Eat Well Perform Better

Eat Well Perform Better Sports nutritionist for endurance athletes, runners, cyclists and triathletes. https://hopp.bio/eatwellperformbetter

Whether you're a marathon runner or a seasoned triathlete, get in touch to fuel your next PB!

My feed is full of photos of the Alps this week, which can only mean one thing - it's UTMB week.I ran the OCC in 2018. I...
24/08/2026

My feed is full of photos of the Alps this week, which can only mean one thing - it's UTMB week.

I ran the OCC in 2018. I'd done a few mountain races in Hong Kong, but this was a completely different undertaking. I swapped high humidity for technical trails, proper altitude and mountains that make you feel very small indeed.

My build-up was far from smooth, and I counted myself lucky to get to the start line. There were no time goals - I just wanted to complete the race and enjoy it. Which I did - largely thanks to some very well-timed impromptu picnics with my supporters along the way.

It was the first time I'd really focused on my own nutrition. Altitude can make you feel less hungry when you're burning lots of calories. The technical terrain often means long stretches where you're so focused on staying upright that you simply don't eat enough while moving. The impromptu picnics weren't just good for my morale, they were a great way to get in more calories and break up the race into manageable sections. Although that climb up to La Flégère was still really tough!

I came home with the full UTMB on my bucket list. But I want to savour these mountains so I'll be back - but hiking the route rather than racing it.

For everyone racing this week - good luck. I hope that the weather is kind.

If you've fast-packed or hiked the UTMB route, I'd love to hear about it and get your recommendations.

18/08/2026

Are you running a marathon this autumn?

You've probably already spent months thinking about your training and your long runs. But what about your nutrition?

My next online Marathon Nutrition Course starts on 2 September. Across two online sessions we'll look at:
• how to fuel day-to-day marathon training
• carbohydrate needs for long runs and key sessions
• race-week nutrition and carb loading
• fuelling on race day itself
• how to deal with illness and injury

It’s practical, evidence-based and designed to fit around busy training schedules.

The aim isn't to give you another complicated set of rules. It's to help you understand what you need to practice in training so you can feel confident about your race.

Sessions are online so you can join from anywhere. They're also recorded so you can revisit them afterwards.

The next course starts on 2 September - and early bird pricing ends today.

If you're running a marathon this autumn and want to take the guesswork out of your nutrition, join us. Link in bio. And if you're not sure this is right for you - drop me a DM.

Endurance training takes a lot of energy. More than most people realise — and more than a lot of athletes are willing to...
04/08/2026

Endurance training takes a lot of energy. More than most people realise — and more than a lot of athletes are willing to give themselves.

One of the things I see most often when I work with runners and triathletes is under-fuelling during hard training blocks, usually because of a fear of weight gain. But if you don't eat enough to support your training, two things happen: you don't get the full benefit of the sessions you're doing, and you increase the risk of not making it to the start line at all. Illness, fatigue, injury — they're all more likely when your body is running short.

One of the most practical ways to get more calories in during a heavy training week is to add snacks around your main meals rather than trying to eat bigger portions. I have a sweet tooth and I'm a firm believer in a cuppa and a slice of cake as a legitimate training strategy.

This is one of my favourites — the recipe is for pear and blackberry, but I use whatever fruit is available. This one is made with blackberries picked from the garden. Top tip: the best ones are always the ones furthest away from you and lurking in the shade.

Recipe from Olive Magazine. DM me if you want the link.

I'm always on the lookout for new recipes so if you have a favourite that works well around training, send it my way.

28/07/2026

I've been doing a lot of trail running this year. Mostly loving it.

But on a recent run I started thinking that I don't actually love all trails equally.

My favourites are wide forest tracks with a bit of up and down, or grassy motorways like the one behind me. What they have in common is they are open, readable and forgiving underfoot. They suit the road running base I've built over years of running in London. And they make me feel like I'm actually running rather than protecting my ankles and making slow progress.

What I struggle with is a stony single track. Especially when it's overgrown and you can't see where your feet are landing. I've lost toenails on those trails. Fallen spectacularly and burst a soft flask on that kind of trail. And I am slower and more cautious on that terrain than I would like to be.

I don't think I'm alone in this.

Trail running isn't one thing. It's a whole spectrum — and part of enjoying the trails is finding the terrain that suits you, and building the skills and confidence to handle the bits that don't.

Which is exactly what the Road to Trail workshop in September is about. I'm running it with coach Mary Brooking at Beckenham Place Park — a proper trail in South London — and it's designed for road runners who are curious about trails but not sure where to start, or who've tried trails and had a few of those "burst soft flask" moments and want to feel more confident.

Details and booking link in bio. Come find your trail.

I recently provided some support to a few of Into Ultra's athletes. It reminded me how different everyone's experience i...
27/07/2026

I recently provided some support to a few of Into Ultra's athletes. It reminded me how different everyone's experience is with food and running and I really enjoyed playing a very small part in their ultra running journeys.

One runner was building towards their first ultra. They'd read everything, listened to everyone, and arrived completely overwhelmed — not sure what actually mattered anymore. We stripped it back to the basics that would actually make a difference on race day and she left with a clear framework to build her race plan.

Another athlete building towards an 80-mile race trying to figure out how much she needed to eat to support that training load and find practical ways to achieve that around a full life — work, family, everything else. Getting the calories in when you're already tired is a skill in itself.

And lastly, a runner trying hard to keep on top of fuelling but plagued by a sensitive stomach that interfered with training. It's one of the most common challenges I see, and one that's very solvable with the right approach and enough time to practise.

Same sport. Different people. Different challenges. Which is exactly why a nutrition plan has to be built around you — not borrowed from someone else's race report or cobbled together from six different Instagram accounts, even if one of those is mine!

If you're heading towards an ultra and feeling like you have too much information and not enough clarity that's very common and exactly why I'm here.

This message landed in my inbox after London Marathon and I've been smiling about it ever since.Amber and I worked toget...
23/07/2026

This message landed in my inbox after London Marathon and I've been smiling about it ever since.

Amber and I worked together 1:1 for seven months in the build-up to her first London Marathon. The goal wasn't a time — it was to pivot away from a focus on weight loss and towards fuelling her training properly, so she could get to the finish line in one piece and actually enjoy the day.

It wasn't straightforward. Amber really struggled with her stomach, and it took a huge leap of faith for her to follow my advice to fuel during her long runs.

At times it was emotional. But working as a team — Amber, her coach Mary Brooking and me — we tackled the issues as they came up and kept going.

Amber committed to the carb load. She set a 15-minute alarm and ate a chew every single time it went off, the whole way round. She didn't miss one.

It was hot. She slowed her pace deliberately. She drank at every opportunity. And she ran mile 18, 20, 22 still smiling — while people around her were hitting the wall and dropping out. And she finished in 6:48:55 with a big smile.

She told me there was "No wall and no zombie walk!" That's what I want to hear.

I'm very impressed with her dedication, her trust in the process, and her willingness to keep going when it was hard. And she's just told me she's got a place at the Landmarks Half Marathon — she's well and truly got the running bug.

If you are running a marathon this autumn or just got a place for London Marathon 2027 — it's never too early to get your nutrition right.

Marathon Ready runs across two evenings in September — built for exactly this. Early bird pricing and details at the link in bio.

One of the biggest mistakes I see marathon runners make is thinking that nutrition starts with carb loading.It doesn't.I...
21/07/2026

One of the biggest mistakes I see marathon runners make is thinking that nutrition starts with carb loading.

It doesn't.

It starts weeks earlier — with practising gels on long runs, working out what your stomach can tolerate at race pace, figuring out your race morning breakfast, building a hydration strategy, training your gut to absorb carbohydrates consistently. None of that can be done in race week. All of it takes time.

If your race is only a few weeks away, you don't need to panic. But you do need a plan.

The runners who arrive at the start line feeling strongest haven't just nailed race week. They've spent months working out what actually suits them — and they've practised it enough that on race day it's automatic, not experimental.

So when should you start? If your autumn marathon is in September or October — Berlin, Chicago, Yorkshire, Amsterdam, Dublin, Manchester — the answer is now. If you're running New York in November, August. Valencia or Malaga in December, September. And if you're already eyeing London 2027, it's never too early to start.

If you'd like help putting all of this together, my Autumn Marathon Nutrition Course opens in September and takes you through it step by step — long-run fuelling, gut training, race week, race day, all of it. Details and early bird pricing at the link in bio.

And if your race is too close for the course to help, DM me and we'll talk about 1:1 support instead.

The past month has been pretty full on.SDW 50km. A recce of a large chunk of the Robin Hood 100 route in the hottest hea...
19/07/2026

The past month has been pretty full on.

SDW 50km. A recce of a large chunk of the Robin Hood 100 route in the hottest heatwave of the summer so far. Race to the Stones Weekender — 50km Saturday, 50km Sunday.

So this week has been all about recovery. Mentally as much as physically.

Feet up in the hammock, reading — I'm halfway through The Correspondent and loving it. Eating well and eating a lot. And getting my culture fix at the Anish Kapoor exhibition, which was amazing.

And yesterday I went to the Diamond League athletics in London — where Josh Kerr ran a world record mile in front of a crowd that was on its feet from the first lap. The whole stadium willing him to succeed.

Now I'm ready for the final training block ahead of the Robin Hood 100 in September and I'll be tweaking my nutrition plan for a final round of testing. It's going to be all about caffeine this month to help with the overnight push

What does your post-race recovery look like? 👇

Race to the Stones Weekender done. 50km Saturday, 50km Sunday. Saturday was really hard. The early shaded forest trails ...
13/07/2026

Race to the Stones Weekender done. 50km Saturday, 50km Sunday.

Saturday was really hard. The early shaded forest trails quickly turned into exposed hard-packed chalk. It was hot and there was no respite from the heat, which came at you from all angles. When I crossed the finish line I headed straight for an iced latte and the nearest patch of shade.

Recovery food came shortly afterwards: a jacket potato with cheese and beans, then pizza and chips (double carbs), followed by a falafel wrap and a chocolate muffin. I also broke my own golden rule — nothing new on race day. A kid on the route had a whole box of ice pops and was handing them out to passing runners. I took one. It was no Calippo, but it was possibly the best nutritional decision of the entire weekend.

The basecamp vibe was really relaxed — people who'd just finished their day mingled with people nervously waiting to start their first ever ultra on Sunday morning.

On Sunday I crawled out of my tent looking nothing like a runner. My ankles were not happy — 50km on chalk and flint is unforgiving — despite an excellent massage from the Macmillan team Macmillan Cancer Support the night before (brilliant idea: massage in exchange for a donation). The opening downhill warmed everything up. And an easterly breeze came in and we had some great early miles.

I ran a long stretch of day 2 with someone in a pink t-shirt whose name I never caught. We pushed each other to the finish. If you're reading this — thank you. But the best decision on day 2 was having a coke at the last pitstop. I'm not sure it was even mine: a volunteer caught me staring at the bottle and just poured it for me. It was exactly what I needed.

Very happy with the result: 6th overall. 4th woman. 1st V50. And yes — I beat the third man.

Now it's time for some recovery before the next block in my 100-miler training.

Threshold Trail Series put on an amazing race.

What's the best thing a supporter has ever handed you mid-race?

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