Learn How Alex Used Triathlon to Become a High Performer in Sport and Life
This is a story of someone who’s goals are, seemingly, far away, but can be achieved with a long-term focus built around consistency, smart training, and good habits. Hopefully, it will motivate you to strive for your human potential in life and sport.
The Athlete:
Going back seven years, Purple Patch Squad athlete Alex Fuller was 70 pounds heavier and would be out of breath from a walk around the block. Knowing he needed a lifestyle change, Alex decided to give multisport a try. He slowly integrated swimming, biking, and running into his weight loss journey, which evolved into a performance journey. He bought a bunch of gear off of Craigslist, and with the support of his family, jumped into triathlon to see what he could accomplish.
As a dad with three young kids, a full-time career in marketing with UPS, and an active role in his church, Alex was unsure where he would find the time to train for multisport, let alone stay on top of his life. His journey was fraught with obstacles, including not knowing where to start, how to fit training into life, and ensuring a quality over quantity training approach.
The Challenge:
As a dad and husband with a full-time career and no lack of life obligations, Alex was struggling to find a training program that would not only fit into his hectic life, but also get him in shape and, ultimately, produce results on the race course. After reading Matt Dixon’s Fast Track Triathlete book, Alex started to listen to the Purple Patch podcast and found the messaging about integrating sport into life resonated with him. He knew had found his partner for his performance journey. Matt’s Squad training program bridged the gap between training and results, and empowered him with education and experience to unlock his potential. .
The Solution:
Alex came to Purple Patch as a very inexperienced amateur athlete, but with a huge appetite to see where this journey could lead him. He bought in completely to the Purple Patch methodology and strategically used the Squad Baseline Plan, which is highly scalable, to start chasing his goals. He has also periodically integrated ‘race builds’ to further refine his training specific to target races. Alex has been a very active member of the Purple Patch athlete community and has taken full advantage of all the great educational opportunities, such as Coach Office Hours, Meetings with Matt, and virtual live classes - complete with coaching from Matt and his staff to improve skills, form, and technique.
The Results:
Alex qualified for and competed in the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Nice, France. Through the pandemic, he ramped up his training due to not having a work commute, and even completed a Zwift vEveresting adventure in 10.5 hours. In late 2020, his hard work and long-term development and consistency paid off. He achieved his long-term goal, qualifying for Kona, in November 2020 at IRONMAN Florida, with a 9:31 third-place finish in the 30-34 age group.
(QUOTE) “I’m totally bought into the Purple Patch philosophy – it has helped me level up my performance from a holistic approach to athleticism.”
When discussing Purple Patch with his friends and team members, there are five key points he emphasizes. Here they are in his own words:
Integrated strength training – This is the number one benefit from the Squad program. I knew strength was essential, but I didn’t know how to progress and include it in my program. Since joining Squad, I’ve gone from a couple injuries a year down to none.
Zwift-integrated structured bike workouts – I used to spend a good chunk of time each week programming my bike workouts into Zwift, which took up precious planning or training time. Now, with the Purple Patch Squad, I just open up Zwift and my personalized and progressive bike workout is ready to go. I’m also excited for the future training video-on-demand options.
Education – Between the Office Hours, Podcast, Coach Corners, and Athlete Facebook Forum, I’ve had almost all my training questions answered. More importantly, I’ve learned from the questions that other Squaddies are asking – questions I didn’t know I should be asking as well.
Community – My fellow Squaddies are an inspiration and whole lot of fun. Whether it’s post-workout banter on Facebook, congratulatory comments on Strava, or funny Instagram insides jokes – having a worldwide group of friends to suffer with together is a huge plus.
Coaching staff that cares – Matt Dixon is definitely the star, but he’s also assembled an amazing supporting cast of coaches that are incredible resources on their own. The Coach Consults I’ve had with them have really helped me adjust my training to better meet my schedule and goals. They take co-ownership with me on my journey – the opposite of just writing a workout and never engaging afterwards.
Alex has found the Purple Patch Squad to be the best value in triathlon - and he is headed to Kona this year with incredible growth still on the horizon.