Professional triathlete Charlotte McShane is preparing for one of the biggest races in endurance sport: the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
Training for an IRONMAN means swimming, cycling and running for hours every week — and eating enough to sustain the intense physical exertion. Charlotte has been vegan since 2015, so we asked her what fuelling a demanding training schedule looks like on a vegan diet, how she gets enough carbohydrate and protein, and what she has learned from more than a decade of eating vegan while competing at the highest level.
Her answer to one of the most common questions about plant-based sports nutrition is refreshingly simple: eating well matters, but so does eating enough.
From vegetarian to vegan
Charlotte grew up vegetarian and had long been interested in becoming vegan for both health and ethical reasons. The thing holding her back was the practical reality of life as a professional athlete, particularly the amount of travelling involved.
“I then discovered that I was lactose intolerant, which was really the nudge I needed to commit to a vegan lifestyle. I haven’t looked back since! And I quickly discovered that being vegan was actually nowhere near as difficult as I had imagined it would be.”
Becoming vegan also made Charlotte more conscious of how different foods supported her training. Rather than experiencing one dramatic change, she says she gradually found a way of eating that works for her and became more confident about what her body needs to fuel and recover from a high training load.
What does a vegan professional triathlete eat?
There isn't really a typical day for Charlotte because what she eats depends on the training she is doing. But on a big training day, food is a significant part of the schedule.
Breakfast might be oats with fruit, soy yoghurt and toppings before a long session. During training she uses sports drinks, gels and other carbohydrate sources. Afterwards, she prioritises both carbohydrate and protein.
Lunch could be rice or pasta with tofu, tempeh or another plant-based protein, with snacks such as fruit, toast, smoothies or yoghurt throughout the day. Dinner is another substantial meal built around carbohydrate and protein.
“When I’m training heavily, I’m definitely not afraid of eating!”
Carbohydrates are your friend
Carbohydrate is a major priority for Charlotte. She includes carbohydrate-rich foods throughout the day to support the amount of training she is doing, while making sure her main meals also contain a source of protein such as tofu, tempeh, legumes, soy products or other plant-based alternatives.
“It’s not just about choosing the ‘right’ foods - you need enough energy to actually support the training you’re doing.”
It's a point that can easily get lost in conversations about healthy eating. For an endurance athlete, the challenge isn't simply choosing nutritious foods. The body also needs enough total energy to train, recover and adapt.
“Carbohydrates are your friend, and you need to make sure you’re eating enough overall rather than being too focused on restricting certain foods.”
Can you really get enough protein and energy on a vegan diet?
Charlotte says one of the most common misconceptions she encounters is that getting enough protein or energy on a vegan diet must be difficult. In her experience, there are plenty of options once you understand what your body needs.
In fact, she says the bigger challenge for endurance athletes can simply be eating enough — regardless of whether they are vegan.
“For me, being vegan hasn’t stopped me from training and competing at a high level. It’s just about being educated and intentional with your nutrition.”
Plant-based eating doesn’t have to be complicated
Charlotte also wishes more people knew that eating plant-based can be much simpler than it first appears.
Her advice isn't to try to create a perfect diet overnight. Instead, add variety, find meals you genuinely enjoy and — particularly if you're training — make sure you're actually eating enough to support what you're asking your body to do.
The hardest meal of the day
For Charlotte, lunch can be the hardest meal to get right. It often falls in the middle of a busy training day, when she has just finished a session and wants something quick, convenient and substantial enough to replace some of the energy she has used.
“I don’t want to spend ages preparing something when I’m hungry and tired after training!”
That's also where Just Add Vegan has fitted naturally into her preparation for Kona. Charlotte first discovered us on social media and says she was drawn to the convenience of being able to put together a good meal without spending a huge amount of time preparing everything from scratch.
Making busy training days easier
Over the past few weeks, as training and racing have intensified, Charlotte has been using a mix of our ready meals and meal kits.
“I’ve been absolutely loving the meal kits and ready meals, and they’ve helped me so much over the past few weeks while I’ve been busy with training and racing.”
Ready meals have been particularly useful for lunch — the meal Charlotte says she finds hardest to organise — because she can have something ready quickly after training without having to think too much about it.
“They make lunch so much easier and ensure I’m still having a nutritious meal — and they taste a lot better than anything I’d cook!”
Her current ready-meal favourites include our Protein-enriched Roasted Pumpkin Soup, Butter chickn with Forever and Classic penne bolognese. Among the meal kits, she has particularly enjoyed Cheeseburger fries, Chickn and sweetcorn pasta bake and Bulgogi — and, judging by the photos she has been sending us, Japchae has made an appearance too.
The Road to Kona
Charlotte now heads to Kona for the final stage of preparation before the IRONMAN World Championship on 10 October.
Her training schedule may be extraordinary, but one part of her experience will sound familiar to plenty of us: eating well becomes much harder when you're busy, hungry and still have to decide what to cook, find a recipe, shop for ingredients and prepare everything.
Whether you're preparing for an IRONMAN, working long hours, looking after a family or simply navigating a busy week, nourishing yourself shouldn't have to be complicated. But for many of us, finding the time to plan, shop and prepare healthy meals is exactly what makes it difficult.
That's why we started Just Add Vegan: to remove some of those barriers and make it easier for more people to enjoy healthy, delicious plant-based food — whatever they're preparing for.
We'll be following Charlotte's Road to Kona over the coming weeks and cheering her on all the way.
Go Charlotte! 💚🌱
A note on nutrition
This article describes Charlotte’s personal experience and approach to fuelling her training. Individual nutrition needs vary, particularly for athletes with high training loads. It is not intended as personalised nutrition or medical advice.