Black Canyon 50km

Despite consuming ~113g/h of carbs throughout the race, Chris reported feeling low on energy from start to finish. This suggests that his fueling strategy wasn’t the limiting factor. Instead, pacing parts of the 100km event the day before may have taken more out of him than expected. Spending several hours on his feet and running at intensity likely compromised his ability to fully carb-load, meaning he may have started the race with partially depleted glycogen stores. As a result, he would have had to rely more heavily on the carbs he was taking in during the race, rather than benefiting from fully topped-up energy reserves. Additionally, neuromuscular fatigue from the previous day's efforts could have reduced what glycogen stores he had available to begin with and the fast-start would likely have increased his fatigue early on and impacted his performance towards the back end of the race. The combination of these factors - the fast start, reduced glycogen availability, and neuromuscular strain - may have been the reason Chris felt lower on energy, despite hitting his carb intake targets during the race.

During the race at Black Canyon 50km, Chris consumed a slightly higher concentration of sodium (1,250mg/L) than we would usually suggest given his known sweat sodium concentration. However, given his high sweat rate and likely sodium depletion from the previous day, the extra sodium would have helped maintain better fluid balance during the race. Towards the end, Chris felt grabbing an extra bottle of plain water could have helped alleviate his feelings of thirst and this would have lowered the relative sodium concentration he took on. With the unexpectedly warmer temperatures, his intake of fluid was seemingly well-matched to the conditions, ensuring he stayed adequately hydrated throughout the race.

Chris usually abstains from caffeine because he has identified it doesn’t work well for him. In some instances, like this race where his energy levels were low, we would strongly suggest a caffeine dose or two to lower his perceived effort and reduce his feelings of fatigue, but this is individual to each athlete so should, as always, be tried and tested.