Sam Appleton
IRONMAN 70.3® Boulder
Sam's headline numbers
Sam's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Sam made some small but smart refinements to his pre-race fueling ahead of an early start at IRONMAN 70.3® Boulder, including adding a few more carbs to his usual ‘light’ race day meal. The key difference to his strategy came on the bike, as he hit over 120g of carbs per hour, his highest ever 70.3® bike intake. Sam used a mix that he’d practiced with: PF Carb Only Drink Mix, alongside either a PF 30 Gel or PF 30 Caffeine Gel every 20 minutes to drip feed his fuel and avoid the dips in energy levels he has previously experienced whilst racing. Although he topped up with just enough fuel on the run to keep his momentum going and hold off fellow PF&H ambassador Colin Szuch, we would recommend a higher intake than ~38g/h over the 1 hour 15 minute run to better support his energy levels and performance next time out. This could be achieved by grabbing a couple of PF 30 Gels in T2 as he heads out on to the run course.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
Sweat sodium concentration (mg/L) is largely genetically determined and remains relatively stable. Knowing how salty your sweat is enables you to replace a good proportion of your sweat losses, which can range from 200-2,000mg/L.
Whilst Sam’s losses are on the low side, getting his hydration strategy right is still crucial when it’s hot and/or humid as his higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreAs an experienced racer with a low sweat sodium concentration, Sam handled his sodium and fluid intake well even when the temperature in Boulder (and therefore his sweat rate) started to rise. Despite having to change his planned bottles to smaller ones ahead of the start, he was able to drink close to one litre (~32oz) per hour on the bike before dropping to ~800ml/h on the run from a soft flask and aid station cups of water and coke. Similarly to his improved fueling, this fluid intake was close to double that of his 2021 IRONMAN 70.3® Boulder strategy, showing a more proactive fluid replacement strategy to maintain performance as temperatures increased.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Consistent with his previous races, Sam incorporated two PF 30 Caffeine Gels into his race-day fueling strategy. This pushed his total caffeine intake above the 3mg/kg minimum dose recommended to experience the stimulant’s well-documented ergogenic effects - particularly useful in the latter stages of the race when the mental and physical fatigue increased and his carb intake dropped.
How Sam hit his numbers
Here's everything that Sam ate and drank on the day...
Sam's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Sam
PF&HSam's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.