Purple Patch Podcast

As a companion to last week’s Purple patch Podcast episode on training plans for time-starved endurance athletes, today’s episode broadens the perspective by focusing on performance in health, work, and life.  ironman master coach Matt Dixon outlines a list of ten principles you need to put into action to build a platform of health and sustainable high performance. You don’t need to be a pro athlete or even an experienced fitness enthusiast to apply these principles and maximize your results at home, work, or in the gym. Matt walks us through a simple and actionable roadmap that will help you make informed health choices and simplify your approach to training so you can thrive in all areas of life. These core habits are part of a proven approach built around promoting sustainability and long-term success in your performance journey. Train, don’t exercise You don't need to be training for a specific event in order to adopt an athletic mindset and approach. 11:33 Embrace High Intensity Embrace the soul-

Today on the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon takes a fresh look at how to structure training for a time-starved athlete. Whether you’re training for an endurance event, either competitively or simply for personal enjoyment, Matt provides a ground-up framework of how to maximize your training approach to be successful. Matt shares 5 principles to help build your time-starved training plan. Establishing a mindset that can optimize your training impact. Life is not a spreadsheet. Life is a living, breathing, dirty, unpredictable thing that we love. It ebbs and it flows. Your life demands and your stresses amplify, and then they settle for a bit. And therefore your approach, your training plan, needs to be able to flow and synchronize and dance with this stark reality. -14:31 Tools to ensure each week of training can be productive, no matter how time-starved you are. We actually build into the construction of a training program, a little bit of a management tool, that when your energy

Who is the greatest athlete of all time? Take your pick. Once you have a name, ask yourself why? Beyond their physical abilities and talent, what sets them apart from the pack? What makes a great athlete? It’s a question that IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon had the privilege of asking the committed group of young athletes with the BEAR DEVELOPMENT TEAM.  The team is made up of student-athletes, with lofty aspirations of their own, and includes some of the top talent in American Mountain Biking. With answers like Lebron James, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, and Lionel Messi, it was clear that each athlete shared a specific set of characteristics and traits that are at the heart of elite sports performance.  Matt believes any athlete can use these trainable traits to achieve their highest level of performance possible.  With many of the young athletes looking to develop into professional riders and find their own success in sport, Matt had the opportunity to speak to the group and share his perspective on wha

With record rain and snowfall across most of the United States, there seems to be no better time to fix our lens on the strategic application of indoor training in your performance journey. “Indoor training isn't about just replicating your outdoor sessions into a less favorable environment. It's specifically thinking about what is the appropriate training to do while you're in this environment, and also connecting that training to what you are going to be doing outdoors.” (26:54) In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon covers indoor training techniques you can use every winter to help set yourself up for success. Matt highlights 3 case studies of real, time-starved, Purple Patch athletes, all with different skill levels and aspirations, who leveraged their indoor training to build a foundation for their performance. The athletes’ stories provide examples of thinking outside of the box to focus on specific areas of your performance you can build on for the season ahead. 

In today’s episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon takes us back to the core values of Purple Patch Fitness to help provide perspective on framing your performance mindset. The simple fact is, anything worthwhile is inherently difficult. The road to Kona is riddled with adversity. As is spearheading the drive for your team or company’s success. Most of the time, that’s part of the fun. The challenge is the game. The goal always requires commitment, consistency, and hard work, but as time-starved athletes, you are faced with an optimization challenge. Where do you make the time for family, work, and training? How do you fit the performance journey into your already crowded schedule? There are many approaches that pitch the “less is more” mindset or “the easy way to (insert goal here).” But there is no shortcut, quick fix, or expert trick. Some approaches promise to help you find harmony and balance, but they miss the mark of your specific challenges and what you are trying to achie

Data, metrics, technology, and analytics - there are tools and tech that measure everything for an athlete. Wearables and apps track your sleep data, monitor your glucose, detail your sweat composition, and offer an endless list of information. For some people, tracking and assessing every training minute represents a drive toward high performance and specificity. For others, the data is a distraction that can be confusing and even lead to paralysis of performance. Some people go all in and build their performance around the information, while others prefer to ignore it and dismiss it altogether. So, how do you find balance? How do you use the gadgets, tools, and available analytics to amplify your athletic performance? In today’s episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, Matt breaks down performance data into two main ideas looked at through the lens of the time-starved athlete. Matt discusses: How to get the most out of devices that track power and pace during training or a race. By just viewing the simple fa

Whether your goal as an athlete is to win a race or simply cross the finish line, it can often feel as though the only measure of success is race results. Every event is seemingly a pass-or-fail test reducing your performance journey to one athletic performance. But how do you move beyond race day and embrace the entire Journey? How do you effectively gauge your improvement and progress? In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon provides a framework for measuring improvement beyond the validation of a single race performance.  Matt provides a mindset built around key principles that will help you re-engage with your performance journey and provide an opportunity for you to place the focus on areas that will yield long-term success. Episode Timestamps 00:00 - 5:34 - Welcome and Episode Introduction 05:41 - 8:58 - Matt's News-ings 09:06 - 45:22 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 254: A Smart Approach To Measuring Success In Your Performance Journey Lauren Fleshman - Interview

Strength and conditioning are an integral part of every Purple Patch Athlete’s training program. It is just one of our four Pillars of Performance: Endurance, Strength, Nutrition & Fueling, and Recovery. In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast Matt moves beyond how to build a strength program and the general benefits of strength training, and instead focuses on strength training as it pertains to three specific groups of athletes: Endurance Athletes Female Athletes - 35 to 60 years of age navigating perimenopause, and menopause. Mature Athletes - Men and Women over the age of 45. Matt provides research on how to leverage the benefits of strength training to tackle the unique physiological challenges each group faces. An Outline of the Discussion Defining strength and conditioning: A brief overview of strength training and the resources Purple Patch provides. The benefits of strength training for Endurance Athletes: Improving coordination, power, speed, endurance, and muscular resilience. How to

In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, instead of focusing on the training, planning, mindset, and tactics that go into the lead-up to a race or major event, Matt explores the equally critical yet often undervalued process of post-event decompression and assessment. Post-event is a huge part of the fabric of your athletic journey. Win, lose or draw, the experience can be a confusing and destabilizing time filled with distractions and complex emotions, both positive and negative. There is a natural desire to analyze your performance, find answers, process and move on to the next big thing. In today’s discussion, Matt Welcomes Sports Psychologists Sarah Cecil and Danielle Adams Norenberg for an in-depth discussion around Emotional Decompression, a model around navigating the emotions following a major race or event. Danielle and Sarah both have extensive experience working with British Olympic athletes across various sports and set out to create a process for athletes to properly digest the experience and

From the 2023 Purple Patch Training Camp in Kona, Matt delivers a special on-the-road episode exploring the vital role of training and supporting habits in broader life and work performance. Matt sits down with Purple Patch executive athletes attending the Hawaii training camp to discuss the parallels between their individual athletic journeys and their journeys in leadership within their own organizations. They share the personal challenges they face as time-starved athletes and provide insight into how they apply performance habits in training, sleep, recovery, and nutrition to set up a framework of success to thrive as a business executive, parent, partner and athlete. What emerges from the discussions are individual portraits of sustainable high performance and the supporting habits each uses in their athletic and leadership journeys. Guests include: Carmel Galvin - Head of People at Stripe Carmel Galvin is a global human resources leader and CHRO who offers 20+ years of strategic HR leadership, consul

With the wave of the new year's short-term objectives behind us, it’s time to get serious about the year and season ahead. Make no mistake, the focus or goal for most of you is to achieve! Whether that be results, PRs, finish lines, or championships, most people we chat with are eager to take their performance to the next level. To do that, we must first align with the goal and think bigger about the role of fitness and performance in the life of a time-starved athlete. In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon returns to fundamentals and helps frame an intelligent approach for your athletic journey. Matt frames the discussion in three parts: The role of the athletic journey in broader life (11:55) "The sporting journey is something that can be a little bit of a backbone or a framework for us to organize components around...If you do things successfully, and you get your recipe right...it should be a catalyst for you to improve your health profile. And beyond that, you sh

Matt Welcomes former professional runner, running coach, and author Lauren Fleshman to the show to celebrate the release of her autobiographical memoir, Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World. Lauren details her new book which uses her personal experience and the challenges she faced as a collegiate and professional athlete in a male-centric environment, as a catalyst to bring about significant change in women’s athletics. Matt and Lauren discuss women’s sports in a male arena and how to reframe the female experience in a way that is grounded in knowledge of the female body. They cover the taboo of female physiology embedded in the culture of the sport. Lauren dissects the toxic talk that hinders natural performance development, can lead to body dysmorphia, and can encourage disordered eating habits in athletes. Matt and Lauren offer applicable tools for developing a foundation of support for female athletes as coaches, teammates, and loved ones, to help foster positive and healthy growth, improved

As we head into the new year with new goals and pursuits in life and in sport, we take stock of the lessons learned in 2022 to help pave the way for success in the coming year. In this episode of the Purple Patch podcast, we look back so we can move forward. Matt compiles key observations and lessons in performance over the past year to help you shed unproductive habits, prioritize best practices, refocus your mindset and ultimately help you build a platform of success in 2023 off of the foundation you built in 2022. Matt breaks it down to these 7 key lessons of the year: 1. Packing the Calories - A Paradigm Shift (12:41) "On longer endurance events, this has not only become possible, but absolutely performance enhancing." 2. We are Social Beings - There is Strength in Numbers (15:47) "Ultimately, the truth is that we gain value from being connected, from feeling a sense of belonging, for having shared experiences." 3. Excellence is Built on Basic Fundamentals - Lessons from the Norwegian Train (21:43) "

What does success look like to you in the coming year? For many athletes, the answer to that question is often anchored in a single metric: Speed. We all want success, hope to get faster, and want to improve, but without a focused approach, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve and how to achieve it. The dogged pursuit of a faster finish can lead to frustration and even injury, but taking a step back to see the bigger picture can help accelerate your progress and unlock the right training recipe for you. With a new year looming, now is the time to reframe your goals and define success. In today’s episode, Matt outlines how to broaden your perspective in order to reset your barometer of success and identify the right goals for you to hit your biggest performance gains next season. (2:05) "When we think about training for something, it's natural for athletes to just get drawn into faster, faster, faster, qualification, podiums, wins, whatever the metric might be... But what if we broaden our

Tis the season to be jolly, but unfortunately tis also the season of sickness. Be it flu, cold, Covid, or RSV, everywhere you look you can see the signs of illness. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are getting shorter, darker, and colder and all of the elements needed for a winter bug to spread are perfectly aligned. So what can you do this holiday or postseason to avoid getting sidelined with the sniffles? In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, Matt provides a game plan to help you build your resilience and bolster your immune system to avoid sickness or at least minimize the impact if you end up under the weather. Matt offers insight into illness prevention through a coach's lens, using peer-reviewed research, and the expertise of medical and sporting professionals in his orbit. He discusses supporting habits and best practices you can use to build up your defense, considerations in how to approach your training, and other tips and tricks to apply should you start to feel symptoms. The t

It’s that time of the year. It’s the end of the racing season and the holidays are approaching quickly. Now is the time you might be considering upgrading your equipment, whether by adding on to your favorite frame or buying a brand-new bike altogether. The blizzard of information, potential or promised benefits, and the wide range of products on the market can leave you confused or frustrated with a purchase that simply isn’t right for you. Today on the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon welcomes Chris Soden of IOG Bike Fitting to the show. With over 25 years in the cycling industry and an extensive background as a professional bike fitter and industry consultant, Chris shares his in-depth knowledge of custom and high-end bike sales and fittings to help you wade through some of the difficult decisions athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all levels face when considering a bike upgrade. Matt and Chris discuss five key elements and tips if you are contemplating or considering either upgrading

This week on the Purple Patch podcast, we are scaling back a little to give thanks to everyone who helped make the Purple Patch podcast what it is today. We are grateful for all of the support we have received over the past few years as we continue our journey and explore the evolution of the podcast experience. With nearly 250 episodes under our belt, we would like to say thank you to the more than 6 million listeners who have stood by us and inspired us as we have evolved our focus and approach. In this episode, we discuss what the podcast has become and, with the addition of the video podcast, what it has the potential to be with your input. Matt lays out the vision for the podcast's future and ways you can provide feedback on what you hope to gain from the experience. We welcome you to join the community and help us grow our platform as we strive to continue providing education, insight, and perspective to help you improve your performance in sport and life. (19:19) Thank you. Thank you for showing up e

In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master coach Matt Dixon presents the Winter Running Project, a tried and true method for improving next year’s running performance regardless of your running level or overall goal.   The Winter Running Project is a chance for triathletes, fitness enthusiasts, injury-prone athletes, or those frustrated with the results of their running performance to improve their running technique and overall performance without getting depleted or shackling themselves with rigid structure in the postseason. (18:20) "What we're looking for in a project like this, again, is not burning up at the edge of our capacity, but we're looking for simple wins and a mindset of preparation. And so most athletes tend to thrive on a project like this, if they have a target, a goal, but that goal is built more around accountability and consistency, rather than a quantifiable, race-driven executional goal. And so I tend to not have athletes focus on training for an event here. Instead, yo

While every performance journey requires commitment and hard work, the thing that sets enduringly good athletes apart from the rest is the dedication and time they put into establishing great fundamental habits around recovery. Postseason recovery doesn’t just mean it is time to lay on the couch, jump in an ice bath, or strap on recovery boots. Getting recovery right is key to avoiding underperformance or injury and instead achieving a sustainable performance in both sport and life. As the holidays loom and you settle into the postseason, it is important to engage in the preparatory phase of training that is so critical to facilitate future success, yet so many people fail to execute correctly. In this episode of the purple patch podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon revisits the subject of recovery and frames it as a bridge between the end of the race season and improved performance in the coming year. Matt breaks down your recovery toolkit to see what works, what’s important, and what to avoid to ensure

As a follow-up to our podcast on the evolution of the professional triathlon, this episode focuses on the tip of the performance spear with a spotlight on two athletes who have taken the sport to new heights. Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, also known as The Norwegian Train. With stand-out Olympic and Ironman performances in recent years, the two athletes paved the way to a stellar showing at the 2022 Hawaii Ironman World Championships and a record-breaking win for Iden. The pair recently appeared on the Rich Roll podcast to shed light on their approach and offered a glimpse into their training method, which is well known for its grounding in science and technology, spearheaded by their coach, Olav Aleksander Bu. In this episode of the purple patch podcast, Ironman Master Coach, Matt Dixon takes the insights gleaned from the interview with Iden and Blummenfelt and examines what you can learn from the principles, approach, and success of the seemingly unstoppable Norwegian Train. Matt discusses: Context