'I'm filling a 700ml drink bottle with gels' - Cameron Wurf breaks down his Ironman Texas world record nutrition plan
Australi💦an reveals his record-breaking ride broke an altogether different record too

Cameron Wurfꩵ clocked the fastest Ironman bike leg in history at Ironman Texas last weekend📖. The Australian rider covered the 112-mile bike leg split in 3:53:32, clocking an average speed of 28.7mph or 46.2km/h, which shaved 61 seconds off the previous record.
After the event, he unveiled his 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:insane fuelling strategy i꧋n an interview with The Feed, which was subsequently posted on social media.
His candid description of his aggressive fuelli🎉ng provided a great insight into how pro triathletes (and likely road pros too) are fuelling for the dem🤪ands of events like Ironman.
But does Wurf have something of a unique metabolism that 🍌allows him to process far more fuel than other riders and reg𝔍ular amateurs?
We chatted with Wurf to find out more about how he plans his nutrition strategy, what 💃informs it, breaking his nutrition partner's expenditure record,💖 and to find out just how he carried all of those gels in the first place.
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In his first interview, Wurf explained he consumed a little over 200 grams of carbohydrates per h🐼our on the bike leg, getting through about 28 gels. That's 🧜a huge amount, particularly for mere mortals for whom the typically accepted ceiling sits at around 90 grams per hour, but likely even for other athletes too.
Triathletes often carry multiple gels decanted into a plastic flask, and Wurf explained he did a 🍌similar thing with a bottle after a Pinarello bike change provided some additional space on the downtube꧅ to carry another.
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"I've switched to the Olympic bike, the bike they developed for Filippo Ganna and Josh Tarling for the [Paris] Olympics. With the old tri🍃athlon bike [Pinarello Bolide F TR], I used to have a storage bin on the down tube. It just didn't dawn on me to replace it with an aero bottle, because it was part of the bike. But the💃 reality is, it's probably only a watt or two of aerodynamic loss; it's probably negligible.
"So whe𒊎n I had the new bike, I could use a bottle on the downtube. So then I realised, wait a minute, I can fill that bottle with gels.
"I'm able to fill that bottle with gels, I think it held 24 gels, plus the✅ other 10 I can carry. So that's 34 gels. I probably had even more than 28 in the race, to be honest. So basically, ꦕI'm filling a 700ml drink bottle with gels and adding a little bit of water. It's a lot of gels."
Wurf also talked about the larg🍒e amounts of sodium he used during his ride, he aimed to take on board 1500mg of sodium per hour in bottles, a very large amount in and of itself.
Wurf explained he completed ♐a practice Ironman workout in similar conditions to Ironman Texas with ex-Ineos Grenadiers physiologist Aitor Virbay using a sweat patch to map out his sodium needs.
"Aitor was able to calculate how much I was sweating when my body was really struggling. I average around 155 BPM heart rate for an Ironman. So you're pegged at that for seven and a half hours. So you're sw🔴eating quite a lot at that kind of intensity.
"With sodium, you can have too little, and you'll cramp, but if you have too much, you just sweat it out. So it's better in an Ironman to go a little bi♓t overboard than underboard."
Wurf works with a company 𒅌called Calorify, which works with athletes to measure energy expenditure. After testing, Wurf found he has quite a special engine that can easily cope with the calories and sugar volume he took on during the race.
But he stressed simply maximising carb intake may not be a magic solution for everyone and could even have health risks like diabetes.𒀰 His strategy is the result of a lot of scientific analysis and years of training.
It also turns out that Wurf's record-breaking Ironman performance set another record, result🐼ing in the highest 'total energy expenditure' that Calorify ha🦋d ever seen from any athlete they had ever tested, in any sport.
"The Calorify tesജt was something I did with the team. It's qui♔te an extensive test and is seen as the gold standard in calorie intake usage testing. But it's also very specific in helping you with what sugars you use best.
"I'm a really good fructose burner. So the gels I choose will have fructose in them. ღI spend two weeks or so before the race, preparing my stomach by having a lot more fruit. Not so much pieces of fruit, but a lot of smoothies. And I think it's working, because in the race, I have no stomach issues at all."
Wurf explained he's still analysing his limits, and will be dissecting the data from his Texas performance; he actually ﷽still felt hungry during the running leg of the event.
"On the run, I got 𝄹quite hungry. Even though I was still consuming over 100 grams of carbs per hour. Maybe my metabolism was moving too quickly from having so much sugar.
"Which is something t🐬hat a nutrition partner did want to discuss. They said, 'Well, this is fantastic, but there꧂'s a chance you're pushing it a bit too far, because you did get hungry on the run with that amount of calories."
Wurf's bike leg is only one part in the Ironman puzzle, though, which he admits he is still trying to figure out. He has another Ironman𓄧 championship in six weeks and is clearly motivated to put it all together.
"It felt good. I hadn't ridde🎶n like that for a long time, and it was nice to get m♏y confidence back. I'm looking forward to the next opportunity.
"If I can just put everything together over the next six weeks in training, tidy up my swim, and get some more kilomet✃res𒉰 into my running legs. I feel like that good performance isn't too far away."

Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or anothe💖r. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
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