Danielle Lewis
IRONMAN® Arizona
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 got most of her carb intake on the bike from a homemade drink mix in her bottles, in addition to some PF 30 Gels and a pack of PF 30 Chews to eat when she felt hungry. These helped her to avoid the dreaded flavour fatigue which long course triathletes know all too well. An unfortunate mechanical issue meant that Danielle had a ~20-minute wait on the roadside before she could finish the bike, which may have contributed to the dip in energy she experienced afterwards since it derailed her planned carb goal. However, by prioritising carbohydrate on the run via PF 90 Gels in a soft flask, she was able to bounce back to keep herself pushing until the end. In an attempt to prevent the unfortunate and unforeseen energy dip as a result of the bike delay, Danielle could look to frontload her bike intake in future closer to 90g/h with the help of some gut training.
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 Mild.
Learn moreDanielle made sure to include sodium in her homemade drink mix bottles on the bike, and then used Electrolyte Capsules and a soft flask with PH 1500 on the run. This strategy would have effectively replaced her losses in the relatively mild conditions of Arizona, where Danielle's sweat rate was likely to be lower than usual. We know from her Sweat Test that she's classified as a salty sweater, so it may be helpful to increase the relative sodium concentration of her intake slightly, especially when racing in hotter conditions, to match her losses more closely.
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.
Between the PF 30 Caffeine Gel consumed on the bike and the cups of cola on the run, Danielle’s caffeine intake fell between the range generally recommended by the current scientific literature. This would have helped mask some of the fatigue during the race and help her keep pushing through the energy dip later on.
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.