Seville Marathon

After experimenting with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), James knew that he responds well to a carb-rich breakfast consisting of rice pudding and bagels. To ensure he had access to his ideal pre-race meal, he packed his ingredients in his luggage for his trip to Spain. Despite James’ rapid average pace (3:22 mins per km, 5:26 mins/mile), he wasn’t part of the ‘elite’ start group at this race and didn’t have the ability to pick up his own bottles on course. Instead, to accommodate his fueling strategy, he bought a pair of shorts which comfortably fit seven PF 30 Gels (one spare, just in case), and practised carrying them during training sessions so he could get a feel for where they would sit during the race. This enabled him to keep a consistent carbohydrate intake over the course of the race and stick to his pre-planned strategy.

James is used to cooler, temperate conditions and was slightly apprehensive of racing in the warmer Spanish climate. To navigate the increased demand heat places on the body, he completed several sauna sessions with the aim of heat acclimation. He also ‘preloaded’ on the morning of the race using a strong electrolyte drink consisting of PH 1500. James admits to being a pretty heavy sweater, but on the salt side of things falls into the moderate camp. Based on his estimated sweat losses, concentration and subjective feedback, his overall fluid and sodium numbers were suitable to replace an adequate proportion of his losses during the race.

James ensured he utilised the performance benefits of caffeine by taking on ~400mg of the stimulant during the race, as well as having a black coffee with his breakfast. Based on James’ new-found knowledge of caffeine and its half-life of ~4-5 hours, in future races, he plans ‘front-load’ his caffeine intake to the first half of his race. This will hopefully ensure he still has the vast majority of the stimulant in his system during the race and over the finish line.