• Jana is a very experienced triathlete, having raced the IRONMAN World Championships nine times, and finishing on the top step of the podium for her age group at her last two visits to the Big Island
• To prepare for Kona by getting another full-distance race under her belt, Jana decided to race Challenge Roth, having already locked in her World Champs slot at IRONMAN Texas earlier in 2023
• The quality of the field was high as expected, and Jana rose to the top once again to win her age group, despite having some sickness and nausea towards the end of the run

Hydration

• Jana’s pre-race hydration involved ~500ml (16oz) of PF 60 Drink Mix, which has a relative sodium concentration of 1,000 milligrams per litre (mg/32oz), along with 30g of carbohydrate. This will have helped her start hydrated, along with providing a good amount of energy
• We have, however, seen evidence to suggest a stronger concentration sodium drink (e.g. PH 1500) can elicit the greatest pre-hydration effects, and is something we’d recommend to Jana ahead of her next race. Perhaps even taking a 250mg Electrolyte Capsule alongside her serving of PF 60 Drink Mix would be beneficial, bringing the concentration up to ~1,500mg/L (mg/32oz)
• During the bike she kept things simple, relying on bottles of water and energy drink mix, whilst swallowing Electrolyte Capsules stored in her bento box every 30 minutes
• This worked well, keeping the concentration of her drinks tolerable, and helping prevent any gastrointestinal issues like bloating or a stitch, often associated with highly concentrated fluids
• To further help with this, Jana picked up ~2.3L (76oz) of plain water from the aid stations throughout the bike. This, coupled with the 10 Electrolyte Capsules she took, meant the average sodium concentration of her drinks was ~735mg/L (mg/32oz)
• Jana loses 819mg of sodium in each litre of her sweat, so her bike fluids will likely have replaced a good proportion of her losses. However, in the early stages of the bike she found herself peeing quite frequently
• Along with the expectedly high levels of adrenaline at the beginning of the race, the increased urine production could be explained by a few things
• Over-drinking is a known disadvantage of having large amounts of carbohydrates tied up in drinks bottles, where it’s only possible to access the fuel you need by drinking, at the beginning of a race for example. Decoupling her carb and fluid sources could be an option for future races where temperatures aren’t too high early on, and where sweat rates are lower
• During the first half of the marathon, Jana felt like she was flying, with her hand-held water bottle providing adequate fluid supply, along with cups of water to top up her intake. She continued the same sodium strategy as the bike by popping Electrolyte Capsules every 30 minutes
• However, in the second half of the marathon, Jana started to feel nauseous and like she couldn’t consume anything, fluid or solid. After making her way to the finish line at a much slower pace than planned, hardly consuming anything for the final hour, she was badly sick and admitted to the medical tent
• It’s possible that Jana was quite dehydrated when she stepped off the bike, as she had already lost a considerable quantity of fluids by peeing so much in the early stages, and from her large sweat rate as the temperatures rose. Adequately replacing these fluids lost towards the end of the bike could have helped prevent dehydration towards the end of the race, particularly as it’s often difficult to drink large volumes whilst running
• On this occasion Jana actually drank slightly more fluid per hour whilst running compared to the bike, in an attempt to “catch up” her fluid intake. This did involve some considerably slower running than she’d planned, so re-thinking this strategy will be important for future races

Fueling

Conclusions

• In all, Jana’s post-race analysis was bittersweet, as she won her age group, but some pretty savage dehydration meant she was unable to perform at her potential
• Hopefully with some more quantified sweat rate testing, along with the knowledge that even fluids lost in pee need to be replaced somewhat, especially when she’s sweating heavily, we’ll see Jana back to her best in the build towards the IRONMAN World Championships in October