• To celebrate his 37th birthday, Jake Best concluded an excellent month of World Record breaking runs to break the WR for the furthest distance traveled in 24-hours while carrying a 40lbs backpack, whilst raising over £7,500 and a large amount of awareness for both the SBS Association and Rock2Recovery in the process
• Jake visited the PF&H office before his record-breaking March to meet the team, have a Sweat Test and talk through his fueling and hydration strategy for the various attempts, especially for what was going to be his biggest challenge; the 24-hour run!
• After having a final call with Sports Scientist Emily, Jake went into the 24-hour attempt happy with his fueling and hydration plan, knowing he could be more flexible over an event of this duration

Hydration

• Jake preloaded by drinking 500ml/16oz of PH 1500 (Tablet), the night before and morning of the event, boosting his blood plasma volume, ensuring he was topped up before setting off, reducing his cardiovascular load
• Throughout the 24 hours, Jake averaged ~476ml/15oz of fluid per hour, with a relative sodium concentration of ~928mg/L. As the temperature varied from 23°C (73°F) in the day to 2°C (35.6°F) overnight, Jake's hydration requirements also changed, requiring less fluid during the cooler overnight hours when his sweat rate was reduced. Jake is very accustomed to putting himself through arduous activity in tough environments and therefore listening to his body and drinking to thirst was a suitable hydration strategy for him
• After coming into the office for a Sweat Test in the lead up to his World Record attempts, we learnt Jake is a very salty sweater, losing 1,679mg of sodium per litre of sweat, so going into a long, warm event he was looking to replace this appropriately
• During the race, Jake got the majority of his sodium on board using PH 1500 (Tablets) as well as Electrolyte Capsules. Combined with the salt from the food he ate, he totalled ~442mg/h sodium intake, although it did fall from ~997mg/h in the first 4 hours to ~203mg/h between hours 20-24. We’d recommend anyone doing something similar in future to aim to maintain sodium intake throughout the event to attenuate blood plasma volume losses and therefore the likelihood of experiencing cramps

Fueling

Conclusions

• Jake did what he does Best… breaking yet another world record and making it look relatively easy in the process (despite the 40lbs on his back). For an event of this length, he demonstrated a strong fueling strategy - utilising a variety of ‘real foods’, and adjusting nutritional intake appropriately relative to exercise intensity along the way
• In terms of hydration, we’d recommend maintaining sodium intake where possible, especially as Jake is such a salty sweater. This would potentially alleviate issues with cramping and some of the fatigue he experienced
• Undoubtedly, he’s an absolute warrior. Since completing these world records, Jake has become part of the first able bodied team to row from the Poole Harbor (ENG) to Cherbourg (FRA) across 66 miles of the busiest shipping lane in the world, raising over £37,000 for charity in the process. We can’t wait to see what’s next…