• In hot and humid conditions (29℃/84°F with 70% humidity), Ashleigh Gentle outperformed her competitors to take the top spot at Clash Miami. With many of the athletes struggling in the extreme conditions, Ash pushed on to finish the ~81km course in just under 3 hours
• Despite suffering logistical issues before the race that meant she didn’t have all of her usual hydration products with her, Ashleigh adjusted her plan and successfully used what she had to support an excellent performance
• Reflecting on the race, Ash rated her race satisfaction as 9 out of 10, saying she was “happy with the result”, and that it “wasn’t the perfect race” but that she had “fared the best”

Hydration

• On the morning of the race, Ash had a glass of water. We would recommend that before future races, especially in similarly hot conditions and in races of longer durations, she preloads by having a drink with a strong relative sodium concentration (such as PH 1500 in 500ml/16oz). Instead of plain water, the sodium will help her retain the fluid, increasing blood plasma volume which has been shown to enhance performance (learn more)
• For her hydration strategy, Ashleigh had a ~600ml/20oz bottle of gel and water on the bike then picked up additional water and ice to both drink and chuck over herself as a cooling strategy. On the run, she then picked up water at aid stations, drinking about a sip (~30ml/1oz) per lap and throwing the rest over her head
• This meant on average she drank around ~523ml/17oz of fluid per hour over the race. Considering the very hot temperatures during the midday race, hitting over 500ml/hr (16oz/hr) overall, and more than 800ml/hr (27oz/hr) on the bike is a seemingly great fluid intake. Although we don’t have data on Ashleigh’s precise sweat losses, in these conditions they would likely have been high therefore picking up additional water on the bike was a good strategy to replace more of her sweat losses
• As a result of not having her usual products for the race, Ash didn’t have any electrolytes in the fluid she took on board. We would recommend for future races, particularly those of longer duration, Ash tries to include sodium in a proportion of the fluid she’s drinking to replace some of her sweat sodium losses before a deficit becomes detrimental to her performance
• During this shorter but still very warm race, Ash was able to avoid any issues and didn’t experience any cramping. She rated her makeshift hydration strategy as a 7 out of 10, saying it “was alright, but I would usually use electrolytes”

Fueling

Conclusions

• Ultimately, Ashleigh had a fantastic race in challenging conditions in Florida to win Clash Miami. Despite having to change her hydration strategy at the last minute, she adjusted well to work with what she had and managed to consume solid fluid and carb numbers to replace a proportion of her losses and fuel her excellent performance
• Ash is looking to race more middle distance triathlons, so may want to consider increasing her carb intake and be more proactive with her sodium intake before and during her racing