Steph Clutterbuck
Zarauzko Triathlon
Steph's headline numbers
Steph's strategy
Fueling
Carbohydrate is the main fuel you burn when racing. Failing to fuel properly is a leading cause of underperformance in longer races.
Steph kept her pre-race fuel very simple ahead of this unusual mid-afternoon race start, sticking to foods she is used to including plain white rice alongside a PF 90 Gel to top off her glycogen stores. It was a good job she prepared well, as shortly into the bike she dropped a 1L bottle loaded with PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix (60g carb). This brought her carb intake from a planned ~105g/h to just ~80g/h. Thankfully, Steph measured her effort throughout the bike and entered T2 feeling like she had plenty of energy. She took almost 90g/h during the run and felt her energy levels continue to rise throughout. She also had no GI distress which demonstrates her gut training has been spot on.
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.
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.
Given Steph’s losses are High (1,106mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it’s hot and/or humid.
Learn moreSteph’s high sweat sodium concentration coupled with her high sweat rate means her risk of dehydration is higher than the ‘average athlete’. To combat this, she loaded her bike with two sodium-rich bottles: one with PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, one with PH 1500 (Drink Mix), and planned to dilute these with some plain water along the course. After she dropped the bottle of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, she picked up some of the on-course isotonic drink containing far less carb and electrolytes than the bottle she dropped. This meant she never managed to replace what she lost, and finished the bike feeling quite thirsty. During the run, Steph was grateful to see bottles of water at the aid stations rather than cups, which meant she could run with a bottle in-hand for a while and drink much more than is usually possible. She took Electrolyte Capsules to stay on top of her electrolyte losses, but could afford to reduce the quantity in future races to reflect her sweat losses, and potentially reduce her perception of thirst.
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.
Steph executed the same caffeine strategy to her podium-topping performance at the 2023 Age Group IRONMAN 70.3® World Championships. This put her at the bottom of the scientific recommendations, however she felt this amount supported her performance, so we wouldn’t recommend any changes for Steph over this duration of race.
How Steph hit her numbers
Here's everything that Steph ate and drank on the day...
Steph's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Steph
PF&HSteph's full stats
Data Confidence?
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.