UBC Triathlon March 9, 2019
It's the one year anniversary (ish) of my first ever triathlon, an Olympic distance event. This is an email I sent to say thank you to Matt and the purple patch team after coming in third (out of ten) in my age group - probably the only time I will ever podium so I'm owning it.
I just wanted to take a moment from my time starved life to tell you about my journey thus far and to thank you for being such an important part of it! I know your time is valuable, so I will try to make this as quick as possible.
This past Saturday, I ran in my first ever triathlon in Vancouver, BC at UBC, my time was 2:56:50, third in my age group. While I may have been able to figure out how to get there on my own, your book The Fast Track Triathlete, plus your podcast and the trial subscription that I got to your education library (which I didn't find the promo code for until I read through it a second time) were the reason I did so well and honestly felt like I could have done it again the following day.
In September, right before I completed the Whistler Gran Fondo, I decided that this would be the year I crossed the Ironman off my bucket list. More accurately, I decided I would see if I could commit to the training necessary to complete an ironman this year. The problem was, while I was pretty fit on the bike, I hadn't run in 20 years having hurt myself training for a marathon and never having been able to get back into it, and I hadn't been in a pool in quite some time. I literally started by downloading the runner's world 8 week 1/2 hour walk/run program, 4 months later I ran a straight 10k for the first time in years. The next step was to get into the pool, having no idea where I was at I decided to just swim for 30 min, count my laps and see. I surprised myself by doing 1200m on that first go but I hated every minute of it, despite that I kept going religiously twice a week and slowly increasing my distance, I spent a lot of time questioning my life choices in those early pool workouts.
I decided that I should probably buy some kind of triathlon training book, so I went to Amazon and looked at what they had, most of the books had 3 and 4 star reviews with 30 reviews but there was this one book, 5 stars with 70 + reviews! I figured this guy was onto something so I went to my local bookstore and picked it up - I couldn't wait to start reading it. I only wish I had of bought it from your website so that I might get a signed copy - I probably will eventually.
The Fast Track Triathlete changed my life - I ate it up and bought in completely, I started applying the lessons I could right away and cobbled together a training plan that would get me to the UBC Olympic, Victoria 70.3, and Whistler Ironman - when I started the Pre-Season plan I couldn't even do the full distance on the runs - I knew what had led to my previous injury and I didn't want a repeat, patience and persistence were the key - but I knew that I could catch up by the end, which I did. I surprised myself by being able to bang out the full swim workouts, perhaps without the intended intensity at times, but with all the focus I could muster. Of course, the bike workouts were a breeze and I supplemented with some indoor cycling classes with a local triathlon coach here in Vancouver.
I could go on, but long story short, I have bought in completely! Purple Patch has made me a better athlete than I could have ever become following some other plan and, though I'm no C-level high performer, I have a pretty decent job and my performance at work has improved immensely just by developing my potential through the lens of athletic potential as someone is fond of saying. Your story about training Sean Astin for Kona was a real inspiration, given I've had some naysayers who have told me 11 months is not enough. And honestly, I feel like I could do the half tomorrow so I figure I'm on the right track considering I have 11 more weeks to get there.
So thanks again for helping me reach my purple patch, and next time I'm in San Francisco I'll be knocking on the door.
I got a response from Carrie and she asked me if I had any photos from the race, I sent her this pic (which was, I thought, me finishing strong) and her response was "...it's hard to get good quality finish photos (where we don't look blurry or in some form of pain!)" 😂😂
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Official comment
Coris,
Once again, thank you for sharing. Hearing even more of your story makes it all the more fulfilling. What a great journey you have been on and continue explore. Thank you for including us. We are honored that you are finding our content and community helpful to you. And we are thrilled to have you as a loyal Squaddie.
Keep Training for Life,
Mel and your Purple Patch Team
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