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Fuel your Success RunThrough Running Club London

What I want to do i give you an insight into what I do and how I go about my day to day routine on nutrition when in full training to give people an idea on what types of foods are best at certain times of the day and also at certain points before and after a workout. I am not saying this is the answer and you should swear by what I say and do but what I want to do is just give you an idea of the different foods that I eat to fuel me throughout the day and maybe you can pick up something from this article/blog and incorporate it into your training or lifestyle.

So starting the day…. Breakfast!!! Everyone loves breakfast… If not then you should!! I know people have a hectic lifestyle with work and family and cant find the time to maybe sit down and have 15-20mins before leaving the house to eat something substantial but all I can ask is that you try to eat something healthy and nutritious before shutting that door behind you and getting in the car for a long day ahead. Almost always I have some form of oats as my cereal whether it be porridge, muesli or granola. On some occasions when I have some more time on my hands I like to have an omelette with some red onion and chicken with 2 toasted pittas… But this is very rare I will have this for breakfast… Mostly lunchtime I will cook this.

Fuel your Success RunThrough Running Club London

On Training session days I always have porridge with whole milk and a drizzle of honey, small handful of almonds and raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon. This is like my session day routine as I find it sits in my stomach well and gives me a lot of fats, carbs and protein to fuel my long winter workouts. I usually have this around 3-2 and a half hours before warm up just to let the body digest the goodness and I am not running with a heavy stomach. Also I love my coffee, for anyone who knows me they will know I love a good fresh cup of coffee in the morning to kick start my day… gives you energy and cleans the pipes!! ha.

After training it is usually lunch time 11-12ish so its good to just go about the day-to-day routine and have lunch. This will consist of a protein shake/recovery shake when I get in the door whilst preparing my lunch. At lunch I will have lean meat, Cous cous, and salad and veg… Or an omelette with meat and chopped veg… maybe toasted mozzarella and chorizo baguette with salad I try and vary my diet as much as I can to get nutrition from all different foods.

And for dinner it will be another protein rich meal, with lots of veggies and moderate carbs as I usually have a cheeky bowl of Greek yogurt and granola with honey before bed as a little treat. That’s my favorite meal of the day. Dinner isn’t anything out of the ordinary just your usual spag bol, grilled chicken sweet potato and broccoli, risotto… if I’m feeling adventurous. I try to make sure I get in fish once or twice a week aswell… mostly salmon and prawns just to get another source of good fats, oils and protein source.

Fuel your Success RunThrough Running Club London

I have mentioned nothing about hydration but throughout the day drink a good amount of fluids if you are training hard. When dehydrated the body doesn’t perform to its best… It overheats quicker, blood is a small % thicker and the muscles need water or they will not contract efficiently. Hydration is vital for performance and keeping the body at its optimum during rigorous training.

There you have it folks, a small insight into what I eat… I hope you have gathered something from this most of it is probably already stuff that you know but sometimes looking at it again enforces good habits. I wont say I have the best diet in the world by any means but for me this keeps me in good shape and helps me recover properly from session to session. If there is one thing to take away from this is that everyone is different and needs different amounts of carbs, fat, protein for their body to work well and recover properly. No food group should be totally avoided!! A wise man once told me…. “If you eat everything in moderation, you can only ever be moderately wrong.”