Amelia Mitchell
UCI Gravel World Championships
Amelia's headline numbers
Amelia'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.
When Amelia raced Unbound earlier in the season, she’d only just started working with the PF&H team and managed to hit ~82 grams of carb per hour. Comparing this to her intake at the shorter World Championships, she's improved her hourly intake by 20g! She’s put in hard work during training to make sure her gut can comfortably tolerate this amount, and has found that the PF Carb Only Drink Mix, plus a handful of PF 30 Gels, helps her keep up with her energy requirements to sustain her performance all the way until the end of a tough course. Although she didn’t take in as much as she’d have liked the first hour of the race, she was able to make up for it the rest of the way and still nail her overall numbers.
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 Amelia’s losses are Very High (1,617mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy remains important, even when it’s Mild.
Learn moreJust two weeks earlier at Gravel Wales, Amelia came in below her relative sodium concentration goal with not quite enough electrolytes to match her high sweat losses. So, she worked with Lexi on the PF&H team to increase the concentration in her bottles, using a combination of PH 1500 and PH 1000 tablets in her 750ml bottles alongside PF Carb Only Drink Mix to meet her fuel targets. This strategy enabled her to hit almost spot on her losses and contribute to her hydration status from a fluid and sodium standpoint every time she took a sip. She didn’t struggle with any cramping, a big win since she had before she started adjusting her electrolyte intake, and after the first hour of not drinking enough, she bounced right back to stick to her plan. If it would’ve been hotter, she could’ve used a backup source of fluid to stay on top of her losses, so she could consider factoring that into her plan for future races.
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.
Amelia used less caffeine than she has previously, falling within but on the lower end of the scientific recommendations. Her pre-race gel was caffeinated as per usual, and she used one additional dose during the race. Still, she incorporated enough of the stimulant to have some ergogenic benefits, including masking fatigue and reducing perception of effort. In the future, she could swap one of her regular PF 30 Gels for another PF 30 Caffeine Gel to hit the upper end of the range and possibly feel more of the effects.
How Amelia hit her numbers
Here's everything that Amelia ate and drank on the day...
Amelia's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Amelia
PF&HAmelia's full stats
Data Confidence?
There is good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).