Longer days. Warmer weather. Finally, a dry track. For the Brooks Beasts Track Club, all signs point to spring training. These professional runners are kicking their workouts into high gear for the upcoming season—and making sure their nutrition keeps up.
Wherever you are in your running life, you can learn something from the Brooks Beasts. The team includes Olympic medalists, national champions, and world record setters in distances from 800 meters to 5,000 meters. These 15 athletes from around the world train in Seattle under coach Danny Mackey and a full support staff, including two assistant coaches, a physiotherapist, and nutritionist Kyle Pfaffenbach, PhD.
Pfaffenbach, a health and human performance professor at Eastern Oregon University, tailors individualized nutrition programs to each athlete to build the strongest possible base for performance. “Nutrition is a key pillar to performance, along with training, sleep, and mental health, for our athletes. The complete athlete will have a strong, evidence-based approach in each of these areas. However, it is not a one-size-fits-all proposition….
