This week, Andy Blow (CEO and Founder of Precision Fuel and Hydration) and I hosted a special webinar on the latest knowledge on training and racing nutrition. It was a super session, and a lot of folk were reportedly surprised by some of the information we shared. If you missed the session you can watch it HERE.  I wanted to follow up with some additional thoughts on the topic just for Purple Patch athletes.  If there was one big takeaway from the session, it was this:

There is no single solution for your fuel and hydration. You are best served by developing a guide and framework, then going on a journey to refine to your needs, events and situation.

As Andy said, if we had a golden single answer, we would tell you.  But don’t despair. This is empowering, and we have your back. Your mission is really simple:

• Understand your caloric needs (in a range)
• Nail down your individual physiology to dial in fluids and electrolytes
• Train, assess and refine your approach
• Execute in racing, assess, continue to refine

Much like the racing journey, your fueling and hydration also requires thought, training (especially of the gut to optimize absorption) and pragmatism. This week, for your eyes only, I am going to share some very interesting data collected from many case studies over the last couple of years. Have a review, as I think it will help you in your journey. Oh, a single gram of carbohydrate is 4 kcal of fuel, to help frame your own reflections and approach

Carbohydrate

• Overall carb per hour: 64g/hr* (all triathlon case studies, n=40)
• *If we remove short distance cased studies (n=2), average overall carb intake = 68g/hr
• For middle and long distance triathlon, the Quick Carb Calculator would recommend 60-90g/hr
• No male/female differences in overall carb per hour (all distances): Males - 66g/hr vs. Females - 63g/hr

Overall: (whole race)

• Overall carb per hour (long distance): 72g/hr (Males - 74g/hr, females, 69g/hr)
• Overall carb per hour (middle distance): 65g/hr (Males - 65g/hr, females, 64g/hr)
• Bike:  Overall average: 80g/hr (Males - 79g/hr, females 81g/hr)
• Run: Overall average intake: 52g/hr (Males - 57g/hr, females - 47g/hr)

• Hourly carb intake on the run during long course triathlon is much greater than carb intake during the half marathon of a middle distance race (66g/hr vs. 46g/hr)

Fluid

• Average consumption: 549ml/hr* (all distances)
• No difference between males and females (550ml/hr vs. 548ml/hr) 

Sodium 

• Average relative concentration: ~866mg/L 
• The average sweat sodium concentration of all the sweat test Precision Fuel & Hydration have done is ~955mg/L  
• Males tend to consume higher relative sodium concentrations (males, ~1017mg/L vs. females, 729mg/L)

I would encourage you to leverage these insights when approaching your training and racing. Several of my individually coached athletes are now successfully consuming (and benefitting from) up to 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour.  This has been under the guidance of Scott Tindal and FuelIn, and has been a process of training, assessment, refinement.

As we begin to edge into the meat of the season we plan to integrate specific race fueling test sessions (which are super standalone training sessions themselves).  We will highlight these, and add protocols for self assessment. These will be integrated into baseline and Race Builds over the coming month.  If you need individual support and guidance on your plan, we recommend getting on the FUELIn train, as this is why we developed the relationship with the team there. They are cutting edge, and ahead of the game, and work in synergy with the team at Precision Fuel and Hydration.

Oh, and many have asked if we have a discount for the products at Precision Fuel and Hydration. We do!  Head to https://www.precisionhydration.com/us/en/ and use the code purplepatch_sq93 - Don’t miss the gels and new chews, which came out this week. They are mind blowing in their neutral taste and non-offensive texture. Easy to consume under fatigue and heat, which is what we care about.

I hope this helps.

Matt