Sarah Crowley
Challenge Almere
Almere6th, FPROSarah's headline numbers
Sarah's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"My energy was great most of the day except from around 70-100km on the bike where I wanted to stop. I focused on eating and drinking during this time and things came back around."
In the last 30 minutes before the start of the race, Sarah opted for a handful of sweets instead of a gel to effectively top up her fuel stores and spare glycogen for later. Despite increasing her carb intake compared with some of her previous races, Sarah still fell below the recommended guidelines for a race of this duration and intensity and felt a coinciding dip in energy. While most athletes tend to front load the bike with more carbs, Sarah consumed a greater proportion of her carb intake on the run than on the bike, (~88g/h vs ~62g/h, respectively). This lower than expected carb intake on the bike could explain the fatigue she experienced, and we would recommend she practice increasing this in training to better maintain her energy levels throughout the whole race.
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.
Sarah387mg/L
Sarah has been Sweat Tested to dial in her hydration plan
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 Sarah's losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still crucial when it's hot and/or humid as her higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreT - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"My fluid intake seemed good but I didn't pee at all, so maybe I was a little dehydrated."
After a long run of tough races including the Collin’s Cup and Challenge Roth, Sarah followed the PF&H Sports Science Team’s advice and doubled her sodium intake from her previous race at Challenge Roth. This ensured she was replacing a greater proportion of her sweat sodium losses, though she could still increase her sodium intake further and perform some sweat rate testing to fine tune the fluid intake part of her strategy. Similar to her experience at Roth, Sarah didn’t pee during this race, indicating that she may have been somewhat dehydrated. Adding another bottle or a few more cups of fluid at aid stations into her strategy could help her stay better hydrated and make sure she prevents any negative consequences of dehydration.
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.
Consuming caffeine in the hours before the start may have increased perceived energy levels
Sarah has suitably managed to increase her caffeine intake compared to her previous races to the top end of the recommended guidelines. This will have no doubt helped her reap the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant and hopefully, along with the slight increase in carb intake, have helped to maintain perceived energy levels to see her finish strong.
How Sarah hit her numbers
Here's everything that Sarah ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“Overall, I was happy with this race and I definitely ran way better than I have previously! I need to build up my training again for another race now and see what I can do.”
“It’s great to see Sarah take our advice on board to push her intake towards the recommended ranges. Sarah could still look to increase her carb and sodium intakes further to support her performance, but it's fantastic to see the progress she’s made in this race and to hear how positively this has influenced her perception of the race.”
PF&HSarah's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
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.