• In her first race back from a stomach virus, Emma took on the hilly course at IRONMAN 70.3 Andorra and put together another consistent performance
• Emma was pleased to take 2nd place behind fellow PF&H product user Ash Gentle. The pair are recognised as the top runners in middle-distance racing, and their run splits were just two seconds apart!

Hydration

• Emma preloaded like she usually does with a bottle of PH 1500 the night before and morning of the race. This helped her initiate the performance enhancing effects of an increase in blood plasma volume (hypervolemia), and reap the thermal regulation benefits of this physiological process
• During the race, as the bike course was very hilly (~1900m / 6,233ft elevation gain), Emma opted to use her road bike rather than her TT bike to make it easier to handle the steep climbs and descents. She also tried to limit the amount of fluid she was carrying at a given time, thus minimising the weight of her bike
• To achieve this, she set out with a 750ml (24oz) bottle of water containing 60g of carbohydrate and a PH 1000 Tablet. Then her focus switched to collecting on-course sports drinks to top up her fluid and electrolyte intake
• Temperatures were fairly warm (~21℃ / 70℉) but not excessively hot, and on the long climbs where there was little wind to provide any cooling effect, Emma knew that she could be sweating a lot. To compensate for this, she drank ~520ml (16oz) of on-course sports drink and frequently poured bottles of water over her head to keep herself cool
• In all, Emma managed to drink ~401ml (13oz) per hour on the bike, with a relative sodium concentration of ~576 milligrams of sodium per litre (mg/32oz). Emma's sweat sodium concentration is 716mg/L (mg/32oz), so the amount of sodium in her drinks will have replaced a good proportion of her electrolyte losses from sweating
• Heading onto the run, Emma felt like she’d done an “okay” job of hydrating on the bike, but was a little thirsty. Subsequently, her focus shifted to drinking a larger amount to ensure she didn’t suffer any effects of dehydration towards the end of the run
• Sure enough, she increased her hourly intake of fluid to ~900ml (30oz) by relying solely on aid-station pick ups, being extra careful to get as much from each cup as possible
• As the sodium concentration of the on-course sports drink was quite low, her relative sodium concentration did not follow a similar pattern, and fell to ~263mg/L (mg/32oz)
• This meant across the five hours and six minutes of racinge, Emma’s average sodium concentration was ~420mg/L (mg/32oz). Going forward, we’d recommend Emma carries a couple of Electrolyte Capsules with her on the run to top up her sodium intake

Fueling

Conclusions

• Emma’s return to discomfort-free racing was successful after several incidences of GI distress post-race, decreasing her willingness to take any “solid” fuel during the run. Hopefully, as her stomach virus continues to clear up, Emma’s tolerance and willingness to take more “non-liquid” carbohydrates will increase. As these fuel sources typically contain a higher concentration of carbohydrates, her overall average will also likely increase
• As she approached the end of the race, Emma realised the win wasn’t possible, and so focused on keeping her heart rate under control and avoid overheating
• In future, she’ll look to continue to bolster her fueling intake, which will be particularly important in races where she’s fighting for position right until the finish line