IRONMAN 70.3® Oceanside

The reigning IRONMAN® World Champion opened her 2026 season with a fueling strategy built for success. After a solid pre-race breakfast of toast, rice and a PF 30 Chew three hours before the start, Solveig took her signature double hit of PF 30 Caffeine Gels in the final 30 minutes to spike blood glucose levels and deliver a caffeine dose heading into the water. On the bike, she used a two-bottle system; one litre bottle containing a prototype carbohydrate drink mix and another with half a PF 300 Flow Gel, each topped with two PH 1500 Tablets. Just like Jelle Geens used at the 70.3® World Championship, the prototype drink mix is a product Solveig has been testing in training as part of her preparation for a big year ahead and, combined with her go-to Flow Gel, it enabled her to take in ~147g of carb per hour on the bike. She then carried a 500ml soft flask of the same prototype mix out of T2, supplemented with two PF 30 Gels, to sustain ~133g/h through to the line. Her overall average of ~139g/h sits well above the standard recommendations but still just below her highest ever at the Precision Fuel and Hydration 70.3® World Championships in Marbella (141g/h) and just above her intake during her win at the IRONMAN® World Championship in Kona (132g/h) last year. Such a consistently high carb intake is a testament to the gut training she has put in ahead of this new season. With a solid GI comfort until the final gel, this was a well-executed, high-carb strategy that underpinned the fastest half-marathon of the day.

Solveig's hydration strategy was defined by a deliberate front-loading of sodium on the bike and a lighter approach from T2 onwards. On the bike, each of her two 1L bottles contained two PH 1500 Tablets, bringing the relative sodium concentration to ~1500mg/L, comfortably above her measured sweat sodium concentration. This proactive approach allowed her to build a sodium surplus during the bike to draw from during the run. During the half-marathon, she took sips of on-course PH 1000 alongside water from aid stations, ultimately bringing her run relative sodium concentration down to ~237mg/L. She also applied water dousing from the very first aid station to manage heat stress in the warmer-than-expected conditions, which was a proactive approach to cooling. With an average fluid intake of ~875ml/h on the bike and ~762ml/h on the run, she maintained hydration well. For warmer 70.3®’s and full-distance races in the future, bringing along Electrolyte Capsules or including PH 1500 in her soft flask would narrow the gap between her run sodium intake and her sweat sodium losses, which would be helpful in more stressful conditions when overall sweat fluid and sodium losses are higher.

Solveig's caffeine strategy is distinctive and calculated. She took two PF 30 Caffeine Gels approximately 30 minutes before the swim and an additional two on the bike with around 20km to go, giving her a total of 400mg (~5.6mg/kg) across the race. This double-dose approach is designed to create two peaks in blood caffeine concentration: one at the start of the bike, and a second timed to coincide with the start of the run. Given that caffeine typically peaks in the bloodstream ~45 minutes after ingestion and has a half-life of ~4-5 hours, this timing meant Solveig was likely at the recommended 3-6mg/kg circulating levels throughout the bike and run, supporting her blistering fastest half marathon split of the day.