IRONMAN 70.3® Swansea

Harry executed an effective fueling strategy during IRONMAN 70.3® Swansea, which played a key role in his successful title defence. On the bike, he consumed just over 90g of carbohydrate per hour, using a well-practiced and tailored combination of gels diluted across two of his bottles. The rolling bike course profile and punchy nature made fueling challenging, with fewer consistent opportunities to take on nutrition. As a result, Harry was proactive in fueling when terrain allowed, aided by his fuel being within his bottles, knowing it could be some time before the next suitable moment. While research suggests that consuming carbohydrates every 20-25 minutes optimizes exogenous carbohydrate oxidation, this structured approach can be difficult to execute on hilly or technical courses like in Swansea. Importantly, newer research has shown that varying the timing of carbohydrate intake has minimal impact on gastrointestinal comfort; a finding supported by Harry’s subjective feedback, as he reported no GI issues throughout the race despite fueling irregularly at times.

On the run, Harry maintained his carb intake with three evenly-spaced PF 30 Gels and some additional energy from cola at each aid station. Starting the half marathon ~22 seconds behind the leader out of T2, Harry closed the gap within the first 6km. After running together briefly, he made a decisive move to take the lead and remained in front for the rest of the race. His ability to sustain a high carb intake, despite the heat (peaking at ~25°C/77℉) and variable pacing demands, was instrumental in maintaining energy levels, enabling a strong closing effort, and ultimately securing the win.

Given the warm race-day conditions, with temperatures reaching ~25°C (~77℉), Harry adopted a proactive hydration strategy to support both performance and thermoregulation. On the bike, he had access to over two litres of fluid across three bottles: one 650ml aero bottle containing PH 1000 (Drink Mix) for sodium replacement, and two additional bottles used to deliver carb alongside fluid. This approach was well-suited to the demands of the course and the environmental conditions, helping to maintain hydration status during a challenging and undulating ride.

On the run, Harry continued to manage his hydration by picking up water at each of the six aid stations, and typically took four cups of water per station. Some of this fluid was consumed, while the rest was used for external cooling. Despite these efforts, Harry reported feeling quite hot during the run, highlighting the limitations of in-race cooling strategies under high thermal stress. Nonetheless, he avoided any signs of dehydration-related performance decline, suggesting his overall hydration approach was effective in supporting his performance across both disciplines despite the heat.

As with his previous races, Harry didn’t intentionally take any caffeine before or during the race. He did ingest a small amount of caffeine as a result of consuming cola from aid stations on the run, but this was negligible and would not have been sufficient to benefit from the ergogenic effects of caffeine on performance. Moving forward, we would encourage Harry to work with the Sports Science team to look out how he could strategically incorporate caffeine into his race nutrition plan.