39th
Amy Cuthbertson's scorecard
IRONMAN 70.3 Luxembourg
Sunday 19th June, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
54g
Carb per hour
327mg
Sodium per hour
620ml
Fluid per hour
527mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
0mg
Total caffeine
How Amy hit those numbers
How Amy's hydration and fueling went...
- Amy Cutherbertson is one of ten female athletes that the Precision Fuel & Hydration Team have been working with in collaboration with the Voxwomen Performance Project. Upon joining the project, as someone who could ‘ride well, ran a bit, but couldn’t swim’, Amy’s personal goal was to complete a middle distance triathlon at the end of the six months
- With the help of the Sports Science Team and the team at Supersapiens, Amy, learned how best to fuel and hydrate to optimise her performance. This helped her to achieve her goal, in a time of 6 hours and 56 minutes
- On race day, Amy did a great job at managing her fuel and hydration needs despite the very hot weather conditions (highs of ~32℃/90℉), following her plan and hitting her targets on the bike and having the confidence to listen to her body on the run
Hydration
- Having checked the forecast ahead of time, Amy knew she would be racing in hot conditions >30℃/86℉ and would therefore be incurring significant sweat losses. With that in mind, to ensure she started well-hydrated, Amy drank 500ml/16oz of PH 1500 alongside her breakfast; a strategy which encourages the body to retain a greater proportion of the fluid drunk as well as starting with acutely more sodium on board
- During the race, all three of Amy’s 750ml/24oz bike bottles were filled with PH 500 (Drink Mix), with two of them also containing PF 30 Drink Mix. Amy depleted all three bottles on the ride, drinking an average of ~631ml/h (21oz/h), and then chose to run out of transition with another 500ml/16oz flask of PH 500
- At this point, temperatures were high, and what Amy was craving the most was just plain water. With that being the case, Amy drank half of her PH 500 flask before discarding it and drinking “as much water as I could get my hands on”
- Amy estimated that she drank ~18 cups of plain water during the run (~6 cups per lap of the three lap course) equating to ~1.8L/60oz of water (~100ml per cup). In total, we estimate that Amy drank ~2.05L/64oz on the run, averaging ~872ml/h (29oz/h). This is a relatively high average fluid intake but it reflects the high temperatures Amy was racing in
- The craving for plain water Amy experienced on the run is a reflection of the hot temperatures at that stage in the race, as well as, being a likely consequence of drinking only sodium-rich drinks during the bike leg. The relative sodium concentration of Amy’s drinks on the bike averaged ~951mg/L, a moderate-to-high concentration. Amy hasn’t had an Advanced Sweat Test so we don’t know her sweat sodium concentration (how many milligrams of sodium she loses per litre of sweat), however she perceives her sweat sodium losses to be low, as well as her sweat rate. Therefore, her net sodium losses may not have been too high
- Amy’s pre-mixed bottles were great choices on the bike but balancing these with some plain water to dilute the relative sodium concentration would be advised for future, warmer races of a similar duration
- Amy rated the appropriateness of her hydration strategy an 8 (out of 10), but not for lack of a suitable plan, instead, due to a lack of available water on the run, saying “two aid stations per 7km lap wasn’t enough in plus 30℃”
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- Amy ate her tried and tested breakfast of a third of a large chocolate chip brioche loaf alongside a can of Red Bull before the race. This ensured she was starting the event with topped up glycogen levels
- Amy could consider in future races taking ~30g of simple carb, for example one PF 30 Gel, in the 15 minutes before the gun. This is a strategy which is used by athletes to spike blood glucose levels at the beginning of exercise, sparing muscle glycogen in the early stages for use later. That said, it is a strategy which is considered to be an athletes personal preference and needs testing in training before race day
- Across the 70.3 race, Amy consumed a total of ~375g of carb, averaging ~54g per hour which falls just short of the recommendations of 60-90g/h for a race of this intensity and duration. However, this doesn’t tell the full story of Amy’s fueling as she did meet the upper end of this recommendation on the bike but struggled to eat as much as she planned on the run due to the conditions, bringing her average carb intake down
- On the bike, Amy averaged ~86g/h, with her three 750ml/24oz bottles each containing one PH 500 (Drink Mix) and two containing an additional serving of PF 30 Drink Mix. Amy also took five PF 30 Gels and two energy bars (~21g carb each), following the rough plan to eat something every 30 minutes
- The decision to use a variety of carb sources reduces the chance of flavour fatigue and can improve morale at difficult times
- On the run, Amy had planned to use PF 30 Gels and Haribo sweets to meet her fueling needs as this had worked well in her longer training runs. Unfortunately, in the heat of the day, Amy reported that “it was impossible to eat Haribo, I couldn’t swallow them”
- In the end, Amy took just two gels on the half marathon (~29g/h), prioritising drinking plain water from aid stations to quench her thirst
- Amy rated her GI comfort in the race as 8 (out of 10), rather than this being a result of taking in too much, she commented that, at times it was hard to eat as a result of her food and fluids being hot
- Whilst Amy did caffeinate before the race with a can of Red Bull, she could have benefitted from ‘topping up’ her caffeine dose as the race duration (~7 hours) exceeded caffeine’s half life of 3-4 hours, to provide an additional mental, and physical, boost
Conclusions
- Amy did a great job in her first ever middle distance triathlon in very challenging conditions; following her plan on the bike and adapting well on the run!
- One adjustment to Amy’s strategy would be to drink some plain water on the bike alongside her pre-mixed bottles. This change will slightly reduce the relative sodium concentration of Amy’s consumption, which may have a positive influence on her strong craving for water in the latter stages of the race
Key info
Amy Cuthbertson
Female
Result
Position
39th
Overall Time
6:56:21
Swim Time
0:46:21
Bike Time
3:34:15
Run Time
2:21:10
Event information
Sport
Triathlon
Discipline
Middle distance
Event
IRONMAN 70.3 Luxembourg
Location
Region Moselle, Luxembourg
Date
19th June, 2022
Website
Swim Distance
1.9km / 1.2mi
Bike Distance
90.1km / 56.0mi
Run Distance
21.1km / 13.1mi
Total Distance
113.1km / 70.3mi
Race conditions
Weather Conditions
Very Hot
Precipitation
No Rain
Min Temp
27°C / 81°F
Max Temp
32°C / 90°F
Avg Temp
30°C / 86°F
Humidity
45%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
9/10
Hydration rating
8/10
This is down to the lack of availability of fluid on the run, not down to my plan
Energy levels
10/10
Toilet stops
Yes
Once entering T1 but not again
GI comfort
8/10
Cramping
No cramping
Amy's Thoughts
I hadn’t factored in how hard it would be to eat in the heat for the run. I had tried and tested what I wanted to eat in training and it was fine, but on the day I simply couldn’t swallow the haribo I planned to eat
Amy's full stats
Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | |||||
Total intake | 375 | 2,265 | 4,300 | 0 | 527 |
Per hour | 54 | 327 | 620 | 0 | |
Bike and Run | |||||
Total intake | 375 | 2,265 | 4,300 | 0 | 527 |
Per hour | 63 | 383 | 727 | 0 | |
Bike | |||||
Total intake | 306 | 2,140 | 2,250 | 0 | 951 |
Per hour | 86 | 600 | 631 | 0 | |
Run | |||||
Total intake | 69 | 125 | 2,050 | 0 | 61 |
Per hour | 29 | 53 | 872 | 0 |
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.