• Despite only stepping up to IRONMAN 70.3 distance racing this season, Ashleigh Gentle continued her run of solid performances at the IM 70.3 European Championships in Denmark. Battling tough competitors, she finished 2nd in what were hot conditions (averaging ~25℃/77°F) with a time of 4 hours and 8 minutes
• Ash led the race until T2 and put in a solid half-marathon to cross the line one minute and 37 second behind first place Emma Pallant-Browne. Reflecting on her performance, Ash said “I’m happy with my effort, I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Denmark”
• Ash implemented her newly developed 70.3 hydration and fueling strategy to effectively meet her carb, fluid and sodium needs (i.e. the three acute costs of taking part in endurance exercise)

Hydration

• Taking on board our recommendations from Clash Miami and IM 70.3 Oceanside earlier this season, Ash preloaded on the morning of the race with a strong sodium concentration drink a couple of hours before the swim. Ash’s preload involved drinking half a bottle of PH 1000; we would recommend preloading with PH 1500 in ~500ml (16oz) future as the extra sodium would help her absorb and retain more fluid to start optimally hydrated
• On the bike, Ash had three bottles - one containing four PF 30 Gels mixed with ~500ml/16oz of water, one 750ml/24oz bottle of PH 1000 and a ~600ml/20oz bottle of plain water which she drank half of. In total, she drank ~1.55L/52oz, an average of ~664ml per hour (22oz/h) on the bike and then she topped this up with ~180ml/6oz on the run from five sips of water and one sip of Coca Cola at aid stations
• Ash’s average fluid intake over the whole race was therefore ~419ml/h (14oz/h), higher than we saw her drink at Oceanside and just shy of the ~523ml/h (18oz/h) she drank at Clash Miami. Considering the extreme temperatures in Miami and cooler conditions in Oceanside, it’s great to see Ash’s fluid intake correlating with the race conditions and therefore her sweat losses
• She didn’t pee during the race but felt that she could have. Taking into account the duration of the race, this is to be expected and doesn’t suggest that she underdid her fluid intake
• Ash drank PH 1000 on the bike but took no sodium on board during the run, therefore her average sodium intake was ~181mg per hour which equated to a relative sodium concentration of ~434mg/L, factoring in the plain water she also drank
• Although this is a low sodium intake, compared to her previous two races, Ash has increased her sodium intake to replace a greater proportion of her losses. We would recommend she continues this trend to account for the fact that her sweat sodium concentration is in the moderate-high range (~921mg/L)

Fueling

Conclusions

• Ash had a fantastic result at the European Championships in Elsinore. She was unsurprisingly happy with her performance and rated her race satisfaction as a 9 (out of 10)
• We’ve seen a positive increasing trend in her carbohydrate intake and sodium replacement so far this season. We’re looking forward to see further refinements in her fueling and hydration strategy