• In what was his first full-distance IRONMAN, Andrew had a great race in the Texan heat to come 22nd in his age group
• He was ‘very pleased with how the race shook out’, saying it was a ‘hot and windy day but I stuck to my power numbers and nutrition plan and it all went well’
• Going into the race, Andrew was nervous about the hot temperatures considering he ‘typically fades in the heat’, but he adjusted his plan well to finish in 12 hours 49 minutes and was ‘thrilled with the outcome’

Hydration

• On the bike, Andrew had one 500ml/16oz downtube bottle containing three energy drink mix servings along with one and a half PH 1500 sachets and a 945ml bottle with three PH 1500 servings per lap. Whereas on the run he picked up water, Coca Cola and energy drinks, having roughly a sip of each per station
• In total, Andrew drank ~5L/176oz of fluid over the course of the race which equates to ~390ml/14oz per hour. On the surface this seems like an adequate volume to replace a proportion of his losses, but Andrew does report having a high sweat rate and the temperature hit highs of 31℃/88°F. Therefore, a greater fluid volume may have been beneficial considering his sweat rate will have been high
• That said, Andrew did pee a few times on both the bike and the run which suggests that he did not under hydrate
• He mentioned picking up a greater volume of energy drink on the run due to the heat, which he believes caused his GI issues on the run. Picking up more plain water from aid stations on the run instead, may have been better to replace his fluid losses while not overloading with strong energy drinks
• Andrew is yet to have an Advanced Sweat Test so we do not know his exact losses, but our Online Sweat Test has indicated that he has very high sweat sodium losses. He consumed ~1,134mg of sodium per hour during the race
• This will have replaced a great proportion of his losses, but could be dialled back slightly because in relation to his moderate fluid intake, the relative sodium concentration he was taking on board was very high (~2,909mg/L)
• Increasing his fluid intake would also have reduced this high concentration and completing an Advanced Sweat Test in the future will allow Andrew to dial in his sodium replacement more optimally
• Positively, Andrew did not cramp at all and agrees with our conclusions that he did ‘well on what was a hot day’. He rated his hydration strategy as a 8 out of 10 in practice, saying ‘I never felt faint, dizzy or weak which can come in the early stages of being dehydrated’

Fueling

Conclusions

• Andrew used a well planned hydration and fueling strategy in his first full-distance IRONMAN and in very hot conditions. After seeing athletes DNF in the heat previously, Andrew ‘was determined not to let himself get behind on fluids and to manage his body temperature’. He did this well, staying on top of his losses by making sure to take salt capsules, gels and bottles at set time intervals
• He rated his race satisfaction as 8 out of 10 because he was able to have a successful race in tricky conditions (Well done Andrew!) and was ‘pleased knowing the bulk of my nutrition and hydration products and decisions did their job well and got me to the finish line’
• Looking back on the race, Andrew said he would choose to back off the energy drinks early on the run with the aim to avoid the GI issues he experienced. A good idea could be to replace this intake with more plain water to increase his fluid intake and dilute the relative sodium concentration he was hitting with his sodium consumption