Mikey Dimuantes
Ultra Trail Australia
New South Wales1st, M25-29Mikey's headline numbers
Mikey's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
Mikey would benefit from taking in a final dose of carb <30 minutes before
"My energy levels were really good. I deliberately eased off on the caffeine at the start to allow myself to relax and build into the race. I noticed a difference in my alertness after my first caffeine gel and didn't lose focus after that. My energy levels were great all day and I only had one low spot from 65km-70km. "
Mikey had a solid fueling strategy for a race of this distance, focusing on using mainly sports nutrition products to keep his energy levels up. Mikey has worked on increasing his tolerance to carbohydrates by training his gut to feel comfortable with this high intake for just over nine hours. By cycling through a mixture of Gels, Chews and Drink Mixes, Mikey could avoid developing 'flavour fatigue’, whilst continually fueling his muscles sufficiently throughout.
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.
Mikey1351mg/L
Mikey has been Sweat Tested to dial in his 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 Mikey's losses are High (1,351mg/L), nailing his hydration strategy remains important, even when it's Mild.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I only peed twice all day, once at about ~35km and once at ~60km. However, I didn’t feel that dehydrated after the race - no headaches or anything and my pee was a good colour. I missed one water drop that I was expecting on-course, but it didn't bother me too much. "
Mikey replaced close to his sweat sodium losses and fortunately didn’t have any hydration-related issues. Completing some sweat rate testing would allow him to calibrate his fluid losses more closely, especially if preparing for races in warmer temperatures where he’ll be sweating more and losing a greater volume of both fluid and electrolytes.
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
Although Mikey took more than the recommended caffeine intake for a race of this duration, he didn’t experience any adverse effects and reported a difference in his alertness after taking in his first Caffeine Gel. This suggests he was reaping the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant. The scientific literature, suggests no additional benefit associated with taking more than ~6 mg per kilogram of bodyweight, so perhaps swapping a couple of PF 30 Caffeine Gels with PF 30 Gels could lower his caffeine intake slightly and reduce the risk of any negative side effects in the future.
How Mikey hit his numbers
Here's everything that Mikey ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I was able to get the best out of myself and managed to stay well focused all day despite running solo from 30km in. My nutrition and hydration were both great, and I was also confident to make decisions about it on the fly (easing off on drinking if I felt GI discomfort towards the end). It's the kind of race I will be trying to replicate in the future. The only reason it's not a 10/10 is that I don't know what I would've done if I wasn't running solo for that long. It would've been cool to really, really RACE on a day like that and see what happens. ”
“With a first place result and a solid fuel and hydration strategy for a 100k, Mikey had an awesome race down under. With a few alterations going into races where he doesn’t have access to crew support, and a slight decrease in caffeine intake, he can look forward to more success over races of this duration!”
PF&HMikey'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.