Angela Naeth
SAIL Challenge CAP Québec
Angela's headline numbers
Angela's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Coming back from an injury and surgery a few months prior, Angela placed a big emphasis on adequate carbohydrate consumption. So, her race nutrition plan started 48 hours before with a carb load of approximately 8g of carb per kg of body weight. After her carb-rich breakfast, she topped up her energy with a PF 30 Gel 15 minutes before the start. This powered her through the swim, and she resumed fueling with a consistent delivery of carbs through 5 x PF 30 Gels and PH 1000 (Drink Mix) to hit ~126g/h on the bike. Although her intake dropped significantly on the run - down to 36g/h - her relative intensity was much lower during this part of the race in an attempt to “take it easy” on her first half-marathon since surgery. Her average intake overall fell within the recommendations and supported solid energy levels throughout 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.
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 Angela’s losses are on the moderate side, getting her hydration strategy right is still important if she wants to perform at her best.
Learn moreEven though Angela’s average fluid intake was appropriate for the mild conditions, it’s not surprising she peed more than normal as she consumed almost 95% of her total intake on the bike alone. She only took a few cups of plain water from the aid stations on the run, paired with an Electrolyte Capsule to stay on top of her relative sodium concentration. She didn’t experience any dehydration-related symptoms and likely replenished her losses, with a solid sodium consumption for her sweat sodium concentration. Going forward, we’d recommend she slightly reduce her fluid intake on the bike to move more of it to the run, providing a consistent delivery of fluid across the race to hopefully avoid having to urinate frequently and instead maintain hydration on the run.
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.
Angela’s a regular coffee drinker and has used high amounts of caffeine in races before with no adverse symptoms. While her in-race intake was on the lower end of the scientific recommendations, it’s likely that the PF 30 Caffeine Gel combined with the cup of coffee before the start were still delivering levels of the stimulant in her bloodstream and contributing to reducing her perception of effort.
How Angela hit her numbers
Here's everything that Angela ate and drank on the day...
Angela's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Angela
PF&HAngela's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.