Jack Hutchens' scorecard

IRONMAN 70.3® Swansea (DNF)

Sunday 7th August, 2022

Within recommended ranges

Just outside recommended ranges

Significantly outside recommended ranges

85gCarb per hour
930mgSodium per hour
665mlFluid per hour
1,398mg/LRelative sodium concentration
100mgTotal caffeine

How Jack hit those numbers

Before race (>30mins)

500ml x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)

100ml x Plain water

1 x Bowl of oats, banana, peanut butter and dark chocolate

Pre-race (<30mins)

1 x PF 30 Gel

Race - Swim

*** Review technique if drinking much at this point!

Race - Bike

2L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)

6 x PF 30 Gel

Race - Run

1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel

160ml x Plain water

3 x Electrolyte capsules (100mg sodium)

Jack is a professional triathlete in his rookie season who’s come to the sport from a swimming and running background, but that’s not to say he’s not a mean cyclist too
Unfortunately, he suffered a drop in energy on the run and as he plans to race a few more times this season, he opted to step off the course around eight kilometres into the run and the day ended in a DNF
Until this point, Jack had fueled and hydrated well, with top-eight swim and bike splits. However, combined with some additional life stresses in race week he decided to save himself for another day

Hydration

Jack preloaded his sodium levels by drinking ~500ml/16oz of PH 1500 (Drink Mix) the night before and the morning of the race. This will have encouraged a greater degree of fluid retention, thus enhancing his hydration status pre-race
During the bike, Jack had two 500ml/16oz bottles with gels in, topped up with ~350ml/12oz of water and one PH 1500 (Drink Mix) sachet. Jack also took a 500ml/16oz and a 1L/32oz bottle, each with one PH 1500 (Drink Mix) sachet in
This gave him a total sodium intake of ~3,000mg, which when mixed in ~2.2L/74oz gave him a relative sodium concentration of ~1,364mg per litre. Whilst we don’t currently know Jack’s sweat sodium concentration, he didn’t experience any cramps, headaches or dips in performance, perhaps indicating that adequately replaced a good proportion of his sweat losses
On the run, Jack had three electrolyte capsules which contained ~100mg of sodium each. He also grabbed two cups of water. Of course he only ran for ~8km and so a total fluid intake of ~160ml/5oz and a total sodium intake of ~300mg are understandably lower than expected
Jack felt a bit thirsty at the start of the run, perhaps indicating his sodium intake was a bit high on the bike, particularly as the temperatures were mild (~13-20℃/55-68℉)

Fueling

Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation

30gcarb 30 mins before

60-90gcarb per hour during

Before the race, Jack had his usual pre-race breakfast of oats, banana, peanut butter and some dark chocolate. This carb-rich meal will have given his glycogen stores a final top-up in the hours before the race
Jack planned to have a final ‘glycogen hit’ ~15 minutes before the swim start by taking a PF 30 Gel, but due to the start being delayed this ended up being more like 35 minutes beforehand
On the bike he split six PF 30 Gels into two 500ml/16oz bottles (three in each), and carried a spare PF 30 Gel just in case he needed it. As it happened, he couldn’t quite get all the gels out of his bottles, so took his spare gel based on the assumption that he’d probably been unable to get ~30g of carbs out of his bottles
Jack felt great throughout the whole bike, averaging ~101g of carb per hour, and headed onto the run with confidence that he could produce a solid performance
As soon as he started running he took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to top up his glucose levels and help reduce his perception of effort
At ~7km Jack started to experience a slight “head-fuzz” which progressed into the feeling of “bonking”. In the moment, he thought it couldn’t have been due to lack of fuel as he’d done such a good job throughout the bike
By kilometre eight he felt so bad and his energy levels were so low he decided to step off course and call it a day. By this point the rest of the field were already pulling away from him as his pace had slowed, therefore his motivation to continue was low
During this style of racing, athletes are typically burning more energy than they’re able to consume. Because of this, going ~30 minutes without having anything and running at a high intensity could have depleted his glycogen stores enough to cause this “bonk”
In the future, perhaps Jack could try taking a small amount of carb in more frequent doses throughout the run, in an attempt to prevent this sudden drop off in energy levels

Conclusions

In summary, Jack had a disappointing end to what was otherwise an encouraging race. He proved his fitness and ability are good enough to mix it on the swim and bike, but wasn’t able to show it on the run due to dwindling energy levels
In future races, Jack could consider 'drip-feeding' his carb on the run to help avoid this crash in energy levels. Perhaps using a Supersapiens continuous glucose monitor could help achieve more stable blood glucose levels as opposed to peaks and troughs
Despite the DNF, Jack can take lots of positives from this race, and he remained positive that his rookie professional season was still on track

Key info

Jack Hutchens

Male

Result

Overall Time3:33:53

Swim Time0:23:10

Bike Time2:23:52

Run Time0:41:26

Event information

SportTriathlon

DisciplineMiddle distance

EventIRONMAN 70.3® Swansea (DNF)

LocationSwansea, Wales

Date7th August, 2022

Swim Distance1.9km / 1.2mi

Bike Distance90.1km / 56.0mi

Run Distance21.1km / 13.1mi

Total Distance113.1km / 70.3mi

Race conditions

Weather ConditionsMild

PrecipitationNo Rain

Min Temp13°C / 55°F

Max Temp20°C / 68°F

Avg Temp18°C / 64°F

Humidity60%

Athlete feedback

Race Satisfaction8/10

Hydration rating7/10

Energy levels9/10I'm rating this high, although the reason behind not finishing was bonking HARD on the run

Toilet stopsNo

GI comfort10/10Stomach was absolutely fine until I started the run and I got a stitch

CrampingNo cramping

Jack's Thoughts

I'm happy with the most part of this race, and lots of factors likely caused me to DNF, so I'll keep moving forward and not dwell too much

	Carbohydrate (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fluid (ml)	Caffeine (mg)	Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)
Overall
Total intake	300	3,300	2,360	100	1,398
Per hour	85	930	665	28	1,398
Bike and Run
Total intake	270	3,300	2,360	100	1,398
Per hour	88	1,076	770	33	1,398
Bike
Total intake	240	3,000	2,200	0	1,364
Per hour	101	1,259	923	0	1,364
Run
Total intake	30	300	160	100	1,875
Per hour	44	439	234	146	1,875

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.