• Experienced ultra runner, Katie Schide, had a brilliant season opener at the Maxi-Race Marathon in France to finish the day at the top of the podium! Taking the lead early on in the race, Katie was pushed hard by competitor Mimmi Kotka, but fought well to stay in front and cross the line in 4 hours and 8 minutes
• Shorter than her usual ultra races, Katie applied an adjusted fueling and hydration strategy suited to the ~38km (2900m elevation) trail race to support her performance in the forecast mild conditions. After trialing out various mixes and drink strengths in training, and running her strategy past the Sports Science team pre-race, Katie went into the race confident in her tested hydration and fueling plan

Hydration

• Following advice from the team, Katie preloaded ahead of the race with 500ml/16oz of PH 1500, while keeping other fluids to a minimum, to enhance her performance by increasing acute fluid retention and optimizing her hydration status
• During the race, Katie drank two 500ml/16oz bottles containing one scoop of PF 30 Drink Mix and a PH 1000 sachet in each, a 500ml/16oz bottle of PH 1500 and ~500ml/16oz water mixed with Coca Cola
• In total this meant Katie drank ~2L/64oz of fluid, an average of ~484ml per hour, over the 4 hour 8 minute race. Although we don’t know Katie’s exact sweat rate in these conditions, subjectively she said her sweat rate was relatively high on the day. Hitting just under ~500ml/h (16oz/h) was a proactive strategy which would likely have allowed Katie to keep up with those losses over this race; positively she peed once during the run which indicated she didn’t under do her fluid
• Reflecting on her hydration strategy, Katie said “I think it worked well for a race of this shorter duration than what I am used to” and rated it a 10 (out of 10)
• Using a combination of PF 30 Drink Mix and PH 1000, or PH 1500, Katie’s bottles had a relative sodium concentration of ~1500mg/L to replace her sweat sodium losses at a similar rate to her losses; our Advanced Sweat Test showed Katie loses ~1515mg of sodium per litre of sweat -In total, from PH 1000, PH 1500, PF 30 Drink Mix and small amounts from Coca Cola and chews, Katie consumed ~2290mg sodium (~554mg/h). Alongside her total fluid consumption, this meant her overall relative sodium concentration sat around ~1145mg/L; a good level of consumption to keep up with her losses over the 4 hours which allowed her to avoid any issues, such as cramping
• We know Katie is a very salty sweater, and supporting this she mentioned having various salt marks on her kit after the race. Going into longer, and hotter, races this season Katie may want to keep some Electrolyte Capsules on hand to be more aggressive when her losses are even greater

Fueling

Conclusions

• Katie started the trail running season as she means to go on with a fantastic performance at the Maxi-Race Marathon. Happy with the result, she rated her race satisfaction as 8 (out of 10), saying “I could have gone faster but I’m satisfied with how everything went”
• In terms of her hydration and fueling, she made the most of this initial shorter race as it was “a good chance to test everything out on race day”. Her strategy worked brilliantly throughout the race, allowing her to achieve a high carb consumption, and replace a good proportion of her sodium and fluid losses to support her performance