Joanna Butler
Lake Traverse 100
Lake District3rd, F50-54Joanna's headline numbers
Joanna's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"The mental highs and lows were very manageable, I think because my intake of calories was really steady. As expected, the last 20km were quite tough which pulled this average energy rating down."
With the help of the Sports Science Team, Joanna navigated the conflicting online advice about what you should and shouldn’t eat during an ultra to create an efficient, simple strategy that met her energy requirements. She used both solid and semi-solid foods to reach the recommended 60g/h, taking on ~30g of carb in the form of a gel (PF 300 Flow Gel, PF 30 Caffeine Gel, or a different flavour gel) and ~20g of solid carb, such as bars, sandwiches, rice cakes or banana, each hour. Alongside this, she had carbs in her ~5L of PH 1000 (Drink Mix) which contributed to hitting her fueling target. Using different forms of carbohydrate interchangeably across the ~18 hours of racing helped her to avoid flavour fatigue whilst maintaining a constant stream of fuel to keep her energy levels up, and impressively avoided any gut discomfort in doing so.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I think it went really well and that I nailed it!"
Joanna’s first 100km race in July 2024 didn’t quite go to plan, partially due to her hydration strategy, where she reported frequent peeing and nausea early on. In the build-up to her second 100km race, she was keen to nail her fluid and sodium replacement plan and practice it so she had everything in place for round two. Concluding her sodium intake was too low last time, the biggest change for Joanna came from drinking PH 1500 (Drink Mix) in her soft flask continually, only alternating from this when she chose to have some cola after the halfway point. This meant Joanna took on a strong relative sodium concentration, averaging ~1282mg/L across the race, to replace her sweat sodium losses. She aimed to drink at least 300ml per hour, but listened to her body and the conditions to adjust this throughout based on her losses. With a 10 out of 10 rating, we’d say she definitely demonstrated massive improvements from her previous attempt!
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
T - 0-4hrs: Had a final hit of caffeine
Joanna had a coffee and pre-race PF 30 Caffeine Gel before the 7:30am start, and then spread five caffeine gels across her fuel intake as well as consuming plenty of cola in the second half of the run. As a result, her caffeine intake exceeded the generic recommendations, but given the long duration of her race (~18 hours) and her high caffeine tolerance, a higher intake was appropriate to maintain her alertness, fight circadian rhythms and reduce her perceived levels of fatigue.
How Joanna hit her numbers
Here's everything that Joanna ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“The race was really good. I mean, it was hard but there was not an awful lot that I would’ve done differently.”
“After learning valuable lessons from her previous 100km race experience, Joanna built and executed a fueling and hydration plan that better catered to her individual needs and met the demands of an ultra. She was proactive with the relative sodium concentration in her fluids, and stuck to her timely eating and drinking schedule, which allowed her to maintain energy levels, whilst avoiding her previous issues of nausea and frequent peeing.”
PF&HJoanna's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
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.