Mathias Petersen
IRONMAN® Vitoria-Gasteiz
Victoria-Gasteiz7th, MPROMathias' headline numbers
Mathias' strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"On the bike the plan was to push as hard as I could, and I found that my energy levels fell around the 100km mark but with some more carbs they soon came back. On the run, it felt like my body didn’t want to go into a higher gear and I couldn’t really push the pace. I think this was probably from over-biking rather than underfueling that led to a slower marathon than I would have liked."
Mathias went into this race with a specific goal in mind: to race as hard as he could on the bike, and see what happened on the run. In doing so, it’s likely he burned through his glycogen stores faster than he usually would, decreasing the time it took for fatigue to set in. Although his carb intake was in line with the general recommendations, he may benefit from increasing this slightly to hit the ~90 g/h target, especially when pushing himself to the absolute limit. Additionally, after chatting to the PF&H Sport Science Team, Mathias aims to ‘decouple’ his fuel strategy from his hydration so he can adjust one without impacting the other more easily. In his next race, he plans to run with two soft flasks: one containing PF 300 Flow Gel and the other dedicated to his fluid and electrolytes.
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.
Drinking a strong electrolyte drink before the race could have helped Mathias start optimally hydrated
"It was a really hot day, but I didn’t feel too hot during the run as I wasn’t running fast enough to generate much heat. It felt like there was a long gap between aid stations on the last two laps of the run, and I felt quite thirsty at times and more so once I finished the race."
Given Mathias’ racing strategy and subsequent high-intensity effort, it’s likely that his body was producing far more heat than he was used to whilst on the bike, and thus producing more sweat. Additionally, the table salt he added to some of his water bottles may have caused the significant increase in his thirst response, which was evident as he took on more plain water than planned to quench this thirst. As a result, the relative concentration of sodium of his overall fluid intake was more dilute than ideal for him. To avoid this in future, he should aim to pick up bottles of electrolytes interspersed with plain water, such as PH 1000 which was available on-course at this race, to more closely match his sweat sodium losses.
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
Mathias used a caffeinated energy drink instead of coffee to circulate a decent amount of the stimulant in his blood before toeing the start line. During the race, he only used caffeine on the run, leaving room to increase his intake to fall more in line with the scientific recommendations for a race of this duration and intensity. Adding a couple of PF 30 Caffeine Gels during the bike leg would be a good place to start, after practising this in training beforehand of course. This would help him maximise the ergogenic benefits of caffeine throughout the *whole* race and hopefully help him get into that ‘higher gear’.
How Mathias hit his numbers
Here's everything that Mathias ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“It’s hard to say - when I crossed the line, I felt really disappointed, but as I have analysed it a bit more I am pleased. I wanted to test some things and I managed that successfully, and did a really solid ride. But it still hurts to know that if I had eased off on the bike a bit, I would have probably run a low 2:40 marathon and been on the podium.”
Mathias“Mathias achieved his goal of racing hard on the bike, and proved to himself what he was capable of during a race where the fastest ever IRONMAN® bike split was recorded. With some minor adjustments to decouple his fuel and hydration strategy to have more control over each element and increase his caffeine and relative sodium intake slightly, he should be more equipped to support his high-intensity efforts to see him continue chasing a sub 2:40 marathon off the bike.”
PF&HMathias' 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.