• Fenella had a tough race at IM Mallorca on the 16th October, coming in 7th in a time of 9 hours and 16 minutes. The race didn’t go to plan on the day with a dropped bottle, back pain and dips in energy and motivation. Fenella said ‘it was a difficult day’ and rated her race satisfaction as a 3 out of 10
• After a ‘high volume of racing and traveling’, she feels that the race was ‘average, not bad but not what I am capable of’. Fenella planned to use her solid hydration and fuelling strategy which she is accustomed to, however she lost one bottle and struggled to pick up from the limited aid stations throughout

Hydration

• On average, Fenella drank ~664ml/23oz of fluid per hour across the race, on the bike this consisted of two 750ml pre-mixed bottles, one 750ml/25oz bottle of plain water, two 750ml/25oz bottles of energy drink and on the run this was two ~250ml pre-mixed bottles and ~12 cups of water from aid stations. This volume is almost identical to her fluid intake at Challenge Roth in very similar conditions
• Although we do not have any sweat rate data from Fenella, this seems to be an adequate amount of fluid replacement based on prior experience. This time she did not mention feeling thirsty and she reported peeing a couple of times, as would be expected, which suggests that she did not under hydrate. She rated her hydration strategy as a 7 out of 10, agreeing with our views by saying that ‘even after dropping a bottle I was able to maintain good fluid intake’
• In terms of sodium, Fenella consumed ~628mg/hr. In relation to the volume of fluid she was drinking this equates to a relative sodium concentration of ~945mg/L. Higher than at Roth (~886mg/L), she will have been replacing a greater proportion of her high sweat sodium losses (1,331mg/L). Considering she dropped a bottle containing PH electrolyte tablets this is a decent intake of sodium and she said having a ‘personal bottle on the run meant I could consume some more electrolytes’

Fueling

Conclusions

• Overall, Fenella pushed through back pain and lows in motivation to finish IM Mallorca in 9 hours 16 minutes. Despite losing a bottle on the bike, she was able to achieve decent numbers, especially in terms of fluid, by picking up various energy drinks and water from on-course aid stations
• We know Fenella can achieve high carb numbers, she hit over 80g/hr on average and over 110g/hr on the bike at Challenge Roth, so if possible picking up a few more gels on the bike to replace the lost bottle and push towards the top end of the recommended range may have helped her keep her energy levels up aiding her performance. But, in this instance, we must consider that fuelling and a lack of energy were not necessarily the main limiting factors, and take into account the big season that Fenella was coming to the end of