Kyle Smith
IRONMAN 70.3® World Championships
Kyle's headline numbers
Kyle's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Hot off a big year of racing, Kyle hit his highest carb intake over an IRONMAN 70.3® distance race. Aiming for peak performance at his hometown race, Kyle followed the scientific guidelines by taking in more carbohydrates to provide more readily available fuel to sustain his performance and delay fatigue. As we’ve seen Kyle do across eight previous case studies, he surpassed the previous theoretical ‘ceiling’ (90g/h) of what can be absorbed and tolerated without any stomach issues. His impressive fueling numbers included his second-highest carb intake on the bike, ~137g/h, solely from the use of PF Carb Only Drink Mix and PF 30 Caffeine Gels, a simple strategy he has practised and developed over the season.
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.
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Whilst Kyle’s losses are on the low side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreWith plenty of experience in the mild but sunny conditions of New Zealand and well in tune with his sweat losses, Kyle drank a suitable volume throughout the race to prevent accumulating too great a level of dehydration which can impact performance. Aware of his very low sweat sodium concentration, Kyle relied on picking up PH 1000 from on-course aid stations for his sodium intake to maintain his fluid-electrolyte balance sufficiently across the race.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Kyle slightly surpassed the caffeine intake recommendations, but he experienced no negative effects of this. Considering his high tolerance for the stimulant and the fact that he was attempting to boost his perceived energy levels (as he felt flat most of the day), his dosage and timings would’ve given him a good chance to reap the ergogenic effects he required.
How Kyle hit his numbers
Here's everything that Kyle ate and drank on the day...
Kyle's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Kyle
PF&HKyle's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.