Days begin to get shorter, long warm summer days begin to cool, and uncertainty remains.  With this, the Purple Patch team is excited, and so should you be.  Why are we excited, and why should you be?  It is time to begin chasing the Fall Challenges!  We have our dates, our plan forward, and a whole bunch of the details needed to nail the logistics.  In creating this roadmap of challenges, we wanted to secure a few key components:

• We wanted the challenges to be accessible to all levels and types of athletes.
• It was important to ensure success in the challenges created a sense of accomplishment
• We wanted to be ‘technology-inclusive’ and try to ensure athletes could complete the challenges inside or outside without massive barriers of software downloads
• Preparing and completing the challenges should seamlessly synchronize with athletes training for actual events that may, or indeed will, happen in 2020 -- while also being a net positive in longer-term performance progression into 2021.

All this meant anchoring the approach in as much simplicity as possible.  With my work with IRONMAN, we managed to help steer the two major events that we intend to focus on (Kona Week and 70.3 Club Championships) toward these principles above, as we felt it would help all participating athletes in these events across the world.  We can collectively lean into the media experience of the IRONMAN team, without it providing a massive logistic challenge or cost to you the athlete.

For the Sprint and Olympic Challenge, we decided to come in-house and make these two challenges really simple and accessible.  We have chances to get it done and not be blown into a blizzard of confusion doing so!

Our first Sprint Challenge is the week of September 14.

You have a couple of ways to complete this challenge. Check out this article to learn more. 

If you are a 1:1 coached athlete -- you are welcome to get involved also.  Simply chat with your coach and they are sure to integrate.  Every single Purple Patch athlete is welcome!  It is ‘bottoms open -- full gas!”, and I am looking forward to seeing as many people as possible, all over the world, getting to let it rip for a really short and fun series of efforts.  Our categories align with the spirit of the event, namely the Puppies, The Adults, and the AARP anarchists.  I, unfortunately, fall into the adult category, but am putting my money on the AARP crowd to represent in this beast!  Our sprint challenge is an internal Purple Patch event, but next up will be the grand IRONMAN Hawaii Kona Week event.  The IRONMAN week will see all of Purple Patch come together to ‘compete’ against all the other clubs out there.  Do you think we can come together and become the best club in the event?  I sure hope so.

Bike Clinic:  We are really excited about this special invite bike clinic I am hosting on September 14.  It is the first time we will be hosting a clinic from the brand new Purple Patch center, and it will be right out of the bike studio.  A 2-hour event anchored in education, a full bike coached session, and live Q and A.  I will lead you through cycling mechanics, posture, different types of pedaling for different situations, but then ask all to step up for an immersive coached experience.  By the time we are done with the bike session, you will be ready for a break, and we will end with a small-group pow-wow around the experience and any other performance questions.  This is a limited capacity event, we are only selling 40 spots in total.  We have 10 spots remaining for the event, but the promise is that every single participant will get copious feedback and insights, but also a great fun workout.  You might love to join, or even have some non-Purple Patch friends that might benefit? Details here, and first-come-first-serve: https://store.purplepatchfitness.com/products/matt-dixon-bike-clinic

Have a super week!

Matt