Michelle Dillon's scorecard
World Sprint Championships
Saturday 15th July, 2023
Within recommended ranges
Just outside recommended ranges
Significantly outside recommended ranges
- 52gCarb per hour
- 814mgSodium per hour
- 514mlFluid per hour
- 1,583mg/LRelative sodium concentration
- 100mgTotal caffeine
How Michelle hit those numbers
Before race (>30mins)
1 x 3 Egg Omlette
8 x Corn Cakes
1 x Coffee with milk
1 x Banana
1 x Pack of Protein Balls
Pre-race (<30mins)
2 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
300ml x Plain water
Race - Swim
*** Review technique if drinking much at this point!
Race - During
300ml x PH 1500 (Tablets)
1 x PF 30 Gel
- Michelle produced an excellent performance at the World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, coming 1st in her age group, despite suffering from an injury which resulted in a lack of running during the two months leading up to the race
- Given the relatively quick and intense nature of the race, Michelle focused on nailing her pre-race fuel and hydration…
Hydration
- Michelle pre-loaded her hydration in a slightly different way to what we would normally suggest, deciding to drink 300ml of plain water and take two PH Electrolyte Capsules
- Although we would normally recommend athletes begin optimally hydrated by drinking ~500ml (16oz) of a strong sodium-based electrolyte like [PH 1500]() for a shorter distance event like this, it wouldn’t have impacted Michelle’s hydration a huge amount
- Michelle has been suffering from symptoms of the menopause leading up to this race. It’s important to consider that one of the main symptoms of the menopause are hot flushes and night sweats. It's possible that with Michelle experiencing these symptoms, she may have woken up more dehydrated than usual. Therefore, the high relative sodium concentration of 1,583mg/L of her drinks would be a result of Michelle being mindful of her symptoms and how the night sweats will have also increased the risk of dehydration, whilst it’s also worth noting that Michelle has a high sweat rate
- She's extremely mindful of her symptoms overall, and uses PH tablets day to day to help combat the effects of the menopause
Fueling
Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation
30gcarb 30 mins before
0-30gcarb per hour during
- Michelle focused on carbohydrate-loading by eating carb rich foods during the days leading up to her event. The night before, she had a meal of a poke bowl which included white rice, grilled chicken, salad and grains; along with a dessert of protein balls.
- Michelle then had a final carb-rich meal on race morning, which included eight corn cakes (they each contain 47.2g carb!)
- Less than 30 minutes before beginning the race, Michelle had one PF 30 Caffeine Gel to elevate her glucose levels pre-race and save up the glycogen stores for later on, when she was pushing for a speedy 5km run
- Taking a caffeine gel 20 minutes before the event, meant that it will have been peaking in her bloodstream during the latter stages of the bike leg. This is vital to [maximise caffeine’s performance enhancing benefits]( https://www.precisionhydration.com/performance-advice/nutrition/using-caffeine-before-exercise/) and allow her to therefore push her performance
- As this race was fairly short, Michelle didn’t need to ingest an enormous amount of carbs over the course of the race to keep her carb intake per hour high. Despite only taking one PF 30 Gel on the bike, Michelle still managed to take in an average of 52g of carb per hour, keeping her intake strong for an event of this distance
- Scientific research suggests that athletes competing in a [race lasting 1-2 hours]( https://www.precisionhydration.com/performance-advice/nutrition/how-much-carbohydrate-carbs-athletes-per-hour/#during-exercise-lasting-1-2-hours:~:text=of%20pizza.-,During%20exercise%20lasting%201%2D2%20hours,-As%20duration%20increases) can benefit from ingesting 30-60g/h, so Michelle was sitting right in the middle of this bracket
Conclusions
- Michelle sensibly focused on nailing her pre-race fueling and hydration on the morning of the race, eating carb rich foods to increase her glycogen stores that she needed for her 20:47 5km at the end of the race
- She felt elated with her race result overall and mentioned on Instagram that she’d had some personal issues leading up to the event, meaning she had to dig deep and find her mental strength to secure first place
Key info
Michelle Dillon
Female
Result
Position1st
Overall Time1:10:19
Swim Time0:10:52
Bike Time0:36:08
Run Time0:20:47
Event information
SportTriathlon
DisciplineShort course
EventWorld Sprint Championships
LocationHamburg, Germany
Date15th July, 2023
Swim Distance0.8km / 0.5mi
Bike Distance20.0km / 12.4mi
Run Distance5.0km / 3.1mi
Total Distance25.8km / 16.0mi
Race conditions
Weather ConditionsHot
PrecipitationNo Rain
Min Temp22°C / 72°F
Max Temp23°C / 73°F
Avg Temp22°C / 72°F
Humidity67%
Michelle's Thoughts
This Age group World Title so far means the most to me, because of the fact it was so tough to make it to the start line and how frustrating it was for me in the lead up
Data Confidence
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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.