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25th

Jack Hutchens' scorecard

IRONMAN® Israel

Friday 25th November, 2022

Within recommended ranges

Just outside recommended ranges

Significantly outside recommended ranges

  • 85g

    Carb per hour
  • 569mg

    Sodium per hour
  • 349ml

    Fluid per hour
  • 1,633mg/L

    Relative sodium concentration
  • 336mg

    Total caffeine
  • How Jack hit those numbers

    finish
    star
    bottle
     
    500ml x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
    1 x Bowl of Oats with Banana
     
     
    1 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
     
     
    *** Try to avoid drinking too much at this point in the race!
     
     
    750ml x PH 1500 (Tablets)
    1.7L x PH 1500 (Drink Mix)
    2 x PF 30 Caffeine Gel
    4 x PF 90 Gel
     
     
    2 x PH Electrolyte Capsule
    1 x PF 90 Gel
    162ml x Plain water
    450ml x Cola
    2 x Orange slice
    1 x Handful of Pretzels
    4 x Energy Gel (20g Carb)
     

    How Jack's hydration and fueling went...

      • Jack made his Iron distance debut at the inaugural IRONMAN Israel, which saw a new IM marathon best time in the male race at 2:30:31
      • He’d had a mixed season prior to this race, having qualifying for his prol licence in May and achieved his first pro podium at Challenge Wales in June, only to also experience his first DSQ at IM 70.3 Zell am See
      • Jack executed a solid fuel and hydration plan over double the distance, but unfortunately, Jack went out a little too hard at the start of the bike leg, with this over-exuberance potentially costing him later in the race, leaving him feeling dejected with his performance

    Hydration

      • With this race being the inaugural edition of IRONMAN Israel, there wasn’t any previous weather data for the race, but high temperatures were still expected. With this in mind, Jack preloaded his sodium levels with a PH 1500 packet in 500ml (16oz), both the night before and the morning of the race
      • With a sweat sodium concentration of 1,208mg/L (mg/32oz), Jack knows he’s in the moderate-high salty sweat category and therefore needed to be on top of his electrolyte intake to help avoid any hydration related issues cropping up
      • Despite the unexpected pouring rain and high winds on the bike, Jack drank just under 2.5L (88oz), with each bottle containing PH 1500 in either packet or tablet form. This meant Jack’s relative sodium concentration was higher than anticipated at ~1,837mg/L (mg/32oz). The primary reason for this was that his two water bottles with his gels in only contained around 100ml (~3oz) of water along with a PH 1500 tablet which thus increased the relative sodium concentration of his drinks beyond what we’d recommend
      • Having done some pre-race sweat rate testing, Jack knew he lost around 1L (32oz) of sweat per hour in similar environmental conditions to those predicted in Israel. However, due to the lower temperatures and heavy rainfall acting as a cooling agent on race day, he still felt like he over-drank at just ~536ml (17oz) per hour, and had to stop and pee several times throughout the bike and run
      • Consequently, Jack reduced his fluid intake dramatically on the run in an attempt to reduce his desire to pee, and it did subside towards the end of the run as he averaged just ~189ml (6oz) per hour

    Fueling

    Quick Carb Calculator Recommendation

    30g

    carb 30 mins before

    60-90g

    carb per hour during
      • Jack began preparing for the race nutritionally a couple of days beforehand by carb-loading, a process where he increased the proportion of carbohydrates in his diet and reduced the fibre and fat content to maximise the amount of energy stored in the form of glycogen
      • He then had a hearty, carb-rich breakfast containing oats and banana to top off these glycogen stores. As he was called down to the swim start he took a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to prime his blood glucose for the race ahead
      • During the bike Jack averaged ~105g of carb per hour, which was very close to his pre-race plan of ~100g/h. After trying to stay with some other pro athletes in the first half of the bike, Jack turned a blind eye to his power meter and unfortunately found his legs to be “pretty cooked” after ~110km on the bike
      • Even the two PF 30 Caffeine Gels in his “gel bottles” couldn’t reduce the perceived effort enough to help him push through, something Jack said has paid dividends in previous long bike sessions when fatigue starts to set in
      • Upon stepping off the bike, the feeling of fatigue was still present in Jack’s quads, and thus his pace was below where he planned. Nonetheless he still took a full PF 90 Gel within the first hour, in an effort to revive his perception of effort
      • Jack rated his perceived energy levels an 8-9 out of 10 saying “energy-wise, I was fine throughout, I just went too hard so the second half of the race was a fight against my own legs”
      • Knowing his race was not playing out as he planned, but determined to continue the battle, Jack decided to add some variety to his sources of fuel by picking up some pretzels and a few orange slices from the aid stations on the run and ended up averaging ~69g of carb per hour

    Conclusions

      • Whilst this was not the day Jack had hoped for, he stuck to his guns and executed a robust fueling strategy, and learned several valuable lessons for his future hydration strategy over this distance
      • Rating his overall satisfaction at just 2 (out of 10), Jack knows that he’s got far more to give, and still produced a perfectly credible 8 hours 47 minute debut over the IRONMAN, which is no small feat!

    Key info

    Jack Hutchens

    Male

    Result

    Position
    25th
    Overall Time
    8:47:04
    Swim Time
    0:50:33
    Bike Time
    4:34:53
    Run Time
    3:14:12

    Event information

    Sport
    Triathlon
    Discipline
    Full distance
    Event
    IRONMAN® Israel
    Location
    Tiberias, Israel
    Date
    25th November, 2022
    Swim Distance
    3.8km / 2.4mi
    Bike Distance
    180.2km / 112.0mi
    Run Distance
    42.2km / 26.2mi
    Total Distance
    226.2km / 140.6mi

    Race conditions

    Weather Conditions
    Mild
    Precipitation
    Rain
    Min Temp
    14°C / 57°F
    Max Temp
    20°C / 68°F
    Avg Temp
    16°C / 61°F
    Humidity
    85%

    Athlete feedback

    Race Satisfaction
    2/10
    Hydration rating
    7/10
    I stopped drinking on the run mostly because I was needing to pee quite a lot
    Energy levels
    7/10
    My legs were so sore I couldn't work hard enough to get my heart rate up
    Toilet stops
    Yes
    Quite a lot on the bike and run
    GI comfort
    10/10
    Cramping
    Mild cramps that I could push through

    Jack's Thoughts

     I've found a few positives, but knowing what could have been means I'm left very unsatisfied

    Jack's full stats

     Carbohydrate (g)Sodium (mg)Fluid (ml)Caffeine (mg)Relative sodium concentration (mg/L)
    Overall
    Total intake7495,0003,0623361,633
    Per hour8556934938
    Bike and Run
    Total intake7195,0003,0622361,633
    Per hour9064139330
    Bike
    Total intake4974,5002,4502001,837
    Per hour10598553644
    Run
    Total intake22250061236818
    Per hour6915518911

    Data Confidence

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    1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    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.

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