IRONMAN® Cascais

Josh increased his overall carb intake from his previous race at the IM 70.3 World Championships by almost 40%, which considering this was his debut IRONMAN makes it more impressive to do so over double the distance. Additionally, he experienced no gastrointestinal issues, suggesting the rigorous gut training protocol he’s undertaken in recent weeks has paid off. Josh cycled (pardon the pun) between PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and a PF 300 Flow Gel to keep his caloric intake on the bike high, before utilising the special needs aid stations on the run to collect more gels. Overall this helped him maintain solid energy levels throughout as he proved to be another athlete demonstrating that tolerating more than 90g/h is not only manageable but beneficial to his performance.

Josh is yet to have a Sweat Test, but his subjective analysis would suggest his sodium losses are not insignificant. He proactively consumes enough to adequately match his estimated losses. At his previous 70.3 races, Josh super-concentrated his electrolytes and achieved relative concentrations >4,000mg per litre. This can significantly increase the risk of GI issues, particularly during longer races like an IRONMAN. For this event, Josh made sure he drank plenty of plain water to reduce the average concentration and reported no issues this time around. Despite experiencing debilitating cramps in his quads during the marathon, this was unlikely due to electrolyte depletion. For Josh, understanding the multifactorial causes of cramp, including pacing and general muscle damage, will be vital to avoiding cramps in future races. The only hydration-related issue Josh experienced was during the second hour of the run, when he began to pee quite frequently. It was unusual that he got ~6.5 hours into the race before needing to go, but this may have been caused by his position on his TT bike compressing his bladder, and it just took a while on the run to ‘open up’ and relax enough for him to pee. This is something to investigate further to help prevent a recurrence.