• Fenella began her 2023 campaign against arguably one of the deepest fields of professional triathletes there has ever been at the PTO European Open on the island of Ibiza, Spain
• She didn’t have the day she’d anticipated after a strong swim, as Fenella suffered with dwindling energy levels towards the end of the bike, and her run was below the standard she was expecting
• Her fuel and hydration strategy was fairly solid on the surface, with a few minor timing considerations to iron out for future races which are this intense

Hydration

• With temperatures expected to be fairly warm by UK athletes’ standards (~21℃ / 70℉), Fenella decided to preload like she normally does with some PH 1500 with her dinner beforehand, and another ~750ml (24oz) of PH 1500 with her breakfast on race day
• However, she also drank ~500ml (16oz) of plain water, which will have diluted the relative sodium concentration somewhat, limiting the effectiveness of the sodium preload. In future, she should limit the amount of plain water consumed before a race, as her body may not be able to retain it, and it could just be peed out later on
• During the race, Fenella’s hydration involved two 750ml (24oz) bottles which had ~650ml (21oz) of water in, with the rest of the space taken up by gels. She also took five Electrolyte Capsules throughout the 80km bike discipline, giving her a relative sodium concentration of ~962 milligrams of sodium per litre (32oz) of water
• Fenella is a salty sweater with a sweat sodium concentration of 1,331mg/L (mg/32oz). She usually front-loads her sodium intake on the bike (~1,592mg/L at IRONMAN South Africa and ~1,743mg/L at both the IRONMAN World Champs in Utah and the Challenge Championships). This time her bike intake was much lower (~962mg/L), and as sodium depletion is known to cause muscle cramps, it could potentially help explain the cramps in her quadriceps at the start of the run
• During the run, Fenella’s sodium intake relative to her fluid consumption was lower again, at ~639mg/L (mg/32oz). This was likely caused by her high fluid consumption (~1.06L / 32oz per hour) as the temperatures rose. In future, when she decides to drink more she should aim to increase her sodium intake as well in order to maintain a higher relative concentration

Fueling

Conclusions

• The PTO European Open was a hard-and-fast race against the best triathletes on the planet, and Fenella was pleased to be in the mix for the most part despite not having her best day
• For future races, she should look to push up the relative sodium concentration of her drinks to more closely match her sweat sodium concentration. This will help with carbohydrate absorption and potentially improve her perception of energy availability