Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3® World Championship

As a sport nutritionist herself, Mélanie knew it was important to have a clear fueling plan for her race at the PF&H IRONMAN 70.3® World Championship. This started on race morning with a carb-rich breakfast, followed by a PF 60 Chew Bar in the final 30 minutes before the swim to make sure she had well stocked glycogen stores and spiked blood glucose levels. Mélanie frontloaded her carb intake, taking ~60g/h more on the bike than the run (~89g/h vs ~32g/h). She knows from previous race experiences that she struggles to tolerate a high intake on the run especially in the heat; as coming from Canada, this isn’t something she’s used to. While it was a sensible decision to preserve her gut comfort, ahead of future races Mélanie would benefit from undertaking more gut training to increase her carb intake towards ~60g/h on the run to help sustain her energy levels all the way to the end.

To ensure she started optimally hydrated, Mélanie preloaded with 500ml of PH 1500 60 minutes before the race. Then, she consumed ~727ml per hour on the bike, using PH 1500 (Drink Mix) and on-course bottles of PH 1000 (Tablets) to maintain a relative sodium concentration of 908mg/L. Mélanie has not had a Sweat Test but we know from our database that the average sweat sodium concentration is ~991mg/L. This means Mélanie’s moderate intake likely replaced a decent proportion of her losses, and is supported by her positive subjective ratings of her hydration strategy. Her fluid intake dropped to ~373ml/h on the run as she relied solely on aid station cups. This was likely lower than her sweat rate especially as the greater metabolic demand of running combined with the heat of the day will have made this quite high. So Mélanie would likely benefit from increasing her run intake in hot races, perhaps by running out of transition with a 500ml Soft Flask.

Mélanie trains with caffeine and utilised it in her race day plan by having two doses before the start and then topping up with a PF 30 Caffeine Gel early into the bike. She knows that taking caffeine later into the race when running hurts her stomach, so her utilisation of the stimulant was perfect to provide her with the ergogenic effects from hitting the 3-6mg/kg recommendation without compromising her gut comfort.