8th
Giles Heaman's scorecard
IRONMAN Portugal
Saturday 23rd October, 2021
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
71g
Carb per hour
285mg
Sodium per hour
316ml
Fluid per hour
904mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
560mg
Total caffeine
How Giles hit those numbers
1 x Bowl of overnight oats with peanut butter, banana and jam
1 x Coffee
1 x Glass of plain water
2 x Imodium
1 x Energy gel (23g carb)
*** Try to avoid drinking too much at this point in the race!
1L x PH 1500 (Tablets)
300ml x Plain water
-200ml x Additional fluid in mixed drinks
13 x Energy gel (23g carb)
750ml x Energy drink mix (44g carb)
250ml x Energy drink (36g carb)
110ml x Plain water
3 x Energy gel (25g carb)
5 x Energy gel (25g carb)
1 x Energy gel (23g carb)
600ml x Energy drink (36g carb)
150ml x Coca Cola Original
150ml x Red Bull
How Giles' hydration and fueling went...
- Giles had a successful race at IM Portugal in mid October allowing him to qualify for the World Champs next year! He came 8th in the M45-49 age group with a great performance and a time of 9 hours 51 minutes
- We have not analysed Giles intake before, but can see from his detailed descriptions he used a well structured hydration and fuelling plan to consume decent carb, sodium and fluid numbers throughout the long course race
Hydration
- On average over the race, Giles drank ~316ml/hr (~11oz/hr). This was from two 750ml/26oz bottles on the bike and then picking up water and energy drinks from aid stations throughout. We do not have any information on Giles’ sweat rate and this will have replaced some of his losses, but considering the warm conditions he could have taken more fluid on board to replace a greater proportion of his losses
- Giles was happy with his hydration strategy (giving it a 9 out of 10) and he did pee a few times on the bike and on the run, which isn’t uncommon for him and would suggest he did not under hydrate
- In terms of sodium, Giles has not had an Advanced Sweat Test so we do not know his sweat sodium concentration, but he has undertaken an online test which indicated he is likely a salty sweater and recommended PH1500 which he wisely chose to use
- He consumed around ~285mg/hr sodium, which in relation to the volume of fluid he drank means the relative sodium concentration of his intake was ~904mg/L. It is hard to determine if this will have replaced his losses well without knowing his sweat sodium concentration, but if it is very high as our online sweat test illustrated, then taking on board slightly more sodium may benefit Giles
- Giles has a history of cramping and suffered some ‘major cramp’ in his left hamstring 1.5 miles into the run during this race which caused him to stop. Testing out slightly higher sodium intake to see if this helps avoid cramp could be something for Giles to try going forward
- He preloaded with PH 1500 the night before the race to increase his sodium levels, but we would recommend he repeats this in the morning of the race as well to make sure he is starting as optimally hydrated as possible
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- In the morning of the race, Giles consumed a carb-rich breakfast made up of overnight oats with peanut butter, jam and banana along with a coffee and some plain water. In addition to this Giles ate an energy gel 30 minutes before the swim. This solid pre-race fuelling will have helped maximise his performance by ensuring adequate energy availability
- During the race, Giles consumed around 13 energy gels from a bottle with a small amount of water, had some energy drink mix in one of his 750ml/26oz bottles on the bike and on the run he had a range of energy gels. As a result, Giles achieved ~71g/hr on average over the race (including the swim) which broke down into ~74g/hr on the bike and a higher ~86g/hr on the run. Giles hit really good carb numbers to meet our Quick Carb Calculator's recommended range of 60-90g/hr for a race of this length and intensity
- This step up in carbs is the opposite to the common tapering in consumption we usually see from triathletes and it is impressive to see Giles reach such high carb numbers while running. To reach ~86g/hr on the run, Giles ate a gel every 20 minutes with roughly half of these being caffeine gels and he picking up a range of energy drinks including coke and red bull
- Giles did however experience some GI issues 16 miles into the run. Although he mentioned this wasn’t uncommon for him, next time he could possibly reduce his large run intake slightly to see if this resolves some issues. But, he had ‘pretty good energy levels throughout apart from those 15 minutes on the run’, rating them 8 out of 10
- Giles had a coffee before the race, didn’t have any caffeine on bike and then took a large dose of caffeine on the run predominantly from energy gels. His total caffeine dose during the race was ~560mg. We do not know his exact body weight but considering the recommended caffeine dose for performance is between 3 and 6mg per kilogram of bodyweight, this is a higher dose which will have kept his perceived energy levels high on the run. Giles chose to consume most of this dose in the last hours but because caffeine takes around 20-30 minutes to have noticeable effects, he may want to consider using the caffeine gels earlier on including some on the bike
Conclusions
- After a long season, Giles had a good performance at IM Portugal using a decent hydration and fuelling strategy. He thinks there is still plenty of room for improvement saying ‘my swim wasn’t great and I couldn’t develop the power I would expect on the bike, legs didn’t feel they had anything in them possibly due to a long season or more likely due to getting very cold in the swim’. But, he did achieve a PB on the run and was happy with his hydration and fuelling throughout
- As a result of the race, he has qualified for the World Champs next year and we are looking forward to seeing him perform well then!
Key info
Giles Heaman
Male
Result
Position
8th
Overall Time
9:51:09
Swim Time
1:08:09
Bike Time
5:10:12
Run Time
3:22:35
Event information
Sport
Triathlon
Discipline
Full distance
Event
IRONMAN Portugal
Location
Cascais, Portugal
Date
23rd October, 2021
Website
Swim Distance
3.8km / 2.4mi
Bike Distance
180.2km / 112.0mi
Run Distance
42.2km / 26.2mi
Total Distance
226.2km / 140.6mi
Bike Elevation
1450m / 4,757ft
Run Elevation
198m / 650ft
Total Elevation
1648m / 5,407ft
Race conditions
Weather Conditions
Mild
Precipitation
No Rain
Min Temp
19°C / 66°F
Max Temp
20°C / 68°F
Avg Temp
19°C / 66°F
Humidity
95%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
6/10
Hydration rating
9/10
Always room for improvement but pretty bang on
Energy levels
8/10
Energy pretty good throughout apart from the first 15 mins or so on the run
Toilet stops
Yes
A couple of times in each discipline
GI comfort
5/10
No problems until around 16 miles into the run
Cramping
Twinges but not full-on cramps
Giles' Thoughts
I was happy with my nutrition/hydration. Other than the lack of power on the bike and the GI distress on the run I executed the race pretty much to plan.
Giles' full stats
| Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | |||||
| Total intake | 698 | 2,811 | 3,110 | 560 | 904 |
| Per hour | 71 | 285 | 316 | 57 | |
| Bike and Run | |||||
| Total intake | 675 | 2,791 | 3,110 | 560 | 897 |
| Per hour | 79 | 327 | 364 | 66 | |
| Bike | |||||
| Total intake | 384 | 2,241 | 2,100 | 0 | 1,067 |
| Per hour | 74 | 433 | 406 | 0 | |
| Run | |||||
| Total intake | 291 | 550 | 1,010 | 560 | 545 |
| Per hour | 86 | 163 | 299 | 166 | |
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.