Emma Pallant-Browne's scorecard
Challenge The Championship
Saturday 21st May, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 46gCarb per hour
- 902mgSodium per hour
- 614mlFluid per hour
- 1,468mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 0mgTotal caffeine
How Emma hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
1L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
1 x Bread roll with egg
1 x Bread roll with honey
Pre-race (<30mins)
1 x PF 30 Chews
Race - Swim
*** Review technique if drinking much at this point!
Race - Bike
1L x PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix with PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
0.75L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
0.5 x PF 30 Chews
Race - Run
540ml x Plain water
270ml x Energy drink (22g carb)
- Emma excelled at the Challenge Championship in Samorin as she finished second, just two weeks after she took the victory at IM 70.3 Mallorca
- After an unwelcome encounter with a bee that saw her get stung on the bike leg, she began the run in 5th place, before pulling out an impressive half-marathon as she claimed the fastest run time among the stellar field of athletes. Throughout the race she implemented a good hydration and fueling plan, using various parts of previous strategies, this allowed her to avoid any major issues and push on late in the race
Hydration
- To make sure that she went into the race with high blood plasma volume to optimize her hydration levels, Emma preloaded with two PH 1500 (Tablets) in ~1L/32oz of water the morning of the race
- On the bike, Emma drank two highly concentrated sodium drinks, one being a ~1L/32oz bottle of PF 30 Drink Mix with PH 1500, as well as a ~750ml/25oz bottle with two PH 1500 sachets to get on board a high level of sodium quickly
- On the run, Emma followed the same strategy she did at Mallorca which was to pick up cups of plain water and energy drink from the three aid stations on the three-loop course that totalled ~810ml/27oz
- This meant Emma’s total fluid intake was ~2.56L/42oz which equated to ~614ml/hr (21oz/hr). This is a good fluid intake which is close to the top end of what we have seen Emma consume previously in order to limit significant dehydration as she does have a very high sweat rate that can exceed ~2.5L/h (85oz/hr) in hot and humid conditions
- Overall, she averaged a relative sodium concentration of ~1,468mg of sodium per litre (32oz) which, considering her sweat sodium concentration of 716mg/L (determined by our Advanced Sweat Test), will have replaced the majority of the sodium she lost in her sweat. As we suggested to her off the back of racing in Mallorca, in future races Emma should make sure to have enough plain water alongside her highly concentrated sodium drinks to better align her relative sodium concentration with her actual sweat sodium losses
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Emma fueled prior to the Championships by having a breakfast of two bread rolls, one with honey and the other with egg, so that she started the race with loaded glycogen stores. Although she didn’t have her usual pre-race energy bar, her stores were further topped up with a packet of PF 30 Chews in the last 30 minutes before the swim
- During the race, Emma’s carb intake came from PF 30 Drink Mix (six scoops per ~1L/32oz), we would recommend she sticks to the mixing guidelines to maintain the intended concentration. She also had a PF 30 Chew and the on course energy drink mix. This totalled ~192g of carb overall, averaging ~46g per hour. This intake is lower than what we have seen her achieve previously (Mallorca - 88g/hr, Riccione - 71g/hr, and Oceanside - 77g/hr)
- For a race of this intensity and duration, Emma was slightly under the Quick Carb Calculator’s recommendation to consume between 60 and 90g/hr. Looking at the breakdown of her intake, she was able to meet the recommendations on the bike (~64g/hr), although she took only 9g/hr on board during the run. It’s not uncommon for athletes to eat less on the run leg than the bike as it’s more difficult to get fuel down, but this was quite a substantial drop
- She opted to pick up the on-course energy drink on the run, having a sip at every aid station for the three laps (approximately ~270ml/9oz in total). Reflecting on the race, Emma was aware that her carb intake was low and put this down to not “not feeling great” and “not feeling like eating on the bike”
- Emma positively said that she didn’t suffer from any gastrointestinal discomfort but “didn’t have good energy levels on the bike”. We would recommend she increases her overall carb intake across the race back into the recommended range (over 60g/hr) to keep her energy levels consistently high throughout the race
- We have previously seen Emma take caffeine before/during races, for example reaching the recommended 3-6mg of caffeine per kg of bodyweight at IM 70.3 Oceanside, and this is a tactic she could look to implement this again to help boost her perceived energy levels and delay the onset of fatigue
Conclusions
- Emma produced her second great race in less than three weeks as she finished strongly despite hurdles on the bike to finish second in a time of 4 hours and 10 minutes
- Staying consistent with her hydration plan, she hit some solid numbers in terms of fluid and sodium. Taking the conditions into consideration, Emma should be mindful of consuming enough plain water alongside her highly concentrated sodium drinks
- There were extenuating circumstances in this race which impacted Emma’s desire to fuel. That said, going into her upcoming races, it’s important that she strives to increase her overall carb intake towards ~90g/hr (at the top end of our recommendations) and specifically look to increase her run carb consumption due to the positive trend between carb intake and performance
Key info
Emma Pallant-Browne
Female
Sweat sodium concentration716mg/L
Sweat sodium classificationLow
* determined by our Sweat Test
Result
Position2nd
Overall Time4:10:12
Swim Time26:28:00
Bike Time2:21:04
Run Time1:17:19
Event information
SportTriathlon
DisciplineMiddle distance
EventChallenge The Championship
LocationSamorin, Slovakia
Date21st May, 2022
Swim Distance1.9km / 1.2mi
Bike Distance90.1km / 56.0mi
Run Distance21.1km / 13.1mi
Total Distance113.1km / 70.3mi
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsMild
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp12°C / 54°F
Max Temp23°C / 73°F
Avg Temp18°C / 64°F
Humidity51%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction6/10
Hydration rating9/10
Energy levels6/10
GI comfort9/10
CrampingNo cramping
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
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.