{"id":635741,"date":"2026-10-19T23:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635741\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T23:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T23:44:26","slug":"the-wellness-routine-of-performance-chef-dan-churchill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/635741\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wellness Routine of Performance Chef Dan Churchill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Playbook, a Q&A series where I ask successful guys about their wellness philosophy. This week I\u2019ve got performance chef Dan Churchill<\/a>, who has worked as an executive chef in NYC, contributed nutritional expertise to Chris Hemsworth\u2019s Centr app<\/a>, authored several cookbooks including Eat Like a Legend,<\/a> run marathons around the world and partnered with non-alcoholic brewery Go Brewing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tanner Garrity: Are you currently chasing a specific fitness goal?<\/p>\n

Dan Churchill: I\u2019m training for a pretty serious Ironman block at the moment. It\u2019s my first-ever full Ironman, and it\u2019ll be in Panama City, Florida, this November. The primary goal is to see if I can go sub-10 hours \u2014 just a very high feat. No matter what, it\u2019s pushing my aerobic capacity in ways that I\u2019ve probably never challenged before. Right now I\u2019m the fittest I\u2019ve ever been.<\/p>\n

What time do you wake up? What does the first hour of your day look like?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m waking up anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., depending on the time zone and also training. I start by making my coffee and drinking a decent amount of water. I then read for 20 minutes with red light with my dog Maverick, who sits up on the couch. I\u2019ll probably also have a banana or an electrolyte-carbohydrate complex from BPN<\/a>, then I\u2019ll head out the door to go for a run or jump on my bike.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your go-to meal when you\u2019re aiming for recovery after a hard training day?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been having the same power bowl<\/a> for a very long time. I adjust the amount of oats for the amount of recovery and energy that\u2019s required to sustain my performance on different days. I also have spaghetti bolognese on a consistent basis, because I\u2019m up to like 5,500 or 6,000 calories a day with the 26 to 28 hours of training I\u2019m doing a week right now. On my least active days, I always make sure to increase my fiber. I\u2019m typically doing that with an array of fruit, Greek yogurt and honey.<\/p>\n

How about trying to impress someone with your chef skills?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d do a lamb shoulder and then maybe a zucchini and fennel upside-down tartine, which is delicious. For dessert probably a banana cake with ricotta and burnt butter. Or just burnt-butter ice cream, which is quite simple to do and absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n

Do you experience the flow state differently when cooking versus competing?<\/p>\n

Cooking relaxes me, I just chill out. I definitely feel like, whenever I caramelize garlic or onions, that initial phase, the aroma from caramelizing those ingredients, I can find my flow state. In running, it\u2019s interesting: I was reading recently about how our brains can relax when the eye movement is going left to right. We do that when we\u2019re running, being outdoors or walking. But I also feel that when I\u2019m cooking, just kind of not looking at screens. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m concentrating, but I\u2019m present. That\u2019s why, when people ask me, \u201cWhen you finish service at the restaurant, you still cook?\u201d Yeah, because it helps me get in the zone.<\/p>\n

Is there a current performance trend you think is overhyped?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s overhyped, but obviously there\u2019s a lot of chat right now around peptides and things like that. I\u2019m still a big believer in whole foods first, and I think a lot of us are turning to quick fixes. There are definitely people who\u2019ve gone through every channel, every opportunity, they\u2019ve tried everything \u2026 [but] I just think that the nature of peptides is probably creating a lot of hype. I want people to still try and go through the necessary channels early, like eating right.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve had a shitty week. What are some comfort activities that always reset you?<\/p>\n

Drinking coffee, reading, sitting on the couch with my wife, going for a walk with my dog Maverick, watching the NFL.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Tanner<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTanner Garrity<\/p>\n

Tanner Garrity is a senior editor at InsideHook, where he\u2019s covered wellness, travel, sports and pop culture since 2017. Beyond the newsroom, he can usually be found running, skating, reading, writing fiction or playing tennis. He lives in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

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