Josh's headline numbers
Josh's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"I didn’t feel particularly depleted throughout the race which was great, but I could probably have had a little more on the run."
Josh relied solely on his own nutrition for this race and didn’t use the on-course aid stations at all. His carb numbers were relatively low compared to what we see from other pro long-course triathletes, so this is potentially something he could benefit from increasing to be more in line with the recommended intake guidelines of ~90g per hour.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I did get some cramps towards the end of the bike so took my foot off the gas to avoid aggravating them, but in general I felt like I hydrated quite well."
Josh used highly concentrated bottles of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and a bottle of PH 1500 (Drink Mix) to get all of his electrolytes in. Whilst we don’t know Josh’s sweat sodium concentration, the relative concentration of his drinks on the run was *very* high at ~4,167mg/L (the equivalent to nearly three PH 1500’s in every 500ml (16oz) bottle!). We would therefore recommend diluting this down with some plain water, reducing the number of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix servings in his Soft Flask, or switching to some Carb Only Drink Mix to keep on top of his fueling, without over-doing his electrolyte intake and risking any GI distress.
How Josh hit his numbers
Here's everything that Josh ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“Of course I’m stoked with my performance, especially as I ran my best ever half marathon off-the-bike after my hardest ever bike, which is really encouraging.”
“Josh produced a stellar performance at his first 70.3 Worlds in his debut year as a professional triathlete. With some small optimisations to consider in his fuel and hydration strategy including bumping up his carb intake and reducing the relative sodium concentration of his drinks we hope to see Josh delivering similarly impressive performances in the future.”
PF&HJosh's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
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.