• Jake ‘Bionic’ Best could be called the definition of a high level operator, having spent time as a professional boxer, businessman, and endurance athlete, not to mention his time in the military
• On a mild day in Wareham Forest, he aimed to achieve the fastest known marathon with a 40lbs pack on his back as part of a project that saw him raise over £7,500 and spread awareness in aid of the SBS Association and Rock2Recovery in the process
• Before his marathon, Jake sat down with the PF&H Sports Science team to fine tune his fueling and hydration strategy for this distance

Hydration

• Ahead of the race, Jake successfully preloaded using PH 1500 (tablets) both the evening before and on the morning of the event, ensuring his blood plasma volume was fully topped up for the start line
• During the run itself, Jake only drank ~249ml/8oz of fluid per hour. Given the mild conditions (10℃ / 50°F and 53% humidity), his sweat losses would have been on the lower side so dehydration wouldn’t have presented a particularly big problem for him over this period. However, if it had been much warmer, Jake knows he would have needed to be more proactive with his fluid replacement
• Utilising PF 30 Energy Drink Mix in a 500ml/16oz bottle meant that Jake was able to consume fluid, carb and sodium in one hit to cover all three ‘levers’ of endurance fueling at once, something which he practised achieving in training
• Jake's Sweat Test results showed that he needs to pay attention to his sodium intake as he's a very salty sweater, losing 1,679mg/L of sweat
• He did a good job of replacing his sodium losses by taking a proactive approach, by consuming an appropriate relative sodium concentration of ~1,601mg/L, which was largely achieved using electrolyte capsules

Fueling

Conclusions

• Jake’s fantastic performance helped him obliterate the previous record by an impressive 1 hour and 31 minutes! Throughout the record breaking run, he implemented an effective fueling and hydration strategy to push above the general carb recommendations and replace a good proportion of his high sodium losses
• In future, Jake may consider adding caffeine to his fueling strategy if he feels it’s appropriate for him to use (although losing the 40lbs of weight on his back might help him go faster too…)