Purple Patch Podcast

We are six months into the year and hopefully in a better position than when we started. Now is the time to look up, find that buoy of progress, take a breath, and realign ourselves before moving forward. This week on the Purple Patch podcast, we REWIND and revisit an important episode about assessing your performance so far and redefining your goals as we enter the second half of the year. At the beginning of the year, we took time to reflect, plan for the future and set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Now, we have reached the halfway point of the year. Most of you hit the ground running with ambitions and lofty goals, but how did they pan out? Are you nailing your goals? Are you thriving in your performance journey? Is it fulfilling? Where can you improve or shift your approach? It is essential to come up for air midway through the season and execute some big-picture thinking about the work you have been putting in, the purpose of it, and where you want it to take you. On this week’s episode of The Purp

  Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast. Last week's episode focused on opening the door of opportunity for those who may have never thought it possible to finish a marathon, let alone be successful at one. We discussed strategies to motivate you towards taking on a challenge and strategies to help you thrive. This week, we focus on those of you who have completed a marathon or even several. In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon shares actionable steps and strategies to help you improve your performance and take your marathon to the next level. Matt dissects marathon training and the unique challenges of marathon running to better understand what you face. He discusses common flaws in many marathon training plans to help runners avoid injury and progress. Matt highlights strategies you can leverage for a smarter training approach. From the benefits of clustered and split runs to practicing good posture with subtle inclines, Matt shares tips that can help enhance your speed

Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. This week, we aim to inspire, instill hope, and create opportunities. Many people watch others doing amazing things and think, "That's not for me. I couldn't do that." But the truth is, you can do it if you apply a smart and patient approach that builds incrementally over time. Before you know it, you can look back and marvel at what you have accomplished, regardless of the challenge or goal, whether in sport or life. In this week's episode, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon focuses on marathon and half marathon races. Half marathons are a great starting point for many people and can serve as a bridge to longer distances. Whether you've struggled with injuries or don't consider yourself a runner, Matt offers insight and tips to help you break through those barriers. Drawing from two case studies, Matt explores the common challenges faced by athletes training for long-distance runs and offers simple solutions to maximize their potential. The first case study features an athle

Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. This week, we continue our series on Purple Patch Case Studies, where we hear first-hand experiences of time-starved athletes on their journey towards improved performance in sports and life. This week, Matt welcomes Purple Patch athletes Rachel Brown and Tiger Paton. Rachel, a busy mother of seven boys, is a passionate runner with a wonderful story of shifting perspectives. By embracing the tri-squad approach, Rachel evolved her understanding of training and multi-sport to become a faster runner and unlocked abilities she never considered. Tiger Paton, a well-known figure in the Purple Patch community, serves as our squad specialist and program manager. She began her journey as a Purple Patch Squad athlete several years ago. She shares an inspiring lesson about perseverance. As a new athlete, she fully used all the tools in the program to overcome injury and fatigue. Struggling to find time for her health and needing a change, Tiger found support in the Purple Patch commu

There is some exciting news in the world of Ironman. All Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events across Europe, including the Vinfast Ironman World Championships in Nice this fall, will be supported by our friends at Precision Hydration. Access to Precision Hydration is a big change from having Gatorade delivered on course. It is fantastic news for our athletes who are competing there. Since the news broke, our athletes have had many questions about the specifics behind the changes and how they will impact their fueling and hydration plans. In this week's episode, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon interviews Andy Blow, founder of Precision Fuel and Hydration. They discuss the recent announcement and its implications for athletes competing in these races. Matt and Andy discuss the products that will be offered on the course. During the conversation, they detail how to develop an optimal fueling and hydration plan based on the changes and highlight the strategy to ensure you fuel your race success. This episode offers va

Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast with IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon. In this week's episode, Matt shares valuable insights into how athletes can improve their speed without spending more time, money, or energy than they already have. Matt believes that instead of relying solely on metrics and data, you can achieve "free speed", or "Smart Speed" as he calls it, by thinking outside the box and focusing on elements that maximize your overall performance. He covers various strategies that can help athletes improve their speed in all three disciplines of triathlon - swim, bike, and run. From counting strokes in the swim to taking walk breaks in the run, Matt's tips are practical, effective, and easy to apply. Whether a beginner or an experienced athlete, you'll find valuable takeaways in this two-part series. Part two of our Free Speed series will explore advanced topics like racecraft, mindset, and energy management. So stay tuned! Episode Timestamps 00:00 - 07:32 - Welcome and Episode Introduction 07:40 - 1

Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. This week we continue our series on Purple Patch Case Studies, where we hear first-hand experiences of time-starved athletes on their journey towards improved performance in sports and life. This week, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon welcomes Purple Patch athlete Ben Cooper to the show. Like most Purple Patch athletes, Ben has a lot on his plate. He is a managing director at a major real estate company based in London, and he is also a devoted father of a three-year-old. Despite his busy schedule, he juggles all his responsibilities while dealing with weekly travel obligations. Ben's life is complex and time-starved, but he is determined to make it all work. Two years ago, when Ben was first introduced to Matt and Purple Patch Fitness, he struggled. Ben was dealing with exhaustion, burnout, and mental health challenges stemming from the stress of having a child during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many people at the time, he felt lost and overwhelmed. A former rugby player,

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice." This age-old saying has stood the test of time. There is no shortcut to success, and achieving elite status in any field requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Consistently high performance can only be achieved through practice, or following a set of practices that are designed to bring out your best performance. IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon has developed a simple premise that applies to all areas of performance. This concept is at the heart of the discussion in this week’s podcast - Performance is performance. In this episode, Matt delves deep into this idea to help you set a plan that will help you achieve consistent and predictable results. This is what we like to call "Purple Patches". Matt has spent the last 20 years of his career as a coach working with a diverse range of clients, from professional athletes to high-level executives. He strongly believes that the principles of success in triathlon can be applied to leadership in the workplace. This epi

Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast! A few weeks ago, we began a special series on case studies of Purple Patch athletes. In this series, we share their stories and insights to help you learn how they have benefited from the Purple Patch methodology. Our goal is to help you understand how this methodology and mindset can facilitate better performance in your own life. Our first athlete in this series was Mike Kane. Mike initially focused solely on fitness, but with some guidance, shifted his perspective towards health and habits and unlocked effectiveness in his training and how he showed up as a leader. This week, we are excited to welcome two Purple Patch athletes, Jeff Lipschultz and Marcel Lopez. They both have inspiring stories to share about how they used sports to improve their lives, shift their perspectives, and achieve better results. Jeff's story is about his journey from a childhood that didn't include many sports to using sports to enrich his community. He talks about the lessons he learned from

On this week's episode of the Purple Patch podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon delves into the topic of stress. Dealing with stress is crucial for personal growth, but it can also negatively impact your daily performance.  In this episode, Matt highlights the role of stress in nutrition and eating habits and emphasizes three key areas where your approach and the role of stress can determine your success or struggle.  Matt explains how different stressors can affect athletes' eating habits. He describes how stress can create weaknesses by disrupting regulatory processes that help us maintain healthy eating habits, which can derail adherence to a smart eating plan. Matt offers guidance on how to adjust your mindset and approach to the quantity, quality, and timing of your meals to better cope with stress, develop a strategy, and improve your overall health. He also discusses supportive habits in other areas of performance, such as sleep and training, that can complement your nutritional approach. Additiona

It's race season, folks! The season is beginning in full swing, especially in the northern hemisphere, and we have some exciting races to look forward to. It’s a perfect opportunity to test your limits, skills, and abilities, but most importantly, it’s an opportunity to have fun. IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon explores performance readiness and the racing mindset to help you perform your best on race day. The aim is to provide a fresh perspective to show up for your important events and focus on the things that will result in the best performance possible. Matt discusses the importance of training and developing physiological race-readiness, refining skills, and race craft, and devising strategies for fueling and hydration, to understand the demands of racing and the role race preparation plays in setting up an approach to define the race in your favor. On race day, many athletes face negative and distracting thoughts. However, Matt delves into the underlying reasons and outcomes of such negative thinking an

This week on the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon discusses high performance with Purple Patch athlete Mike Kane. Mike is the Chief Manufacturing Officer at Framebridge, a framing company based in New Jersey. He has been training with Matt as a Purple Patch athlete for a couple of years. Mike is the epitome of a time-starved athlete. He's a busy senior executive who travels a ton while trying to integrate sport into life by competing in athletic events such as marathons and Ironman competitions. In this episode, Matt and Mike detail the challenges and struggles they faced while attempting to decode Mike’s athletic success in his first year with Purple Patch. However, they explain the shift in perspective that eventually transformed his performance. By chasing a platform of health rather than fitness, Mike was able to unlock dramatic results. He saw significant improvements in his body composition, energy levels, training efficiency, fitness, and overall sense of control.   Instead of sole

In the latest episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon talks about the world of coaching and the importance of establishing a strong foundation of trust and commitment in your coaching relationship. Your perspective, mindset, and actions are key factors in creating a successful coaching relationship. When done correctly, this relationship can lead to positive outcomes. However, if not done properly, it can easily become stuck. Matt breaks down the discussion into three main parts: The value of being coached, the role of a coach, and how to make the most of your coaching relationship. Although the discussion mainly focuses on sports coaching, the principles Matt shares apply to almost every aspect of our lives, including business. This week's episode is a must-listen if you are in a leadership or managerial position. Even if you are seeking to improve your relationship with a mentor or manager, the details of the discussion will help you frame your approach. In this episode, Matt ch

Swimming can be a frustrating sport, especially for those who don't start early. With 90% of your body weight displaced, it's like competing in the weightlessness of space. Moreover, finding pool times, commuting, and improving technical skills can be quite challenging, especially for amateur triathletes. However, as a triathlete, swim training is essential for overall improvement. You need to minimize the time spent swimming to go faster while limiting physiological costs and fatigue. Swimming also has a cross-pollination effect on other sports, such as improved cardiovascular conditioning.  If you're time-starved and already have much on your plate, how do you get the returns on your effort to optimize swim readiness and splits? To help you unlock your swim potential, we invited Purple Patch Swim Coach John Stevens to the podcast. John is a world expert in open water swim coaching and technique, a former Division 1 swimmer, and has worked with many leading swimmers in open water and triathlon racing. During

We recently received a question from a Purple Patch Tri Squad athlete, asking if the Purple Patch Coaching Team keeps up with recent trends and scientific advances when it comes to developing and evolving Purple Patch training. He was particularly interested in factors such as Zone 2 training, blood lactate testing, keto or fat adaptive diets, and the methods of Norwegian athletes in endurance performance. He also wondered why the Purple Patch Tri Squad doesn't add forced rest days each week when prescribing training. At the core of his curiosity was a broader question: Does Purple Patch consider advances in training methodologies? We realized this was the perfect opportunity to frame this episode as one big Q&A session, with that being the only question. In this episode, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon provides an answer. Using examples of his coaching approach for various athletes, Matt illustrates the dynamic lens that must be applied to each athlete while simplifying the training process by relying on

This week, on a special edition of the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon is celebrating his 50th birthday. To commemorate this significant milestone, Matt reflects on the past 50 years of his life, sharing 50 valuable lessons he learned from his experiences as an athlete, coach, and entrepreneur. These lessons are not only beneficial for athletes looking to enhance their performance but also for anyone who wants to improve their approach to work and life. Whether you are a coach, athlete, work leader, or parent, Matt's insights are sure to provide you with valuable perspectives to help you navigate your journey, no matter where you are in life. Episode Timestamps 00:00 - 03:10 - Welcome and Episode Introduction 03:17 - 05:15 - Matt's News-ings 05:21 - 52:11 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 303: 50 Lessons of 50 Years -  Reflections of a Personal Journey Purple Patch and Episode Resources Purple Patch Video Podcast and More Click here for the SPECIAL Fuelin Landing Page 2024 Purple Patch P

Throughout our coaching journey, we have shared numerous stories of success in training top-tier triathletes and C-suite executives who strive to achieve and maintain high performance in their personal and professional lives.   Over two decades of coaching both groups, we have observed strong parallels in the challenges they face and the solutions to those challenges that are universally applicable. In this week's episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon highlights those elements by focusing on executives and CEOs. He delves deeper into the reasons why many of them choose to take on the Ironman Triathlon, one of the world's most challenging sporting events. How have so many been successful at adapting to the demands of training and preparation while maintaining efficiency in their professional roles? (11:27) Let's consider the typical executive - massive competing demands at work, the requirement for each of them to show up their very best every single day. All of them requiring c

We continue to kick off the year with our on-location podcasts from the 2024 Purple Patch Kona Camp. This year, we have 25 athletes who have put in some hard work and learned some valuable lessons. In this week's episode, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon talks about the importance of training camps and what athletes gain from coming together with like-minded individuals to be coached through the experience. Matt highlights three often overlooked components every athlete and coach should consider, as well as the main reasons why we have so many people returning to our training camp experiences year after year. Matt emphasizes three often overlooked components that athletes and coaches should consider. He also explains how these three components are part of the main reason athletes choose to return to our training camp experiences year after year. While training camps seem to be a retreat where athletes simply hammer their way through a training program, an effective training camp experience is much more nuanced

Over the last two decades, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon has coached athletes of all levels, from world-class to beginners. One of the most common aspirations he hears from athletes is the desire to compete at the Ironman World Championship. However, what does it take to qualify for this prestigious event? Is there a secret to success? As it happens, Purple Patch Fitness has significant knowledge and experience with the Ironman World Championships. We have achieved over 15 top-10 finishes at the championship and have helped nearly 1500 Purple Patch athletes qualify for the event. Some of these athletes have even won amateur and age group titles. As a result, we have a wealth of experience and expertise when it comes to the Ironman World Championship. In this week’s episode of the Purple Patch Podcast Matt wants to help set you up for success in your journey toward qualifying for the Ironman World Championships. Drawing from over two decades of coaching experience, Matt distills his lessons into ten essentia

Last week's Purple Patch Podcast discussed how organizational effectiveness maximizes the talent and hard work of high performers. Organizational effectiveness, which includes planning, organization, and prioritization, can help remove mental clutter, provide control, and ultimately lead to faster goal achievement. However, it seems that only a small percentage of the show's listeners currently have a habitual practice to drive effectiveness and manage competing demands. Based on feedback we received from the audience, it seems that most people find it difficult to plan their nutrition and hydration effectively. Whether you're an athlete striving to achieve optimal performance in sports or an individual looking to enhance your daily performance at work and in life, the nutrition aspect of your journey can be daunting. Figuring out when and how to fuel your body to meet life's demands and your athletic goals can be overwhelming. Knowing what, how, and when to eat may be challenging, especially for those who ar