• This was Leon's first time covering the full IM race distance and he performed superbly, both in terms of hitting his hydration and fueling numbers and his overall race result, placing 3rd in a time of 8 hours 51 minutes

Hydration

• Here’s what Leon had to say about his hydration strategy: “I stuck to the plan pretty much to the letter. Was going to get water from aid stations in the last hour of the bike but because it was so cold and I had urinated (therefore had water just in excess), I adjusted and kept some of my bottled fluids for the last hour. Never felt dehydrated.”
• Leon had a good awareness of the conditions and that his sweat rate wasn’t too high and therefore had a fluid intake of ~500ml/hr (~17oz/hr), an adequate intake in the mild conditions. He didn’t suffer from any hydration-related issues and had a fantastic race
• Leon reported having one pee around 4 hours into the bike leg as he had drank most of his water bottles but wasn't sweating much (FYI it’s quite normal for athletes to pee during such long events, what you want to watch out for is excessive peeing, this is an indicator that you might be overdrinking!)
• The relative sodium concentration Leon consumed over the course of the race was just ~320mg/L. Although he reported not sweating excessively due to the cooler conditions, he has a high sweat sodium concentration of 1,392mg/L and therefore was only replacing a small proportion of the sodium he will have been losing during the race. Especially in hotter conditions, Leon should consider increasing his sodium intake to stay well hydrated so he can perform at his best

Fueling

Conclusions

• Overall, Leon enjoyed a fine debut IM outing in Bolton using a practical hydration and nutrition strategy which he adapted to the cool conditions
• He fuelled well both pre and during the race but moving forwards, he could look to increase his sodium intake to replace a greater proportion of the sodium he is losing in his sweat, especially in races where the conditions are hotter