• Ex-professional MMA fighter-turned-triathlete, Paul Felder, kicked off the 2022 triathlon season nicely at IM 70.3 Oceanside, finishing in an impressive 04:43:27 and 21st in his age-group (35-39). This was a personal best 70.3 time for Paul on what’s recognised as a notoriously challenging course and Paul felt that there’s even better to come, saying post-race that “he left some performance on the table”
• The transition from pro fighter to triathlete has meant a steep learning curve and Paul has recognised the need to take a proactive approach to understanding his own fueling and hydration requirements. He’s been working closely with Precision Fuel & Hydration to refine his race intake
• Having had previous issues with hydration and cramping, Paul underwent an Advanced Sweat Test with Nicci Schock to see if sodium depletion might be causing his cramping issues. His Sweat Test revealed that he has a very high sweat sodium concentration (Paul loses 1392mg/L of sodium per litre of sweat). Given that Paul also has a very high sweat rate, his net sweat sodium losses can be considerable, and so he executed a more proactive hydration strategy to hit some impressive sodium and fluid numbers at Oceanside…

Hydration

• As mentioned in the intro, Paul had an Advanced Sweat Test prior to Oceanside and learnt that he’s a very salty sweater; losing 1,392mg of sodium per litre of sweat. On top of this, as soon as temperatures become mild (as they were at Oceanside where the average was ~15℃/59℉), Paul has a high sweat rate which together means his net sweat sodium losses across an event can be very high. Keeping up with his losses has been a problem for Paul in the past which has affected his performance
• Therefore, it was imperative that Paul had a hydration strategy in place to meet his fluid and sodium needs, which is exactly what we saw him do. For the bike, he prepped three 500ml/17oz bottles with PF 30 Drink Mix and added one PH 1000 Tablet to each. This meant each bottle had a relative sodium concentration (a measure of the sodium content vs. fluid volume) of 2,000mg/L. On top of this, Paul picked up a bottle of water which he drank ~300ml/10oz of to swill his mouth when he felt he needed it, reducing the relative sodium concentration of his total fluids on the bike to ~1,636mg/L
• Many triathletes choose to rely solely on the aid stations for their fluids (and sometimes their fuel) for the run leg but given Paul’s high sodium losses, he sensibly carried a small flask (~300ml/10oz) of PH 1500 which meant his sodium replacement remained high throughout the race
• On top of this, he picked up small cups of plain water (~300ml/10oz), Coca Cola (~230ml/8oz) and the on-course sports drink (~180ml/6oz) to meet his needs, depending on what he was craving at the time
• Paul’s proactive approach towards hydration had a positive impact on his performance. For example, at around the 8-9 mile mark he began to experience some twinges of cramp in his calves but he felt that by continuing to drink from his hand-flask containing PH 1500 that he kept any severe cramp at bay. In the past, Paul has had to resort to walking on the run as a result of terrible cramp, so this is a huge improvement
• Collectively, Paul’s average fluid intake was ~564ml/h (~654ml/h excluding his swim time). This is an appropriate intake for a race of this duration, in these conditions, and for an athlete with a high sweat rate

Fueling

Conclusions

• All in all, Paul did a stellar job of meeting his carb, sodium and fluid needs at IM 70.3 Oceanside. In a stacked field of quality triathletes, Paul held his own to finish 21st in his age-group and with a new 70.3 personal best
• Given his high sweat rate and very high sweat sodium concentration, Paul needed to be proactive with his hydration by carrying his own sodium-rich drinks and overall he executed a brilliant strategy
• In terms of fueling, Paul consumed a solid amount of carbohydrate to meet the Quick Carb Calculator’s recommendations. Encouragingly, he suffered no GI discomfort or dips in energy levels which bodes very well for future races