IRONMAN 70.3® World Championships

Anne-Sophie implemented an excellent fueling strategy at the World Champs in Finland, where she finished as the top ranked female amateur overall . Her intake was made up of two carb-rich 500ml bottles containing ~75g of carb each, alongside two PF 30 Gels and a PF 30 Caffeine Gel on the bike, which meant she averaged more than 100g of carb per hour. She then took on a PF 90 Gel during the run to hit just under 90g/h, an impressive quantity which equates to almost 2 grams per kilogram / 0.9 gram per pound of bodyweight! We’re seeing more triathletes consuming over 90g/h but, as in Anne-Sophie’s case, this takes plenty of practice and gut training to tolerate these carb-rich bottles on race day.

On the surface and from her subjective thoughts, Anne-Sophie both drank a suitable volume of fluid given Finland's mild conditions on the day, and front-loaded with a higher sodium intake on the bike to keep up with her sweat losses. Going forwards, Anne-Sophie may benefit from carrying out some sweat rate data collection to give her an indication of the volume she should be aiming to consume to avoid too big a deficit, especially in hotter races. Furthermore, having a Sweat Test will paint a clearer picture of the relative sodium concentration she needs to take on board to keep up with her sweat sodium losses.

On top of her usual pre-race coffee, by taking a PF 30 Caffeine Gel on the bike and drinking caffeinated energy drinks on the run, Anne-Sophie reached the lower end of the recommended caffeine guidelines. As an individual who doesn’t have the highest caffeine tolerance, she did well to reach the recommended dosage and spread her intake across the day to keep her blood caffeine levels up and take advantage of its performance enhancing effects.