The Mid South Gravel Race

John incorporated a variety of fuel sources including energy gels, chews and PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix to hit his highest carb intake yet in a single day race (~11g/h more than at the Gravel World Champs 2021). It was even more impressive that John consumed this level considering the tricky nature of the course, which was highlighted around mile 25 when he had to carry his bike through a bog! Moving forward, we would encourage John to continue gut training and practicing using sports nutrition products in his sessions to further increase his tolerance to higher intakes when he has longer races.

As a result of both the continual need to pee and the cold conditions, John chose to skip his second bottle of fluid. However, this meant that during the latter stages of the race he started to feel thirsty and finished his next two bottles ahead of schedule. While his fluid intake averaged out to be in the appropriate range for his needs, drinking more consistently earlier on would be beneficial in future races to avoid becoming thirsty. He did gain a little time from not having to refill his bottles though, and did a solid job hitting his relative sodium concentration needs. He used a combination of PH 1000 and PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix in addition to small amounts of sodium found in some of his gels and chews. John mentioned being on the verge of cramping during very hard efforts in the last 25km, but at this point of the 100 mile race this was likely down to muscle fatigue and possibly the disjointed fluid intake, as John pushed hard to keep up with the front pack.

John reaped the benefits of having caffeine circulating in his system by drinking a black coffee before the race and then topping up with energy gels and chews that contained caffeine. This delivered a dose within the recommended 3-6mg/kg range that has been found to have positive ergogenic effects on performance and likely supported his energy levels and perception of fatigue.