Lucie Hanes
Black Canyon 100km
Arizona14th, F25-29Lucie's headline numbers
Lucie's strategy
Fueling
A carb rich meal (low in fat & fibre) ~1-4 hours before would help Lucie start optimally fueled
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"I felt great the whole first half, but after the midpoint things started to tank. I do think it was related to my hip pain because I was spending so much mental energy on that one specific thing. If I didn’t have that pain point which kind of sapped my energy, I feel like I would have had more sustained energy levels."
Lucie hit nearly every fueling interval she’d planned, alternating between a few different sources (including PF 30 Gels and Chews) to successfully attenuate the flavour fatigue many athletes encounter during ultra distance events. However, her carb intake was still fairly low, even considering her bodyweight. The scientific literature doesn’t seem to indicate that smaller athletes need less fuel, and in fact, the relative impact of a higher carb intake could instead work to their advantage. The hip pain Lucie experienced was definitely a factor in her perceived energy levels, but training her gut to tolerate more carb while working at a higher intensity will enable her to increase energy availability in future races.
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.
Lucie1801mg/L
Lucie has been Sweat Tested to dial in her hydration plan
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Given Lucie's losses are Very High (1,801mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy remains important, even when it's Cold.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I didn’t finish my bottles, so maybe next time I can be really adamant about trying to finish the bottles between stations."
Even with the 2.5 hour delay, the race started out cold and snowy, though it did warm up a bit by the midpoint. Lucie isn’t an extremely heavy sweater, but with the sheer pace that the athletes kicked off with, her fluid losses likely accumulated faster than expected. Her relative sodium concentration was adequate for her losses, but at each crew station, her bottles still had a fair amount of fluid remaining in them. Considering her high sodium losses and struggle to keep up with her planned fluid intake, it may be helpful to increase the relative concentration to encourage her body to hold onto more water alongside being more proactive with her drinking.
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
Since Lucie’s a habitual coffee drinker and tolerates a high amount of caffeine, her intake isn’t something we’d change in her strategy, especially for a race of this duration. She didn’t experience any negative effects from going slightly over the *general* recommendations, and appropriately incorporated PF 30 Caffeine Gels at specific intervals – immediately, 3.5 hours and 6.5 hours in.
How Lucie hit her numbers
Here's everything that Lucie ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I’m satisfied with the push and I know that I was in a field of very competitive, well-deserved women. But the very, very ambitious side of me is like…I want more! So I'm trying to channel it into inspiration.”
“In the days following the race, Lucie experienced puffiness and bloating, likely partially related to dehydration, as the body’s cells and tissues can overcompensate for this by holding onto excess water, therefore causing swelling. Lucie produced a solid performance as a relative ‘newbie’ in a stacked field and there are a couple of areas that she’ll be looking to refine going forwards. It will be worth Lucie practising a higher fluid and carb intake during training as this will help it become part of her routine, which she can then sustain even through harder efforts and quicker paces.”
PF&HLucie'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 good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).