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Ruth Astle's scorecard

King's Cup British Gravel Championship

Sunday 19th September, 2021

Within recommended ranges

Just outside recommended ranges

Significantly outside recommended ranges

  • 36g

    Carb per hour
  • 417mg

    Sodium per hour
  • 441ml

    Fluid per hour
  • 945mg/L

    Relative sodium concentration
  • 0mg/kg

    Caffeine per bodyweight
  • How Ruth hit those numbers

    finish
    star
    bottle
     
    500ml x PH 1500 (Tablet)
    1 x Bowl of porridge
    1 x Tea
    1 x Coffee
     
     
    500ml x PH 1500 (Tablet)
    500ml x Energy drink mix (79g carb)
     

    How Ruth's hydration and fueling went...

      • Ruth had a dominant performance at the British Gravel Champs with over a 5 minute lead ahead of second place India Lee. She finished the 70km course in Suffolk in a time of 2 hours and 16 minutes
      • Despite a slight crash towards the end of the race where her bike chain came off, she had a strong smooth race and followed a simple but effective hydration and fuelling strategy. Ruth said “It was a bit unexpected. I was treating it as a bit of fun but I am very happy with the outcome. It all just went better than I thought it would”
      • The best ways to fuel and hydrate during gravel races is currently a hot topic for debate amongst athletes with different strategies being used to overcome the many complications due to the terrain and nature of gravel races
      • Ruth said she was a bit limited by the race. She mentioned that there was a station to refill drinks but you had to stop which she did not want to do. As a result, she was limited to what she carried with her (two bottles) for the whole ride

    Hydration

      • Ruth consumed both 500ml (17oz) bottles over the course of the race which equates to ~441ml (~15oz) of fluid per hour. Considering the conditions weren’t too hot this seems to be a decent amount but we do not have data on Ruth’s sweat rate to confirm this will have adequately replaced what she was losing
      • Ruth felt she did what she could for the race, rating her hydration strategy as an 8 out of 10 but did mention that she could have had a squeezy bottle in her back pocket as another athlete did. This would have been helpful in the last 30 minutes of the race when she had finished both of her bottles
      • She consumed ~417mg/hr sodium during the race and didn’t experience any cramping. However, she believes she could have cramped if she pushed harder and was conscious of this towards the end of the race. She said ‘in an ideal world I would have had more water but I was not stopping. Maybe if it had been 5℃ hotter it would have been more of an issue but it was alright’. Learn more about cramping

    Fueling

    Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation

    30g

    carb 30 mins before

    30-60g

    carb per hour during
      • For breakfast Ruth had porridge, high in carbs, topping up her fuel stores. She chose not to have anything just before the race started as our Quick Carb Calculator would have recommended. However, this final snack is down to preference and Ruth made the decision not to as she has done previously at IM 70.3 Nice
      • Over the two and a quarter hours, Ruth’s average carb intake was ~36g/hr. This is lower than what we would expect in her ironman races but is an adequate amount within our recommended range for a gravel race of this length and intensity (30-60g/hr)
      • Only consuming carbs from one 500ml (17oz) bottle containing an energy drink mix throughout the race meant that once she had finished the bottle (after ~1 hour 45 minutes) she gritted out the last 30 minutes without anything. Her intake for the first hour and a quarter was therefore around 46g/hr, loading her up for the last 30 minutes with no carb intake
      • Ruth experienced no GI issues (10/10) as we would expect considering the high amounts of carb she can tolerate in long course triathlons. She said she “felt really good” and rated her energy levels as 8 out of 10 but did add “for the last half an hour if I had to dig really deep again I probably wouldn’t have been able to”. This is likely due to her limited carb intake in the second half of the race

    Conclusions

      • Ruth had an excellent race to be crowned National Gravel Champ! After a result like that of course she rated her race satisfaction as 10 out of 10
      • Keeping things simple with her fueling and hydration, she fuelled efficiently for a race of this length in these conditions. If the race had been hotter or if she had to push harder at the end she believes her strategy would not have worked therefore thinking of adjustments for these conditions would be a good next step. One suggestion would be to use a Hydropack of some kind in future gravel races, especially if the duration of the event gets any longer
      • Her recovery has gone smoothly since the race and after a slight calf injury the past few weeks she thinks it is “getting there” and that “it will be fine for the next race (IM Mallorca)”

    Key info

    Ruth Astle

    Female
    59kg

    Result

    Position
    1st
    Overall Time
    2:16:43

    Event information

    Sport
    Cycling
    Discipline
    Gravel
    Event
    King's Cup British Gravel Championship
    Location
    Suffolk, England
    Date
    19th September, 2021
    Total Distance
    69.2km / 43.0mi

    Race conditions

    Weather Conditions
    Hot
    Precipitation
    No Rain
    Min Temp
    20°C / 68°F
    Max Temp
    24°C / 75°F
    Avg Temp
    22°C / 72°F
    Humidity
    69%

    Athlete feedback

    Race Satisfaction
    10/10
    Hydration rating
    8/10
    Energy levels
    8/10
    Toilet stops
    No
    GI comfort
    10/10
    Cramping
    No cramping

    Ruth's full stats

     Carbohydrate (g)Sodium (mg)Fluid (ml)Caffeine (mg)Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)
    Overall
    Total intake819451,0000945
    Per hour364174410

    Data Confidence

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    1

    2

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    5

    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).

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