IRONMAN® World Championships

Six months on from IRONMAN® Texas, Jocelyn implemented an improved fueling strategy by taking in greater amounts of carbohydrate on the bike leg (~99g/h in Hawaii compared to ~74g/h in Texas). After experiencing some gut issues at the 100km (63 mile) PTO races prior to Kona, Jocelyn opted to add a bottle purely for hydration, rather than relying solely on carbohydrate drink mixes during the first-half of the race, which worked particularly well in the heat. Jocelyn dropped her carb intake down on the run (~73g/h) to follow the trend of triathletes frontloading their fuel intake on the bike (seen in 83% of our full distance case studies), although this drop-off may have been a little too steep given she felt hungry towards the end of the marathon.

We know from Jocelyn’s Sweat Test that she isn’t a particularly “salty sweater”, but she loses a high volume of sweat and sweat rate testing has shown she can lose more than two litres (64oz) per hour in hot conditions. In the renowned heat and humidity of Kona, her fluid intake pushed over ~1.3L per hour on the bike. This is the highest we’ve seen from a female over a full distance race. She then dropped closer to ~750ml/h on the run as a large amount of the fluid she picked up at this point was used for cooling. Alongside this, Jocelyn took on a relative sodium concentration much greater than her sweat sodium concentration in an attempt to replace her net sodium losses, which is a common strategy in long-course triathlon where fluid access on the run can be challenging. However, Jocelyn did experience some swelling in her extremities on the run, which may have been caused by an imbalance of fluid and electrolytes in the body. She will continue to refine her sodium and fluid strategy through some more trial and error and collecting further sweat rate data, in the hope to avoid any swelling in future races.

By taking three PF 30 Caffeine Gels and one on-course caffeine gel, Jocelyn pushed over the top end of the recommended caffeine guidelines and effectively doubled the amount of caffeine that we’ve seen her take in previous races. This higher dosage was good for the longer, high intense World Champs race to maximise her perceived energy levels throughout.