Tara's headline numbers
Tara's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"At halfway I came into the checkpoint feeling really tired and hungry, but after a bit of real food, some reassurance I was “on track” and a reminder to keep eating, I spent the rest of the day with pretty stable energy levels."
Having used 21 different items to fuel her previous ultramarathon in Andorra, Tara streamlined her plan to less than 10 items for the CCC but relied on energy products like gels and chews, as well as using some of her preferred ‘real foods’ to ward off flavour fatigue. Chris and Rachael from the PF&H team crewed Tara throughout the race, which meant they could provide her with advice about her fuel strategy throughout, and help her adhere to the plan, especially when her focus started to drop as tiredness became more of a factor late into the race.
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.
Tara716mg/L
Tara has been Sweat Tested to dial in her 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 Tara's losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still crucial when it's hot and/or humid as her higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"It got really hot in the middle of the day, and I felt super thirsty, but I kept on top of my water and sodium really well and never got dehydrated. Last time out I was peeing a LOT, but after measuring my sweat rate during training sessions in the build up to CCC, I was able to dial in my strategy to match my losses better."
As temperatures were high, particularly in the middle of the day, Tara mostly drank PH 1000 from her Soft Flasks to slightly “oversalt” her drinks compared to her sweat sodium concentration of 716mg/L. This was to ensure she replaced a high proportion of her electrolyte losses, whilst also avoiding the excessive peeing she experienced in her last race, by encouraging a little more fluid retention. On one occasion, where she wouldn’t have crew access for nearly 3 hours, she chose to fill her Soft Flasks with PH 1500 instead, as she knew there were some plain water stations along the route where she could dilute this higher concentration back down.
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
Tara discussed her caffeine plan with the Sports Science team at PF&H, and decided to delay her caffeine intake until ~9 hours into the race when the sun began to set. She really noticed the perceived benefits at this point as it helped her fight against her natural circadian rhythm which was trying to shut her muscles down and encourage her to sleep. This worked well as she felt significantly better than at the same point of her previous 100km race, so is a strategy she’ll use again in future ultras.
How Tara hit her numbers
Here's everything that Tara ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I’m a typical athlete, in that I should be over the moon with 10th in my age-group and 26th overall in my first race of this calibre. But I can’t help but think that top 25 would sound much better! I’ve learned a lot from my two 100km races, and can’t wait to knuckle down and see what I can achieve next year.”
“Tara exceeded her pre-race expectations and finished strong, narrowly missing out on a top 25 finish overall by a handful of seconds after a sprint finish. Staying vigilant with her fuel and hydration plan helped her overtake several of her opposition in the closing kilometres, as they started to falter in the latter stages. ”
PF&HTara'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 good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).