37th
Jess Belcher's scorecard
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships
Friday 28th October, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
87g
Carb per hour
430mg
Sodium per hour
751ml
Fluid per hour
573mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
0mg
Total caffeine
How Jess hit those numbers
How Jess' hydration and fueling went...
- Jess is the Marketing Manager for the Professional Triathletes Organization and recently raced the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, before heading across to Utah for the IM 70.3 World Championships over half the distance
- Her fuel and hydration strategy stood the test of the cold as temperatures plummeted on race day, yet her intake remained strong across the board, and she finished well
Hydration
- Ahead of the race, Jess’ coach, and friend of PF&H, India Lee, highlighted the importance of starting as hydrated as possible, so the night before she tried to do this by drinking ~500ml (16oz) of electrolytes. The drink had ~300mg of sodium in, which is below the recommended dose for preloading her sodium levels to stimulate an increase in blood plasma volume and enter a state of optimal hydration. Furthermore, she drank ~500ml (16oz) of plain water in the 30mins before the race, which potentially diluted her electrolyte levels, as she needed to pee immediately before the swim start
- In future, we’d recommend Jess uses a stronger electrolyte drink, like PH 1500 in ~500ml (16oz) both the night before and the morning of the race, aiming to finish this ~45 minutes before the start to allow maximum absorption into her bloodstream and to pee out any excess
- On the bike, Jess managed to maintain a fairly high fluid intake considering the cold weather (~7℃/44℉ average), sticking to her plan of three 750ml (24oz) bottles of energy drink with two and a half PH 1500 Tablets between them
- Jess executed a fairly common hydration strategy employed by lots of triathletes, whereby she front-loaded her sodium intake on the bike with her drinks containing a relative sodium concentration of ~925mg/L (mg/32oz), and tapered back to just ~100mg/L (mg/32oz) on the run. With a sweat sodium concentration of 594 milligrams per litre, Jess did a good job of matching this concentration with her drinks, averaging ~573mg/L (mg/32oz) across the entire race
- In longer races or when conditions are much warmer, Jess should look to bump up her sodium intake on the run to ensure she doesn’t run into any hydration related issues as a result of low electrolyte levels
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- Jess is well practised at carb-loading before races and ensured her muscle and liver glycogen stores were full with a high-carb dinner containing egg-fried rice. Come race morning she further topped off these stores with one and a half white bagels with peanut butter and banana
- Then to raise her blood glucose ahead of the race she took an energy gel (22g carb) 20 minutes before the swim, potentially sparing some of her stored energy for later in the race
- Jess executed a similar front-loading strategy to her hydration plan, averaging ~122g of carb per hour on the bike, and dropping to ~54g/h on the run. This is often the case with fueling as it’s often more difficult for the stomach to absorb carbohydrate whilst running as due to the increased movement, and also access to fueling is often limited when running compared to on the bike
- Jess has trained her gut to tolerate this quantity of carb, and came very close to her pre-race target of 90g/h by averaging an impressive ~87g/h. She hit these numbers by using a variety of gels, energy chews, and energy drinks which she’s practised extensively in training, and she now feels comfortable taking in this amount. On the day this meant she rated her GI comfort 8 (out of 10) and her energy levels a solid 9
Conclusions
- In all, Jess performed well off the back of a hard race in Kona just three weeks prior, and her well-planned and balanced fuel and hydration plan will likely have supported this
- In future she should aim to improve her preloading protocol to optimise her hydration, and perhaps look to include some Electrolyte Capsules on the run to help keep her sodium levels topped up, especially if she’s planning to race in longer/warmer events where she’ll be sweating much more
Key info
Jess Belcher
Female
Sweat sodium concentration
594mg/L
Sweat sodium classification
Low
* determined by a PH Advanced Sweat Test
Result
Position
37th
Overall Time
5:06:22
Swim Time
0:29:03
Bike Time
2:43:40
Run Time
1:43:20
Event information
Sport
Triathlon
Discipline
Middle distance
Event
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships
Location
St George, USA
Date
28th October, 2022
Website
Swim Distance
1.9km / 1.2mi
Bike Distance
90.1km / 56.0mi
Run Distance
21.1km / 13.1mi
Total Distance
113.1km / 70.3mi
Race conditions
Weather Conditions
Cold
Precipitation
No Rain
Min Temp
2°C / 36°F
Max Temp
11°C / 52°F
Avg Temp
7°C / 45°F
Humidity
40%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
8/10
Hydration rating
9/10
Energy levels
9/10
I lacked a bit of raw speed as I focussed on the full IM all year, but I was full of energy all the way to the finish
Toilet stops
No
GI comfort
8/10
I could stomach my nutrition well, except a few overzealous burps but otherwise no issues
Cramping
No cramping
Jess' Thoughts
This race demonstrated to me how being consistent over time helped me perform time and time again this season, and I'm excited for next year!
Jess' full stats
Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | |||||
Total intake | 445 | 2,194 | 3,830 | 0 | 573 |
Per hour | 87 | 430 | 751 | 0 | |
Bike and Run | |||||
Total intake | 423 | 2,190 | 3,330 | 0 | 658 |
Per hour | 95 | 494 | 751 | 0 | |
Bike | |||||
Total intake | 331 | 2,082 | 2,250 | 0 | 925 |
Per hour | 122 | 766 | 828 | 0 | |
Run | |||||
Total intake | 92 | 108 | 1,080 | 0 | 100 |
Per hour | 54 | 63 | 629 | 0 |
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.