David Ellis
World Triathlon Para Championship
David's headline numbers
David'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.
David’s gold medal performance at the World Triathlon Para Championship was fueled by his carbohydrate intake before the starting gun. To ensure his glycogen stores were well topped up, David consumed a carb-rich breakfast of two porridge pots, followed by a PF 30 Gel in the final 15 minutes to provide an additional carb boost to support his 58 minute all-out effort. There is little evidence to suggest that carbohydrate ingestion during an event of this duration is beneficial to performance so David should continue to adopt and focus on this pre-fueling strategy.
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 David’s losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still crucial when it’s hot and/or humid as his higher sweat rate in these conditions can result in significant net losses over the duration of a race.
Learn morePreloading with PH 1500 in the 60-90 minutes before a race aids water retention, increasing plasma volume and ensuring you are able to start optimally hydrated. In future, David would benefit from increasing the relative sodium concentration of his pre-race drink from ~500mg/L to ~1500mg/L to ensure he starts optimally hydrated. Over the bike and the run, David had ~500ml of fluid which is appropriate considering the moderate conditions (24℃/75°F) and shorter duration, likely replacing enough of his sweat losses. To further dial in his hydration strategy as well as optimising his prelaod, David should conduct some sweat rate testing to understand what his expected sweat losses are over races in different conditions.
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.
David describes himself as a ‘coffee addict’ so likely has a high caffeine tolerance! This means the two coffees he had on race morning were well-received and a great aid to his performance by reducing his perceived exertion. The recommendations for an event of this duration are to pre-caffeinate with 3-6mg/kg. Since David isn’t a stranger to caffeine, he could increase his pre-race dose further by swapping his PF 30 Gel for a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to really maximise the benefits.
How David hit his numbers
Here's everything that David ate and drank on the day...
David's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HDavid'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).