• Francois, a PH customer, had a 20 minute call with one of our Sweat Experts to refine his hydration and fueling strategy before the Boston marathon (book a free 20 minute call to discuss your strategy here). After a detailed chat about how to adjust his usual plan to the slightly cooler conditions Francois felt confident in his plan going into the marathon
• Unfortunately for Francois, the race did not go as planned due to an injury to his hip adductors. Originally aiming for a time of 3 hours 25 minutes, he soon realised that this was not going to be and just finishing the race would be an achievement. Pushing through the pain, he successfully crossed the finish line in 4 hours 17 minutes
• Despite ‘blowing up’, Francois was happy with his hydration and nutrition plan which he stuck to throughout. One big challenge for him was trying to adjust to the extra hour in duration due to the injury

Hydration

• Francois consumed around ~350ml/hr (~12oz/hr) fluid during the marathon by drinking around ~50ml/2oz at every aid station and also carrying a 250ml/9oz flask. This fluid intake will have replaced a proportion of the fluid he will have been losing, but the temperature got higher than predicted and he was racing for longer than planned, therefore he was sweating more for longer. Despite not knowing Francois’ sweat rate, we would, as a result, recommend a higher overall fluid intake (closer to ~500ml/16oz per hour if this was tolerable with no bloating or sloshing)
• He did not pee during the race and said that afterwards his pee was dark. This does suggest slight dehydration which matches our recommendation that his in race fluid could have been higher
• In terms of sodium, Francois took five PH Electrolyte Capsules during the run and an electrolyte shot after mile 21. In relation to the fluid he was consuming, the relative sodium concentration of Francois’ intake was ~1,085mg/L. This is similar to his sweat sodium losses of 1,024mg/L, therefore replacing a good proportion of the sodium he was losing in his sweat
• Francois did start to feel twinges of cramp after mile 21 and had taken all of his PH Electrolyte Capsules so took an electrolyte shot containing a large amount (556mg) of sodium. He reported this helped him and he did not experience full-on cramps. It is not unusual in the later stages of an endurance event for a salt capsule to stave off twinges of cramp turning into full-blown cramping however it should be noted that this isn’t a guaranteed ‘fix’, nor may it last the remainder of the race, as fundamentally dehydration is often the main underlying problem which needs addressing

Fueling

Conclusions

• Considering Francois' plan was made for the duration of three and a half hours his intake numbers were decent but could have been higher in terms of carbs, sodium and fluid. He made the adjustments he could by having a couple of extra gels but picking up extra fluid could be something to think more about in the future, especially when the conditions are warm
• With his painful injury, it was a huge success for him to finish the race (well done Francois!) and his hydration and nutrition plan although prepared for a shorter race fueled him well