Madeira Island Ultra Trail 85km

After working closely with the PF&H Sports Science Team Caleb went into MIUT with a well planned out fueling strategy. Suffering previously from gut issues, Caleb has found his simple and thought-out plan works really well during longer races. The PF&H Sports Science team, along with Caleb’s crew, weighed all of his gels to understand exactly what he was consuming across the duration of the race. Despite a small amount of gel remaining in each packet, Caleb still had an impressive carbohydrate intake of 98g/h which helped keep his energy levels high, despite the arduous terrain. Overall, considering his bout of illness, Caleb did well to navigate the race to a solid outcome and he felt positive about his fueling. It’s great to hear he is feeling confident taking this strategy into the Western States Endurance Run.

Caleb had confidence in his hydration strategy going into the race, knowing he’d need to replace his moderately-salty sweat and average sweat rate. He executed this strategy well - with his crew to provide a helping hand - but did report feeling thirsty in the latter stages of this race. Going into some longer training runs in the lead up to the next big event, Caleb could look to carry extra plain water and Electrolyte Capsules to help with the thirst but ensure his sodium remains in line with his losses. Caleb is also going to get a sweat test in the next few weeks to ensure he dials in his plan as best as possible.

Caleb has been experimenting with introducing caffeine across the months of training prior to this race. Instead of starting this immediately, he has been drip feeding half a caffeine gel at a time, into his runs, to avoid any negative side effects. This worked well for Caleb and he sat within the scientific recommendations to provide the most ergogenic benefits from the stimulant.