Hayley Simmonds
Alpine Gravel Challenge
Hayley's headline numbers
Hayley'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.
After a terrible night of sleep, Hayley started race day already exhausted and struggling to focus. She had to use more energy to keep her attention on the course, and as a result she neglected her fueling, averaging a lower carbohydrate intake compared to her most recent race that further reduced her energy levels. Even after the race, she commented how much more fatigued she was than normal. Hopefully before future races, she’ll be able to get a better nights sleep, but it’ll be worth incorporating things like alerts on her watch or bike computer to ensure she stays on top of frequent fueling no matter her mental state. Hayley has done well to comfortably tolerate higher carb intakes close to the recommended 90g/h in the past, by using PF Carb Only Drink Mix and a few PF 30 Gels. She stuck to the same products this time out and reported a solid GI comfort level, so going forward, it’ll be more about getting back into her usual routine before and during a race to ensure her fueling remains consistent and sufficient to support her efforts.
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 Hayley’s losses are High (1,167mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy remains important, even when it’s Mild.
Learn moreConsidering the weather conditions, Hayley consumed enough fluid and sodium to mitigate any race-impacting levels of dehydration. However, because most of her carb was in her bottles, her lower fluid intake was more detrimental to her fueling than hydration strategy. Additionally, her relative sodium concentration was slightly lower than ideal for her sweat losses, which even if it didn’t impact her performance in the colder weather, it likely didn’t help her fatigue post-race. To better match her sweat sodium concentration, she could swap the PH 1000 tablets for PH 1500, using the water retention properties of sodium to her advantage to better support her hydration status.
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.
Hayley had two coffees on race morning to help mask the fatigue she was already feeling from a lack of sleep, and followed this with her usual PF 30 Caffeine Gel right before the start. Her intake fell within the recommended range for the stimulant’s ergogenic benefits, and supported her being able to pull off a solid performance under difficult circumstances.
How Hayley hit her numbers
Here's everything that Hayley ate and drank on the day...
Hayley's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Hayley
PF&HHayley'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.