Finding Renewed Success In Sport and Life as an Experienced Triathlete
Even the most experienced, successful and knowledgable athletes need something to help reignite the fire. Years of continually doing the exact same thing can lead to an athlete becoming stale, tired, and worse yet make them feel indifferent towards training and racing. This is a story about an athlete who found the love and passion in sport again, all with the help and teamwork of Purple Patch.
The Athlete:
Gineth Mendez-Yibirin is an experienced triathlete who has trained and raced for over 10 years. The 51 year old Floridian has had her share of success in the sport, so much so that other triathletes began to seek her out for coaching services. Unfortunately, her years of competing and training led to burn out. Her times were slowing, she was getting frustrated and tired. To make things worse, her coach at the time responded by setting unrealistic paces to try and hit (go harder, go faster), and ignored what Gineth’s body was saying -- back off and take it easy. It became a wicked cycle. She felt tired, her coach pushed her for more, she wouldn’t hit the times, and then she’d feel like a failure. And, to top it off, she had the goal of reaching the IRONMAN World Championships which, at this point, felt like a world away.
How was Gineth going to reignite her fire and achieve her goal?
The Challenge:
As mentioned, Gineth was beginning to be sought out by fellow triathletes for coaching help because of her great background. She began taking certifications to become a certified coach. In doing so, she came upon Matt Dixon in IRONMAN University, who quickly became her preferred instructor. Being an exhausted triathlete, his coaching philosophy aligned with what Gineth felt she needed. Gineth decided to sign up with Purple Patch and place her training trust in Matt Dixon’s philosophy.
With the massive challenge of reaching World Championships feeling a world away, and an overall feeling of exhaustion, Gineth knew her entire approach to training and life needed to change. She was willing to make big changes to her training approach with the Purple Patch philosophy. The Purple Patch fundamental that stuck with Gineth the most: Don’t focus on the goal, focus on enjoying the journey and personal growth.
Through Purple Patch, Gineth learned about recovery and being easier on herself. She learned about ‘key’ workouts versus ‘supporting’ for prioritizing her training and how to go easy on easy days. As a coach, she knew better than all workouts being max efforts, but needed Purple Patch to guide her. Instead, it was the opposite, she found saving her energy stores for key workouts yielded greater results in the long term, leaving her fit and fresh for race day, mentally and physically, rather than fatigued and burned out.
The Solution:
With the massive challenge of reaching World Championships feeling a world away, and an overall feeling of exhaustion, Gineth knew her entire approach to training and life needed to change. She was willing to make big changes to her training approach with the Purple Patch philosophy. The Purple Patch fundamental that stuck with Gineth the most: Don’t focus on the goal, focus on enjoying the journey and personal growth.
Through Purple Patch, Gineth learned about recovery and being easier on herself. She learned about ‘key’ workouts versus ‘supporting’ for prioritizing her training and how to go easy on easy days. As a coach, she knew better than all workouts being max efforts, but needed Purple Patch to guide her. Instead, it was the opposite, she found saving her energy stores for key workouts yielded greater results in the long term, leaving her fit and fresh for race day, mentally and physically, rather than fatigued and burned out.
The Results
Gineth did it after only 18 months with Purple Patch. She qualified for the IRONMAN World Championships. It was a big ‘wow’ all around for Gineth reaching the pinnacle of her sport after 10 years of pursuit. Perhaps her greatest takeaway from the past 18 months was a shift in her mentality, overall wellbeing, and having a clear focus on her personal and family goals that superseded sport.
Gineth grew in every aspect in the sport -- swimming, cycling, and running. Even as Gineth aged, she surprised herself by being able to handle training loads better than ever before. Working with Purple Patch was as she stated, “putting the pieces of a puzzle together”. The relationship was like taking all the things she’d thought she’d known over the years and suddenly being able to add clarity and focus in order to piece everything together.
We’ll leave you with Gineth’s own words for anyone out there trying to succeed in sport and life:
“My advice to all is to give it time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It is work and dedication, yes, but with the right plan and guidance, it is possible to achieve your best performance.”