T100 French Riviera

Since we first started working with Ash ahead of her race at Clash Miami in 2022, she has continued to train her gut and increase the amount of carb she is able to consume during races. It’s a sign of how far she’s come that she’s gone from averaging ~50g of carb per hour in Miami to an impressive ~93g/h here in France. This was the highest average carb intake we have seen from her over the 100km distance, having previously averaged 85g/h across all of her 100km races. To achieve this, Ash has slightly changed her bike fueling strategy. Instead of using five PF 30 Gels, she incorporated two PF 90 Gels in a concentrated bottle alongside her usual PF 30 Caffeine Gel, and an additional bottle of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix. She then stuck to her familiar strategy on the run, taking two PF 30 Gels over the 18km, a routine she has found sustains her energy levels and allows her to hunt down competitors late in the race without experiencing any GI discomfort.

With a moderate sweat rate and average sweat sodium concentration, Ash has developed a reliable hydration strategy for this 3-4 hour race format, adjusting her intake slightly depending on weather conditions. In France, she made a slight change by drinking more on the run than we have seen in past races, as she took sips of water at every aid station on the lapped course because of rising temperatures. The overall relative sodium concentration of her intake was also lower than normal, as a result of using diluted PF Carb & Electrolyte Mix on the bike, where she has previously used PH 1000 (Drink Mix). Whilst this worked in the mild, early morning conditions, future hotter races may require a return to higher sodium concentrations to better match her losses and support fluid retention.

Ash’s race day caffeine intake involved drinking a black coffee in the morning before topping up with a PF 30 Caffeine Gel half-way through the bike leg. This meant that Ash’s intake fell short of the recommended dose for a race of this duration (3mg/kg), so it will be worth her considering taking a PF 30 Caffeine Gel in the final 30 minutes before the swim - a tactic she has used before in middle-distance races - as this would likely increase her circulating blood caffeine concentration to reach the effective dose to maximise the stimulant’s ergogenic effects.