Challenge Roth

Ant felt like he fuelled the entire race superbly, with the only thing derailing his efforts being when his bike chain came off, and he was forced to pull over and fix it. Unfortunately, he lost the ‘group’ of athletes he was riding with in the process, so pressed the pedals harder than he possibly should have to catch up, successfully “cooking his legs” in the process. Heading onto the run, Ant had done a sterling job keeping his carb intake high on the bike and after transitioning onto two feet, he mentioned feeling “bouncy and full of energy” as soon as he began the marathon. Similarly to the bike, Ant’s legs began to fail him in the latter miles, but as he actually rebutted our typical trend by increasing his hourly carb intake on the run (~105g/h) vs the bike (~101g/h), this was likely due to muscular fatigue rather than energy availability.

Ant has adapted his preloading strategy to include some over-concentrated PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix (mixed to a relative sodium concentration of 1,500mg/L). This ticked the box of the concentration required to trigger the physiological effects of preloading, whilst adding a decent dose of carbohydrates to top off his fuel stores before race-start. Typically, the peeing Ant experienced at the start of the bike is caused by over-drinking, or ‘under-salting’ fluids, where the fluid retaining properties of sodium aren’t utilised. Considering the mild temperatures, Ant’s fluid and sodium intake was likely in line with his sweat losses, so perhaps a bit too much fluid pre-race, alongside high circulating adrenaline levels may have caused him to pee more than normal in the early stages. Thankfully, backing off his intake early on meant Ant could reignite his hydration strategy during the run to help prevent an even bigger deficit. Even so, Ant finished feeling quite dehydrated and made the most of the liquids available in the finish area.

Ant has utilised the performance enhancing capabilities of caffeine in all of his previous race intake analyses. During this race, Ant made the conscious decision to take a slightly higher dose than the scientific guidelines would suggest, taking a PF 30 Caffeine Gel before the swim, then two more during both the bike and run. This tipped him slightly above the aforementioned guidelines for using the stimulant during a race of this intensity and duration. However, Ant’s high perceived tolerance and substantial daily caffeine consumption, alongside the absence of any negative side effects, mean this was likely a suitable intake for him, and we wouldn’t recommend changing this part of his strategy.