• Jack raced his first IRONMAN World Championships in St George, Utah, after the global pandemic postponed his debut by 7 months
• Temperatures on race day soared to ~35℃/94℉, and Jack did well to increase his water and sodium intake to offset his losses, caused by an increased sweat rate
• Overall, Jack was pleased with how he planned and executed his hydration and fueling strategy, which helped him finish this brutal race in one piece (for context, the race saw ~30% DNF rate!)

Hydration

• Jack preloaded his sodium levels the night before the race by drinking ~500ml/16oz water with 1 x PH 1500 tablet, and he sipped on ~500ml/16oz of PH 1500 before the race start
• Jack drank an average of ~689ml/23oz per hour throughout the 10 hour 55 minutes. With conditions being extremely hot (temperatures hit ~35℃/94℉ at some points), Jack’s sweat rate would have been significantly higher than he would have experienced during his training sessions in the UK, so he did a solid job of fluid replacement
• Furthermore, Jack consumed a total of ~7,215mg of sodium, averaging ~661mg/hr. Considering Jack’s Advanced Sweat Test score of 983mg/L, this is a decent effort to replace his losses over nearly 11 hours, especially considering he couldn’t drink anything for the first hour whilst he was swimming
• Jack hit these numbers on the bike by drinking 2.5 x bottles of electrolyte drink, 3 x bottles of plain water and 10 x PH Electrolyte Capsules
• During the run, Jack used a mixture of on-course electrolyte drinks, cups of plain water and 5 x PH Electrolyte Capsules to hit his sodium numbers. We would typically recommend he bump these numbers up slightly, especially considering the high temperatures he experienced during the run
• Jack also picked up ice from every aid station, saying he took a “ridiculous amount” of ice throughout the run. This will have helped stabilise/lower his core temperature, and will have placed less stress on his sweat system to cool him down
• Overall, Jack rated his fueling and hydration plan 8/10, saying that he “wanted to consume more fluid during the run, but was worried about sloshing” in his stomach. This is a common problem experienced by athletes during long-course racing, but he may have been able to increase his fluid intake without the feeling of ‘sloshing’ by training his gut to tolerate more fluid

Fueling

Conclusions

• In general, Jack described the race as “brutal - physically and psychologically”. He said it was “the toughest course on the circuit, especially in those conditions”
• Jack’s sodium and carb intakes were decent, but he should aim to increase his sodium intake in order to replace a greater proportion of what he loses in his sweat
• Jack rated his overall race satisfaction as 8/10, saying his only goal was to enjoy the experience. He met this goal, but said “as my times were slower than I wanted, I can’t ignore this”