Amsterdam Marathon

Claire’s fueling strategy started off well on race day with a carb-rich breakfast, followed by a PF 60 Chew Bar. Her plan was clearly thought out, using a combination of different gels to stave off any potential flavour fatigue, and taking on enough carb to sit within the 60-90g/h recommended by science. Despite hitting over 70g/h, Claire did experience a dip in energy towards the end of the race. Increasing her intake with some [gut training]() would help avoid this dip, although after 4 hours of running, it’s understandable tiredness was starting to creep in! It’s important to note that glycogen alone (the carbohydrates stored in the muscles and a small amount in the liver) would have been depleted after 90 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, so ensuring her race fueling is nailed supports her body’s performance and facilitates recovery post-race.

Preloading with PH 1500 on race morning helped Claire start optimally hydrated. During the race, her fluid intake was on the lower end of our recommendations at ~131ml/h, which makes sense given her sweat rate would have been low in the mild conditions. Doing some sweat rate testing in her training sessions would help Claire to estimate how much fluid she is losing and therefore how much she needs to consume to adequately replace her losses during future races. The relative sodium concentration of Claire’s intake sat within the 800-1,200 milligrams of sodium per litre of fluid range recommended for athletes who haven’t had a Sweat Test (we know from conducting thousands of Sweat Tests that the average athlete loses 991mg of sodium per litre of sweat). Managing to balance her fluid and sodium appropriately for the conditions likely led to Claire’s 10/10 subjective hydration rating. Given Claire felt she needed to pee several times during her race, it would be well worth her looking at the timing of her fluid intake before the race, as well as what she was drinking the day prior. Ensuring sufficient sodium both within and around the race may support her body’s ability to retain fluid and prevent excessive urination.