IRONMAN® Cairns

Pre-race fueling: Despite his breakfast being on the light side, this is Sam’s routine pre-race meal which we’ve seen him eat on multiple occasions. An athlete's breakfast ultimately comes down to what they’re happy and comfortable to eat on race day. But, the science does suggest that consuming between 1-4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight 1-4 hours out from the race can enhance endurance performance. It’s worth Sam testing out higher carb intakes ahead of training sessions to see how he gets on before tweaking this up on future race days.

Race fueling: Sam’s carb intake was the highest we have seen him consume yet, particularly on the bike, but still slightly below the average we’re currently seeing athletes in the pro men’s field regularly hit, and the current 90g/h recommendations. This is largely due to the drop-off in his carb intake from bike-to-run, falling from ~99g/h to ~40g/h (60% decrease). Although ‘frontloading’ is a common strategy among triathletes, this low intake (<60g/h) would likely impact Sam’s energy levels during the marathon. Therefore, we would suggest Sam conducts some gut training, especially during run sessions, to help him tolerate a higher quantity of carbohydrates.

In future races, we would recommend Sam preload with PH 1500 instead of plain water, as this promotes fluid retention, and maximises blood volume which helps with cardiovascular function. Across the race, Sam’s fluid intake was pretty consistent, consuming ~1L (32oz) per hour on the bike and ~931ml/h (31oz/h) on the run. This reasonably aggressive intake on the bike and run was the highest we’ve seen Sam drink to date and proved effective in the hot conditions to make sure he was replacing a decent amount of his net losses over the race. Sam’s sodium intake was a similar story to that of his carb intake; using a ‘frontloading’ strategy. However, he frontloaded enough on the bike so that, although his sodium intake on the run was much lower, the overall relative sodium concentration of his drinks weren’t far off from matching his sweat sodium concentration.

Sam successfully reached the top end of the general recommended caffeine intake. To do this, he started his day with an espresso and then had two PF 30 Caffeine Gels on the bike, alongside one caffeine gel and some cola on the run. This was a great strategy for Sam who regularly uses caffeine on race day, getting regular and moderate doses on board to keep the level of caffeine in his system high to reap the proven benefits.