• Age group triathlete, Joanna Wright, produced a fantastic performance at the IRONMAN World Championships in Utah to end the day on the podium. With a time of 10:21:17, she came 3rd in the F30-34 AG, making her the 5th overall female AG finisher
• After being pointed in the direction of Precision Fuel & Hydration at the start of the year, Jo came in for an Advanced Sweat Test to dial in her hydration and fueling plan in the lead up to both St George and Kona this year
• Using the result from her sweat test alongside information about her previous strategy for races, we’ve worked with Jo to build a personalised plan to meet her carbohydrate, sodium and fluid needs for what was a very hot and dry race day (29℃/84℉ average temperature, 12% humidity)

Hydration

• Jo preloaded in the morning of the race by drinking ~500ml/16oz of PH 1000. She could have increased her sodium levels further before the race by using a stronger PH 1500 electrolyte drink to help her retain and absorb more fluid
• On the bike, Jo carried three bottles; two bottles of energy drink mix (500ml/16oz and 800ml/27oz) and one 750ml/25oz bottle of PH 1000. Throughout the bike leg she continued to refill her 750ml bottle with water from aid stations and added four PH 1000 (Tablets). This meant she drank a total of ~5.05L/171oz on the bike, hitting ~932ml per hour, which is towards the upper end of what we see athletes drink
• Jo initially ran out of T2 with a 500ml/16oz bottle of PH 1000 and then picked up plain water at every aid station going forwards. This meant she drank an estimated ~3.5L/118oz in total and ~950ml/32oz per hour on average, as temperatures pushed towards 35℃/94℉ during the marathon
• Although we don’t have data on Jo’s sweat rate, subjectively she mentioned her losses were unsurprisingly “high” in the hot conditions and therefore she felt like she needed to be proactive with her replacement of her losses over the 10 hours. She did well to do this by drinking an average of ~826ml/h (28oz/h) throughout
• In terms of sodium replacement, Jo continually mixed PH 1000 (Tablets) into one of her bottles on the bike, had another bottle of PH 1000 on the run and then took on an additional five Electrolyte Capsules during the marathon
• Our Advanced Sweat Test showed that Jo has a relatively low sweat sodium concentration, losing 757mg of sodium per litre of sweat, but coupled with a likely moderate-to-high sweat rate in the hot and dry conditions, net losses can build up over a full distance race. Jo did well to account for this by consuming ~531mg of sodium per hour, which in relation to the fluid she took on board meant the relative sodium concentration of her intake was ~643mg/L

Fueling

Conclusions

• Jo had a fantastic performance, using a considered hydration and fueling strategy, on what was a challenging course, to reach the podium of the World Champs! Reflecting on the race, she was unsurprisingly happy with the result and rated her race satisfaction as 8 (out of 10)
• Everything “went to plan” on race day for Jo, who is now looking to build on this successful race throughout the year ahead of the World Champs in Kona