Joel Wooldridge's scorecard
IRONMAN Western Australia
Sunday 4th December, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
73g
Carb per hour
237mg
Sodium per hour
636ml
Fluid per hour
384mg/L
Relative sodium concentration
549mg
Total caffeine
How Joel hit those numbers
How Joel's hydration and fueling went...
- Joel raced hard at IRONMAN, Western Australia in Busselton to secure 10th place overall with a time of 8:32:52 in what was only his second ever full distance triathlon
- With a robust race-day strategy, Joel was able to perceive his GI comfort afterwards as a 9 and energy levels as an 8 (out of 10), suggesting he was pretty close to nailing his nutrition plan
- Joel, at just north of 20 years old, showed an impressive intuitive ability to start adapting his hydration strategy on the fly, in reaction to milder than expected temperatures. This flexibility to environmental change is something that he can work on refining in future races
Hydration
- Joel gave himself the best chance of a good race, by starting it optimally hydrated. In future, to ensure this ‘preload’ is as effective as possible, we’d recommend using a slightly stronger electrolyte drink like PH 1500 to stimulate the desired increase in blood plasma volume
- When out of the water and onto the bike, Joel drank a mixture of pre-mixed bottles containing PH 1000 (Drink Mix), sports drink and plain water he picked up from the aid stations. This gave him an average fluid intake of ~703ml (22oz) per hour.
- He had initially set out to drink 800ml-1000ml of fluid per hour, but with cooler temperatures than expected tried to adapt and reduce this somewhat
- Joel admitted that he had to pee several times while cycling, which may suggest that he could have dialled this intake down even further. However, an average relative sodium concentration here of just 555mg/L (mg/32oz) potentially contributed to him retaining less of the fluid he was drinking too
- Going through transition two, Joel forgot to pick up the Electrolyte Capsules that he had planned to take, which meant his sodium intake fell even lower on the run course to somewhere between 103-135mg/L (mg/32oz). Given the lowest Sweat Test result we’ve ever recorded was ~200mg/L (mg/32oz), this level certainly would likely have fallen below the optimal dose to replace Joel’s losses here
- Due to solely relying on aid stations for his fluid and electrolytes on the run, there’s a significant room for error in estimating the volumes Joel actually drank. To address this, we used a low and high estimates to produce the 398-1074ml per hour (13-33oz per hour) range which he could have consumed
- Based on the fact that (like on the bike), Joel had to pee several times when running, and had clear pee straight after this race, it’s safe to assume his real intake was on the higher end of this range
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30g
carb 30 mins before
60-90g
carb per hour during
- After rounding off an effective carb load for this race with rice for dinner and a breakfast bagel, Joel topped up his blood glucose levels with a PF 30 Caffeine Gel. This would have enhanced his focus along with many other benefits associated with caffeine
- Joel mixed his PF 90 Gels with his electrolytes and water in bottles on the bike, allowing him to pull what we like to call the three ‘levers’ of carb, electrolyte and fluid simultaneously
- When combined with his strategically timed PF 30 Caffeine Gels and energy drink from aid stations, Joel’s fueling efforts saw him achieve ~99g of carb per hour while cycling
- While this value is over the general recommendation of 75-90g/h, it’s in line with what we’ve been seeing more and more regularly from professional athletes aiming to push the limits of human performance by taking in excess of 90g/h. He was able to consume this much, while maintaining a perceived GI comfort level of 9 (out of 10), which is a testament to the gut training he’s carried out
- After transitioning to the run, Joel fueled using PF 30 Gels for the first half, before relying on energy drinks from aid stations in the latter stages. Much like his fluid, this generates some room for error in estimating the true carbohydrate value, which was somewhere between 42-54g/h
- This value is at least 44% lower than his intake on the bike, which is a greater drop than we usually see from full distance triathletes going from bike to run (it’s usually in the region of a ~25% reduction). This undoubtedly contributed to his perceived energy dip in the last 10km of the race
- While this is a significant drop off in energy intake, we’ve seen more dramatic declines when analysing Joel’s previous performances, like at the l’Alpe d’Huez middle distance triathlon. With this in mind, Joel is certainly on the right track, but has some room for additional carb while on the final stretch of full distance races in future
Conclusions
- Overall, Joel had a strong race at IRONMAN Busselton, with a solid fuel and hydration plan, which he was able to start to adapt on the fly given unexpected environmental conditions
- Joel has the chance going forwards to increase his carb intake on the back half of long runs, which may help to mitigate energy dips late in the race
- He also should be mindful of the relative sodium concentration of his fluid intake in future, especially when competing in warmer environments where dehydration and sodium depletion may play bigger roles
Note: Overall numerical values shown are median averages of the low-high estimate range
Key info
Joel Wooldridge
Male
Result
Overall Time
8:32:52
Swim Time
0:52:43
Bike Time
4:33:11
Run Time
3:01:16
Event information
Sport
Triathlon
Discipline
Full distance
Event
IRONMAN Western Australia
Location
Busselton, Australia
Date
4th December, 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
Hot
Precipitation
No Rain
Min Temp
17°C / 63°F
Max Temp
23°C / 73°F
Avg Temp
20°C / 68°F
Humidity
55%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction
8/10
Hydration rating
7/10
I forgot my Electrolyte Capsules in T2
Energy levels
8/10
Energy dips at the end of the bike and run
Toilet stops
Yes
A total of six times throughout the race
GI comfort
9/10
Cramping
Twinges but not full-on cramps
Joel's Thoughts
This race was a mostly positive experience. I thought my fueling was good, but that I maybe needed more sodium
Joel's full stats
Carbohydrate (g) | Sodium (mg) | Fluid (ml) | Caffeine (mg) | Relative sodium concentration (mg/L) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | |||||
Total intake | 624 | 2,022 | 5,420 | 549 | 384 |
Per hour | 73 | 237 | 636 | 65 | |
Bike and Run | |||||
Total intake | 594 | 2,022 | 5,420 | 449 | 384 |
Per hour | 79 | 268 | 716 | 53 | |
Bike | |||||
Total intake | 449 | 1,775 | 3,200 | 200 | 555 |
Per hour | 99 | 390 | 703 | 44 | |
Run | |||||
Total intake | 143 | 247 | 2,220 | 249 | 119 |
Per hour | 48 | 82 | 736 | 83 |
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.