Updated: February 6, 2020

(editor's note: We recommend bookmarking this article and links)

Over the last months, we have greatly evolved our athlete support and integration of the entire Purple Patch team of coaches into all-athlete education and support.  We have a broad range of skills and expertise in our coaching team, so why lean into just my knowledge? With the development of support, we have a buzzing community of athletes from pros, 1:1 coached, and Tri Squad athletes.  Collectively, we are all Purple Patch Squaddies.  I want to bring everyone up to speed with the different ways of connecting with the Purple Patch team of coaches and athletes and how each is designed:

Purple Patch Facebook Community:  This is the central hub of all chatter about Purple Patch.  It acts as the metaphorical 'water cooler of conversation' for athletes to share horror stories of sessions, ask supportive questions relative to the group, share experiences that others mind find useful, or even ask for general peer-to-peer support.

Good for:

• Purple Patch Chatter

• Peer-to-Peer Support and Stories

• Race Experiences and Training Connections

Not Designed for:

• Individual Coaching Questions

• Injury Diagnosis

• Training Plan Adjustments

The Purple Patch coaching team takes shifts in the Facebook community to help provide context, general guidance that is helpful to all, and global counsel on best practices (not to provide 1:1 coaching advice!)

Community Forums and Question of the Week:  A new and already popular introduction of subject-specific deep dives and Q and A online sessions around specific performance subjects.  This is where you can gain very real coaching counsel and advice -- all anchored in a conducive setting that others can learn from. You can review and learn from these sessions already -- each lasting around 72 hours with dedicated coaching support and feedback

Coach Office Hours and Meetings with Matt:  Our group video sessions for a deep dive and Q and A video discussion around specific subjects.  This is our chance to get our hands dirty and dive into meaningful discussions around many aspects of performance.  The coaching team rotates leading these sessions, with most subjects chosen following the internal coaching education sessions we have weekly, to align the team and ensure a commitment to improvement across our entire team of coaches.

Individual Feedback and Consults:  Every Purple Patch athlete has access to individual feedback and counsel.  For athletes on the 1:1 coaching programs, this feedback is handled directly with your individual coach.  Squad athletes simply need to purchase an individual coaching consultation ($50) and arrive prepared with questions and what you hope to gain from the in-depth education and guidance. 

Contact Us for Technical Support:  The final piece of the puzzle is the general plan support.  This ‘request for help’ is designed to support confusion around sessions or programming, password or access issues, technical difficulties, and asking any personal questions that you would like addressed in Office Hours in which you are unable to attend live.  We will be sure to get your question across to the host coach. 

But how do I keep track of all these details?

Simply head to the Education Hub and get to your home page of scheduling and education topics.  On this page, you can see the schedule for Office Hours and all things Purple Patch.

I hope this helps clarity of how to utilize the resources.

If you tend to be an outsider looking in, let’s get engaged. you won’t regret it.  On a personal level, I am not a big social media person and don’t utilize Facebook.  With this said, I very much enjoy the Purple Patch Community Facebook group and absolutely see the value and power of us all engaging and sharing…. Just don’t make me marshall Johnny Oblivious writing his three-page list of season planning questions and requests for daily meal planning and personal stretches in there!

Cheers,

Matt