Purple Patch Podcast

This episode features a special conversation with a man who is central to the success at Purple Patch. Matt Hurley is the Director of Coaching Operations at Purple Patch and he's also an accomplished athlete, becoming overall champion at last year's Ironman 70.3 Maine. He's a multiple qualifier to the 70.3 World Championships and is also making quite a name in the SwimRun race scene. In fact, last...

Chelsea Sodaro was born to be an athlete. Both parents competed in triathlon and Chelsea also remembers her Dad training for the Boston Marathon! With energy like that in your life, how could you not love sport?! And she did. Chelsea fell in love with running, which took her through college at Cal Berkeley along with a post-collegiate professional running career. She may be a superhuman on the tra...

This week, it's the story of a time-starved athlete, but not just any time-starved athlete. Cecilia Davis-Hayes is heading into her Residency into her fourth year in Medical School at Columbia and, at the same time, is still competing at the top level of professional triathlon. She is, quite possibly, the most inspiring athlete on the Purple Patch Pro Squad.  How did she discover a love for the sp...

Today is, by request, an extension on the discussion around Episode 51, The Art of Coaching and Being Coached . It's an expansive discussion into management and leadership within a corporate setting. There are many parallels between performance within a set of world-class athletes and performance within business teams. Your mission, as an effective coach or leader, is to create sustained performan...

The backbone of the Purple Patch Podcast is education around performance in both sport and life, and Matt hits it head-on this week in this conversation with Andy Blow, former professional triathlete and Founder of Precision Hydration .  The topic? Hydration in sport, work, and life. If you're a pro athlete, an amateur athlete, a fitness enthusiast, an executive or a busy professional looking for...

Welcome Back to Season 2 and our first Purple Patch Podcast of 2019! This is the time where people are choosing to be coached for the first time, transitioning to a different coach, or even refreshing their relationship with their current coach. There is a real role for coaches to play in framing the art of coaching and creating a culture of success. On the flip side, the athlete has a real respon...

This week is a special episode for Purple Patch. It's our 50th episode! We launched in January 2018. and as we approach the end of the year, we thought it was a good time to take a step back and have a little review. Today, it's Matt's picks from some of the episodes of the last few months that are anchored and channeled on global life performance and reaching your potential via an athletic mindse...

This week, we provide a little fun (and hopefully a little inspiration) for your holiday lens and gift giving! Matt and his team of coaches came together to provide you with some of their holiday performance gift recommendations centered around our Four Pillars of Performance: Endurance Training, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition, and Recovery.  These ideas aren't quick fixes or magic shortcuts...

It's hard to argue with the concept that you will get more out of a project, workout, meeting, or book if you are fully immersed and focused in the endeavor. Being distracted or having your mind elsewhere is hardly a logical path to success and we are all susceptible to becoming distracted, especially with all the competing demands that our big lives tend to bring. For most of us, the buy-in for p...

Take a moment to revisit your childhood. Do you recall spending hours on end riding your bike around the neighborhood, exploring backyards for unknown treasures, splashing in the pool with your friends, or playing in the snow without thought or fear of the cold? Ahhh…the glory days of childs ' play. Hopefully, you engaged in a variety of activities, both structured and unstructured. You likely pla...

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."  - Isaac Newton The power of a mentor or coach cannot be overstated and to truly maximize the benefits of a professional coach, you, the athlete, must be a major stakeholder to ensure the relationship is fruitful and beneficial to your performance. In this episode, Matt discusses the importance of finding the right coach for y...

Download our Sample Post-Season Workouts There couldn't be a more valuable part of the season to make fundamental groundwork changes to who you are as an athlete.  Purple Patch views the post-season as perhaps THE most important block of training which includes preparation for the heavy lifting ahead, technical and skills development, and critical 'building block' work of good habits that pave the...

To evolve and improve long-term REQUIRES blocks of serious rejuvenation and rest. In work, sport and life, it is impossible to optimize performance if you never get off the hamster wheel. Quite simply - to grow requires rest. But, how exactly should you integrate blocks of rejuvenation without throwing away all of the blocks of solid training in the last months? In this episode, Matt talks about t...

We revisit an insightful conversation with three Purple Patch Pros who are competing in this Saturday's IRONMAN World Championships - Laura Siddall, Kevin Collington, and Sarah Piampiano. They recorded this interview (Episode 5)  in January at the Purple Patch Pro Camp in Scottsdale, Arizona when they were just starting their 2018 season. In this episode, they talk about goal setting, managing fea...

The IRONMAN World Championships take place on Saturday, October 13th and Matt has dedicated this entire episode to the lore and lure of this 40-year-old magical race on the Big Island.  Listeners get a glimpse of the race course from his perspective. What makes it so special and, at the same time, so difficult? Why do the best athletes in the world seem to struggle in this unique setting?  It is,...

We've received so many great questions to questions@purplepatchfitness.com  and Matt is answering several of them today surrounding season planning and continuous progression as an athlete.  Topics include: How to approach your first 70.3 distance Advice on peeing during a race- should you stop? Approach and philosophy of the long run in Ironman or Marathon training Maintaining fitness without the...

In part one  of the Purple Patch Podcast with Gerry Rodrigues, Matt and Gerry reminisced about each other's careers and how coaching and training methodologies have evolved, especially for the multisport athlete. In part two, they dissect the recent IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship race and discuss the natural evolution and progression of these world championship athletes. It should come as no surp...

Did you know that Gerry Rodrigues coached Matt Dixon in swimming when Matt was a professional triathlete? Their relationship and mutual respect span decades - as does their knowledge of the sport.   Of course, this isn't a typical conversation about swim form and technique. This is a deep dive with two triathlon experts through their lens of performance and coaching.  In part one of this two-part...

To submit your questions for future episodes, email: questions@purplepatchfitness.com     Click Here for Matt's article on Sauna Protocols  mentioned in the Question of the Week.  At just 34 years of age, Anna Hertel will likely never compete at another IRONMAN.   Five years ago, that concept would've been devastating and unimaginable because, like a lot of people, triathlon was her identity. Anna...

Cramping is a frustrating part of endurance athlete life for many, amplified by the fact that there is seldom a quick diagnosis of cause, nor an easy solution for most.  The whole area of cramping tends to be an 'experiment of one' -- with plenty of conflicting or shaky research, interesting concepts and ideas that emerge, and different preventions and remedies that work for some athletes, yet fai...

"The best success you can have in any race is knowing that you remained open to performance and that when you crossed the line, you took all the steps in your control and ability to maximize your performance." This is a true Championship Mindset.  Speaking of, Best of luck to those athletes heading to the 70.3 World Championships in South Africa. A World Championship. Wow! For some, it will be a c...

"The list of what I want to accomplish continues to grow," says 64-year-old Purple Patch athlete, Rick Wimmer. "Society expects people to retire, but this is how I get the most out of life!" Maintaining a growth mindset is everything - at any age. In this episode, recorded on location at the recent Purple Patch Training Camp in South Carolina, Matt converses with two Purple Patch Masters athletes,...

To submit your questions for future episodes, email: questions@purplepatchfitness.com     This week, Matt goes into the weeds with his first official "Athlete Q&A" Episode dedicated solely to recent questions from real athletes. He covers off a variety of topics including: Maintaining Strength in the heart of your racing season What Bike to Use in Training -  Do you always need to practice on you...

Today's focus is on…well…FOCUS... and remaining present in your training in order to maximize your training yield. Something that is often overlooked in training by both athletes and coaches is the importance of presence - focused awareness on the task. Whatever your quest or goal, being focused and present is a critical piece of the puzzle to maximize your precious training time. This becomes eve...

Article about Ed's IRONMAN Lake Placid Victory   This week, we revisit a former guest with a playback of Episode 9 with Ed Baker. Ed is an accomplished and impressive business executive, serving as Head of International Growth at Facebook and then VP of Growth and Product at Uber until the Spring of 2017. In addition to his business accolades, he is the father of three children (with another one o...