Luke Henderson
IRONMAN® Cairns
Cairns2nd, M40-44Luke's headline numbers
Luke's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"Really good! There were a few little moments with low energy, but I think that was when I hadn’t sipped on my Flow Gel bottle enough or when the caffeine started to die down."
Luke reached the highest carbohydrate intake we have seen him consume yet (with prior races being in ~57-65g/h range) with the help of a PF 300 Flow Gel bottle on the bike, alongside four PF 30 Caffeine Gels, and a combination of caffeinated and ‘regular’ gels on the run. This allowed him to hit ~20g/h more compared to this exact race in Cairns two years prior. To do this, Luke has undertaken extensive gut training, working on increasing his gut’s tolerance to higher carb levels and greater fluid volumes, particularly when ‘frontloading’ the bike with over ~110g/h before dropping down, closer to ~50g/h on the run.
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.
Luke2129mg/L
Luke has been Sweat Tested to dial in his 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.
Given Luke's losses are Very High (2,129mg/L), nailing his hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it's hot and/or humid.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I was happy as I felt really good all day. I didn’t feel like I was restricting myself from drinking at all, and drank consistently to my plan throughout."
With a history of severe hydration-related issues occurring in prior races due to his extremely high sweat sodium concentration and high sweat rate, Luke once again followed a relatively aggressive fluid and electrolyte replacement strategy. After varying success with strategies in the past (including a sub-par performance at the World Champs in Nice last year), Luke made a couple of significant changes in Cairns; notably modifying the volume of fluid taken in following more detailed sweat rate measurement and introducing the use of sodium chloride tablets. Due to Luke’s high sweat rate and extremely high sweat sodium concentration, he loses greater amounts of chloride than many other people and, in addition to sodium, it was hypothesised that this extreme loss of chloride may have been causing some acid/base balance issues in his blood. Based on sweat loss modelling, Luke targeted a slightly more ‘conservative’ than typical fluid intake on the bike (~1L/h) to match the environmental conditions and his intensity. Alongside this, he used a mixture of sodium chloride tablets, PH 1500 and Electrolyte Capsules to ensure that adequate chloride was being replaced along with sodium. This approach appears to have been successful as Luke felt this was the best execution of a hydration strategy to date. Race stats and further subjective feedback agree as he experienced no cramping (common in past races), peed once, experienced minimal amounts of swelling and ended with a sub-9 hour race performance.
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
Luke has a high tolerance for caffeine, having previously surpassed the general caffeine recommendations on multiple occasions. This race was no different. Consuming six caffeine gels during the race and one in the final 15 minutes pre-race, Luke consumed double the upper limit which current guidelines recommend for a single dose for performance enhancement. Considering the guidelines target shorter duration events than this, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for him to take above 6mg/kg, however, such high doses (although spread out) may come with a greater risk of associated negative side effects. For most people, staying within the 3-6mg/kg guidelines remains the recommended course of action.
How Luke hit his numbers
Here's everything that Luke ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“It’s hard to quantify my race satisfaction as I didn’t have the run prep I would’ve wanted going in, but with this in mind, I’d say it was a great race. I would love to do the race again having had proper build up, which I’ll now do going into Kona!”
“Luke had an excellent race in Cairns where he earned a desirable Kona slot with the help of his individualised heat acclimatisation, nutrition and hydration strategy, which included unique fluid and carbohydrate targets to match his individual needs as they changed across the changing conditions of the day. Luke did well to proactively replace his electrolyte losses in line with the high volumes of fluid he was drinking to take on high relative concentrations and avoid any hydration-related issues which have plagued him in the past.”
PF&HLuke'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 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.