IM 70.3 Augusta

It was great to see Mika back out on course after breaking his leg earlier in 2023, and he was back to crushing his fuel intake which he’s become well known for in the triathlon community. Mika showed us once again that he can comfortably tolerate over 90g of carb per hour on the bike. On the run, he felt the gap to second place was sufficient that he could comfortably coast to the finish, and didn’t want to risk taking on-course gels that his body hasn’t specifically been trained to tolerate. This meant his run intake dropped to ~61g/h, but he still felt great as he crossed the finish line.

With an average hourly fluid intake of just over 1.5L on the bike on a mild to warm day, it’s unsurprising that Mika felt ‘overhydrated’. He was likely drinking more than he was losing in his sweat, meaning his body wanted to offload the excess and made him need to pee. He did well to combat this overhydration by reducing his intake significantly on the run, and finished this race at a good level of hydration. In the future, Mika may wish to reduce the amount he drinks on the bike, perhaps by switching to a more solid fuel source (e.g. gels, chews), rather than only taking liquid carbs. This may then allow him to increase his run intake slightly and minimise discomfort, all while still maintaining a relative sodium concentration which closely resembles his own sweat sodium losses.

Mika may have missed an opportunity to get all the available ergogenic benefits from caffeine during this race. He did take two PF 30 Caffeine Gels, which will have helped reduce his perception of effort and increase his focus somewhat. However, the general scientific recommendations for optimal performance enhancement suggest he could have taken another ~250mg of caffeine and gained even more of an advantage. It’s important to note that Mika tolerates caffeine well in his day-to-day training, so this increase likely wouldn’t have caused any adverse side effects.