Madeira Island Ultra Trail 115km

Robyn had chatted to our PF&H Sport Science Team ahead of Madeira Island Ultra Trail and had a solid strategy to follow. Robyn chose to use a mixture of carb sources for this event which is a great way to avoid flavour fatigue. Unfortunately, she struggled with some nausea and GI issues which made it challenging for her to keep her carb intake up and stick to her 60g/h goal. She has trained her gut suitably to tolerate higher intakes of carb and has previously managed this at the Dragon’s Back Race, (~57g vs ~48g/h at MIUT). Alongside the extreme elevation and duration of MIUT the race started at midnight. With races starting during the night, it is challenging for athletes to consume food in the hours they usually wouldn't, which may have contributed to the difficulties Robyn experienced. This is hard to counteract, but it would be beneficial for her to do some further gut training of her intake ahead of long sessions and even including some longer sessions in the early hours to trial strategies for these sorts of challenges.

Despite feeling as though she didn’t consume enough water, the relatively cool conditions were manageable for Robyn, especially throughout the first half/early hours of the race, and therefore it is likely she drank enough fluid to limit the effects of dehydration. She made sure to refill her flasks with PH 1000 consistently throughout the race, helping her to replace sodium in line with her sweat losses and supplemented this with cola and plain water at the checkpoints to avoid any significant fluid deficit. To help optimise her hydration strategy, Robyn could preload ahead of the race using PH 1500 to ensure she is starting optimally hydrated.

As a result of starting at midnight, and consequently lacking sleep, Robyn could have benefited from spreading her caffeine intake more consistently across the race in an attempt to stay alert and fight her circadian rhythm. She sat slightly above the scientific caffeine recommendations at ~6.62mg/kg, but would still reap the maximal ergogenic benefits of the stimulant throughout such an enduring race. This seemed to serve her well and may have counteracted some of the low-energy issues she experienced due to underfuelling.