La Rochelle Marathon

Prior to starting the race, Oliver ate a high-carb breakfast to increase his glycogen stores and top up his energy levels. He could have benefited from taking an additional ~30g dose of carb, such as a Gel or Chew, in the last 30 minutes as a final boost to spare glycogen stores for later in the race. Considering his efforts to carb-load, Oliver’s lower than recommended intake during the race may have been just enough to maintain his energy levels across this race and see him to the finish line. However, the science suggests that intakes higher (~60-90 grams of carbohydrates per hour) would be more suitable given the intensity and duration of the race. Fortunately, Oliver didn’t experience any GI issues during the race thanks to regularly practicing his fueling strategy and training his gut. This comfort level bodes well for Oliver increasing his intake in future races to further enhance his energy levels and performance.

Without performing any targeted sweat rate testing it's tricky to pinpoint Oliver’s exact sweat losses for a race of this duration and intensity. Given the mild, wet conditions he was racing in, it’s likely his sweat rate and subsequent sweat losses were lower than average for him. Oliver attempted to increase his sodium intake prior to the race by consuming a bottle of PH 500 on the morning of, but he’d be better off swapping the PH 500 (Tablet) to a PH 1500 (Tablet). By drinking a stronger electrolyte drink, he will successfully pre-load, maximizing his blood volume and optimizing his pre-race hydration status. During the race itself, Oliver didn’t consume any sodium and luckily avoided any cramping episodes. In his future training and racing, he could get a Sweat Test to see how salty his sweat is and perform sweat rate testing to quantify his total fluid losses. As an estimate, he could start by carrying a Soft Flask with some PH 1000 to gradually replace his losses and see if this helps him avoid cramping or other dehydration-related symptoms.

Oliver didn’t consume any caffeine during the race, but did drink a coffee with his breakfast. Despite not meeting the recommended scientific guidelines of the stimulant based on body weight, he would have benefited slightly from the morning caffeine dose. Still, to further enhance his perceived energy levels and reap the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant he should look to include some in his race strategy. He could do this by having a caffeinated gel which we would recommend he trials during some training runs ahead of his future races.