Tim Davies
IRONMAN® World Championships
Tim's headline numbers
Tim'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.
Tim, an experienced IRONMAN® age-grouper, showcased 20 years of racing by implementing a solid fueling strategy out on the Big Island. He sustained an average carbohydrate intake of ~66g/h, broken down into ~79g/h on the bike and ~65g/h on the run. His fuel sources consisted of an energy drink mix in two bottles on the bike, seven energy gels and a PF 300 Flow Gel that he carried across the race, plus a banana from aid stations. This allowed him to reach close to the 75g/h recommendations for his ~14 hours in the heat and humidity of Kona. Whilst he did start to struggle on the run, Tim puts this down to overheating and likely a lower than ideal fluid intake compared to his fairly consistent fueling.
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 Tim’s losses are High (1,167mg/L), nailing his hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it’s hot and/or humid.
Learn moreTim’s race in Kona highlighted the importance of understanding how much more sweat you may lose in a hot and humid climate. Despite a Sweat Test in the days before the race, Tim underestimated his sweat rate and ended up not drinking enough fluid on the bike and run, which likely led to significant hypovolemic (low blood volume) dehydration, portrayed by persistent thirst and only peeing once during the ~14 hours of racing. Upon reflection, Tim feels he overheated, noting how everything got better once it started raining on the run. He did just enough by implementing more cooling strategies later in the race that kept him moving and ultimately going over the line. To mitigate the twinges of cramp and pins and needles feeling he experienced, he should be more proactive with his fluid and sodium replacement from the start, especially in hot and humid events, prioritise cooling strategies early on and look to implement heat training into his schedule.
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.
Tim’s caffeine strategy was textbook on raceday. He had a cup of coffee in the morning, one PF 30 Caffeine Gel before the swim, two PF 30 Caffeine Gels on the bike and one PF 30 Caffeine Gel early on the run. With each gel containing 100mg of caffeine, Tim’s overall dose fell well within the scientific recommendations and his timing was ideal to maximise the performance-enhancing effects of the stimulant across the whole race.
How Tim hit his numbers
Here's everything that Tim ate and drank on the day...
Tim's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HTim'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.