India Lee
IRONMAN 70.3® European Championships
India's headline numbers
India's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Due to pre-race nerves impacting her appetite, India supplemented her usual breakfast with an energy drink to ensure she topped up her glycogen stores ahead of the race without needing to force down solid food. During the race, she averaged ~67g of carb per hour - while below the recommended 90g/h, this was a significant improvement from her ~44g/h intake at IRONMAN 70.3® Nice. This shows she's moving in the right direction. Her ability to increase her carb intake without experiencing any GI discomfort is a testament to the "practice in training" she’s been doing, which she should continue to implement in her key sessions to train her gut to these higher quantities.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Whilst India’s losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still crucial when it’s hot and/or humid as her higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreIndia didn’t prepare any fluids for the bike, aside from a small amount of water mixed into her concentrated bottle of gels. Towards the end, she grabbed an additional bottle of water from an aid station but drank only a small portion. Similarly on the run, she picked up water from each aid station but only reported this to be a small amount. In the warm conditions, this may have been an oversight as her total fluid intake for the four-hour race was estimated to be just ~500ml. In addition to her limited fluid intake, India also consumed very little sodium. Although India is a ‘low salt sweater,’ she should still plan for a higher fluid and sodium intake, especially when racing in hotter, more humid conditions or over longer distances, where net fluid and sodium losses would be greater and a higher level of dehydration could result in a drop-off in performance.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
India didn’t consume any caffeine before or during the race, but with the research suggesting its benefits for endurance sports, it could be a helpful strategy for her to try including it in the future. For example, India could have swapped her pre-race regular PF 30 Gel for a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to tap into the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant going into the swim, which are known to improve both mental and physical performance, especially in prolonged events.
How India hit her numbers
Here's everything that India ate and drank on the day...
India's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HIndia's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.