Challenge Roth

After a series of GI issues over the past several races, Danielle made a few adjustments to her fueling plan ahead of Challenge Roth. She separated more of her fuel from her hydration, and used a wider variety of fuel sources to keep her from overloading on one item or risking flavour fatigue. She’s been trialling this plan (and retraining her gut) in preparation to tolerate the same amount of fuel she needs to keep her energy levels topped up. Additionally, she focused on increasing her carb intake in the days leading up to the race, consumed a carb-rich breakfast, and had a final boost of carbs immediately prior to the start. Thankfully, the fine-tuning paid off and she had one of her best GI ratings of the 2024 season while simultaneously maintaining high perceived energy for most of the race. While she had planned to pick up a fuel flask around halfway into the run, her energy levels decreased slightly earlier than expected, leaving a brief lull in energy and fuel. But Danielle did well to take in what she could, grabbing cups of cola from the aid station, and came back to finish in fifth.

As someone with a higher-than-average sweat sodium concentration and a fairly high sweat rate, it’s crucial for Danielle to stay on top of her fluid and electrolyte intake to replace her losses and prevent dehydration-related issues. Even though the race's milder temperatures worked in her favour, she still made a point to match her individual losses as closely as possible, something she’s been working to achieve over the 2024 race season. Danielle ensured she had a ‘hydration-focused bottle’ containing PH 1500 and carried extra tablets to add to this whenever she refilled, helping to keep dehydration at bay. Despite losing one of her planned PH 1500 tablets on course, Danielle managed to regularly consume sodium in the form of capsules to maintain her intake and prevent any significant deviation from her plan.

Danielle’s a regular coffee drinker and always incorporates at least some caffeine into her strategy. On this occasion, she increased her caffeine intake significantly and was quite a bit above the scientifically recommended range. However, she did space out the doses, placing a PF 30 Caffeine Gel before the swim to kickstart her fueling and another part way through the bike, followed by several additional rounds of caffeine on the run. Since she didn’t have any negative symptoms from the high amount and actually felt better than she has previously, her caffeine tolerance is likely pretty high and enabled her to maximally reap the fatigue-masking benefits of the stimulant over a full-distance race.