Pierre's headline numbers
Pierre's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
Pierre would benefit from taking in a final dose of carb <30 minutes before
"I strongly believe the pre-race carb loading and sodium loading helped my performance massively. I had to push my effort for the last 7km, but was able to maintain pace all the way to the end. "
After watching *This Video* of Andy talking about carb loading, Pierre decided he’d nail this aspect of his race fueling for the first time ever. He was surprised at the volume of carbohydrate which was required to hit 8-12g per kilogram of body weight. He actually mentioned feeling fairly uncomfortable when going to sleep two days out from the race. Pierre continued into the race with an equally aggressive fueling strategy. He carried three gels in his race shorts, and picked up PF Flow Gel in bottles from friends in the crowd. This is actually *more* carb than we’d generally recommend for a race of this length, but Pierre is working hard to train his gut to tolerate large amounts of carb… testing this in a race scenario proved his hard work is paying off.
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.
Pierre921mg/L
Pierre 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.
Whilst Pierre's losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I would drink a bit less next time, and use salt tablets to hit closer to my actual sodium losses. I also had to pee 3-4 times in the 30 min before the race and still wanted to pee within 10km of the start. I held it in and then found a place to pee near 20km. I felt amazing after that…"
After successfully preloading the morning of the race, Pierre arrived at the start line optimally hydrated. While his subjective feedback above could initially lead us to believe he had taken in too much fluid, it’s more likely that the significant adrenaline release (part of the body’s stress response to a race) caused his bladder muscles to relax and increased his urge to pee. Under normal circumstances, his bladder wouldn’t have been full enough to cause this reaction, but it’s a common response before a race. It’s theorised to help offload non-essential weight to prepare the body for intense physical activity. Despite Pierre’s stellar *perceived* hydration during the back half of the race, our main recommendation for future events would be to significantly reduce the relative sodium concentration of his intake to better match his individual sweat losses. This is to avoid the unnecessary risk of gastrointestinal distress and potential for developing hypernatremia.
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.
Consuming caffeine in the hours before the start may have increased perceived energy levels
Pierre took two caffeine gels, one at 5km and one at 17km, making sure he started with these instead of his regular gels. This allowed enough time for the caffeine to peak in his blood ~45 minutes later, so he would reap the full benefits *during* the race. Having only just hit the lower end of the recommended guidelines, Pierre may benefit from increasing his caffeine intake in future races.
How Pierre hit his numbers
Here's everything that Pierre ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“If I could rate my race satisfaction 11/10 I would. New PB! I felt great the whole race, even if the last 5-7km were harder, I was able to push through and more or less maintain the pace. ”
“Pierre shaved almost five minutes off his previous marathon personal best of 2:35:25 from Manchester in 2022. By committing himself to an aggressive carb-load in the 48 hours pre-race, he arrived at the start line with full energy stores, before providing enough *additional* fuel to his working muscles during the race to sustain the mammoth effort. In future races of this length, Pierre should significantly reduce his sodium intake to avoid the side effects associated with ‘oversalting’. ”
PF&HPierre'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 some confidence in the quantities and brands of products consumed but the data may lack specifics (e.g. volumes specific flavours). A high number of estimations have been made and the room for error is moderate-high. There may also be the possibility that some intake has been grossly over- or under-estimated.