Kate Percy believes if you change your diet you could seriously improve your running time

Hands up anyone who has got home from a run feeling famished and proceeded to scoff everything in sight?

A few biscuits here, a lump of cheese there and cheeky round of toast won’t do any harm.

Surely burning all those calories pounding the pavement is the perfect excuse for overindulging, right?

Wrong. According to Kate Percy, if exercisers took more care with how they refuel their bodies they could shave some serious time off their personal bests.

Kate, 50, creates recipes for athletes and amateur exercisers that fuel bodies but also taste great.

It is not about calorie counting, the recipes are just full of wholesome ingredients.

With a book deal and a host of big names following her advice, including Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling and Kasabian guitarist Chris Edwards, Kate has been making her mark on the fitness scene.

Kate says: “Cooking and eating is one of life’s great joys and it is something that should be enjoyed.

“My recipes show that you can have tasty meals for the whole family while still fuelling them with the food they need for an active life, whether you’re an athlete or exercise in your spare time.”

Kate will be at Waitrose, in Southend, tomorrow to cook some recipes with Southend United Football Team. Visitors can meet the team and buy a signed copy of her book and a free apron on the day.

She is also looking to run workshops this summer at Colchester Royal Grammar school and Billericay School, although dates have not been finalised.

The idea to change her family’s diet began in 2000 as a result of her not being able to stand her husband Mark’s moaning about his marathon training.

She says: “My husband was having a midlife crisis and training for the New York Marathon in 2000.

“He was getting very tired and moaning all of the time about it.

I got fed up and decided to do something about.”

Kate saw a book on glycaemic index foods in the library and decided to test it out. It explained how different foods release energy at different rates.

“The kids were on board and my husband was willing to try anything. It worked like magic.

His training went much better,” explains Kate.

Kate, who has a background in marketing, got an agent and her idea for a book got snapped up by Random House.

She wrote Go Faster Food in 2009 followed by Go Faster Food for Kids in 2013 to encourage kids to eat healthy to energise their love of sport.

She says: “If you try to talk to people about healthy eating they just go ‘urgh’ but when you add in a famous sports star, such as sprinter Usain Bolt, it becomes more tangible and exciting.

“This is especially true with children who really connect with sports men and women as role models. If you educate them when they are young they get into cooking, and maybe also educate the parents too.”

There are four flagship Waitrose stores in the country including Southend, Cheltenham, Northampton and Shrewsbury.

Kate worked with Sue Baic, a well-known dietician, to come up with the recipes.

Explaing how she met Kasabian guitarist, she says: “Chris was cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats with a friend and they stopped off at our Go Faster base in Bristol for dinner. They were flagging at that point and we made them black bean chilli with rice and a chocolate pudding.

“They loved it and our physiotherapist helped Chris with a back problem and we reset his bike. The next day they posted on their blog that it was their ‘best day ever’ so I like to think we gave them a boost.”

The change in diet also encouraged Kate to get into exercising.

She says: “I used to go to the gym occasionally but never trained for anything like a marathon. I did the odd 5k jog around the park and that was it.

“I started running more seriously when I was 40 after we changed the way we ate. I have done six marathons so far, two in London and Amsterdam, Berlin and Stockholm.”

Kate made some simple changes to her cooking to make them perfect for hungry exercisers.

She says: “The biggest change was swapping to wholegrain and slow release carbs. I still cook in order to make delicious food. It’s about keeping the joy in the food.”

Kate has also got feeding kids healthy food without them knowing it down to a fine art.

She says: “For the kids it is half about hiding the veg and making it taste good.

“I have a great meatballs recipe with hidden carrot in them. Honestly, kids never know.”

Kate will be at Waitrose in Southend, Fossetts Way tomorrow from 2pm to 3pm.

Visit www.gofasterfood.com for more information.

PHIL BROWN, pictured, manager of Southend United, is a firm believer in the importance of kids learning about good nutrition.

He says: “Nutrition is key for us as a professional sports team and Waitrose do a great job in improving the nutritional value in food. I think children and more importantly parents realise that eating well and eating the correct things go a long way in helping them live happy and healthy lives for a long time. If they start off as they mean to go on in terms of eating the right things, then it will be hugely beneficial iin the long term.”

For the kids it is about hiding the veg and making it taste good OATY APPLE POWER PANCAKES WITH SPICED APPLE SYRUP KATE says: “Many packaged cereals are laden with added sugar.

“These tasty pancakes will keep you going for longer. They are also brimming with vitamins and important minerals to keep the immune system healthy.”

Ingredients (Serves 4) 400ml semi-skimmed milk 1 tbsp sunflower oil or melted butter 2 tbsp caster sugar 2 large, free range eggs 120 g porridge oats 200g plain flour Pinch salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 2 tsp baking powder 1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced For the syrup: 40 g butter 1 tbsp Demerara sugar ½ tsp cinnamon 2 large apples, peeled, cored and diced Methods Put the milk, eggs, oil and sugar into a bowl and mix together.

Add the porridge oats, flour, baking powder, ground ginger, salt and one diced apple and mix until you have a thick, smooth batter.

Make the syrup – melt the butter, spice and Demerara sugar together in a small saucepan and then add the two remaining diced apples. Saute gently for a couple of minutes until the apples are soft but still have their shape.

Heat a frying pan. Add a knob of butter and then spoon in a few mounds of pancake mixture.

Heat gently until you see a few air bubbles forming on the surface and then flip over to cook the other side for a minute or two, until cooked through.

Serve the pancakes (about three per person) with the spiced apple syrup poured over the top!

Nutrition per pancake Energy: 159 kcal Protein: 4g Carbohydrate: 25g Fat: 5g (Of which sugars 7g of which saturates 3g) Salt: 0.6g Fibre: 2g