Justin Metzler's scorecard
IRONMAN 70.3® Oregon
Sunday 3rd July, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 100gCarb per hour
- 915mgSodium per hour
- 671mlFluid per hour
- 1,364mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 620mgTotal caffeine
How Justin hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
750ml x PH 1500 Packet
67.5g x Oats
1tbsp x Chia seeds
1tbsp x Almond butter
1tbsp x Honey
1 x Cup of Coffee
300ml x Water
Pre-race (<30mins)
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
Race - Swim
*** Review technique if drinking much at this point!
Race - Bike
1L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
1.5L x PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix
3 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
1 x PF 30 Chews
450ml x Plain water
Race - Run
1 x PF 30 Gel
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
400ml x Plain water
1 x Energy gel with caffeine (25g carb, 100mg caffeine)
50ml x Cola
50ml x Red Bull
- Professional triathlete Justin Metzler had a fantastic race at IM 70.3 Oregon, to take his first professional IM 70.3 race win after 41 race starts!
- The win wasn’t handed easily to him and, despite leading the race up to this point, Justin was passed on the run around mile 5. Putting a lot of trust into his hydration and fueling strategy to give him the legs to finish strongly, Justin maintained composure and made the re-pass around mile 9, ultimately bringing home the win with a 41 second gap
- Justin has been working hard with the PF&H Sports Science team to refine his race strategy, after a couple of mishaps involving overconsumption at the start of the season
- This race followed a brilliant performance at IM 70.3 Eagleman, in which Justin was just beaten at the line to take 2nd place
Hydration
- Justin preloaded on the morning of the race with a PH 1500 (Tablet) to optimally top up his sodium levels and increase his blood plasma volume, thus reducing his cardiovascular load
- The majority of Justin’s fluids on the bike came in the form of two 750ml/24oz bottles, containing PF 30 Drink Mix mixed with an additional packet of PH 1500 (Drink Mix). He also picked up ~450ml / 15oz of water from aid stations. This helped him to achieve ~921ml / 31oz fluid per hour in this event and a high relative sodium concentration of ~1,538mg/L (something we have been encouraging Justin, who has a moderate-high sweat sodium concentration of 1,044mg/L, to target)
- This is a much more sensible fluid consumption than we have seen Justin drink in previous races (e.g. he drank close to 1.6L / 54oz per hour on the bike at IM 70.3 Eagleman) and it’s brilliant to see these adjustments in his hydration strategy paying off in his performance
- Onto the run and Justin drank ~500ml/16oz of fluid, equating to ~423ml / 14oz per hour. This was achieved entirely through aid station pickups, after making the tactical decision to leave a pre-mixed 500ml/16oz soft flask of PF 30 Energy Drink Mix in T2 to save time. Most of Justin’s fluid intake was plain water (~400ml/14oz) but also included ~50ml/2oz of Coca Cola and ~50ml/2oz of Red Bull. Both of these additional fluids will have helped provide Justin with an extra caffeine boost heading into the back half of the run
- By ‘frontloading’ his race with a stronger relative sodium concentration on the bike, Justin was able to get away with a lower electrolyte concentration (~682mg/L) while running. That being said, he did, once again, experience some twinges of cramp on the run after taking back the lead ~mile 9. This coincides with Justin holding his highest intensity during the race and so it’s plausible that this threat of cramp was related to this. However, Justin’s choice to leave behind the PF 30 Drink Mix (a mix which contains 500mg of sodium) in T2 plus not taking any Electrolyte Capsules during the run equalled a much lower sodium intake than we’ve seen him hit previously so may too have played a role
- Justin did make sure he used a saltlick whilst running but it’s unclear how much sodium this provides and makes refining his sodium intake very difficult
- Overall, Justin’s average fluid intake (~742ml/25oz per hour) was much more sensible than in previous races and matched the cooler conditions (15℃/59℉ average temperature, ~50% humidity). His average relative sodium concentration was also more in line with our recommendations for Justin based on his sweat sodium concentration and sweat rate but Justin should work on achieving a more consistent sodium intake across the bike and run leg
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Before the race, Justin ate his regular carb rich breakfast of porridge with honey, salt and whey protein powder. Combined with a coffee and a pre-race PF 30 Caffeine Gel, he ensured his energy stores were full, and his perceived energy levels high come start time
- After a rapid downstream river swim, he executed his pre-planned strategy of taking three PF 30 Caffeine Gels at minutes 10, 40 and 70 on the bike
- He followed this up with a PF 30 Chew at ~1h40m alongside ~1.5L/48oz of PF 30 Drink Mix mixed with PH 1500 Drink Mix throughout the ride. In total, Justin consumed ~240g of carb on the bike, averaging ~113g/h; an intake which exceeds the [general fueling recommendations]() for a race of this intensity and duration but which we have seen Justin comfortably tolerate before
- Despite this brilliant carb intake, Justin felt as though his power faded during the back half of the bike and is considering bringing forward the timing of his carb intake if the race intensity is as high as this in his future races
- During transition 2, Justin opted to skip his pre-made 500ml/16oz soft flask of PF 30 Drink Mix to save time and maintain his gap to second place. This decision, whilst effective tactically, meant he missed out on 30g of carb and 500mg of sodium, which when combined with the extreme levels of effort exerted, may explain why he experienced minor cramps in his calves
- To combat these twinges while on the move, Justin utilised a saltlick. In future, Justin should be proactive with administering this intake, ensuring he doesn’t wait for the onset of cramp before taking on electrolytes
- To avoid a drop off in energy during this intense run, Justin took one PF 30 Energy Gel, one PF 30 Caffeine Gel and one on-course caffeine gel (25g carb) at mile 9. In total, this meant that Justin consumed ~96g of carb in the half marathon, hitting ~81g/h, a brilliant intake
Conclusions
- Justin subjectively scored his fuel and hydration strategy for this race 8-9 (out of 10). This marks an improvement compared to how he felt he executed his plan at IM 70.3 Eagleman, but still leaves some room for further tweaks to be made
- Tactically, Justin made a bold decision to leave his 500ml/16oz source of electrolytes and carb in T2 so that he could get out of transition in a lightning 1 minute 32 seconds. However, in future, should he make the same choice, he should aim to replace what he leaves behind through aid station pick ups on the fly. This is important to prevent cramps in the latter stages of the race
- Justin should be very proud of how well his strategy is coming along and the outcome of this race is a credit to his co-operation and hard work. As Justin continues to refine his strategy, we look forward to seeing how much more he can achieve!
Key info
Justin Metzler
Male
Sweat sodium concentration1,044mg/L
Sweat sodium classificationModerate
* determined by our Sweat Test
Result
Position1st
Overall Time3:39:57
Swim Time0:16:26
Bike Time2:07:15
Run Time1:11:45
Event information
SportTriathlon
DisciplineMiddle distance
EventIRONMAN 70.3® Oregon
LocationOregon, USA
Date3rd July, 2022
Swim Distance1.9km / 1.2mi
Bike Distance90.0km / 55.9mi
Run Distance21.1km / 13.1mi
Total Distance113.1km / 70.3mi
Bike Elevation350m / 1,148ft
Run Elevation103m / 338ft
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsMild
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp13°C / 55°F
Max Temp19°C / 66°F
Avg Temp15°C / 59°F
Humidity50%
Athlete feedback
Race Satisfaction9/10
GI comfort10/10
CrampingTwinges but not full-on cramps
Justin's Thoughts
A big component of my success since St. George has been due to the assistance PF&H have been so open to providing me. I just want to say how thankful and grateful I am for the support
Data Confidence
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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.