Our mission at Purple Patch is to give you the tools to thrive and truly integrate sport into life. There are many other tools in the toolbox, and our mission is to give you both the tools and the support to use them to best effect.

Go Time-Rich or Time-Starved:

Nearly every workout you'll get 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're free to mix and match versions, too.

• Time-Starved sessions are ideal if you are:
• New to multisport or to a specific discipline (e.g. a novice swimmer)
• Returning from a break in training
• Pressed for time
• Fatigued and/or recovering from injury or illness
• Time-Rich sessions are ideal if you are:
• An experienced multisport athlete
• Not currently ill or injured
• Able to complete time-starved sessions without compromising your form/technique
• Able to maintain higher training volume without it negatively impacting other aspects of your life including sleep, work, supporting habits, or family commitments

Align and prioritize your training with your lifestyle and commitments:

• Use the Sunday Special habit to help you plan and prioritize your week
• Move and delete workouts to fit your schedule:
  • When you hover over a workout, you will see some icons appear below it: to MOVE a session, click on the 4-sided arrow, then drag the session to the preferred day. To DELETE a workout, click the trash icon. 
• Life happens -- and your training must be flexible enough to accommodate that reality. You'll see three types of sessions in your training plan. Remember: more training isn't better. Better training is better ;) Here's how prioritize workouts and scale your week if you need to:
  • #1: KEY sessions are, well, key! If you can only do a few sessions in a week, prioritize these above all.
  • #2: Strength and Artery sessions. While not labeled KEY, they're as close as you can get. Strength is a Pillar of Performance and critical for long-term success. Artery sessions are also very high-value sessions, and are designed to help you keep a "pulse" on your fitness through the year so it's helpful to have consistently completed them to track your progress.
  • #3: Everything else. Sessions that are not labeled KEY are supportive in nature.
  • If you need to scale back for any reason, start by shifting to the time-starved versions of our workouts. If you need to scale further, begin by removing supporting sessions (anything that isn't KEY, strength, or artery). And if you really need to minimize hours, focus just on the KEY sessions (and at least one strength session, if you can manage it). 

Adapt the workouts to help you maximize your training results:

• Understand the training formats:
• All sessions include a written text version
• All rides and runs also include a structured power file you can sync to apps/devices
• Enhanced sessions (live classes, VODs, watch parties) are available for weekday bike and strength sessions. These are by far the best format to use whenever they're available.
• Use alternates when it makes sense: You'll notice options listed at the bottom of many sessions that allow you to execute the workout in a different environment or with different equipment. For example, rides often include both indoor and outdoor options.

Use supplemental/alternate sessions if 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. It 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
• To use a workout from the Optional Workout Library, simply click and drag it into your calendar.
• 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.