London Marathon

After winning our Case Study competition and developing a solid fueling plan with the Sport Science Team, Clair worked hard to practise her strategy in training leading up to the London Marathon to train her gut Since she’s struggled with GI distress toward the end of past races, Clair wanted to keep her strategy as simple and straightforward as possible for the marathon, so she chose to stick to PF 30 Gels and PF 30 Chews. And, it worked a treat, as she had no stomach discomfort at all this time and rated her gut comfort as 10 out of 10 across the whole race!

Clair chose to get her fluid from aid stations by picking up plain water and consuming electrolyte capsules for sodium to hit her sodium targets. Clair has not yet had a sweat test to determine her sweat sodium concentration but based off her subjective thoughts and not experiencing any negative hydration-related symptoms, it’s likely her hydration strategy enabled her to adequately replace enough of her sweat losses during the marathon. Going forwards, Clair could get a sweat test to determine her sodium losses and collect some sweat rate data to help further refine both her sodium and fluid intakes. This would be especially beneficial for warmer and/or longer races.

Clair asked our Sports Science Team some questions regarding her caffeine intake post race after experiencing an energy lull around mile 22. Clair could look to increase her caffeine intake to sit within the recommended caffeine intake of 3-6mg/kg by adding an additional PF 30 Caffeine Gel into her plan. Strategically timing the dose around the halfway point would account for the way caffeine takes ~45 minutes to peak in the bloodstream and then has a half life of ~4-5 hours. This will enable Clair to reap the full ergogenic benefits of the stimulant and hopefully prevent any more energy lulls in future marathons!