Singapore T100

Following his IRONMAN® Pro Series victory in 2024, Gregory shifted his focus to target the T100 series. Gregory hasn’t struggled to tolerate higher rates of carbohydrate intake even as conditions become more stressful (hotter/more humid), so he planned to consume ~120g/h in an attempt to account for the increased glycogen utilization observed as body temperatures rise, falling just short of that at ~111g/h. He originally brought two 1L bottles with 1 x PH 1500 (Tablet) and 120g of PF Carb Only Drink Mix in each, but on the bumpy roads of Singapore, one bottle escaped. Showing his experience, Gregory had a backup plan with additional PF 30 Gels and Electrolyte Capsules on the bike, alongside the on-course energy drink mix, which he knew he could handle, given he had practised with it over the years. He also reported feeling like he needed something extra on the run and subsequently picked up more gels than planned to increase his carb intake. It resulted in a higher intake on the run compared to the bike, which is something we don’t see too often. However, since he didn’t report any GI disturbance, this high intake in the hot and humid conditions helped to support his performance right through to the finish where some competitors appeared to fade.

Heading into such a challenging first race of the season, Gregory took advantage of the PF&H Sports Science team upon recently joining the athlete roster and utilised their support to determine how much fluid he needed to carry for the race. After learning that he would need >1.7L/h on the bike and run to maintain a level of dehydration below 4%, in line with the scientific guidelines, Gregory wisely aimed above this and hit ~1.8L/h on the bike and ~1.6L/h on the run. He managed one of the highest fluid intakes we’ve recorded in our Case Study database, second to only an athlete racing at the IRONMAN® World Championships in Kona 2024. Despite such a high intake, with the extreme conditions, he was likely more than 2% dehydrated at the finish line. For a race of this relatively shorter duration, being somewhere between 2 and 4% dehydrated at the finish line likely supported his hydration status enough to minimise any negative impact. Had Gregory not lost one of his starting bottles early on, he may have even had a higher intake. To help keep cool, he grabbed bottles of plain water from aid stations on the bike and water cups every 2km on the run, and along with drinking from both bottles and cups, he doused water himself with plain water as frequently as possible to improve his performance under exercise heat stress.

As an additional lever for endurance exercise performance (after carbs, fluid and sodium), caffeine was part of Gregory’s strategy, with a total of three PF 30 Caffeine Gels across the race; one on the bike, and two on the run. Although he reached the right total dose, in future races, he’s going to bring forward his final caffeine dose to better account for the time it takes for caffeine to be absorbed into the bloodstream (~45-60 minutes) so he can feel the performance enhancing effects earlier on in the race.