Lauren Cepeda
IRONMAN® World Championships
Lauren's headline numbers
Lauren'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.
Lauren originally planned to rely mostly on a range of PF&H products to fuel her entire race. However, she hit a bump midway through the bike on a descent, causing all her nutrition to fly out of her bento box. Fortunately, she had previously tested the on-course nutrition and felt confident and comfortable using it. To manage ‘flavour fatigue’, a common challenge when consuming large amounts of sports nutrition over extended periods, Lauren picked up a variety of products at the aid stations including both bars and gels across the 16 hours she was out on course. She didn’t have any GI issues and was able to consistently reach her carb target throughout (60g/h), although she (unsurprisingly) did grow ‘tired of gels’ by the end!
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.
Lauren relied on the hydration provided at the on-course aid stations, which included PH 1000, designed to replace the average amount of sodium lost, based on data from over 15,000 Sweat Tests. On the bike she consumed just shy of 4L of PH 1000 and over 1L of cola, while on the run she took a cup of PH 1000 at each aid station, ensuring a solid intake of fluids and electrolytes to account for the weather conditions. However, she noted that she should have consumed slightly more, as she didn’t pee at all during the run, which was unusual for her. Despite this, she didn’t experience cramps or other signs of excessive dehydration, indicating that her intake was overall appropriate for the mild race conditions and intensity. An easy way to enhance her hydration strategy would be to switch from PH 1000 to PH 1500 for her pre-race drink. This adjustment would allow her to more effectively preload with a higher concentration of sodium to start the race in an optimally hydrated state.
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.
Lauren had a coffee before the race and supplemented with caffeinated gels and cola on course, ensuring a steady supply of the performance-enhancing stimulant. Her overall caffeine consumption fell just within the scientifically recommended range of 3–6 mg/kg, which would have provided her with some of the associated ergogenic effects.
How Lauren hit her numbers
Here's everything that Lauren ate and drank on the day...
Lauren's weapons of choice
Final thoughts
PF&HLauren'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.