Andy Blow on Hydration and Nutrition

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• 4:30 the PH ‘3 levers’ concept
• 6:30 1st lever - water
  • Optimal intake depends on many variables: personal sweat rate, intensity, weather conditions, event duration
  • Some net fluid loss during training is to be expected and is normal / desirable 
  • Typical intake ceiling is ~1,000mL/hr, but exceptions are common with folks able to drink and tolerate more fluid, but this likely needs to be trained
  • How to measure sweat rate
    • PH sweat rate calculator
  • Do bigger athletes sweat more?
  • Role of event duration on sweat rate
  • The value of experience and listening to the body
  • What is a reasonable frequency of urination on the bike?
  • How to raise the max consumption ceiling beyond 1000mL
• 31:00 2nd lever - sodium
  • Very wide range of ideal sodium supplementation due to variability in both sweat rate and sodium concentration in that sweat
  • Sodium concentration in sweat varies greatly from 250mg/L to over 1800mg/L
  • The resultant danger of hyponatremia
  • Sweat concentration testing: PH lab test or online questionnaire
  • How does knowing your sweat sodium concentration help you design your hydration strategy?
  • Sodium preloading strategies
• 48:00 3rd lever - carbohydrates
  • The value of decoupling CHO from fluid intake
  • PH Carb Calculator is a useful resource
  • Front-load your race nutrition while on the bike
  • The PH approach to carb fueling
  • Recording what you did and what works is valuable

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