Our mission at Purple Patch is to give you the tools -- and the support to feel confident using them -- to thrive and truly integrate sport into life. Life is dynamic, and your approach to training needs to be dynamic as well.

This is a long article, we know. Read it all anyway ;) It contains critical information to help you make Purple Patch training work for YOU.

These tools will help you prioritize and customize your training around your schedule, your fitness level, and your goals. Let's dive in:

• Customizing workouts with time-rich / time-starved versions
• How to customize your workout schedule
• Adapting & Scaling Workouts
• Supplementing Your Training Program
• Baseline vs. Race builds

STEP 1: Understand Time-Rich vs. Time-Starved Session Options

Nearly every workout contains a Time-Rich (TR) and Time-Starved (TS) version. Choose what works for you based on your schedule, fitness level, health status, and familiarity with multisport. You may well end up doing a mix of TR and TS workouts in a given week -- that's okay!

• Time-Starved sessions are shorter in duration. They are ideal if you are:
  • Pressed for time
  • New to multisport or to a specific discipline (e.g. a novice swimmer)
  • Someone that struggles to retain great form throughout an entire session
  • Returning from a break in training
  • Fatigued and/or recovering from injury or illness
• Time-Rich sessions are longer in duration. They are ideal if you are:
  • Able to maintain higher training volume without it negatively impacting other aspects of your life including sleep, work, supporting habits, or family commitments
  • An experienced multisport athlete
  • Healthy and uninjured
  • Able to complete time-starved sessions without compromising your form/technique
    
• A special note about rides. Our bike workouts have a few extra "layers" of duration: 
  • Indoor vs. Outdoor: Indoor options will nearly always be shorter than outdoor -- sometimes by 2-3 hours.
  • Coached vs. Structured: Live/VOD sessions are always 50-60 minutes. These look like time-starved versions on paper, but even if you're time-rich, we strongly recommend using them. You always have the option to go to Detention afterward, which will add another 10-30min and make them a time-rich version. On the other hand, if you do a structured ride in Zwift/TrainerRoad, you'll see a Time-Starved Breakpoint. You can either skip to the cool-down there, or continue on for a longer time-rich session.

STEP 2: Align your training with your lifestyle and schedule

• Use the Sunday Special habit to help you plan and prioritize your week.
  
  
• Move sessions as needed. When possible, try to keep sessions in the same relative order, and don't put KEY sessions on the same day or back-to-back days unless we've set them up that way on purpose.
  • To MOVE a session, hover over it, then click and drag on the four-sided arrow that appears underneath (on mobile, click the three dots to the right of the session name).
    
    
• If you need to scale a session, shift to the time-starved versions of our workouts (more on these in a moment), and/or remove optional and supporting sessions using the framework below.
  • To DELETE a workout, hover over it and click the trash icon that appears underneath (on mobile, click the three dots to the right of the session name).
    
• Prioritize your workout schedule. Remember: more training isn't better. Better training is better. Here's how to customize your workout schedule for your schedule or fitness level:
  
  
  • #1: KEY sessions. If you can only do a few sessions in a week, prioritize these above all. You'll typically have 2-3 KEY sessions each week.
  • #2: SUPPORTING sessions. SUPPORTING sessions aren't labeled, and they make up the bulk of your week. Strength workouts are also considered supporting during Q2 & Q3. SUPPORTING sessions are lower priority than KEY sessions.
    • If you need to remove a supporting session, how do you decide what to keep?
      • Stay Strong: It's a Pillar of Performance and critical for long-term success, so we recommend retaining at least one, and ideally both, of your Strength workouts.
      • Focus on Technique/Development: If you have an area that could use extra work -- perhaps your swim isn't as strong as you want it, for example -- then you may want to prioritize your supporting swim and skip a bike or run. 
      • Adjust for Energy Level: Pay attention to the intent of the supporting sessions. If you're scaling due to significant stress or fatigue, you might keep a recovery-focused run but cut a physically/emotionally tough bike.
  • #3: OPTIONAL and ADD-ON sessions/workouts. You'll see these sprinkled in. They are your LOWEST priority. These include the Sunday Swims as well as the Optional Add-Ons like the "run project" mini-runs Tri Squaddies will find at the bottom of some swims and bikes. When you need to reduce your training volume, these are the first workouts you eliminate. Only do them if they truly work within the context of your schedule and fitness goals.
    
  • An important caveat: As with anything, these suggestions are fluid and based on your unique needs. One notable example: if you have a history of running niggles, you might prioritize the Run Project add-ons to help build tissue resilience, even if it means cutting a Supporting session or sticking to time-starved versions of workouts overall.

STEP 3: Adapt workouts to maximize your training results

• Understand the Focus & Intent. All sessions include a Focus at the top of each workout to help you understand why you do the session and what success should look like. If you have to adapt a session, always make sure you do so with the aim of preserving the intent of the workout.
  
  
• Prioritize live/VOD coached sessions whenever possible. These are by far the best format to use whenever available -- they'll provide a higher training yield than structured rides or self-directed strength sessions. If you aren't sure how to use a VOD or are struggling to make them a fun and hassle-free experience, click here to schedule a help session or get tech support.
• Use alternates when it makes sense. You'll notice options listed at the bottom of many sessions that allow you to execute a different version of the workout for a different environment (e.g. open water vs. pool) or format (e.g. elliptical vs. bike cross-training days for Run Squaddies).
  
  
• Adapt, don't abandon. Feeling a bit sluggish? Don't throw in the towel quite yet -- instead, extend the warmup and do a bit of activation. In many cases, an extra 5-10 minutes of warmup can really help prime the system and you'll be surprised how much better you feel.
  
  
• Remember that perceived effort is our #1 metric. Make sure you are prioritizing RPE over pace, power, or heart rate. If you're not having the best day, this might mean taking your zones down by 10-20W on the bike, or incorporating additional walk breaks into your run. On the other hand, if you're having a great day, take advantage of it -- don't fall into underperformance by blindly following the watts prescribed in Zwift on a day you're feeling really strong.

STEP 4: Supplement or leverage alternate sessions as needed

• The Optional Workout Library contains additional sessions curated for the current phase of training, that you can add/swap into your plan if you wish. To use a workout from the Optional Workout Library, simply click and drag it into your calendar. The Library includes:
• Supplemental workouts to add load and specificity
• Alternate workout options like open water and dry-land swim sessions
• Resilience and recovery-focused sessions like core, mobility, and self-care
• Race builds and Lifestyle/Recovery plans (more on these below)
• Be pragmatic in deciding what to add. Are you training for a long event and simply looking to add volume? Adding an extra Resilience Ride on the weekend might be a great choice to build endurance and work on perfecting your fueling plan. Are you an "adult-onset swimmer" looking to improve speed in the pool? Maybe an extra time-starved swim is what you need, so that you can increase frequency while keeping sessions short enough to ensure great form.
  
  
• NOTE: The Optional Workout Library is not available in the Todays Plan app. To add an OWL workout, log into Today's Plan via a computer, and drag the session into your calendar. Click the refresh button in the top right corner of your app, and you will see the session appear.

STEP 5: Baseline vs. Race Builds

• For details on this topic, click here.