Dougal Allan is a professional endurance athlete and coach living with his wife Amy and children Flynn and Matilda in beautiful Lake Hawea. He has been racing in endurance events for 15 years and started his coaching company DA Endurance Ltd in 2015. He splits both his coaching and racing focuses between long distance triathlon, multisport and adventure racing and rates his victories in Challenge Wanaka and Coast to Coast as his biggest highlights so far.
1. Your go-to pre-race meal?
Depends on the race but generally it involves peanut butter, bagels, bananas, honey and of course coffee.
2. Favourite recovery food?
Anything salty. Which can get me into trouble sometimes, so if I am being good it’s a protein smoothie. But yeah, anything salty.
3. A food or fluid you can’t be without during a race?
Electrolyte drink. I don’t tend to get far without my electrolytes.
4. The best piece of nutrition advice you have been given?
Eat a variety of wholefoods. I liked this instantly because it made a complex topic seem simple and tangible in an instant.
5. Foods you cannot stand?
I have been sitting an staring at my screen for 10min because I cannot think of any. I am sure there must be something, but its fair to say I am not fussy!
6. Three foods you could not live without?
Eggs. Peanut butter. Chocolate.
7. Favourite local café?
Relishes (Wanaka).
8. Favourite foodie destination (can be worldwide)?
Noosa, Australia.
9. What’s the first thing you consume in a typical day?
Coffee.
10. What is your favourite weekend breakfast?
Scrambled eggs on toast. Which to be fair is the same almost every day of the week. Pancakes if we are feeling adventurous.
11. What is your go-to lunch?
Salad and salmon wrap, thrown in the toastie maker to get it warm and crisp and to get that cheese melting...
12. What is your ultimate dessert?
Anything with ice cream. Or just nothing with ice cream works too.
13. Favourite recipe book?
Not really a recipe book: What the Fat? Not because I am LCHF but because the meals are different to what I would normally cook and they are delicious.
14. Sweet or savoury?
Savoury. Then sweet.
15. Favourite fruit or vegetable?
Carrot. I swear that’s why my hair is orange. Have snacked on raw carrots my entire life.
16. Food you used to dislike and now love?
Watermelon. When I was little I hated the pips/seeds. Now I could eat Watermelon until I turned into one.
17. A dish that is made frequently in your household is…
Roast meat and veggies.
18. Cooking – love it or hate it?
Like it?
19. A top tip you would give other fellow athletes (doesn’t have to be food related)?
Always target consistency. Sometimes that means backing things off to avoid injury or illness. But always search for the best long term approach to training and recovery.