IRONMAN® World Championships

After completing a big year of three IRONMAN® events, Allan knew his work was cut out for him at the World Championships. As an experienced triathlete, he had practised with his “super-nuke” bottle strategy (a highly concentrated bottle filled with loads of carbs and salt), which has served him well in the past due to consistent gut training sessions to handle high carb and fluid volumes. Almost all his carbohydrates on the bike, besides four on-course gels, were packed into the three bottles he started with (~539g carb). To account for the highly concentrated mixture of carbs and electrolytes in his bottles, he picked up water bottles from aid stations to top up and dilute his drinks as he went. This is a strategy we’ve seen more pros doing over middle and long-distance events, with Leon Chevalier having a similar highly concentrated bottle whilst on his way to 4th place). Although Allan’s intake on the run may seem low at ~69g/h, this front-loading strategy is something we commonly see athletes employ. This strategy enables higher intakes of carbs on the bike, and while you may not absorb all of that carbohydrate immediately, it will be available to use during the run when it is harder to fuel due to the risk of mechanically induced discomfort while running.

After receiving a Sweat Test from our crew at the expo in Kona, Allan aimed to increase his planned sodium intake to a more targeted amount to match his sweat sodium concentration. Coupled with new confidence in how much sodium to replace, Allan drank a significant amount of fluid across this race to ensure he was optimally hydrated. He achieved this by starting with concentrated bottles on the bike with PH 1500 and PH 1000 and avoided issues with over-concentrating these bottles by diluting them with plain water from aid stations along the bike course. Although he managed to consume what would be considered a decent level of fluid intake, he reported feeling dehydrated and flat towards the end of the bike. In future, Allan may benefit from conducting some of his own sweat rate measurements in the lead-up to his next race to ensure he can further dial in his hydration plan.

Allan steered clear of caffeine during his effort at the World Championships. Having never felt super comfortable consuming caffeine, he chose the safe option and avoided it for his biggest race of the year.