• Just a week after finishing on the podium of the IM 70.3 European Championships in Denmark, Ashleigh Gentle stepped up to complete her first ever back-to-back 70.3 weekends by racing IM 70.3 Andorra
• Starting at 1,600m/5250ft altitude, Ash battled through the tricky course and hot conditions (averaging 27°C/80°F) to comfortably secure a win. The Australian finished in 4 hours 53 minutes, over 13 minutes ahead of second place Amy Cymerman
• On race day, she adopted a very similar strategy to the one she used at the European Champs a week prior, only slightly dialing up on her carb intake to pre-empt the longer bike duration

Hydration

• On the morning of the race, Ash preloaded with PH 1000 in 500ml/16oz of water in an attempt to ensure she was heading into the race hydrated. To execute an optimal preloading strategy, Ash could look to increase the strength of the electrolyte drink to PH 1500 to maximise her blood volume and increase her body’s ability to retain fluid, ensuring she starts the race optimally hydrated
• On the bike, Ash decided to not carry her additional bottle of plain water as the course was hilly and she didn’t want the extra weight. She was going to pick up a bottle of water at an aid station when she needed it and keep it with her, but unfortunately the water bottles at the bike aid stations ended up being too big for her bottle cage. Therefore, she had to ‘make it up on the fly’ and grabbed what she could on the move at three of the four aid stations to take on board a total of ~150ml/5oz plain water
• On top of this, she had ~650ml/22oz of PH 1000 (Drink Mix) and ~400ml/14oz mixed into her carb-rich gel bottle. Whilst running, Ash drank a couple of sips of Coca Coca which provided a small energy boost with ~300ml/10oz of plain water to average an hourly fluid intake of ~319ml/11oz overall
• Although an hourly intake of this amount seems on the lower side, Ash has low sweat losses and therefore taking on low volumes of fluid is adequate to hydrate her throughout a middle distance race. For example, Ash drank only ~186ml/h (6oz/h) at IM 70.3 Oceanside and ~419ml/h (14oz/h) in similar hot conditions at the European Champs
• In terms of sodium, Ash consumed ~650mg in total from her PH 1000 (Drink Mix) on the bike; this equated to a relative sodium concentration of ~417mg/L overall which was very similar to what she took to replace some of her moderate sodium losses in Denmark (~419mg/L)

Fueling

Conclusions

• Continuing her successful season so far, Ash took the win on this physically and mentally demanding course just a week after finishing second at the European Championships in Denmark
• Ash used a well constructed fueling and hydration plan to proactively replace her low fluid and sodium losses in the heat despite having to adjust ‘on the fly’ during the bike leg, whilst dialling up her carb intake to hit good numbers