James Turner's scorecard
Seville Marathon
Sunday 19th February, 2023
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
96g
Carb per hour
127mg
Sodium per hour
279ml
Fluid per hour
455mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
400mg
Total caffeine
How James hit those numbers
How James' hydration and fueling went...
- James is a seriously fast sub-elite athlete, who achieved several PB’s in 2023 using PF&H products. Our sports science team caught up with him after his 2:22:45 personal best marathon in the Spanish city of Seville
- While there are a couple of minor things James can optimise his strategy with, specifically around the timing of caffeine and carb intake, he essentially nailed his fueling and hydration on his way to the finish line. This meant he could happily report his race satisfaction as a 10 (out of 10)
Hydration
- James, who comes from Brighton in England, was slightly apprehensive of racing in the hotter Spanish environment in Barcelona. To combat this, he had several sauna sessions to acclimate to the heat and also ‘preloaded’ on the morning of the race, using a strong electrolyte drink (PH1500) to ensure he started optimally hydrated, giving his body the best ability to regulate his temperature effectively on the course
- After finishing a 500ml (16oz) bottle of PF 60 Energy Drink mix that he sipped on throughout the morning of his race, James relied on cups of water from aid stations for his fluid intake. This resulted in him drinking ~279ml (9oz) of fluid per hour, with an average sodium content of ~455mg/L (mg/32oz)
- James admits that he is a pretty ‘heavy’ sweater, but thinks that this sweat is fairly low in sodium having never had white marks on his running kit, and his sweat doesn’t particularly sting his eyes
- This would suggest that he replaced a good proportion of the sodium that he lost during the race, especially considering the PH 1500 he had with breakfast. His fluid intake is also in line with what we see during a marathon distance race. Despite his suspected high sweat rate, his body has the ability to tolerate a certain amount of dehydration, and so it would have been inappropriate to try and replace 100% of his losses
- James also utilised the performance benefits of caffeine, taking on 400mg during the race, as well as a black coffee with breakfast. Interestingly, because caffeine takes 45-60 minutes to peak in the bloodstream, he wouldn’t have felt the full effect of the 100mg from his final PF30 Caffeine Gel, which he took just 20 minutes before the finish line
- In future races It’s likely James will ‘frontload’ his caffeine intake to the first 100 minutes of his race, in the knowledge that its 4-5 hour ‘half life’ means he will still have the vast majority of it in his system when he crosses the finish line
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- After experimenting with a Supersapiens continuous glucose sensor, James knew that he personally responds well to a carb rich pre-race breakfast of rice pudding and bagels. To ensure he definitely had access to this, and that he wouldn’t be limited by what Spanish supermarkets had to offer, he took some with him to Spain in his luggage
- After eating this breakfast, James went to the race start, sipping on a bottle of PF 60 Energy Drink Mix and finally topping off his energy with a PF 30 Caffeine Gel within the 30 minutes prior to race start
- In future James is going to make sure this final gel is taken 10-15 minutes before the gun fires, so that his blood glucose is still on the rise when he starts and he can avoid an unintentional ‘crash’ by taking it on board too early
- Despite James being so fast, averaging 3:22 mins per km (5:26 mins/mile), he wasn’t part of the ‘elite’ start group at this race and so didn’t have access to the water bottles which pros can choose to lay out ahead of their race. To make sure he was prepared, he bought a pair of shorts which could easily accommodate his seven PF 30 Gels (one spare, just in case), and carried them during training sessions so he could get a feel for where they would sit during the race
- James was able to average a really strong 96g of carb per hour throughout his race. This is above the Fuel & Hydration Planner’s general recommendation of 90g/h during an event of this duration and intensity
- He attributed this impressive intake to the ‘gut training’ he’s carried out in the previous seven years of competing in long running events, as well as the high carb concentration of PF 30 gels (30g in a 51g packet)
- Happily, despite this large carb intake, James reported absolutely no stomach discomfort, giving it a perfect rating of 10 (out of 10). He also felt well energised throughout, which no doubt the carb contributed to, rating this as an 8 (out of 10)
Conclusions
- Overall, James had a great race in Seville all but nailing his fuel and hydration strategy in a warmer environment that he’s used to, on his way to a marathon PB
- Going forwards in his training, James is going to experiment with the timing of his carb and caffeine to see if there’s any further improvements to be exploited ahead of his next races
Key info
James Turner
Male
Result
Overall Time
2:22:45
Event information
Sport
Running
Discipline
Marathon
Event
Seville Marathon
Location
Seville, Spain
Date
19th February, 2023
Website
Total Distance
42.2km / 26.2mi
Race conditions
Weather Conditions
Mild
Precipitation
No Rain
Min Temp
14°C / 57°F
Max Temp
19°C / 66°F
Avg Temp
17°C / 63°F
Humidity
60%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
10/10
Hydration rating
8/10
If I did the race again, I might ask someone to pass me a bottle with electrolyte mix in it
Energy levels
8/10
Toilet stops
No
GI comfort
10/10
Cramping
No cramping
James' Thoughts
I hit my target and everything went to plan!
James' full stats
Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | |||||
Total intake | 228 | 300 | 660 | 400 | 455 |
Per hour | 96 | 127 | 279 | 169 |
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
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.