Anna-Marie Watson
Mozart 100
Anna-Marie's headline numbers
Anna-Marie'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.
Although Anna-Marie had a carb-rich breakfast as a glycogen top-up on race morning, she could also incorporate a final carb dose in the last 15 minutes, spiking her blood glucose and conserving muscle glycogen for later in the race. Her overall carb intake fell below the recommended range for a race of this duration and intensity, so we’d recommend incorporating structured gut training to increase her intake and deliver more energy to her working muscles. This gut training process would also help address the nausea and difficulty eating she experienced, especially if she practices in higher intensity, key training sessions leading up to races, helping her tolerate a higher carb intake whilst working hard.
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 Anna-Marie’s losses are High (1,187mg/L), nailing her hydration strategy becomes especially crucial when it’s hot and/or humid.
Learn moreAnna-Marie's hydration strategy worked for race day, attenuating any dehydration-related issues that would’ve impacted her performance. However, there are a few tweaks she can make going forward, including preloading to boost her plasma volume and start optimally hydrated. During the race, she alternated between Soft Flasks containing PH 1500 and plain water, which she refilled at each aid station, delivering a higher fluid intake than in the cooler conditions she raced in previously. Her average intake of ~600ml/h was a decent volume over a race of this duration, but it’d be worth doing some sweat rate testing to better tailor her intake in future races. The relative sodium concentration of her drinks was lower than her sweat sodium concentration, so she could benefit by taking on slightly more sodium to replace a greater proportion of her losses. Especially in situations where there are no on-course electrolytes, bringing some Electrolyte Capsules is an easy, convenient way of getting a little extra sodium in. That said, Anna-Marie reported no symptoms of dehydration allowing her to perform and push on in the heat unlike many other competitors who DNF’d.
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.
Anna-Marie has a low tolerance of caffeine and it can make her feel jittery, so she made the smart choice to cut it out of her race day fueling plan. For those who report negative side effects like Anna-Marie, we don’t recommend forcing yourself to get used to caffeine given the potential drawbacks.
How Anna-Marie hit her numbers
Here's everything that Anna-Marie ate and drank on the day...
Anna-Marie's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HAnna-Marie's full stats
Data Confidence?
There is some confidence in the quantities and brands of products consumed but the data may lack specifics (e.g. volumes specific flavours). A high number of estimations have been made and the room for error is moderate-high. There may also be the possibility that some intake has been grossly over- or under-estimated.