For Iceland international Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, running has always been one of the strengths of her game. A high-work-rate midfielder, she covers distance, sprints, jumps and keeps going. After adding Unbroken to her routine, she says it has helped her recover, maintain her energy and keep doing what she does best: run.
Built to keep running
Dagný describes one of her greatest strengths as a footballer simply: she runs a lot.
Her overall distance is consistently high, but so is her high-speed running. The repeated bursts of sprinting and movement place significant demands on the body.
“I can just run a bit further now.”
Dagný says Unbroken has become part of supporting that workload, both in how she recovers and how she feels during games.
“I think it has helped me a lot as a football player, both with recovery and also just to have more energy in games and last longer while I’m sprinting and running and jumping.”
Back on the pitch
One of the periods when Dagný became particularly conscious of her recovery was after spending five months away from football with a foot injury.
When she was finally able to return to training, there wasn't much time to ease herself back into competition. After around two weeks of training, she was back playing for West Ham.
Then came three games in just 10 days.
Despite having been out for five months, Dagný recalls being among the players covering the most distance in her first game back. She went on to play 90 minutes in all three games and felt she recovered quickly between them.
“I was able to play 90 minutes in all of them and recover quite fast in between all of them, and run a lot.”
From breakfast to halftime
Unbroken isn't something Dagný saves for after training. It has become part of her routine throughout the day.
On a typical training day, she takes it with breakfast, during training, on her way home and again with dinner.
On match days, she starts with Unbroken at breakfast and prepares bottles for around the game. She drinks it during the warm-up and around halftime, followed by another after the match and one later in the evening.
“I can basically drink it whenever I want.”
One thing Dagný particularly values is that Unbroken contains no caffeine, meaning she can include it in her evening routine too.
“I can drink it, for example, after a game before I go to bed because there’s no caffeine in it.”
And because Dagný says she normally drinks little other than water, adding Unbroken has had another simple benefit. She finds herself drinking more water throughout the day.
The Icelandic connection
There is also something about Unbroken that feels familiar to Dagný.
Coming from Iceland, where fish is an important part of the culture and diet, she likes the fact that Unbroken is made from salmon protein.
But perhaps the most memorable description of Unbroken comes from someone else entirely: her son.
Dagný doesn't drink coffee, and because he knows her Unbroken comes from fish, he developed his own name for the drink he sees his mother carrying around.
“Mommies don’t drink coffee. They drink fish water.”
It's a wonderfully simple description of something that has become part of Dagný's everyday life.
For Dagný, Unbroken is now a fixture of training days, match days and recovery, helping her stay ready for the next session and the next game.
90 minutes played. Recovery starts. Then it’s time to go again.
