Tash Cooper-Smith
The Dragon Devil
Tash's headline numbers
Tash'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.
For Tash’s longest ultra-endurance cycling event, she knew the key to maintaining her energy levels and performance would be eating consistently to avoid any significant drops in her blood glucose levels. Ahead of the event, she filled her glycogen stores through carb-loading, aiming for ~10 grams of carbohydrate per kg of body weight the day prior and then having a carb-rich breakfast on the morning of the event. On course, Tash utilised the numerous feed stations to replenish her jersey pockets and often chose more ‘real-foods’ that tend to feel good on her stomach as well as to help prevent flavour fatigue. Additionally, she incorporated a few PF 30 Chews and PF 30 Gels, as these were easier to consume on the climbs. With the increased duration and goal intensity of the event being lower than her race the week before, her target carb intake was subsequently 30g less and she hit this almost perfectly with little to no GI distress.
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.
Whilst Tash’s losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still crucial when it’s hot and/or humid as her higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn moreTash has struggled severely with migraines and dehydration for several years and knows how important it is for her to stay hydrated and maintain her blood plasma levels to prevent low blood pressure. She purposefully chose a sodium concentration slightly higher than her losses, throughout the event by carrying PH 1000 and PH 1500 tablets to use at the feed stations when she refilled her bottles. To her surprise, even with the humidity and milder temperatures, Tash had a greater sweat rate than expected so she adapted her strategy to slightly increase her fluid intake and take on a few bottles of plain water to keep her sodium intake closer to her individual losses. By over-concentrating her bottles, she was inevitably going to average a higher relative sweat sodium concentration, hence the ‘amber’ rating, but fortunately this helped to retain water, maintain blood plasma and avoid the dreaded headaches.
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.
As a member of the PF&H Sports Science Team and frequenter of the office coffee machine, Tash was not one to miss a caffeine opportunity. She started her day with a strong cup of coffee and strategically consumed a couple of PF 30 Caffeine Gels across the ~12 hours to reap the ergogenic benefits of the stimulant and keep fatigue at bay.
How Tash hit her numbers
Here's everything that Tash ate and drank on the day...
Tash's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Tash
PF&HTash'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).