IRONMAN 70.3® Oceanside

Emma has shown before that in cold conditions she struggles to drink much. As 120g of the 150g of carbohydrates she carried on the bike were in her drinks, it was vital she attempted to drink all of it to prevent underfueling. By taking ~61g per hour during the bike, Emma fell short of the 90g/h scientific recommendations for an event of this nature. She has, however, been training her gut to now tolerate on the bike what she took in total during similar temperatures at the 2022 World 70.3 Champs, marking a significant improvement. Having shown time and time again that her fairly strong carb load is a key part of her strategy, this race was no exception and set her up well for another hard battle. Emma may find it helpful to carry some spare PF 30 Gels on her bike in case she finds herself struggling to drink during future cold races, and ensure she doesn’t restrict her fueling as a consequence.

As you can see from her low sweat sodium concentration, Emma’s sodium intake was less of a priority than it might be for other athletes. In addition, the low temperatures (average ~10℃ / ~50℉) meant she was likely not sweating much, which further reduced her requirement to drink. By using the PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, which has a relative sodium concentration of 1,000mg/L, Emma was successfully “over-salted” compared to her sweat concentration during the bike, which will have “front-loaded” her sodium intake ahead of a planned lower intake during the run. In slightly warmer temperatures she would have picked up some plain water on course and diluted this concentration down, so we wouldn’t recommend changing any part of her hydration strategy. During the run, Emma’s strategy was to rely on cups of isotonic drink and plain water, further topping up her fluid and electrolyte intake, and likely did a decent job as she suffered no ill effects of dehydration, and clocked the fastest run split of the day.