Working Mommy Journal

The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition empowers young athletes to take control of their training by teaching them one of the areas not focused on enough – nutrition.

About The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition

Author, lifelong runner, and certified running and nutrition coach Michele Pettinger grew up running under the tutelage of her father, the high school cross country and track coach. With The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition, she plans to carry on the legacy of reaching youth runners and the communities that support them through nutrition education and practical, easy-to-implement protocols.

With this practical guide, young runners will learn the fundamentals of sports nutrition, explaining why they need specific nutrients and what foods contain them. These young athletes will also discover more about:

• Navigating adolescence and the unique nutritional needs of the young runner, like macronutrients, micronutrients, and hydration
• Nutritional challenges and health risks such as the female and male athlete triads, disordered eating, RED-S, and other areas of concern
• Strategic fueling and optimizing performance and recovery through nutrition planning and nutrient timing
• Empowering change by integrating nutrition education into running programs, including how to foster positive body image and daily practical tools for upholding nutrition protocols

Change in sports nutrition for young runners needs to start with the entire community that supports them — their coaches, trainers, and families. That’s why The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition also includes resources for coaches on how to integrate nutrition education into their training programs and content for parents on how to foster good nutrition at home that will support the needs of their young runner through meal planning, cooking, and conversation.

Our Thoughts

We all know how important nutrition is, not only in our everyday lives but especially as athletes and for those who of us who are actively strength training for health and conditioning. It is hard not to avoid the plenty of recommendations that bombard us both as parents, and as athletes every day on social media. While we know and acknowledge the importance of nutrition, this is also an area that is often overlooked and where athletes and their parents are not adequately equipped with the knowledge to support their athlete.

Both of my boys have played competitive soccer, our youngest is now playing high performance soccer for an MLS academy. His training schedule sees him on the pitch five days a week for training plus a sixth for games. He loves this – it has been his dream since watching his older brother on the pitch. This also requires a lot of travel daily and it feels like we are on the run a lot. The academy does an incredible job taking care of their physical and mental well being while stressing the importance of nutrition at home. As a parent, even with my background in Kinesiology, I feel unprepared and a bit scared on what to provide, when to provide it and portion sizes. Not to mention how do I add variety (who wants to eat the same thing every day?) and can we have it on the go.

I really appreciated Michele’s approach to this book, I read the book twice before sharing with my son. While I do feel that athletes need to have the discipline and ownership of their health and sport, nutrition is one area that both parent and athlete need the education and skill set to prepare for training and competition (it is a whole family approach). The approach and knowledge shared while geared to running, can be applied to athletes in all sports.

Michele’s approach in this book is as follows:

• understanding the adolescence body as it undergoes changes
• how can we optimize what we eat for both performance and recovery
• how can we strategically eat and hydrate (the when and how) to perform optimally
• how to navigate typical nutrition challenges that all adolescences will encounter but the specific impact that they have on athletes
• the family support unit on nutrition and athletes
• recipes to help you put it all together

The sections are covered in a straightforward, easy to read manner. They are specific and to the point, which in this age group is important. Each section was easy to understand and relatable to athletes (both female and male). Michele also provides examples in each section to help athletes and their families apply the knowledge. Many of the sections were relatable to both our athlete and our family.

One of the biggest struggles we have had is that early morning meal/snack or pre-match snack, and when I came to this section I felt grateful that we weren’t alone. Even the concerns that were listed (I feel sick, I am not hungry, I will have to use the bathroom, etc..) matched the concerns that are brought up in our own home. It felt so good to know we aren’t alone, our child isn’t alone but then have specific actions and resources to go to in order to address these concerns (versus Mom and Dad just saying you will not have the energy to play if you don’t eat!).

Athletes are bombarded with nutrition every day (here is the food guide, you need to eat right to fuel your body, eat more protein to gain mass, you need to eat this to succeed, etc.). It is overwhelming as a parent, so how can we expect young athletes to not only take this information in but apply it is as well without the proper resources. The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition equips athletes and their families not only with the education but the resources to incorporate a strategic, nutritional approach to optimize performance in training and competition. This is a must have for all young athletes!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Michele Pettinger started running at a young age in the Midwest under the tutelage of her father, the high school cross country and track coach. She has a passion for carrying on the legacy of reaching young runners and helping them build a solid nutritional foundation that will empower them now and long into their future running careers. She holds a master’s degree in communication studies and had a career as a technical writer before she fell in love with trail running while living in the Pacific Northwest, where she founded P3Running, a collective of coaches specializing in custom run and nutrition coaching. Michele is an RRCA Level II Certified Running Coach, Certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, and Certified Functional Nutrition counselor. She is most at home on the trails, training for ultramarathon distances. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA, with her husband, Joe. They have a grown daughter, Anika. Find Michele online at p3running.com, and follow her on Instagram (@p3runningcoach and @mjpettinger) and Facebook (P3Running).

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.