Challenge The Championship

Kyle averaged a similar hourly carb intake in Samorin as he did during his previous middle-distance race in Singapore, but his execution was quite different. His total bike intake was ~44g higher for a similar duration, so his average intake was ~153 grams per hour (vs ~131g/h in Singapore). Following a similar trend to most of our triathlon case study data, Kyle’s intake was ~27% lower during the run. This still gave him enough energy to run his fastest ever half marathon ‘off-the-bike’, and one of the fastest middle-distance triathlons ever. Kyle’s clearly spent a long time training his gut to tolerate this very high intake, which supports the emerging scientific literature that highly trained athletes can tolerate >120g/h of carbs.

Kyle has a very low concentration of sodium in his sweat as you can see from the graphic above. But we also know he loses large volumes of sweat when racing at a high intensity, based on several sweat rate tests he’s conducted in training under similar environmental conditions. Because of this, fluid replacement is a high priority for Kyle compared to some of his peers. Along with his impressive tolerance of carbs, Kyle has also trained his gut to tolerate high amounts of fluid intake per hour.

As a frequent caffeine user, Kyle’s tolerance to the stimulant is likely quite high. So, by taking four PF 30 Caffeine Gels strategically across the race (one ~10 minutes pre-swim, two during the bike and one early on the run), Kyle could maximise his blood caffeine levels at all times to lower his perception of effort. This is a staple part of his strategy, and something we’ve seen him execute several times without issue, so we wouldn’t recommend any changes going forward.