IRONMAN® Texas

Solveig fueled aggressively across ~8 hours of tough racing, averaging a career-typical ~132g/h overall and moving from ~157g/h on the bike to ~119g/h on the run, well above the 60-90g/h guidelines that only holds up with a well-trained gut. On the bike, she carried three 1L bottles, each with ~210g of PF Carb Only Drink Mix, plus two PF 30 Caffeine Gels. With the strategy adjustments from PF 300 Flow Gel to PF Carb Only Drink Mix, the timing of her carb delivery might not have been optimal. Since only her front bottle was within easy reach, this meant there were periods of very high carb intake followed by times of very little intake, as Solvieg made considered efforts to maximise her time in her most aero bike position. That irregular pattern of carb intake, combined with the unusually strong mix, likely contributed to the mild GI discomfort she noticed mid-bike. For the IRONMAN® World Champs in Kona later in the year, an adjusted set-up with two bottles up front (one bottle fully concentrated with carbs, one primarily fluid and sodium, and one-two cages on the back) should help smooth both distribution and flavour fatigue.

In hot and humid conditions (~28°C, ~79% humidity as measured by our Sports Science Team on the ground), Solveig drank ~1.1 litres per hour which sits appropriately inside her predicted bike sweat rate and is a realistic ceiling for the run given her predicted run sweat rate. This intake will have kept her within the dehydration tolerance threshold of 2-3% that's thought to impact performance. The relative sodium concentration of her intake was ~1076mg/L and that was a near-exact match to her measured sweat sodium concentration. She achieved this by carrying two PH 1500 Tablets in each of her three bike bottles, and one PH 1500 in each of her four 500ml soft flasks she used on the run. She topped up on course with ~3.5 PH 1000 bottles on the bike and 8 cups of PH 1000 on the run course. She sensibly skipped the Electrolyte Capsules she carried as a backup in case conditions got hotter on the run, and she’d need to drink more fluid and balance that out with more sodium.

Solveig took in a total of 500mg of caffeine by consuming two PF 30 Caffeine Gels ~30 minutes before the start, two more around halfway on the bike, and one on the run. That's above the 3-6 mg/kg guidance range before factoring in her pre-race coffee, but one fewer than her usual IRONMAN® strategy of six PF 30 Caffeine Gels. She showed sharp in-race judgement, intentionally skipping her planned final caffeine gel once the gap to second place was secure because she didn't want it affecting sleep that evening.