Building fitness in the long term is quite a simple equation. You workout, and then you recover. If you get the balance of these two right, you should see a steady upward progress over time. Most folks I know and work with are pretty good at the training part, but maybe they could do better on the recovery side. I don’t know about you, but over the years I’ve come to appreciate the recovery part a lot more!   Fortunately, my guest today is an expert in recovery. Dr Natalie Brown (who you may remember from her podcast with me on menopause a few months ago) has done an awful lot of research on this topic. Throughout Natalie’s career working in elite sport, recovery has been a primary focus to optimise performance. Since completing her PhD, Natalie has continued to implement recovery strategies in practice, alongside lecturing at Swansea University on this topic. Natalie’s approach to recovery is underpinned by understanding what you are recovering from and ensuring fundamentals of sleep, nutrition and stress reduction are in place when approaching recovery in sport. How long does it take to recover from an Ironman? It depends! (1:55) If you truly believe a recovery process works then it probably does for you (27.35) You don't need wearables to monitor your recovery (35:14) Why you might feel like you are getting a cold when tapering for an event (39:32) How to make sure you don't get ill after a big event (46:39) There's no evidence that recovery is slower in older athletes (58:00) Menopause DOES impact the ability to recover (1:01:50) The 3 TOP ways to recover, and they are all FREE (1:05:58)   To find out more about Natalie Brown and her work please visit these channels: Instagram Optimal.Period  Website www.optimalperiod.com,    You can find some other great resources using the following links: Podcasts The Female Athlete,  For continued education please check out Menstrual cycle online coaching modules: UK Coaching resources   I also asked Natalie to recommend a book. This is her choice: Good for a Girl Lauren Fleshman   **To get a free copy of my personal daily mobility routine, please click HERE** To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please visit her website at BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk. Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via [email protected].   Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here. Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life. If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you! Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email [email protected].