Francois de Repentigny
Boston Marathon
BostonOtherFrancois' headline numbers
Francois' strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"I had pretty low energy levels during the race, but I think these were due to my injury causing discomfort and not due to my nutrition strategy."
After a 20 minute call with a member from our Sports Science team, Francois felt well-prepared to race the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately an injury meant his original predicted finish wasn’t on the cards this time around. He still managed to fuel consistently throughout, consuming five PF 30 Gels along with a few caffeinated energy gels to reach a carb intake of ~51 grams per hour. This intake falls slightly below the general recommendations for a race of this duration and intensity. Although Francois rated his GI comfort as ten out of ten, it would be beneficial to perform some structured gut training, particularly when aiming for higher carb intakes, to ensure he has no issues whilst doing this at race-pace.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
Francois1024mg/L
Francois has been Sweat Tested to dial in his hydration plan
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Whilst Francois's losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still crucial when it's hot and/or humid as his higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I didn’t pee during the race, and afterwards my pee was dark. So, maybe I could have drank a little more. I also started to feel some twinges of cramp after mile 21"
Francois' relative sodium intake almost directly matched his sweat sodium concentration of 1024mg/L. Combined with the temperate conditions on race day, it’s likely that the cramps he experienced towards the latter part of the race was not due to his sodium intake, but more a combination of injury and neuromuscular fatigue. Francois’ fluid intake during the marathon was suitable for the conditions and race itself, but moving forward, we would recommend him to do some sweat rate testing to get a more precise indication of his fluid losses during exercise to precisely dial in his fluid intake. A higher sweat rate would suggest he could have mis-matched his fluid intake to his sweat losses during this race, contributing to the colour of his pee and perhaps influence the cramping he experienced.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
T - 0-4hrs: Had a final hit of caffeine
Francois’ caffeine intake fell slightly below the scientific recommendations for performance benefits during a race of this distance and intensity. While he regularly drinks coffee and is accustomed to using the stimulant, we would suggest he trials using an increased dose during his training sessions to see how he responds to hopefully reap more of the ergogenic benefits.
How Francois hit his numbers
Here's everything that Francois ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“It was frustrating not being able to fight for my original predicted finish time but overall I'm happy. Racing with the injury was tough but it would have been much harder if I didn't have spare gels to keep me going during the unplanned 50 minutes – so I'm grateful for that!”
“Francois performed well despite a tough situation with his injury. While he still fueled well, adjusting his fueling plan to achieve a higher carb intake will hopefully see him closer to that predicted finish at the next race. Combining this with some sweat rate data will help him fine tune the hydration part of his strategy to make sure this doesn’t contribute to any cramping”
PF&HFrancois' full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.