Black Canyon 50km

In her first race of the 2026 season, Jane was able to sustain close to 60g of carb per hour over the 50km distance to support her race-winning performance. Even though she experienced some GI discomfort during the race, she was still able to keep on top of her fueling and avoid a dip in her carb intake across the second half of the race (averaging ~56g/h over the first 19 miles and ~64g/h to the finish). In the build up to the race, Jane didn’t complete many long run sessions where she was able to practice her fueling strategy, which would have been helpful in mitigating against what she experienced on race day. As the season progresses and especially ahead of her longer ‘A’ races, Jane should use targeted race simulation sessions to train her gut to incrementally build her tolerance from 60g/h, to 75g/h and ultimately 90g/h to keep her working harder for longer.

In Arizona’s mild conditions, Jane used two 500ml flasks containing PH 1500 (Drink Mix) and water to replace her moderate fluid and sodium losses across the ~3 hours 50 minute race, averaging ~587ml/h and ~605ml/h over the first and second half of the race respectively. In future, Jane should collect specific data on her sweat rate during some of her training runs at race intensity. This would ensure she is replacing enough fluid to avoid too great a level of dehydration, especially during hotter races, as this can play a role in GI comfort (carbohydrates require fluid to aid absorption).

Similar to what she did ahead of the World Mountain Championships at the end of 2025, Jane utilised caffeine on race day in the form of two PF 30 Caffeine Gels. By spreading these doses out, she maintained her caffeine levels to benefit from the stimulant’s ergogenic effects right to the finish. She could consider one additional PF 30 Caffeine Gel as her pre-race carb dose to stay within the recommended range but also spike her caffeine levels from earlier in the race.