• Sam began his 2022 campaign with a solid performance at Challenge Salou, finishing 9th in what was a stacked field of pro athletes. The race format changed from a traditional middle distance triathlon to a duathlon (4km run, 85km cycle and a 21km run) due to very cold temperatures (3℃/37°F) and high winds that created dangerous sea conditions.
• Although Sam initially felt this format change would hinder his performance, he ended up enjoying a solid race and hit some decent numbers in his fueling and hydration strategy along the way
• The temperature was cold heading out onto the bike leg and Sam said he never really adjusted to the conditions, whilst he mentioned that he didn’t feel like he was really sweating throughout
• Nonetheless, Sam felt he fueled and hydrated well, and headed out onto the 21km run feeling strong, eventually recording a solid half marathon time of 1 hour, 13 minutes 20 seconds

Hydration

• In addition to his carb-rich breakfast, Sam had a small glass of water, apple juice and he preloaded with PH 1500 to optimise his blood plasma volume and start the race well hydrated
• For Sam’s hydration strategy, he had three 500ml/16oz bottles on the bike, two filled with PF 30 Drink Mix and one with a PH 1500 tablet
• Sam finished two and a half of these bottles, consuming ~1.35L/45oz of fluid (641ml/21oz per hour) on the bike. This contained a total of ~1,491mg of sodium, which meant that the relative sodium concentration of what he consumed was ~1,193mg/L
• Conditions in Salou were particularly cold, and Sam felt he was barely sweating at all, which meant his net fluid losses were less than previously anticipated, therefore Sam could be less aggressive in replacing fluids and electrolytes
• On the run, Sam planned to drink to thirst, and took tiny sips of plain water from aid stations, consuming ~100ml/3oz in total. This brought his average fluid intake for the whole race to ~389ml/13oz per hour
• Considering the cold weather on race day and Sam’s perception that he was hardly sweating at all on the bike, this was probably an adequate consumption, and Sam rated his hydration at 9/10. He said the only thing he would have changed was perhaps to finish his remaining ~250ml/8oz of PH 1500 on the bike

Fueling

Conclusions

• Post-race, Sam said he “felt fantastic” on the bike, and finished it up with a strong run to bag a top-ten finish in what was a strong field
• Sam felt that his recovery from his first race of the season was relatively poor (5/10) and he mentioned that it took a lot more out of him physically than anticipated. There’s anecdotal evidence to suggest that high carb intake during the latter stages of a race may lead to quicker recovery from events, as muscle glycogen stores are less depleted, thus helping the athlete to return to pre-performance levels more quickly. Perhaps this is something Sam may consider in future races, especially when he has a few races back-to-back
• Overall, Sam felt he had a really good performance in Salou and it’s given him great confidence going into the rest of the season, where hopefully he is able to show off his hard winter of swim training too