Six months on the Malabar Coast — what GEL100 does on a 6-hour ride
"Testing the dual-carb formula across four century rides in 36°C humidity. Honest assessment of what works and what does not."
Five years, eight IRONMAN finishes, one supplement protocol that actually held up.
Sample Sponsored Athlete (illustrative — not a real person) raced their first IRONMAN in 2018 — a 12-hour finish on a fuelling plan they later described as "throwing whatever was in the bag at the problem and hoping." Three races in, they cracked at km 32 of the marathon every time. Energy systems were not the issue. The fuelling plan was.
In 2020, after meeting a Unived athlete at a training camp, they replaced their entire on-course nutrition system with the RRUNN endurance line — Gel-100 for the bike's first three hours, Elite Gel-180 from km 90 onward, Hydration Mix on the run. The change was not magical. It was repeatable.
The protocol that worked
The framework was not complicated. Calories per hour calibrated to body weight and average power output. Sodium replacement scaled to sweat rate testing done in a heat chamber. Carbohydrate ratio at 2:1 glucose-to-fructose for any session over 90 minutes. The supplements were tools; the plan was the plan.
"I stopped trying to hack my way through the back half of the race. The back half does not need a hack. It needs the right amount of sodium and the right amount of carbohydrate at the right rate."
By 2022 they had run their PB. By 2024 they had podiumed three age-group finishes. The protocol — minor refinements aside — was the one developed in 2020.
In 2023, they began working with the Unived formulation team on prototype testing for what eventually became Elite Gel-320 — the long-course gel built for athletes whose race days run over 12 hours. The video below is from a session at the Unived training camp where the prototype was first deployed.
The numbers from the 2024 race
| Discipline | Distance | Split time |
|---|---|---|
| Swim | 3.8 km | 1:08 |
| Bike | 180 km | 5:09 |
| Run | 42.2 km | 3:18 |
| Total | — | 9:42 |
The bike leg was the most disciplined I have ever ridden. I held 87 g/hour of carb on the dot from km 30 onward. By the time I started the marathon, my muscle glycogen reserves were closer to where I wanted them than at any previous race. The marathon split was the result of the bike pacing.
Race day · IRONMAN Western Australia 2024
Next year is Kona qualification. The protocol stays. The training builds.