Purple Patch Podcast

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...

Should you toughen up and push through your training, or should you be smart and back off? Matt explores the concept of fatigue in today's podcast. Fatigue is not a negative word. In fact, it's a part of growth and you should lean into it. It is earned from hard work and the adaptions can be positive, but you must make smart decisions in managing your fatigue.  Context is everything when you're ta...

This episode is a triathlon strategist's dream come true! Matt opens the lid on the coaching mindset as he dissects the planning and performance journey of Jesse Thomas's successful podium finish at the recent Challenge Roth. When great performances happen, especially with elite and professional athletes, most people assume it's simply a result of some herculean amount of training that always had...

Matt is on vacation, so he put together a "Best of" Series from the initial month of the podcast. It's a taste of the key highlights of lessons and takeaways from episodes so far this year. CycleOps, PowerTap, and Purple Patch have teamed up to help you get crackin' on your training! Visit purplepatchfitness.com/getcracking and register to win one of three great prizes that include: a pair of Powe...

Register to win a 3-Month Subscription to Linden & True Coffee! Visit  purplepatchfitness.com/coffee  for the details. On April 16th, 2018, Des Linden became the first United States female to win the famed Boston Marathon in 33 years. While she admits that she often plays the role of "underdog," this year was different. She went from "underdog" to champion in a race that brought with it epic wind,...

Excellence doesn't often come without fear and doubt. Today, Matt dives into the internal struggle, the journey of achieving wonderful results, but focusing in on areas that few are honestly willing to discuss. Laura Siddall is a professional triathlete showing the greatest vulnerability in her expressing fears, confidence, and challenges she has faced and managed on her path to world-class perfor...

Go to purplepatchfitness.com/transgenderathlete to receive more resources and information on Chris Mosier.   Matt Dixon is back with another moving and inspiring feature with a Purple Patch athlete. In 2015, Chris Mosier became the first openly transgender man to make the Men's US National Team and, in 2016, he became the first trans athlete to compete in a World Championship. He is a 5-Time Membe...

How do you define talent? Is it a combination of physical traits that allows an advantage over competitors? Is it God-given innate talent and gifts given to the rare few that allow potential to meet performance? Are people just born with talent, while the rest of us have no hope? Matt dissects this idea of "talent" in today's episode and what he has learned by working with some of the best enduran...

Matt takes a deep dive today with Erin Taylor, founder and head coach of Athletes for Yoga. Taylor is an international leader in yoga for athletes, and architect of the only yoga for athletes platform on-line. She's also an author of two book: Work In and Hit Reset . Integrating Yoga into endurance sports goes well-beyond simply attending a weekly 60-minute yoga class or 90-minute hot yoga session...

What do you do when you've lost everything? How do you start to rebuild? This conversation with new Purple Patch athlete, Lars Tandrup, is a story about performance and emerging from tragedy. It's not about race performance, per se, but a lesson of how stress and adversity can be a catalyst for human growth, development and adaptation. Last year, Lars and his wife lost everything in the wildfires...