The Wolf Way FKT

Going into such a long challenge required a fair bit of planning to ensure Ollie was able to fuel consistently to maintain his energy levels. Given he was attempting a fastest known time (FKT), he wanted to minimise the time spent not moving. He relied predominantly on a mixture of gels, including one PF 300 Flow Gel, sixteen PF 30 Gels and several PF 30 Caffeine Gels, in addition to some over-concentrated PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and four PF 30 Chews. He planned a few stops to top up some real food and caffeinated energy drinks to supplement the sports nutrition products he was consuming to avoid flavour fatigue, and thanks to his continued efforts in gut training, Ollie had no GI issues when hitting just shy of his goal of 90g of carb per hour. Given the demands of the day, and the time in the saddle, Ollie nailed his fueling strategy, sticking closely to the plan he had devised and practised.

Ollie chatted with Sport Scientist Tash to find a hydration strategy that would support his sweat losses sufficiently over a longer duration than his recent races, without requiring him to carry too much fluid weighing him down and slowing his efforts. He used a combination of PH 1000 and PH 1500 (Tablets), gaining some sodium from the PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix as well. This accounted for his slightly lower than average sweat sodium losses, and he aimed to drink ~500ml of fluid per hour to ensure he was replacing enough of his total fluid losses to avoid race-impacting dehydration. Additionally, he picked up some cans of energy drink at his planned stops to top up his fluid intake and better support his energy levels which seemed to pay off. Despite feeling as though he might have drank slightly too much in the early stages of the day, where his sweat losses were lower, his consistent intake of fluid would no doubt have helped him avoid the detrimental effects of dehydration and cramping. In future long efforts, Ollie could look to stagger his intake in relation to the weather to avoid frequent urination, whilst still drinking enough to support his performance. Additionally, preloading with PH 1500 ahead of the start would help him to retain more fluid, as well.

Ollie planned to consume ~six milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight (the top end of the scientific recommendations), using PF 30 Caffeine Gels spaced consistently throughout the FKT effort to enhance his performance. With the additional energy drinks he picked up, he slightly overshot this, but as an avid coffee drinker and no adverse effects to using the stimulant, he had no issues and successfully reaped the ergogenic effects of caffeine, supporting his energy levels from start to finish.