Danielle Lewis
IRONMAN 70.3® St George
Danielle's headline numbers
Danielle's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Danielle used the same fueling strategy from her previous 70.3 race a few weeks prior, relying mostly on her ‘super bottle’ carb drink concoction during the bike. The combination of this with two PF 30 Gels (one regular and one caffeinated) enabled her to take in an impressive ~109g of carb per hour on the bike. However, this dropped significantly to ~63g/h on the run, as she didn’t consume all of her Soft Flask that contained gels and a PH 1500 sachet in an attempt to not overdo her intake like she did at IRONMAN® Texas. This is likely to have been the culprit for her lower energy levels at this point in the race, so carrying gels that aren’t tied in with her fluid might help keep carb intake steady.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Given Danielle’s losses are High (1,310mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it’s hot and/or humid.
Learn moreEven though Danielle experienced excessive thirst during the race, she kept her fluid intake within recommendations. Adding PH 1500 to her secondary bottle on the bike helped increase her sodium intake to more closely match her losses. However, on the run her ratio of sodium to fluid dropped to half of what it was on the bike (~1071mg/L to ~575mg/L), as she relied primarily on aid station water and cola. Going forward, she could carry some Electrolyte Capsules to supplement with or only have electrolytes in her Soft Flask so she can rely on this for hydration, without pushing her carb intake past what she can tolerate.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Danielle has developed a routine for caffeine use during races that works well for her. This includes a PF 30 Caffeine Gel in the final 20 minutes before the race start, followed by another toward the end of the bike to power her through the run. With the addition of a few cups of cola, her caffeine intake fell in line with the scientific recommendations.
How Danielle hit her numbers
Here's everything that Danielle ate and drank on the day...
Danielle's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Danielle
PF&HDanielle's full stats
Data Confidence?
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.