Renee McGregor - Training Food: Get the Fuel You Need to Achieve Your Goals - Before, During and After Exercise

As an athlete, I am always looking at ways I can improve my performance and this is how I was lucky enough to find Renee McGregor.

I started working with Renee back in 2010, in preparation for the European Championships in Barcelona, after striking up a friendship through our local running club. Sharing a passion for good food and running, we quickly became friends. I had been to see various other sports nutritionists over the years, but it took me no time at all to realize that she was the real deal. Renee is incredibly knowledgeable and thorough with her research; she will leave no stone unturned to get all the information before coming up with an answer. Her nutrition plans have been tailor-made to fit into my lifestyle and requirements, with practical strategies on meal ideas, snacks and race nutrition, helping to turn theory into practice. This has resulted in success for me over the marathon distance, and more recently in ultra events.

Renee helped me to understand that how I fuelled my body had a direct influence on my training and recovery. Tailoring my nutrition around my training sessions helped me take charge of my performance goals. Knowing exactly what to eat and when really helped my energy levels and accelerated my recovery time. We also worked together to create a bespoke fuelling and hydration plan for all of my major races these ranged from road marathons in extreme heat and humidity to mountain ultras at high altitudes again with great success. Renees food plans are practical and realistic, which is what I was drawn to. She gives you real food choices and examples of what your meal should look like, making it easy to plan your week: invaluable for the busy lives we lead.

I can confidently say that this book is ideal for anyone looking to improve their way of eating to benefit their sport. It gives you practical, evidence-based advice on how to fuel your body to maximize your training, as well as offering lots of delicious recipes.

Holly Rush

GB Endurance Runner

This book is for athletes of all levels, elite or recreational, young or old, experienced or new to sport. It is for those of you who want to:

>>> Achieve your sporting goals , whether thats improving your half-marathon time, completing your first triathlon, becoming a more powerful tennis player, or bettering your personal-best time in swimming.

>>> Stick to a training plan while also trying to earn a living and juggle family commitments. For example, you work late but still need to eat appropriately to get the most out of the next mornings spinning session, or youre a busy parent trying to fit your training session in before the school run.

>>> Improve your knowledge of nutrition . You may well know, for example, that you need to eat carbohydrate for energy and protein for recovery, but struggle to understand what that actually looks like in real food terms.

>>> Increase your confidence by knowing you are eating the right foods to fuel your body and maximize your training so that you can excel in your chosen sport.

When the opportunity arose to write a book about training food, with practical recipes and evidence-based nutrition, I was delighted. There is so much information about nutrition available but not all of it is backed up by science. As a registered dietitian and sports nutritionist, I have to ensure that all the advice I provide is evidence based that is, there has been reliable research around the subject to make the claims credible and accurate.

No matter who I am working with, I see it as a collaborative journey. I first help athletes to understand the fundamentals of good nutrition and then, with practical suggestions, piece it all together to develop a nutrition plan that works for them. This is what I am offering to you here a practical, easy-to-follow but scientific book about sports nutrition that you can tailor to your individual sport, which includes delicious, easy-to-make recipes.

The reason I enjoy my job so much is because every day is different and I work with athletes of all levels and disciplines. My job is to make the science accessible. Through researching all the latest studies, and interpreting them into practical application, I produce recipes and nutrition plans that work for all lifestyles and budgets. I have used the same step-by-step approach in this book.

is a practical guide of what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. We also look at how your body metabolizes the food you eat into fuel, and how it can adapt to provide fuel for different levels of training intensity.

goes into more detail about training and how making the right nutritional choices around training sessions of different intensities will benefit you. This section also includes sample menu plans, using the recipes from the book to demonstrate practically how to make appropriate choices.

tailors nutrition to your chosen sport, looking at the different fuelling requirements for different events/distances. Again I have tried to make this as practical and applicable as possible by using case studies of clients I have worked with.

highlights the importance of maintaining the well-oiled machine we call our body. Often individuals ignore niggles, going into denial that anything is wrong, and this leads to further complications. This chapter ensures you go through a mental checklist before you embark on training or competition in order to avoid any long-term injury and explains how nutrition can be used in injury prevention and recovery.

Throughout the book there are also info boxes and fact boxes, as well as quick tips, which help to make the book fun and practical, while still delivering up-to-date and evidence-based sports nutrition.

Nutrition and sports nutrition in particular is my passion. It was an interest of mine from a young age and led to me becoming a registered dietitian. After working for the NHS for 10 years, mainly in paediatric nutrition, I felt it was time for a change.

I have always been an active and sporty person, and had completed challenges such as the London to Brighton Bike Ride before having children. To combine my favourite pastime with my work, I studied to be a dietitian and sports nutritionist. With the help of my amazing and extremely supportive husband I also launched my own freelance business and brand, Eat Well, Feel Fab. Ultimately this is what I had always wanted to help people to eat well, without fads or deprivation, and feel fab for the rest of their lives.

I had started running with Team Bath Athletics Club and through this I had a place in the London Marathon. I trained hard and put my sports nutrition into full use. I was a perfect case study a busy working mum attempting her first marathon! Race day arrived and it was an incredible experience. I finished in 3 hours, 17 minutes, much faster than my goal of 3 hours 30 minutes! Since then I have continued to be my own guinea pig, trying out nutritional theories and strategies. Last year I completed my first ultra-marathon (Classic Quarter, 44 miles on the Cornish coastal path) with a top 10 female finish, followed by the highlight of my running career to date, a 7-day multi-stage race in Nepal, climbing up to 5,162m/16,935ft of altitude (Manaslu Mountain Trail Race).

At Team Bath AC we are very privileged to be coached by Martin Rush, Head of Endurance at England Athletics. He is married to Holly Rush, GB marathon runner and ultra-runner. Holly and I have become good friends and work together; I provide her with nutritional support around all her key races and she coaches me its a great set-up.