Emma Pallant-Browne
Challenge Riccione
Emma's headline numbers
Emma'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.
It’s common for Emma to consume more carbs on the bike than on the run, and it’s also a trend we observe in our case study database. However, in this race she took it to the extreme and went from ~94g/h on the bike to a mere ~9g/h on the run. Consuming such a small amount of carbs on the run isn’t recommended for optimal performance, so this is something she can improve upon in the future. Despite her lower than ideal carb intake, Emma still managed to run a fantastic half marathon, clocking one of her fastest times ever… but we’d expect to see even faster times with more appropriate fueling!
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 Emma’s losses are on the low side, getting her hydration strategy right is still important if she wants to perform at her best.
Learn moreThe temperatures at this race were mild (averaging ~15℃), and Emma’s fluid intake was in line with the volumes we usually see her drink (>1L/h on the bike and ~300-400ml/h on the run). Introducing more sodium to her race strategy has been a goal for Emma to account for her very high sweat rate (~2.5L/h in very hot climates). Whilst she has a low sweat sodium concentration, her total sweat losses can be significant as a result of her sweat rate, and incidences of severe dehydration coupled with sodium depletion (a condition called hypovolemic hyponatremia) in hot/humid climates has been an ongoing challenge for her. That being said, Emma did a great job of increasing her sodium intake in this race and nailed her hydration strategy.
How Emma hit her numbers
Here's everything that Emma ate and drank on the day...
Emma's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
Emma
PF&HEmma'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.