Ellie Salthouse
IRONMAN 70.3® Zell am See
Ellie's headline numbers
Ellie'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.
Ellie felt “a bit off” all race, which does happen from time-to-time due to the high frequency of racing. This feeling could have been due to the later than normal start time of 11am, as she was hanging around for ~4 hours under the hot Austrian sunshine. During the second half of the bike leg Ellie began to feel like she wanted to be sick, but kept trying to eat as she knew the race intensity was high. Her usual 150g of carb ‘fuel bottle’ with ~500ml of water, two PF 30 Gels, one PF 30 Caffeine Gel and four scoops of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix didn’t seem to be going down as well as it normally does. She later discovered some mould in the bottle, which may have been a significant contributor to her sickness, which was relieved slightly during the run once she stopped drinking from that bottle.
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 Ellie’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 moreEllie started her hydration on race morning with one scoop of PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix in 500ml of water. Although this would have provided some hydration, the sodium content wasn’t sufficient for her to preload and ensure she started the race optimally hydrated. If she wants to continue using PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, we’d advise putting three scoops (750mg sodium, 45g carb) into 500ml to achieve the 1,500mg/L concentration required for preloading, and sip on that throughout the morning before the race. Ellie commented that she felt incredibly thirsty during the whole bike and run, which was highly unusual for her as she usually doesn’t crave drinks at all, even during hot races like this. Her average fluid and electrolyte intake during the race was likely enough to prevent her getting too dehydrated to affect her performance, so it’s likely her aforementioned ‘mouldy bottle’ which may have caused this.
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.
Ellie has a high tolerance to caffeine as we’ve learned from her previous case studies, where she typically consumes towards the top end of the 3-6mg/kg scientific guidelines for a 70.3®. Ellie also understands the individual way caffeine can peak in, and be metabolised from the blood, and feels like a higher dose suits her needs. With no negative side effects to report, we wouldn’t recommend Ellie changes anything.
How Ellie hit her numbers
Here's everything that Ellie ate and drank on the day...
Ellie's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Ellie
PF&HEllie's full stats
Data Confidence?
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.