CCC by UTMB

In recent races Dan has consumed between 90 to 100g/h of carbs, in line with our recommendations. For CCC, he planned to increase this intake to 100 to 110g/h of carbs in an attempt to meet the overall higher intensity of the race in the mountainous terrain. He stuck to this plan perfectly, averaging a carb intake of ~115g/h coming primarily from PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and PF 300 Flow Gel as well as some ‘emergency cola’ at a couple checkpoints. Overall, Dan described his gut comfort as reasonable, though he did experience some GI issues later on in the race. This may have been related to consuming ~161g/h of carbs between Trient (71km) and the next crewed checkpoint at Vallorcine (82km), as Dan hadn’t trained his gut to tolerate that high intake.

Given Dan is a moderately salt sweater, he uses PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and Electrolyte Capsules to ensure his sodium intake is aligned with his losses. This strategy has worked well at recent races, and enables him to efficiently maintain a high rate of carbohydrate ingestion alongside sodium and fluid intake. Taking a closer look at his numbers at CCC, his relative sodium concentration was lower during the first half of the race (up to ~54km) than his expected sweat losses. This was mainly because Dan was refilling his soft flasks with plain water at regular intervals from unmanned checkpoints, streams and troughs, but had dropped his Electrolyte Capsules early on during the race. This may have contributed to the cramp that he experienced during the race, but thankfully he was able to shake this off once he picked up Electrolyte Capsules at the first crewed checkpoint (Champex-Lac; ~54km). He continued to experience some cramping on the descents, although he felt these were more related to muscular fatigue, especially since his fluid and sodium intake was in line with his sweat losses during the second half of the race.

Dan didn’t pre-caffeinate in the morning before the race, and instead chose to save the ergogenic effects of caffeine during the race itself. He used PF 30 Caffeine Gels at regular intervals, ensuring that he maintained a consistent circulating concentration of the stimulant in his bloodstream. Dan’s caffeine intake was actually higher than the recommended range of 3 to 6mg/kg, likely due to the additional cola that he consumed at a couple of checkpoints. Considering his tolerance and practice using caffeine in races, he didn’t have any negative effects from this intake and instead felt it worked well for him.