In his feature last month, top triathlon coach Matt Dixon from purplepatch introduced his four pillars approach to training, emphasising the importance of giving each equal time to achieve a balanced training programme. These four pillars - training, nutrition, functional strength and recovery all need to be working in unison to achieve best results. He outlined the importance for all athletes, regardless of level and experience, to maintain a state of good health and vibrancy in order to improve. This month, Dixon looks deeper into the recovery pillar of his theory.  

Finding your own optimal performance is a journey that will have many twists and turns. It's not always as straightforward as you may hope but committing to a training approach that puts health first will always lay the runway to success. Stemming from this fundamental belief, purplepatch considers the four pillars of performance to carry equal emotional and philosophical value when creating a training programme. These pillars include your main sport (in this case swimming, biking and running), recovery, nutrition and functional strength. The reason for outlining the four elements of training as pillars is to cement into the minds of our athletes the absolute importance of each area. Many athletes have a tendency to place hard training as the priority and then think about recovery, nutrition and functional strength if time allows. I see many athletes under-perform because of their over-training.

This month I am going to focus on the recovery pillar. Reaping the rewards of recovery starts with understanding how it benefits you (comprehension), choosing to embrace it (value it and commit to it), and integrating it into your training (integrate it).

Benefits of Recovery
As you read this there is a good chance you are nodding your head agreeing that proper recovery is paramount to performance gains. Most knowledgeable athletes understand this but you might also be thinking about your busy schedule, how much training you have to get done and how there simply isn't time to recover properly. It is the consequence of the sport and our busy lives. This is the...