25th
Jack Hutchens' scorecard
IRONMAN Israel
Friday 25th November, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
85g
Carb per hour
569mg
Sodium per hour
349ml
Fluid per hour
1,633mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
336mg
Total caffeine
How Jack hit those numbers
500ml x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
1 x Bowl of Oats with Banana
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
*** Tip: For sea swims, put a bottle of water at T1 to rinse your mouth out
750ml x PH 1500 (Tablets)
1.7L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
2 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
4 x PF 90 Gel
2 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
1 x PF 90 Gel
162ml x Plain water
450ml x Cola
2 x Orange slice
1 x Handful of Pretzels
4 x Energy Gel (20g Carb)
How Jack's hydration and fueling went...
- Jack made his Iron distance debut at the inaugural IRONMAN Israel, which saw a new IM marathon best time in the male race at 2:30:31
- He’d had a mixed season prior to this race, having qualifying for his prol licence in May and achieved his first pro podium at Challenge Wales in June, only to also experience his first DSQ at IM 70.3 Zell am See
- Jack executed a solid fuel and hydration plan over double the distance, but unfortunately, Jack went out a little too hard at the start of the bike leg, with this over-exuberance potentially costing him later in the race, leaving him feeling dejected with his performance
Hydration
- With this race being the inaugural edition of IRONMAN Israel, there wasn’t any previous weather data for the race, but high temperatures were still expected. With this in mind, Jack preloaded his sodium levels with a PH 1500 packet in 500ml (16oz), both the night before and the morning of the race
- With a sweat sodium concentration of 1,208mg/L (mg/32oz), Jack knows he’s in the moderate-high salty sweat category and therefore needed to be on top of his electrolyte intake to help avoid any hydration related issues cropping up
- Despite the unexpected pouring rain and high winds on the bike, Jack drank just under 2.5L (88oz), with each bottle containing PH 1500 in either packet or tablet form. This meant Jack’s relative sodium concentration was higher than anticipated at ~1,837mg/L (mg/32oz). The primary reason for this was that his two water bottles with his gels in only contained around 100ml (~3oz) of water along with a PH 1500 tablet which thus increased the relative sodium concentration of his drinks beyond what we’d recommend
- Having done some pre-race sweat rate testing, Jack knew he lost around 1L (32oz) of sweat per hour in similar environmental conditions to those predicted in Israel. However, due to the lower temperatures and heavy rainfall acting as a cooling agent on race day, he still felt like he over-drank at just ~536ml (17oz) per hour, and had to stop and pee several times throughout the bike and run
- Consequently, Jack reduced his fluid intake dramatically on the run in an attempt to reduce his desire to pee, and it did subside towards the end of the run as he averaged just ~189ml (6oz) per hour
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- Jack began preparing for the race nutritionally a couple of days beforehand by carb-loading, a process where he increased the proportion of carbohydrates in his diet and reduced the fibre and fat content to maximise the amount of energy stored in the form of glycogen
- He then had a hearty, carb-rich breakfast containing oats and banana to top off these glycogen stores. As he was called down to the swim start he took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to prime his blood glucose for the race ahead
- During the bike Jack averaged ~105g of carb per hour, which was very close to his pre-race plan of ~100g/h. After trying to stay with some other pro athletes in the first half of the bike, Jack turned a blind eye to his power meter and unfortunately found his legs to be “pretty cooked” after ~110km on the bike
- Even the two PF 30 Caffeine Gels in his “gel bottles” couldn’t reduce the perceived effort enough to help him push through, something Jack said has paid dividends in previous long bike sessions when fatigue starts to set in
- Upon stepping off the bike, the feeling of fatigue was still present in Jack’s quads, and thus his pace was below where he planned. Nonetheless he still took a full PF 90 Gel within the first hour, in an effort to revive his perception of effort
- Jack rated his perceived energy levels an 8-9 out of 10 saying “energy-wise, I was fine throughout, I just went too hard so the second half of the race was a fight against my own legs”
- Knowing his race was not playing out as he planned, but determined to continue the battle, Jack decided to add some variety to his sources of fuel by picking up some pretzels and a few orange slices from the aid stations on the run and ended up averaging ~69g of carb per hour
Conclusions
- Whilst this was not the day Jack had hoped for, he stuck to his guns and executed a robust fueling strategy, and learned several valuable lessons for his future hydration strategy over this distance
- Rating his overall satisfaction at just 2 (out of 10), Jack knows that he’s got far more to give, and still produced a perfectly credible 8 hours 47 minute debut over the IRONMAN, which is no small feat!
Key info
Jack Hutchens
Male
Result
Position
25th
Overall Time
8:47:04
Swim Time
0:50:33
Bike Time
4:34:53
Run Time
3:14:12
Event information
Sport
Triathlon
Discipline
Full distance
Event
IRONMAN Israel
Location
Tiberias, Israel
Date
25th November, 2022
Website
Swim Distance
3.8km / 2.4mi
Bike Distance
180.2km / 112.0mi
Run Distance
42.2km / 26.2mi
Total Distance
226.2km / 140.6mi
Race conditions
Weather Conditions
Mild
Precipitation
Rain
Min Temp
14°C / 57°F
Max Temp
20°C / 68°F
Avg Temp
16°C / 61°F
Humidity
85%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
2/10
Hydration rating
7/10
I stopped drinking on the run mostly because I was needing to pee quite a lot
Energy levels
7/10
My legs were so sore I couldn't work hard enough to get my heart rate up
Toilet stops
Yes
Quite a lot on the bike and run
GI comfort
10/10
Cramping
Mild cramps that I could push through
Jack's Thoughts
I've found a few positives, but knowing what could have been means I'm left very unsatisfied
Jack's full stats
| Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | |||||
| Total intake | 749 | 5,000 | 3,062 | 336 | 1,633 |
| Per hour | 85 | 569 | 349 | 38 | |
| Bike and Run | |||||
| Total intake | 719 | 5,000 | 3,062 | 236 | 1,633 |
| Per hour | 90 | 641 | 393 | 30 | |
| Bike | |||||
| Total intake | 497 | 4,500 | 2,450 | 200 | 1,837 |
| Per hour | 105 | 985 | 536 | 44 | |
| Run | |||||
| Total intake | 222 | 500 | 612 | 36 | 818 |
| Per hour | 69 | 155 | 189 | 11 | |
Data Confidence
1
2
3
4
5
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.