Are you loitering on the outside peering in?  Leveraging the training and education to drive your performance forward, but keeping the rest of us at arm’s length when it comes to sharing your story, challenges and exploits of this performance journey.  Guess what?  You might be leaving some of your performance on the table.

I often get asked about our highest performing athletes.  The ones that, regardless of level and ability, seem to be able to show up and perform well relative to their trained potential, and also who seem to improve and keep improving. While the answered is nuanced, there are a couple of elements that are often overlooked:

• They focus on how. The art of self improvement.
• They have fun and feel like they are a part of something.

I would like to place my focus on the second of these today, but before diving in, let’s tip the hat to the first point.  We are chasing heightened fitness, power and pace. Every athlete realizes that race readiness and improvement requires consistent training, and athletes are naturally drawn into their main barometer of success being aspects of performance such as boosting sustainable or max pace, and improved results in training metrics. These are important, but goodness me is it tough to keep building more and more fitness and power over the long-term. I bet many of you feel like, no matter the effort you put in, your FTP gains are now minimal.  That’s normal, but it doesn’t mean that your race results are destined for a plateau.  The dirty truth is that the biggest speed yield for athletes is really in how they apply their fitness levels to any course.  This is really about how you maintain form and posture, pace and fuel your effort, as well as navigate the terrain and conditions (such as wind) that you face.  This is art, and for me, the most potent tool we have for performance gains you have.

But what about the fun part?  Feeling like you are a part of something? This is under-appreciated, yet critical. At our recent camp in Napa I led the initial meeting for attendees and outlined key benefits for the camp.  These included high quality training, education, skill acquisition and socialization.  What?  The socials?  Yes, a massively under appreciated and valuable part of a camp experience are the downtime, dinners and social parts of the week. They fill your soul, allow the chance to create human connections, and develop a team atmosphere when you are getting challenged by the coaches.  “We are in this together” is massively more powerful than “can I do this?”.  When athletes maintain high value training, but feel like they are a part of a bigger picture, then individual results and fun amplify. 

You may train alone, but you can be a part of the Purple Patch community.  Get involved with the video-based coaching, the community and share your challenges, exploits and results.  When you are racing, reach out and see what other of your teammates are racing, then connect and meet up in person.  It seems so minor, but it can amplify your soul, provide perspective and help foster improvement.  Just this last weekend, I was joyous to see Purple Patch athletes connect in Victoria 70.3, and all have big smiles and great performances. Led by the king of Cruise, social director Jeff Lipschultz, this occasion really highlighted a pathway that every athlete can benefit from.  I encourage you to participate, lean in, give a little.  It is a surefire way to get more out of the program, and ensure you enjoy it more.  You are most welcome. Everyone is.

Cheers,

Matt