Ellie Salthouse
IRONMAN 70.3® Melbourne
Ellie's headline numbers
Ellie'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.
Ellie took some time after her previous 70.3® to re-group, and headed into this race with a slightly different target: breaking in her new bike with an attempt at the bike course record. She loaded up her BTA ‘super nuke’ bottle with four scoops of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, two PF 30 Gels and a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to help fuel her aggressive bike strategy. Ellie also sprinkled in some additional gels separate from this bottle every ~15km, allowing her the flexibility to skip them if she didn’t feel like taking more carbs. This bike ride showcased Ellie’s third highest power numbers for 90km, and was supported by the third-highest carb intake we’ve seen from her during the bike portion. Not only this, but she also produced her fastest half marathon off-the-bike in 2024, further supporting the emerging anecdotal evidence that more carbs can equal better performances in elite athletes.
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.
Whilst Ellie’s losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still important if she wants to perform at her best.
Learn moreAfter struggling in her previous race to drink enough, feeling like she was constantly thirsty, this race was a complete turnaround for Ellie, as she didn’t feel thirsty at all and was able to push deep into the half marathon without worrying about nutrition. Ellie also left a bottle of plain water untouched on her bike, which was probably a reflection of the lower temperatures limiting her sweat rate and subsequent desire to drink.
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.
The scientific evidence supporting caffeine use in endurance sports focuses on several aspects of performance enhancement; namely the delayed time to fatigue. This study used muscle biopsies and exhaustive exercise to compare not only the effect on performance, but the mechanisms behind it. Caffeine ingestion reduced muscle glycogenolysis (glycogen breakdown) by ~55% when cycling at 80% VO2max, with an increased utilisation of extramuscular free fatty acids. This ‘sparing’ of glycogen can increase glycogen availability later in exercise, like when Ellie was running shoulder-to-shoulder for the race win for ~18km, before sprinting away to victory.
How Ellie hit her numbers
Here's everything that Ellie ate and drank on the day...
Ellie's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Ellie
PF&HEllie'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.