• Martin Gannon produced a dominant performance at the IRONMAN World Championships in St George to become World Champ in the M65-69 age group, beating his competitors by over an hour!
• After coming out of the swim in 8th place, Martin had fantastic bike and run legs to cross the line in a time of 11 hours and 9 minutes, in what were very hot and dry conditions (29℃/84℉ average temperature, 12% humidity). With the forecasted hot conditions in mind, Martin had put together a meticulous hydration and fueling plan which he ran past the team pre-race
• With multiple top 10 finishes in previous World Championship races, Martin ‘rehearsed like a champion and trained to win’ ahead of the race. Looking back on the fantastic result, he said ‘‘I know that there are no guarantees so it’s really satisfying to conquer that course and elements under pressure” and rated his race satisfaction a 11 (out of 10)

Hydration

• Martin preloaded the night before using a couple of Electrolyte Capsules with 500ml/16oz of water. In the morning, he mentioned sipping on plain water in the lead up to the race. We would recommend he sticks to the plan to preload with PH 1500 ~90 minutes before future races to make sure he is starting in a well hydrated state
• During the race, Martin used a proactive strategy to replace a good proportion of his individual sweat losses. From our Advanced Sweat Test Martin knows he loses 695mg of sodium per litre of sweat, and from sweat rate data collection prior to the race, he knew that his sweat rate could reach 1.5L/51oz in the predicted hot conditions
• Martin’s hydration strategy on the bike involved drinking some water mixed in two carb-rich bottles, along with one ~700ml/24oz bottle of plain water which he continued to fill up by picking up 500ml/16oz water bottles at aid stations (~4.7L/159oz total plain water)
• He had originally planned to drink an additional ~250ml/8oz at each station (aiming to drink ~1.5L/51oz per hour), but after discussing this with the team he understood that striving to drink 100% of his sweat losses wasn’t necessary. Instead, he allowed his thirst to dictate how much he drank, and hit a solid ~1L/h (32oz/h) on the bike
• On the run, Martin slowed down to pick up multiple cups of water at each aid station, he also picked up ten cups of energy drink mix and two cups of coke, drinking up to ~5L/160oz in total (~1.22L/41oz per hour). This is an impressive average intake and slightly greater than he drank on the bike, inline with the increasing temperatures throughout the race
• In terms of sodium, Martin kept on top of his losses well to avoid any issues, such as cramping, by including concentrated PH 1500 mixes in two of his bottles and taking on nine Electrolyte Capsules on the bike. Then, despite originally planning to continue to take capsules on the run, a mishap with the misplacement of his running belt, meant he had to adjust his plan by picking up the on-course energy/electrolyte drink to continue to replace his losses
• In total, Martin took on ~7,268mg (~652mg/h) of sodium throughout the race, which unsurprisingly broke down into a higher ~745mg/h on the bike and ~302mg/h on the run. In relation to the fluid he drank, the relative sodium concentration of his intake was ~664mg/L, a concentration similar to his sweat sodium concentration (~695mg/L)
• Martin was happy with his hydration strategy during the race (rating it a 9 out of 10), and adjusted his plan well on the fly throughout the run. He peed a few times during both the swim and the bike, common for him during a race of this length and indicating he didn’t under hydrate

Fueling

Conclusions

• Age Group World Champion, Martin, was to no one's surprise very happy with the result saying that the race “went to plan”. He “knew it would be hard due to the terrain, big climbs, hilly marathon, heat and wind” but thrived despite this to dominate his age group on the day
• Other than a slight change to his plan on the run due to a lost race belt, Martin used his planned hydration and fueling strategy effectively throughout the race to hit impressive carb, sodium and fluid numbers over the 11 hour race