OARSOME VISION
Olympic rower Brooke Donoghue spills the beans to Rebecca Wadey on her diet, training regime and favourite stress-busters.
Olympic rowing silver medallist, new mother and author Brooke Donoghue is an elite athlete, whose recent book, Sustain: Plant-based Food For Active People (written with fellow athlete and silver medallist Luuka Jones and nutritionist Christel Dunshea-Mooij), aims to educate and inspire people wanting to eat more plantbased foods.
‘‘We’re not looking to convert anyone to be plantbased,’’ Donoghue says.
‘‘We’re just trying to show people yummy recipes you can whip up without feeling like you’re missing out not eating meat.’’
The decision to go fully plant-based can’t have been an easy one for a professional athlete, who has a whole team of people invested in her performance.
‘‘That definitely played on my mind,’’ she says.
‘‘I got to the point though where it was more important to follow my values. It just put pressure on me to do it well.’’
Donoghue says it is no different to any other performance preparation.
‘‘If anything, it made me more conscious of what I was eating. I was more aware and more informed of what I needed to be eating and doing.’’
She has applied many of the learnings to the book, with information around vitamin intakes and recommendations, alongside the plant-based recipes. She hopes the book can be used as somewhat of a ‘‘sporting bible’’ resource for athletes.
‘‘Hopefully people pick it up, learn a lot and improve their performances from it.’’
As an elite athlete competing at the top level, Donoghue has unique insight into her health and mental health, making her a great subject to tap into on the subject of wellbeing.
What do you do for a living?
For the past 10 years I have been a member of the Rowing New Zealand team. But since the Tokyo Olympics it has been a little different. I worked at Rabobank in the sustainability team and am now on maternity leave.
What hours do you work each day?
Rowing is intensive, we do 3-4 hours of training each day, usually over 2-3 sessions, six days a week, plus time spent in meetings with nutritionists, sports physiologists, sport psychologists, physios, coaches etc, and then recovery time to rest and eat.
Working for the bank I would do seven hours of work a day, plus training morning and afternoon.
Do you have set work/life boundaries or do they merge?
Rowing has never felt like work. Over the past year I have juggled transitioning from being an elite athlete with a very strict routine, to filling up my cup with all the things I was unable to give my full attention to while rowing.
These include working full time in an office job, training, pregnancy, writing Sustain, renovating a house and finishing my master’s degree. It is a tricky balancing act.
For me, exercise makes me feel good, so I am always going to prioritise that in my day. From there, it is about doing things that make me happy and are important. Things that are less important have to go to the back.
What time do you wake up?
Usually sometime around 6am, or 7.30am if I get a sleep in.
What do you have for breakfast?
My go-to is two pieces of toast with butter and peanut butter.
Do you have an exercise routine and, if so, what is it?
Being an elite athlete meant exercise was my life. Doing the amount of training we did meant I often felt more exhausted than fit. But I enjoyed seeing the rewards from this discipline when racing internationally.
The past year I have found that it is really important to exercise every day, no matter what it looks like.
I will often go for a run in the morning, or go to the gym and sit on the stationary bike or do weights. I always feel better doing something rather than nothing. I find exercise clears my head.
Do you use supplements?
I believe it is possible to get all you need from food. However, as a plant-based athlete I am conscious not to let my iron get too low.
We [the training team] put more effort into doing blood tests and food diaries to make sure that we are filling all those gaps and not leaving any stone unturned.
I supplement with iron tablets when I need to.
In Sustain, we break down which are the vitamins and minerals we need daily and the food sources to get these from.
What time do you go to bed at night? Do you sleep soundly?
I am usually in bed and asleep by 10pm. Currently, I am not sleeping soundly as I have a newborn.
What do you do in the final hour before bed?
Blob on the couch. It is probably the only time of the day I allow myself to not be productive.
I am pretty bad at mindlessly scrolling Instagram, which I know isn’t the best thing to do, but it definitely makes me switch off.
How do you deal with the stress of failure?
If I feel stressed or upset about ‘‘failing’’, it shows how much that thing must mean to me. I try to use this as fuel to make me better going forward, which is definitely easier said than done.
In rowing, the big times where I have felt that huge sense of failure, and like I have let other people and myself down, those were the times I feel like it makes you better.
You are so motivated after feeling those emotions.
What do you do for fun?
I love being outdoors, and enjoy hikes, surfing or diving with my husband, Jeff.
Favourite free stress-buster?
Cleaning the house. Jeff might also say that this is what I do for fun.
What has been the biggest change you have made when it comes to looking after your health, mental health and wellbeing?
Four years ago I made the decision to go plantbased. I have never really enjoyed the taste of meat (I had been vegetarian since high school), and through my master’s studies in sustainability I wanted to do more for the planet, which led me to giving up meat.
I put more focus on what I was eating and how much I was eating, which helped improve my sporting performance and general health.
Learning more about sustainability, I also became more conscious of what I was consuming, and made an effort to reduce my waste and think about what I was buying and consuming. I believe living with less, and being conscious of the people around us and planet is a way to improve wellbeing. I feel less stressed having less ‘‘stuff’’ around me, which makes me more intentional about what I do own and eat.
Sustain: Plant-based Food For Active People by Brooke Donoghue, Luuka Jones and Christel Dunshea-Mooij, published by Bateman Books, is available now, $45.