Harry Palmer
Challenge Wales
Harry's headline numbers
Harry'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.
Harry’s 2024 season didn’t get off to the perfect start, with stomach discomfort hampering his performance. He has suffered with bloating and abdominal cramps sporadically during training and races, and has been trying a variety of strategies in an attempt to alleviate these symptoms. Harry decided to try reducing his carb intake during this race and ended up consuming ~33% less than at IRONMAN® South Africa earlier in the year, where he unfortunately had to DNF. Whilst his stomach pains were not totally alleviated in Wales, the rolling nature of the run course meant he could try and relax on the downhills and the pain would lessen. Going forwards, Harry should continue to train his gut during race-specific training sessions as this may contribute to improved performance, and pursue some further medical investigations into the cause of his stomach bloating on occasion during some races.
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 Harry’s losses are on the moderate side, getting his hydration strategy right is still important if he wants to perform at his best.
Learn moreThe logistics of carrying nutrition in triathlon are typically at odds with holding the best position on the bike, to ride as fast as possible. Harry chose to carry a bottle of PH 1500 (Drink Mix) behind his saddle, but after getting caught up in the racing, he forgot it was there for most of the ride, and didn’t drink any of it. This meant his average relative sodium concentration was much lower than his known sweat losses. He reported feeling like he’d under-hydrated, and the run aid stations weren’t as regular as he’d have liked. For his next race he’s going to move his bottle of electrolytes to a more accessible place on the bike, and remember to take some Electrolyte Capsules with him for the run.
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.
Harry didn’t take any caffeine during this race, despite doing so in all of his previous 70.3® and IRONMAN® races. This was to triage what was causing his stomach issues, so it’s likely he’ll reintroduce it at some point once he’s comfortable he’s found the root cause of the discomfort.
How Harry hit his numbers
Here's everything that Harry ate and drank on the day...
Harry's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HHarry'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.