Challenge Wanaka

After falling below her fuel targets at her previous race, Laura had a strong start to the 2024 season using a mix of PF 30 Gels and PF 30 Caffeine Gels to keep her energy levels topped up over this shorter middle-distance race. On the bike, she reached impressive carb levels we’ve seen her tolerate in previous races, comfortably front loaded with over 100g of carb per hour before dropping down to ~60g/h on the run. This large drop-off (~42%) is to be expected with the half marathon compared to the full 42.2km (26.2 miles) coming off the bike. It’s a trend we see across our case study database with middle distance triathletes experiencing a greater drop off in carb consumption from bike to run (~38%) compared to full distance races (~24%).

Given the mild race conditions, Laura drank what subjectively seemed like an adequate amount to replace enough of her sweat losses. As expected, this was a considerably lower volume than we’ve seen her drink during hotter, longer races where her net sweat losses would’ve been much greater. Laura had planned to drink more water, but an urge to pee on the bike hindered this. Laura doesn’t usually pee during middle distance races and, although peeing once or twice isn’t uncommon, frequent peeing or peeing more than usual could be a sign of overhydrating. Laura took on a relative sodium concentration of only half of her sweat sodium concentration. Given sodium’s ability to boost blood plasma volume and promote water retention, she could consider increasing the relative sodium concentration she consumes, especially if she looks to stick to her plan of drinking more water.

We’ve seen Laura consume large amounts of caffeine with no evident adverse effects previously. Over a middle distance race lasting just under 5 hours long, the top end of the caffeine recommendation (i.e. 6mg of caffeine per kg of bodyweight) would be sufficient to see her through. With a high caffeine dose from a tablet that she took in the last 30 minutes before the race, in addition to five PF 30 Caffeine Gels throughout the race, Laura may wish to decrease her dosage. There are no known performance benefits to going above and beyond the recommended guidelines, and would subsequently increase her likelihood of avoiding negative side effects.