Ellie Salthouse
IRONMAN 70.3® Geelong
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 has iterated her fueling strategy over a number of years and now tends to stick to a similar menu which delivers slightly under 100g/h on the bike, with ~60g/h during the run. This is a typical ‘front-loading’ strategy that the majority of the triathlon case studies we’ve analysed also execute, because it’s easier to consume higher doses of carb whilst riding vs running. Thankfully, this plan helped her fuel the fastest run split on race day, and we wouldn’t recommend she change anything.
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 important if she wants to perform at her best.
Learn moreEllie is very in tune with her body’s fluid requirements, and having completed ample sweat rate tests in conditions similar to Geelong, she was comfortable adjusting her fluid intake down to match her lower–than-expected fluid losses on the day. During her next race in Singapore, where the temperature and humidity will be much higher, Ellie will have to significantly increase her fluid and sodium intake. This will help offset her sweat losses, similar to her strategy in Fortaleza, where she drank almost three times as much as here in Geelong.
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.
By taking the same amount of caffeine as all her previous races we’ve analysed, Ellie once again reaped the ergogenic benefits from the stimulant. Despite averaging just over the recommended amount relative to her bodyweight, Ellie’s shown time and time again that she can tolerate this dose perfectly well.
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.