IRONMAN® Frankfurt

Kristian managed to consume an impressive rate of carbs across both the bike (~169g/h) and the run (~121g/h) at the IRONMAN® European Championships. This placed him well beyond the general recommendations for endurance athletes (60-90g/h); however, elite athletes who can sustain very high rates of energy expenditure and fuel utilisation are finding that they can tolerate and appear to benefit from such high intakes, which may help to maintain their incredible performances.

Based on his physiological testing, sustaining an average of 319W for 3 hours 52 minutes would require Kristian to burn ~198g of carbohydrate per hour. At the start, he would have ~600g of carb stored from carb loading, but these finite reserves deplete steadily during prolonged, race-pace efforts. Despite this, as the race progresses, carbohydrates remain the primary and fuel source for endurance performance, so to keep his stores topped up and maintain high output, Kristian targeted an impressive ~169g/h of carb on the bike, primarily from drink mixes, supplemented with a PF 60 Chew Bar and a PF 30 Gel to add variety in flavour and texture profile.

After coming on board with PF&H, Kristian decided to increase his sodium intake to better match his known sweat sodium concentration of 860mg/L. This was the first warmer race of the season where he could test out this new strategy, and it appeared to work well for him in the hot conditions in Frankfurt. Kristian averaged an impressive fluid intake of 1525ml/h on the bike and 885ml/h on the run, which likely supported his hydration status well on the day, as he would have replaced a high proportion of his sweat losses, ~80% on the bike, meaning that he could start the marathon in a well-hydrated state. Kristain took on his sodium through PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix on the bike, along with Electrolyte Capsules. The success of this strategy reflects well-established hydration principles that encourage replacing sodium to match sweat losses in prolonged, hot events.

Kristian hit a total of 400mg and 5.2mg/kg of caffeine, an amount shown to enhance endurance exercise performance. Some athletes in extended endurance events, such as IRONMAN®, may reach doses exceeding 6mg/kg because they aim to maintain circulating caffeine at the desired levels in the blood, which tips them over the 6mg/kg mark but over a prolonged duration. In this race, however, Kristian opted to limit his caffeine intake and not push the amount too high. He chose to do this as there is some emerging evidence that suggests caffeine may negatively impact cycling performance and thermoregulation in the heat. However, since this evidence is still limited, the best advice, at present, is to be sensible with caffeine intake in the heat and not push your limits, like Kristian did here.