IRONMAN® World Championships

With an aim to replicate her stellar performance from Challenge Roth earlier in the year, Fenella devised a solid fuel strategy to hit ~100g/h of carbohydrates. She carb loaded the day before the race, and also took a PF 30 Gel and PF 30 Caffeine Gel within the last 30 minutes before the start to ensure her energy stores were topped up. On the bike she had four bottles containing PF 30 Gels and PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix to keep a consistent stream of carbs coming in. Fenella has been working on her gut training all season, particularly when running, which paid off as she had no GI issues and managed to hit just below her target carb intake.

Fenella sensibly pre-loaded both the night before and the morning of the race using PH 1500 (Tablets). She knows that she has a high sweat sodium concentration after having a Sweat Test, so she was aware that PF Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix alone wouldn’t provide enough sodium to account for all of her sweat sodium losses during the race. So, she carried and consumed 20 Electrolyte Capsules which also helped to supplement her fluid intake. She also utilised the professional aid stations to pick up bottles of PH 1000 during the run. This likely replaced a good proportion of her sweat losses in the brutal conditions and helped her avoid cramping up on the day.

Fenella utilised the benefits of caffeine consistently throughout the race by taking a relatively high amount of PF 30 Caffeine Gels. Since she tolerates caffeine well, her higher-than-recommended intake of the stimulant caused no adverse effects and instead helped maintain her energy levels throughout the race. However, we wouldn’t recommend going any higher than this in future races, as the science suggests there is no additional benefit and it can increase the risk of the associated symptoms when taking too much caffeine.