Danielle Lewis
IRONMAN 70.3® Oceanside
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.
With most of her training geared toward full-distance triathlon, Danielle attributes her drop in energy on the run to a lack of specific conditioning. However, from a fueling standpoint, she was able to stick to her carb targets and stay above 90g per hour throughout the race. On the bike, she used her go-to method of a concentrated carb drink mix, alternating sips with plain water to dilute it down to match her goal intake of ~90g/h. Carrying a Soft Flask on the run allowed her to keep fueling with the PF 30 Gels mixed inside. Interestingly, before the race even started, Danielle had a mildly upset stomach and battled some nausea and reflux during the bike. However, this never escalated enough to get in the way of fueling with her planned carb intake and she managed to successfully stay on top of her numbers.
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 remains important, even when it’s Cold.
Learn moreAs a salty sweater, Danielle uses the higher strength of PH products and is also conscious to sip on electrolytes ahead of the race. Both her concentrated formula on the bike and her flask on the run contained PH 1500, but due to the total amount of fluid she consumed, the relative sodium concentration was low relative to her losses. She didn’t experience any cramping though, and the mild weather conditions likely played a role in this. In future races with warmer temperatures, we’d recommend increasing her sodium intake, either through electrolytes in her plain water bottle or by carrying Electrolyte Capsules.
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 took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel about 20 minutes before the start of the swim, and another about 10 minutes before getting off the bike. The strategic timing of these enabled her to reap the ergogenic benefits of caffeine at points in the race where she anticipated needing them. Her total caffeine intake averaged out to be in line with the scientific recommendations of 3-6mg per kg.
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 good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).