• Camille has been a PF&H ambassador for four years, and we were delighted to see her selected for the 2023 Zwift Tri Academy
• IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz was Camille’s first race since joining the academy, and she managed to come away with the age-group win, despite not having the best day by her own standards
• Some stomach discomfort during the run accompanied by nausea and sickness in the latter stages meant her target time for 26.2 miles fell away, but she was still able to secure her qualification for the World Championships in October alongside her Zwift Tri Academy team mates

Hydration

• Camille had her sweat tested at PF&H headquarters, where she confirmed her suspicions of being a very salty sweater, losing 1,515 milligrams of sodium in each litre (32oz) of her sweat. So for this race, Camille knew starting as hydrated as possible would be essential
• To achieve this, she preloaded her sodium levels with 500ml (16oz) of PH 1500 alongside her dinner, and again with her breakfast on race morning. However, alongside this, she also drank two large glasses of plain water in the evening, and another glass of water on race morning
• This will likely have diminished the “preloading” effect by reducing the relative sodium concentration to ~500mg/L (mg/32oz) instead of the desired 1,500mg/L. For future races, Camille should look to limit the amount of plain water she consumes beforehand, as the body only has a limited capacity to “store” fluid
• During the bike, Camille chose to carry all her electrolytes in her bottles from the beginning, by super-concentrating three bottles of water (total 1.8L / 60oz) with seven PH 1500 Packets
• This meant she needed to pick up ~1.7L (58oz) of plain water from the aid stations to bring the overall concentration back down to match her sweat sodium concentration (1,515mg/L). Camille managed to pick up ~1.2L (39oz) of water, meaning the average concentration of her bike drinks was ~1,750mg/L
• After hopping off the bike, Camille felt like she’d executed her hydration strategy well, but started to feel quite thirsty between aid stations in the final ~50km. This was likely because her drinks were very salty, and the gaps between picking up plain water were too large
• Nevertheless, Camille hit the run feeling good, and set about drinking plain water through cups at aid stations, along with taking Electrolyte Capsules
• It was around the halfway mark that Camille’s stomach started to feel like it was sloshing and bloated. She was making an effort to drink 3-4 cups of water at every aid station, and this large intake in a short time frame likely began to overload her stomach
• Furthermore, her sodium intake decreased slightly, potentially reducing the absorption rate of the water she did consume
• Camille is going to practice running with a Soft Flask so she can self-regulate the quantity of fluids she drinks throughout the run, rather than relying on large amounts in a short time frame from aid stations
• She is also going to complete a battery of sweat rate tests, to establish more accurately how much fluid she needs, as it’s possible she was drinking too much during the run, which lead to her headaches and sickness

Fueling

Conclusions

• Camille left Vitoria-Gasteiz with mixed emotions. She was pleased to come away with her Kona slot, and with the age group win, but disappointed in how the marathon played out, and how unwell she was post-race
• Having set herself tough, but achievable targets, she subsequently rated her overall race satisfaction as a 5 (out of 10), feeling she didn’t show what she’s capable of
• Hopefully with some detailed sweat rate analysis, and more regular fluid intake, her next IRONMAN will allow her to show the hard work she’s done in training