IRONMAN 70.3® Swansea

In classic triathlete fashion, Brett wrapped up two days of carb loading with a whole pizza and garlic bread the night before the race. He planned to take a PF 30 Caffeine Gel ~20 minutes before the start, but a race delay meant he had it ~45 minutes out. The caffeine likely still helped, but his blood glucose may have started dipping by the time the race began. On the bike, Brett mixed three PF 90 Gels into a 500ml bottle and had two PF 30 Caffeine Gels in his bento box, helping him hit an impressive ~127g of carbohydrate per hour. This is a great example of how proper gut training can enable athletes to push well beyond the traditional 90g/h threshold. However, Brett felt a bit full transitioning to the run and scaled back his carb intake slightly, so it could be worth exploring additional gut training on the run specifically, or trying to slightly reduce his bike fueling to strike a better balance and help keep his run intake high without the fullness feeling getting in the way. Additionally, a niggling hamstring issue flared up just as he stepped off the bike, forcing him to shift his focus to simply getting through the run. With his pace dropping and competitive goals no longer in play, Brett continued to reduce his carb intake, feeling he no longer needed an aggressive fueling approach.

To avoid diluting the sodium concentration of his morning preload, Brett should aim to reduce the amount of plain water he drinks alongside his PH 1500. During the bike, Brett’s 750ml bottle contained two PH 1500 (Drink Mix) packets, and he supplemented it by picking up ~300ml of plain water from the on-course aid station to top up his fluid intake. This gave him a total intake of ~1.05L, with a relative sodium concentration of ~1,429mg per litre. Averaging just ~441ml per hour on the bike is on the surface quite low, but as temperatures were mild (13-20℃), and Brett’s self-perceived sweat rate is fairly modest, this will likely have replaced a good proportion of his total losses. On the run, Brett ran out of T2 with a 500ml bottle of PH 1500 which he held onto until kilometre eight, where after drinking ~350ml of it, he discarded and switched to water and cola.

As a regular caffeine consumer, Brett had two black coffees with breakfast, which likely helped boost his alertness and reduce his perceived effort as the race got underway. While the delayed start may have affected the timing of his pre-race carbohydrate intake, it wouldn’t have significantly impacted the effects of caffeine, considering the supplement’s 4-5 hour half life. He topped up his caffeine levels during the race with a few PF 30 Caffeine Gels and some cola, bringing his overall intake in line with current scientific guidelines for performance enhancement.