• Sarah enhanced her strong record at the IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii by securing a fourth top-ten finish from five visits to the 'Big Island'
• A big focus for Sarah going into this 2022 edition had been on increasing her carbohydrate intake and she hit a solid ~70g of carb per hour on average, which is a big increase on the ~50g/h we saw her consume during her races in 2021
• Despite incurring a frustrating time penalty for drafting while on the bike, Sarah reaped the rewards of her enhanced fuel intake as she came back strongly to run a 3:06:56 marathon and came out on top in a sprint finish with Daniela Ryf to secure 7th place

Hydration

• This was the fifth time that the 39-year-old has raced Kona and she recognised the importance of starting on the right foot, so she started optimally hydrated by preloading with a PH 1500 (Tablet) in ~500ml (16oz) of water ahead of the race
• After emerging in one of the middle packs from the swim, Sarah went into the bike leg in eighth place before suffering a penalty for drafting after 40km. Despite this setback, she stuck to her strategy by utilising a mix of plain water and energy drinks as her main source of electrolytes and fluids on the bike so that she didn’t suffer any ‘palate fatigue’
• We know from her Sweat Test that Sarah has a low sweat sodium concentration and sweat rate testing indicates that she has a moderate sweat rate. Armed with this information and the strategy she’s refined during her previous races, Sarah knew that she didn’t need to consume as much fluid or sodium as a lot of the other athletes on the course to maintain her levels of hydration
• This graphic compares Sarah’s strategy with Fenella Langridge, who finished one place and just a few minutes ahead of Sarah, and it perfectly illustrates the individual hydration requirements of different athletes in the same conditions
• With her relatively low sodium and fluid requirements in mind, Sarah drank ~593ml (20oz) of fluid per hour (while some of the other women were drinking >1.2L/h (42oz/h)). And she maintained a low, but appropriate, relative sodium concentration of ~387mg/L (mg/32oz)
• Sarah said, “out of all the races I’ve done, this was probably the hottest” - the average temperature was ~27℃/ 81°F, with ~70% humidity - but she was happy to report no cramping and she rated her hydration strategy as a 9 (out of 10)

Fueling

Conclusions

• Sarah did extremely well to come back from her penalty setback on the bike and secure her fourth top-ten finish from five visits to Kona. This, in part, was helped by what she described as a “well oiled” fuel and hydration strategy, with Sarah saying she felt like she “nailed” her hydration on what was an extremely hot day
• Sarah said that “it was the most happy, disappointing race of my life”, as the penalty overshadowed a battling performance that ensures she’s looking forward to getting back on a start line again in 2023 (“I’m excited to race again!”)