3rd
Emma Pallant-Browne's scorecard
IRONMAN 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
800ml x PH 1500 (Tablet)
1 x serving of white rice
0.5 x Cup of Oat Milk
1 x Energy Bar
1 x PF 30 Energy Gel
*** Try to avoid drinking too much at this point in the race!
300ml x PF Energy Drink Mix
1 x PF 30 Energy Gel
450ml x Plain water
450ml x Energy drink (22g carb)
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
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships
Location
St George, USA
Date
28th October, 2022
Website
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 | 740 |
| Per hour | 28 | 213 | 288 | 0 | |
| Bike and Run | |||||
| Total intake | 88 | 888 | 1,200 | 0 | 740 |
| Per hour | 24 | 240 | 324 | 0 | |
| Bike | |||||
| Total intake | 60 | 500 | 300 | 0 | 1,667 |
| Per hour | 25 | 207 | 124 | 0 | |
| Run | |||||
| Total intake | 28 | 388 | 900 | 0 | 431 |
| Per hour | 21 | 302 | 701 | 0 | |
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.