• Marnie entered the Canberra Marathon with the intention of running a qualifying time for the 2022 World Marathon Championships which stands at 2 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds. Marnie went out at the pace required to run her target time, but unfortunately suffered in the second half of the race and finished in a time of 2:43:30
• Marnie still managed to win the race by an impressive 10 minutes and 3 seconds, but she fell short of her pre-race target and has already set her sights on achieving this qualifying time at the Gold Coast marathon in July
• Marnie’s original plan was to use the elite drinks tables to pick up her bottles of PF 30 Drink Mix, but saw the aid stations “weren’t great” and it wouldn’t have been easy to access her drinks during the race. For this reason, Marnie decided that using her own bottles wasn’t a viable option, and planned to utilise the on-course water stations instead
• This was Marnie’s second marathon attempt in seven days after she DNF’d a little before halfway of the Newcastle marathon the weekend prior, and in hindsight felt she wasn’t completely recovered for this race

Hydration

• Marnie describes herself as a light-to-moderate sweater, and decided to preload the day before with PH 1500. She mixed this in ~1.25L/42oz of water, which will have diluted the relative sodium concentration of her drink to ~600mg/L. In addition to this, Marnie drank ~1L/32oz of plain water
• Marnie says she was peeing quite a lot the night before the race, which indicates she may have over hydrated, a practice that can be counterproductive and potentially reduce blood plasma volume. To prevent this, we would recommend Marnie follows our preloading protocol by drinking PH 1500 in ~500ml/~16oz of water. This will ensure the sodium concentration is not diluted, and will prevent over-excretion of vital electrolytes and fluids as a result of acute overhydration
• Marnie managed to drink ~300ml/10oz of water during the race, regularly grabbing cups at aid stations as and when she desired. Due to not having her own bottles of PF 30 Drink Mix on course, she may have consumed less fluid than originally planned
• Nonetheless, during races of this intensity, it can often be difficult for athletes to consume fluid whilst moving at such fast speeds, operating at close to maximal effort. So considering this, Marnie did a good job at getting ~150ml/5oz of fluid down per hour in the earlier parts of the marathon
• Marnie didn’t take on any sodium during the race. Considering the high intensity Marnie races at, we would recommend she consumes some sodium to replace a larger proportion of the sodium she’s losing in sweat, especially during races in hotter conditions when her net sweat losses are likely to be higher. She may consider using some Electrolyte Capsules when there’s no opportunity to collect pre-made electrolyte drinks on course

Fueling

Conclusions

• In all, Marnie was disappointed with her overall performance, rating her race satisfaction at 2/10, primarily because she didn’t achieve what she wanted
• Marnie further went on to describe how she loves the feeling of winning races, but when it comes after a poor personal performance, it can be bitter sweet
• There are some positives that Marnie can take away from this race, including how she employed her wealth of experience to adapt her fueling plan, so she avoided the dreaded stomach cramps
• For future races, Marnie will be better recovered in the lead up, which will undoubtedly improve her performance. She should also try to optimise her pre-race hydration status by maintaining the intended concentration of the PH 1500 by preloading with one tablet mixed in ~500ml (~16oz) of water the night before, and the morning of the race
• Further to this, Marnie should look to include some sodium intake during her next race on the Gold Coast, perhaps by utilising some Electrolyte Capsules
• Fuelling better in the 2-3 hours before the start will also help Marnie improve her future performances