Justin Metzler's scorecard
IRONMAN® Lake Placid
Sunday 24th July, 2022
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 110gCarb per hour
- 1,558mgSodium per hour
- 935mlFluid per hour
- 1,667mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 740mgTotal caffeine
How Justin hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
750ml x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
0.75 x Cup of oats with honey, whey protein, and almond butter
1tbsp x Chia seeds
1 x Coffee
100ml x Plain water
Pre-race (<30mins)
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
Race - Swim
*** Try to avoid drinking too much at this point in the race!
Race - Bike
3L x PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix mixed with PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
5 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
3 x PF 30 Gel
3 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
3 x PF 30 Chews
1.5L x Plain water
1.5L x Energy drink (22g carb)
Race - Run
1.25L x PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix mixed with PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
4 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
2 x PF 30 Gel
3 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
350ml x Plain water
100ml x Energy drink (22g carb)
100ml x Cola
100ml x Red Bull
1 x Banana
1500mg x Sodium Lick
- After an impressive win at IRONMAN 70.3 Oregon three weeks prior, professional triathlete, Justin Metzler, took to the start line again at IM Lake Placid, New York
- This was Justin’s first full distance race since suffering terrible stomach cramps at the IM World Championships earlier in the year as a result of over-consuming carbohydrate
- Having worked with the Sports Science team for some months, Justin has a robust plan which he executes confidently in 70.3 races but this was the first test of the new plan over double the distance
- Justin finished fourth but said “that hardly tells the full story” going on to say that he had his “lifetime best race for about 95%”. He in fact led for the majority of the day but it ended with him having to run-walk the last 10 kilometres due to debilitating cramp-like feelings in his quads, which led to him dropping down the positions. Rather than being a direct result of his race nutrition strategy, Justin felt that what crippled him was “a recurring issue of complete muscular breakdown/fatigue”
- That being said, he felt there was some room for improvement with his strategy and that, in particular on the run, he was in “problem mitigation mode” as opposed to feeling comfortable in what he needed to take and when
Hydration
- Justin started his race day by drinking ~800ml/26oz PH 1500, ~100ml/3oz plain water and a coffee. This pre-race routine helps ensure he is starting the race in a well-hydrated state with his fluid and sodium levels topped up. Justin also drinks ~500ml/16oz of PH 1500 the night before the event to further optimise his hydration status
- Justin started the bike leg with two 750ml/24oz bottles, each filled with three scoops of PF 30 Drink Mix (1.5 servings) and one PH 1500 (Drink Mix). Alongside this, he had also intended to fill his downtube bottles with the same products
- In a cruel twist, these bottles broke the day before the race so Justin had to adapt and chose to place two 750ml/24oz bottles in the on-course ‘special needs’ area instead. He would then be able to pick these up when heading out onto the second lap of the bike course
- Whilst riding, he also picked up two 750ml/24oz bottles of the on-course energy drink and ~1.5L/48oz of plain water
- In total this meant that Justin drank ~6L/202oz of fluid on the bike which averaged ~1.35L/45oz per hour. This is a high fluid consumption but falls in line with what we’ve seen him drink before, especially in hot conditions (~26℃/79℉ average temperature)
- What is important is that Justin said “I felt hydrated all day and never forced the eating or drinking” which does suggests that he was never aggressively trying to drink, only drinking as he felt he needed
- On the run, Justin ran out of the second transition with a 500ml/16oz flask containing a serving of PF 30 Drink Mix and then, at the special needs station around the halfway point, picked up a 750ml/24oz bottle containing a further 1.5 servings of PF 30 Drink Mix and one sachet of PH 1500. On top of this, he drank a mixture of water, Red Bull, Coca Cola and the on-course energy drink mix to supplement his hydration requirements
- Justin supplemented with a high intake of sodium in this race, consistently drinking fluids with a high sodium concentration, as well as taking 4-5 PH Electrolyte Capsules on both the bike and run
- In addition to this, he aggressively used a salt lick (estimated ~1,500mg of sodium) to mitigate the cramp-like feeling he started to experience on the bike and keep it at bay
- On average, Justin’s sodium and fluid intake equated to a high relative sodium concentration of ~1,667 milligrams of sodium per litre, which corroborates the conclusion that Justin’s experience with cramping on the bike and run was most likely due to muscular fatigue and excessive load as opposed to being directly related to an issue in his race nutrition strategy
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
60-90gcarb per hour during
- Justin ate his usual pre-race carb-rich breakfast alongside a coffee and took one PF 30 Caffeine Gel ~15 minutes before the start. This consumption will have ensured Justin was starting with his liver glycogen levels full and blood glucose levels high, a strategy which can aid muscle glycogen sparing
- Justin uses PF 30 Drink Mix in his bottles as the backbone of his plan and then takes a PF 30 Caffeine Gel, PF 30 Gel or PF 30 Chew every ~30 minutes - usually in that order!
- On the bike, he also picked up two bottles (1.5L/48oz) of the on-course energy drink (~84g carb total). He did similar on the run, getting a proportion of his carb from the on-course drinks options, on top of his flasks of PF 30 Drink Mix and five PF 30 Gels
- Overall, across the whole race, including the final pre-race PF 30 Caffeine Gel, Justin averaged ~110g of carb per hour. Whilst the general carbohydrate recommendations for a race of this intensity and duration is ~90g per hour, there is evidence to suggest that some elite athletes can tolerate carbohydrate intakes of up to 120g per hour and this is certainly something we’ve seen Justin repeatedly manage without any GI distress
- In this race, Justin’s carb intake broke down into an impressive ~136g/h on the bike and ~96g/h on the run. It could be argued that Justin’s intake on the bike was too great, and Justin understands that he was more than likely very close to his limit, but that being said, Justin said “I had no GI distress at any point”
- In addition, Justin said he had “great energy throughout the day” and so with his fueling strategy, Justin may not have been far off getting it right. That being said, going forwards, it would be great if he can feel as though he is following a clearer plan on the run leg, rather than in “problem mitigation mode” where he feels unsure of what he’s taking and when, and whether he’s making the right choices
Conclusions
- Moving forwards from the race, Justin is planning to test himself over the full distance again in a few weeks time, and is going to work on mitigating the cramping he experienced by adjusting his leg strength training
- Should Justin be able to prevent this cramping in his racing, he can avoid his reactive use of sodium
- Justin’s total intakes in the race were good and mostly appropriate for the conditions and effort he exerted. For future full-distance races, Justin and the team are going to look into refining his plan on the run so that he feels more confident in the plan he’s executing
Key info
Justin Metzler
Male
Sweat sodium concentration1,044mg/L
Sweat sodium classificationModerate
* determined by our Sweat Test
Result
Position4th
Overall Time8:27:28
Swim Time0:50:32
Bike Time4:26:44
Run Time3:05:30
Event information
SportTriathlon
DisciplineFull distance
EventIRONMAN® Lake Placid
LocationNew York, USA
Date24th July, 2022
Swim Distance3.8km / 2.4mi
Bike Distance180.2km / 112.0mi
Run Distance42.2km / 26.2mi
Total Distance226.2km / 140.6mi
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsHot
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp18°C / 64°F
Max Temp27°C / 81°F
Avg Temp26°C / 79°F
Humidity60%
Athlete feedback
Hydration rating9/10I felt hydrated all day
GI comfort9/10No GI distress at any point
CrampingTwinges but not full-on cramps
Justin's Thoughts
I had to manage some light pre-cramps for most of the day. They started around 85 miles on the bike and had them from that point onwards including the entire marathon.
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.