• Sam ended the season on a high with his best ever finish at IM 70.3 Oceanside, following on from two previous races on the Californian course. Coming in 3 minutes behind the leader, Sam finished in third place with a time of 3 hours and 49 minutes. Following a successful year of racing, Sam was happy to “end the season on the podium” with what he described as a “solid performance”
• Sam used a similar hydration and fuelling strategy to what we have seen him use during his last three 70.3 races with a few slight changes due to dropping a gel and a bottle at the end of the bike and not having a flask containing gels on the run

Hydration

• Sam drank an average of ~497ml/hr (~17oz/hr) over the course of the race. On the bike his fluid intake was from two bottles (one 750ml/26oz and one 450ml/15oz), with one containing water mixed with PH 1500 tablet and the other containing water and PH 1000
• His intake was partially impacted by dropping his second bottle towards the end of the bike with around 100ml/3oz left in it. On the run, he picked up water and coke, having a sip of both from each aid station
• Despite dropping his bottle, Sam was still able to reach a similar fluid intake to what we have seen him drink in previous races. In similar conditions to the Collins Cup, he drank slightly more fluid per hour (86ml/3oz per hour more). This is the standard amount that Sam is used to taking on board and therefore it would seem to be an adequate volume to replace some of his losses
• Consuming ~446mg/hr alongside ~497ml/hr (~17oz/hr) of fluid meant the relative sodium concentration of Sam’s intake was ~897mg/L. Previously we have seen Sam take on high relative concentrations (~1,494mg/L at Boulder 70.3) and recommended he could dilute this slightly due to his low sweat sodium concentration
• Considering the warm conditions at Oceanside and Sam’s sweat sodium concentration of 655mg/L, he will have been replacing a good proportion of his losses throughout the race
• Sam did not mention preloading before this race as we have seen him do previously at the Collins Cup and the World Champs. Despite the conditions not being as hot as was expected, we would recommend Sam preloads with PH 1500 in 500ml of water to make sure he is starting the race optimally hydrated

Fueling

Conclusions

• Ultimately, Sam ended the season on a high with a podium finish in California. He felt the race went “pretty good” but is still “chasing the perfect race”. As a result, he rated his race satisfaction as 7 out of 10
• Sam’s carb intake was slightly lower than what we’ve seen from him in previous races, partly due to dropping a gel, not taking a gel just before the swim and not having any gels on the run. We would recommend he looks to increase his carb intake to reach the recommended range of 60-90g/hr as evidence shows consuming more carbs benefits endurance performance (learn more)