BIONIC FUELLING

You can’t fail to have heard of Supersapiens. This is the world’s first ‘athlete-driven’ continuous glucose monitoring device that sees Chris Froome as one of its investors, is used by Jan Frodeno and is the title sponsor of the Ironman World Championships.

“The technology behind the system’s been used for several years in the world of diabetes,” co-founder Phil Southerland tells me from across the Atlantic. “I feel this could become as common a metric as heart rate and power.”

The system works via an applicator akin to an oversized passport stamp pressing against the upper arm, depositing an ultra-thin filament that’s stuck into place by a strong adhesive sticker. This then measures glucose levels in the interstitial fluid, a thin layer of fluid surrounding the cells of the tissue just below the skin. Critics have argued that interstitial fluid is different than measuring blood glucose, as there’s a lag between the two. “There’s about a 5-10min difference in interstitial catching up with blood,” says Southerland. “But both the muscles and the brain rely on interstitial glucose. It’s what an athlete needs to perform.”

Once the filament’s ticked off its 60-minute settling-in period, you’re given a wealth of glucose measurements designed to arm you with the knowledge to optimise your fuelling strategy. Feedback includes: ‘glucose variability’, which is an indicator of relative stability of your blood glucose over a 24-hour period – a lower mg/dL (milligrammes per decilitre) signifies better stability; ‘average glucose’, again based on the previous 24 hours, which you can compare against a pre-set target; and ‘glucose zones’. These are a breakdown of the percentage of the day you spend between anything from lower than 60mg/dL to over 140mg/dL, and are separated into inflammation (over 140), glucose loading (91-140), adaptive state (70-90) and impaired recovery (below 70). Too high and too low are bad, in the middle is good, below middle is better.

Unless you have access to a lab, fuelling’s very much a game of trial-anderror. Supersapiens removes that guesswork for optimum performance. But, as it stands, it needs to better handhold the user as much of this information is new, personal to you and is hard to take that next step with confidence. A coach or nutritionist will maximise its benefits.

It’s also not cheap at €65 for the trial pack including one two-week biosensor, €450 for three months, €780 for six months, or a monthly subscription of €129. But you don’t need to use it all the time, says Southerland.

“Serious triathletes might want to, but some might want to use it for a couple of months in the build-up to their goal event.”

Either way, with Supersapiens’ reach seemingly extending through every round of funding, this is one product that could well take a permanent foothold on triathlon. supersapiens.comf

You’re given a wealth of glucose measurements to help optimise your fuelling strategy”