John Borstelmann
Gravel Worlds
John's headline numbers
John'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.
John’s carbohydrate intake came from a variety of sources, including gels, bars and drink mixes. Mixing up his fuel sources likely helped him consistently eat throughout the race, helping prevent flavour fatigue from reducing his intake. Although John increased his intake compared to his last race - he fell short of his carb targets here due to not drinking enough - we would suggest he decouples his carbs from the fluid he consumes to better hit his carb numbers across the race and adjust his fluid intake to match his preferred intake according to the conditions. He should also stick with the gut training that he’s been doing to push his intake closer to the 90g/h recommendations.
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 John’s losses are High (1,310mg/L), nailing his hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it’s hot and/or humid.
Learn moreOverall, John kept on top of his hydration really well, using PH 1000 in his bottles to replace the sodium he was losing in his sweat. For future races in hotter conditions, he may want to consider adjusting the relative sodium concentration of his fluids closer to that of his sweat sodium concentration. Doing so will offset his higher net fluid and sodium losses as they accumulate faster in more extreme conditions. Practically, John could achieve this by swapping some PH 1000 for PH 1500, or by carrying some Electrolyte Capsules.
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.
John consumed three coffees before this race, and he paid the price for it as he had to make a few toilet trips early on. He should consider reducing his pre-race coffee intake and modifying his carb-load to reduce fibre intake the day before, reducing the chances of unwanted toilet stops in future. Despite this, his caffeine intake during the race was well within the recommendations, sourced via gels and some cola.
How John hit his numbers
Here's everything that John ate and drank on the day...
John's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
John
PF&HJohn'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).