration related symptoms. Although he seemed to replace his sodium and fluid losses well in these conditions, we would recommend he gets a Sweat Test and collects some sweat rate data to further dial in his hydration, especially to plan for races in hotter environments.
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
Brennan may benefit from including some caffeine in his strategy next time out, as the stimulant has been shown to provide some ergogenic benefits in athletic performance. Practically, Brennan could do this by swapping a few of his PF 30 Gels with PF 30 Caffeine Gels.
How Brennan hit his numbers
Here's everything that Brennan ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I’m pleased with both my strategy and race outcome.”
“Brennan had a solid race at OCC in what was a stacked field. To support his performance in future races, Brennan may benefit from further refining his hydration strategy to make sure he’s meeting his specific sweat fluid and sodium losses, as well as including some caffeine on race day. ”
PF&HBrennan'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.