Black Canyon 100km

Eric used an effective fueling strategy by consuming one PF 90 Gel per hour over the whole race, and an additional PF 30 Caffeine Gel in hour six. This allowed him to reach and surpass his fueling goal of 90g/h. We’re seeing more elite runners consume these impressive quantities to fuel their high intensity, long duration endurance feats, but this requires plenty of gut training over time. He mentioned starting to feel hungry in the second half of the race, despite his high intake. This feeling may have been linked to the relatively small breakfast he consumed ahead of the race. Given the race was delayed by two-and-a-half hours, having more pre-race food to push above the lower end of the pre-race carbohydrate recommendations would have increased his fuel stores going into the race. To overcome this feeling in future races, he may also look to include more satiating, solid foods such as a bar or chew within his strategy.

Ahead of the race, Eric switched from his original plan of using some PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix to solely get his fluid and sodium in the form of water and Electrolyte Capsules our products whilst fueling with gels. He has found this strategy to be more successful for him in the past, as it allows him to wash his mouth out with the plain water and have greater control over each of The Three Levers of an effective race nutrition strategy (i.e. carb, sodium and fluid). With this strategy, Eric nailed his sodium intake by taking two Electrolyte Capsules our products with every 500ml bottle of water he drank to consume a similar concentration to his losses. Overall, Eric drank a higher fluid intake than his last race despite the colder temperatures by drinking two bottles per hour. Subjectively, he felt he needed this additional fluid at the high intensities he was pushing, whilst he only peed once which is indicative of not overhydrating. And he was pleased to report no issues with cramp, which he’s suffered greatly with in the past.

Eric consumed a PF 30 Caffeine Gel during the race to give him a mental boost and increase his perceived energy levels at the point he was feeling lowest. If he used ~200mg more caffeine during future races, he’d hit the recommended guidelines for his bodyweight and further aid his performance over races of this length.