Lizzie Rayner
IRONMAN 70.3® Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence2nd, FPROLizzie's headline numbers
Lizzie's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"My stomach felt good and I think I absolutely smashed the carbs!"
Lizzie’s performance at Aix-en-Provence was the result of months of dedicated gut training and consistently practicing her personalised race fueling strategy. On the bike, she hit her highest ever carb intake of ~129g/h by consuming ~160g from concentrated carb bottles made with PF Carb Only Drink Mix, finishing all four of her planned gels and taking in ~30g of carb from two servings of PH 1500 (Drink Mix. This was a significant increase from her usual ~100g/h across her previous 70.3® races. On the run, she kept the momentum going by finishing a full PF 90 Gel, averaging out to be ~68g/h. Most importantly, she did all of this without any stomach discomfort! This consistent, high carb availability helped to maintain her energy levels on a tough bike course and set the stage for her fastest ever 70.3® run split.
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.
Lizzie839mg/L
Lizzie has been Sweat Tested to dial in her hydration plan
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 Lizzie's losses are on the moderate side, getting her hydration strategy right is still crucial when it's hot and/or humid as her higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I started to cramp in my quads towards the end of the run. I was initially worried about the heat, but I think my hydration was solid overall. I even ended up peeing a couple of times during the race."
In anticipation of the hot and humid race conditions, Lizzie made some smart adjustments to frontload her sodium and fluid intake in the beginning of the bike leg. She drank one litre of PH 1500, added a tablet of PH 1000 (delivering 500mg of sodium) in her carb-rich bottle (unlike previous races) and carried extra Electrolyte Capsules to support her hydration strategy. Subjectively, Lizzie felt this approach worked well. If race day temperatures had continued to climb, extending her proactive sodium and fluid intake into the latter stages of the bike and early on the run would have been helpful for maintaining her fluid balance and hydration to the finish.
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.
T - 0-4hrs: Had a final hit of caffeine
Lizzie stuck to her usual caffeine protocol of relying on PF 30 Caffeine Gels, a strategy she’s refined across previous 70.3® distance races. This helped her hit the recommended caffeine range shown to enhance perceived energy levels. Having tested and dialled in her dose and timing, Lizzie has found that this approach reliably supports her focus and performance, without causing any negative side effects - an important factor given how individual caffeine tolerance can vary between athletes.
How Lizzie hit her numbers
Here's everything that Lizzie ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I still can’t believe it! I’m stoked to have finally broken the elusive sub-80 barrier on the run, especially on a course with twists, turns, hills and gravel. Eight weeks to go until Swansea and there’s more work to be done.”
“Lizzie executed her most dialled-in fuel and hydration strategy to date, hitting an impressive fuel intake to support a strong podium finish against stacked competition in France. Her smart, proactive decisions around fuel and hydration paid off in the challenging conditions, and she’s well placed to keep building momentum into races later this season.”
PF&HLizzie's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
There is good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).