3rd

Emma Pallant-Browne's scorecard

IM 70.3® World Championships

Friday 28th October, 2022

Within recommended ranges

Just outside recommended ranges

Significantly outside recommended ranges

28g

Carb per hour

213mg

Sodium per hour

288ml

Fluid per hour

740mg/L

Relative sodium concentration

0mg

Total caffeine

How Emma hit those numbers

How Emma's hydration and fueling went...

Emma landed herself back on a World Championship podium for the first time since 2017, by producing the second fastest run split among the professional women at the IRONMAN World Championships in Utah
Having worked hard over the year to design and execute a fuel and hydration plan for hot races, Emma faced a very different challenge in St George in ice-cold temperatures as low as 2℃/35°F

Hydration

As usual, Emma preloaded her sodium levels with a strong electrolyte drink (PH 1500) to ensure she was optimally hydrated come race start
In the days leading up to the World Championships, the temperatures fell dramatically, and Emma began to plan adding extra base layers to her bike transition bag to try and stay warm
Her pre-race plan involved a large proportion of her nutrition being in water bottles, and as she was so cold during the bike, Emma didn’t manage to take her hands off the handlebars to drink as often as she’d have liked, and nor was her desire to drink particularly high
Throughout the whole bike, Emma drank ~300ml (10oz) of PF Energy Drink Mix which contained ~500mg of sodium. This meant her average fluid consumption was ~124ml (4oz) per hour
This low fluid intake was, however, likely an accurate reflection of her very low sweat losses during the bike. Despite this, as this was her main source of fuel during the bike it left her feeling unsatisfied with her hydration execution, rating it her worst so far this season at 5 (out of 10)
On the run, Emma knew she hadn’t drank enough, and so heading onto the run course aimed to grab cups of water and sports drink from every aid station
Emma picked up ~450ml (15oz) of both water and the on-course sports drink, bringing her average fluid intake to ~701ml (22oz) per hour. This was a good attempt to rectify her intake from the bike, and she said her perception of hydration was much better at the end of the run than the end of the bike
That being said, Emma mentioned it took several hours and a lot of water until she could produce a sample for drug testing post-race, which further indicates how dehydrated she was

Fueling

Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation

30g

carb 30 mins before

60-90g

carb per hour during

Emma maximised her capacity to store energy in both her muscles and liver ahead of the race by extensively carb loading in the days prior. This stored glycogen was topped off with a bowl of white rice and an energy bar for breakfast
Around 15 minutes before the gun went, Emma gave her blood glucose a final rush with a PF 30 Energy Gel to reduce her reliance on stored glycogen so she could utilise it later in the race
On the bike Emma only managed to take ~60g of carb from PF Energy Drink Mix and one PF 30 Energy Gel, averaging just ~25g per hour. This was primarily due to her low fluid intake, which if she was able to drink all of would have brought her average up to ~75g per hour. We’ve seen Emma execute races with this level of intake successfully in previous races, and it was her plan pre-race
On the run, Emma was nervous about how little fuel she’d taken and knew it could come back to bite her, but was willing to roll the dice and tried to grab as much as she could from the on-course aid stations
Emma slightly over-estimated how much carbohydrate was in the on-course drinks, and so only actually got a further ~28g of carb, meaning her average for the entire race was also ~28g/h
Whilst this is significantly below the 60-90g/h recommendation from our Fuel & Hydration Planner, it’s likely that Emma’s extensive carb-loading ahead of the race allowed her to draw on large amounts of stored energy so she could produce another stellar performance. Furthermore, the small amount of carb that Emma did take on will likely have helped her glycogen stores last longer than if they were her sole source of energy
Emma noticed that her recovery post-race was also the worst she’s ever experienced, with painful delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) which is a key side effect of underfueling
Low fluid intakes are almost expected during extremely cold races, and so in future Emma should look to reduce her reliance on liquid carbohydrate, and instead transfer to slightly more solid energy sources such as gels or chews in these circumstances

Conclusions

In all, Emma’s performance was strong in spite of the weather conditions, and despite not executing the fuel and hydration plan she’s practised so hard in training
In future, when racing in extremely low temperatures like this she should look to use alternative fuel sources such as gels and chews so her low fluid intake doesn’t impact her carbohydrate consumption

Key info

Emma Pallant-Browne

Female

Sweat sodium concentration

716mg/L

Sweat sodium classification

Low

* determined by a PH Advanced Sweat Test

Result

Position

3rd

Overall Time

4:10:45

Swim Time

0:25:01

Bike Time

2:25:40

Run Time

1:17:45

Event information

Sport

Triathlon

Discipline

Middle distance

Event

IM 70.3® World Championships

Location

St George, USA

Date

28th October, 2022

Website

Show me

Swim Distance

1.9km / 1.2mi

Bike Distance

90.1km / 56.0mi

Run Distance

21.1km / 13.1mi

Total Distance

113.1km / 70.3mi

Race conditions

Weather Conditions

Cold

Precipitation

No Rain

Min Temp

2°C / 36°F

Max Temp

12°C / 54°F

Avg Temp

7°C / 45°F

Humidity

40%

Athlete feedback

Race Satisfaction

9/10

Hydration rating

5/10

Didn't drink close to what I was aiming for

Energy levels

7/10

I was shivering a lot on the bike, and my energy levels were definitely lower here, but these picked up lots on the run

GI comfort

10/10

Cramping

No cramping

Emma's Thoughts

It took me a while to pee in blood testing so maybe my hydration wasn't the best

Emma's full stats

	Carbohydrate (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fluid (ml)	Caffeine (mg)	Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)
Overall
Total intake	118	888	1,200	0	Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)	740
Per hour	28	213	288	0		740
Bike and Run
Total intake	88	888	1,200	0	740
Per hour	24	240	324	0	740
Bike
Total intake	60	500	300	0	1,667
Per hour	25	207	124	0	1,667
Run
Total intake	28	388	900	0	431
Per hour	21	302	701	0	431

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.

Emma's recent case studies

see all