Episode 310: Purple Patch Case Studies - with Jeff Lipschultz and Marcel Lopez
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Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast! A few weeks ago, we began a special series on case studies of Purple Patch athletes. In this series, we share their stories and insights to help you learn how they have benefited from the Purple Patch methodology. Our goal is to help you understand how this methodology and mindset can facilitate better performance in your own life.
Our first athlete in this series was Mike Kane. Mike initially focused solely on fitness, but with some guidance, shifted his perspective towards health and habits and unlocked effectiveness in his training and how he showed up as a leader.
This week, we are excited to welcome two Purple Patch athletes, Jeff Lipschultz and Marcel Lopez. They both have inspiring stories to share about how they used sports to improve their lives, shift their perspectives, and achieve better results.
Jeff's story is about his journey from a childhood that didn't include many sports to using sports to enrich his community. He talks about the lessons he learned from other athletes and how the squad mentality and global network of support have amplified all aspects of his life.
Marcel's story centers on an evolution of approach and mindset. Obsessed with data, Marcel’s misguided approach inspired punishing training sessions and an unequal return on investment for his efforts. He discusses the change of perspective and the simple changes to his training habits that have yielded unexpected results.
Jeff and Marcel's stories are compelling and offer valuable lessons to help you enhance your performance in sports or life and achieve better results in any endeavor you pursue.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 02:52 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
03:53 - 06:16 - Matt’s News-ings
06:23 - 45:39 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 310: Purple Patch Case Studies - Jeff Lipschultz and Marcel Lopez - JEFF’S STORY
45:43 - 01:20:06 - MARCEL’S STORY
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
Episode 307: Case Studies From the Purple Patch Squad – A Conversation With Mike Kane
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Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:00
I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere integrate sports into their lives.
Matt Dixon 00:24
Now, you might know I'm getting a little bit long in the tooth. But I'm still ambitious; I still want to show up in life. I want to future-proof myself to ensure that I have the greatest quality of life for the time that I'm around. And then one of the tools that I leverage is InsideTracker. By taking a look inside, what I get to do is understand where I should place my focus in all aspects of performance. So that I can show up performance-ready daily, feel better, have greater energy, and ultimately perform. I've got to keep up with the kids now, haven't I? The same could be said for Purple Patch athletes; a lot of the athletes that I helped guide toward better performance utilize the same service. And you can too; it's very, very simple. All you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch. Now what they'll do is assess your biometrics and combine the results of those assessments with the expertise of the team of scientists at InsideTracker so that you get a personal action plan and can prioritize where you're going to emphasize your focus and actions. It's very great. And also, on top of that, you're going to get some actionable results; you can track and see the measurable gains that you make in your performance. Insidetracker.com/purple patch and use this code while you're there: Purple Patch Pro 20. That's going to get you 20% off everything at the store. Enjoy the show.
Matt Dixon 01:46
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon. And today, well, I rub my hands in glee and anticipation. You might remember a few weeks ago that I talked about a special series that we're going to be doing around case studies of Purple Patch athletes, some applied learning, if you will, in other words, hearing the stories and insights from athletes that are a part of the Purple Patch program, and now how they've managed to leverage the methodology to facilitate performance in their lives. Now, we kicked it off a couple of weeks ago with Mike Kane, an athlete that I coach. And what we learned with Mike is that he had a shift in perspective away from fitness, fitness, fitness, and more towards health and habits. And it unlocked effectiveness not just in his training but also in how he showed up as a leader. Today, we're going to welcome Purple Patch athletes; their names are Jeff Lipschultz and Marcel Lopez. They both have some powerful stories about how they've managed to leverage sports to help them show up in life and also shift their perspective to get more results from the effort that they're putting in. In Jeff's story, you're going to hear about his arc as, well, a youth that wasn't full of sport, but actually how he has leveraged a journey and how he has leaned into the community by giving back to people to amplify all aspects of life. Marcel has undergone an evolution in his thinking and approaches to yield results that he never thought were possible. It's a compelling couple of stories, and we're going to line them up back to back as double meat and potatoes today. So it's going to be a lot of fun. But before we get going, well, let's do Matt's news.
Matt Dixon 03:53
Yes, folks, it is Matt's news. And I want to tell you a little story. Just the other day, I was sitting with an athlete, and we were side by side at the computer, and we googled something about nutrition as it related to triathlon performance. Do you know what came up? 15 different results with 15 different opinions. And when I looked at the source of the results, many of the people there brought a certain amount of credibility and expertise. No matter what information you're chasing, it is incredibly confusing and time-consuming in a life that, I'm sure, I imagine, is already plenty full of stress and competing demands. I imagine it must be tough to know where you should place your focus and what to prioritize so that you can get the results that you want. Well, guess what? I've got pretty good expertise in many of these areas, a little bit of a reputation, and proven results of unlocking performance in athletes just like you, including more than 1500 time-starved athletes who have qualified for world championship events. And so what we've developed is programming support education specific to you, so that we can cut through the noise and filter the conflicting blizzard of information. What we do is remove the complexity. Reduce so much confusion and simplify your training life without compromising your results. I don't believe in diluting or lowering expectations. Instead, I want to be your partner in unlocking effectiveness so that you can achieve your goals. It's very simple. All you need to do is reach out to us at info@PurplePatchfitness.com. We'll set up a complimentary consultation so that we can understand your challenges and what your goals are. We'll then get you on the program very quickly, within 24 hours, with absolutely no risk for you because we're so confident that if you don't love it, after 30 days, we'll give you your money back. How does that sound? info@purplepatchfitness.com All right. With that, let's hear from the boys. It's Jeff and Marcel. We'll let Jeff take the stage first. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, It is the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 06:23
All right, once again, are the meat and potatoes. And goodness me. I feel like this is long overdue. I finally get to welcome to the show Purple Patch Legend "The Cruise Director," as we call him. Jeff Lipschultz. Thank you very much for joining the Purple Patch podcast, Jeff.
Jeff 06:43
Thanks, coach. I don't know about Legend, but Cruise Director Yeah, I've been a part of Purple Patch for quite a while, and I've met a lot of great people by being involved with our community. Some I got that little moniker, maybe self-proclaimed, who knows.
Matt Dixon 06:57
Who knows. But, uh, it's a great one, and it's well-earned. And we're going to dig into that a little bit later. The special show that we are doing is sort of digging under the hood of Purple Patch and getting to know some of the athletes and their journeys. And I think your journey is one that a lot of people will be inspired by, but also, I think hopefully by the end of this conversation, maybe shift their mindset and their perception of what sport can do for them, and maybe learn how to get the most out of their sports, and I'm going to not dig into that too much now. I'm going to allow our conversation to hopefully unearth that. But to get us going, as I always like to do, I'd like to know people's backgrounds, where they originate from, their family situation, etc. So just kick us off and give us a little bit of the Jeff Lipschultz profile, if you want to call it that.
Jeff 07:14
You love to call me a Texan, Matt, but I am originally from Chicago. I grew up there for quite a while, and sports were not a part of my life at all. I learned how to ride a bike at 10 years old. Long story short, sport wasn't a big part of my life. I don't think I was sedentary. We went out and did stuff as kids and all that. But I didn't discover sports until I gained about four sizes in my belt when I started working out of college and realized I was on a road to, I don't know, potentially obesity and my father had passed away at an early age, relatively speaking, and never met his granddaughters. And I vowed that I was going to do everything I could to meet my grandchildren someday if I had them. And so I embraced cycling around 2002. And then, and then, triathlon came into my life around 2014. It took a long time to get here, but I am glad I did.
Matt Dixon 08:50
And you're before we dig into the sport, so I want to get there. But what do you do professionally? I always think it's important to understand sort of what people do in a professional sense.
Jeff 09:02
I grew up as an engineer, but through a lot of different twists and turns in my career, I am now a senior director of HR for a technology company out of Palo Alto, one that is familiar to you. And yeah, and so it's funny to be an engineer in that role because you're trying to engineer things all the time, but it's wonderful people, yeah, fantastic.
Matt Dixon 09:29
And there's a story there, but we won't go into it. Today we want to talk about Jeff yourself, but sports growing up, so not your -- you weren't one of these puppies that were here, there, and everywhere, with sports, and I know I was interested. You talked about getting into bicycles first. Great. That's your strength. You did not grow up swimming either, yeah? You're a classic adult-onset swimmer.
Jeff 09:56
I like to think of myself as even beyond that. I didn't even know how to swim; there was a lesson, and back at 14, someone told me about a lesson at the Rec Center near me. And they said you should take a lesson and try this. So on Halloween of 2014, I went to the gym, swam across the pool, and said, Okay, now I know I won't drown when I go to my lesson on Monday.
Matt Dixon 10:19
Wow. Okay.
Jeff 10:21
I mean, I didn't know how to swim. I mean, and I don't know that I was afraid of water or anything. It just didn't interest me at all. My parents, I think, tried to get me into swimming lessons, but it didn't take. So I didn't know how to swim. And I'm flat-footed and bow-legged. So I tried running when I got out of college with a friend, and I got shin splints, like the first week. So it was a disaster. So it was like running was not for me. But at the same time, I was trying to swim, and my brother-in-law said, Hey, come do a turkey trot when you visit over Thanksgiving. And I'm like, Okay, I'll try. I bought a pair of shoes, ran for a month, and then did a turkey trot, and that's how my triathlon career started—taking on two sports that I had no idea what I was doing.
Matt Dixon 11:06
And I guess the one thing that you had in confidence was cycling. Yeah, you'd done cycling tours and things like that. Yes. So did you ever race bikes per se? Or was it more just a passion for riding and exploring something?
Jeff 11:19
Well, you know what they call two guys riding bikes in Dallas. Right?
Matt Dixon 11:24
Come on now.
Matt Dixon 11:25
Of course.
Jeff 11:25
A race. A race. Yeah, so I never raced like you're alluding to, but yeah, I've been riding since 2002. And we've written. I wrote across the country with trek travel in 2000 or something else. And we did the Pyrenees with my buddies and me in 13. And, as we've done, you know, Mount Evans and all the fun stuff in Colorado. So I mean, I've done a lot of different stuff on a bike, including going to what I call t-shirt rides, and yeah, you go to the front of a t-shirt, ride, it's a race.
Jeff 11:43
I mean, yeah, hanging on the back of some team-all-matching jerseys and being able to finish with them. That's like an accomplishment in Dallas, right? So it—cycling has evolved for me over time. But even with all that, in 14, and that story I was describing, It was like cycling was getting boring. How do I make cycling more interesting? And adding two sports to it was the answer. It was kind of bizarre, but it worked out that way.
Matt Dixon 12:28
And to sports, I think a lot of people underappreciate this about the sport of triathlon, so multiple disciplines are that, you know, your story is almost the classic triathlon story because, very seldom, unless you have someone that comes out of a true multi-sport background, that doesn't enter the sport with a very clear weakness. And as human beings, or two in your case, yeah, but we, as humans, don't tend to, or many of us don't take on a challenge in which we are genuinely not very good at it to begin. So not too many people start from scratch when they're making it up to 35 years of age and say, I'm going to learn skiing now. It's just like, I don't ski; I'm not a skier. Triathlon is interesting because it exposes new things you can bring, like good strength cycling. The other thing that many triathletes don't have, and you didn't go through sports as a youngster, is that you haven't developed an athletic mindset. ironically, because I believe it's a performance mindset that you've developed in other areas of your life professionally. But you haven't gone through the experiences that may be very different from sort of me growing up, where I grew up as a swimmer; I was an elite swimmer, and I went all the way to swim in college, and then I went to triathlon. So I had a toolbox of what training is like, like how to manage fatigue, what's good fatigue, what's bad fatigue, what's normal pain, what's abnormal pain, all of these things, and how to step up. You don't have that. So you're very youthful in your triathlon career. I know it's been 10 years, but you're pretty youthful. And yet here we are. One of my favorite competitors in 2021 was in St. George when you qualified and went to the 70.3 World Championships. I know that was a bigger thing, but you've done multiple Iron Man races as well by now. How many half-Ironman distance races have you done? Yeah, there are a lot of them.
Jeff 14:30
I think 12 halves, five fulls. Yeah. You know, and then a smattering of other little ones. You bring up an interesting point about the training side of things, Matt because that was what was missing. Even if you've been cycling for all these years, you just kind of learn by osmosis. You'll learn from your friends, right? That's a beautiful community that cycling has. You can learn how to ride a bike with your friends, but when I started learning how to run, I had ITBS by, I don't know, six months. By my first race in my first half, I did Austin with ITBS, and it was very painful. Because I didn't, I didn't have classical training; I didn't, I didn't have the knowledge that goes with it. Hey, guess what? You need hip and glute strength, and you're overstriding; you're an idiot; you don't know how to run, you know? So, having had coaching, I was with another club locally, and then I found Purple Patch. And it's like learning all of the ins and outs of the sport—all the details. The details matter. And that's what propelled me forward in those two sports from, you know, this youthful, you say, in the 10 years, there's a lot to learn, it is.
Matt Dixon 15:45
It is, and you can't rush a lot of it; you have to learn a lot of it, you know, gradually over time. That's why we talk about embracing the journey so much. So you know, that you just highlighted one of my next questions was going to be in your early years: what were the biggest challenges that you faced? You just highlighted one, which was a pretty instant injury when you got cracking. Running-based injuries are very, very common. What are the challenges you have when you reflect on your sort of training journey? It's always interesting to unpack those.
Jeff 16:15
Well, I mean, you don't know what you don't know, as they like to say, right? So when it came to swimming, you know, a key issue there was just thinking you could power through and go fast, you know, swimming again, I know it comes down to form again, just what we're talking about with running, but it's thinking, when you're a cyclist, I have the engine, I mean, that's how I got injured, right, I have the engine, I can run fast, but I will blow the car up because all the parts are not ready to go that fast. And swimming was the same way; you're just plowing through the water, not even rotating, not even the simplest thing. And, but so with coaching, suddenly it's like, yeah, Jeff, this is how you swim. Right? Not like this. And this is where the hand enters the water. I think my biggest challenge up front was just not even knowing what I don't know, and then they also, of course, you know, not -- going at it alone initially was something I think a lot of us do. Let's just see if this takes. Let's see if I'm going to even enjoy doing this. And then you realize pretty quickly that without some formal coaching of some kind, whatever it might, you know, take, without any coaching, you are going to make so many mistakes that can be easily fixed quickly. You know, yes, it takes time. Like you said, I've learned all this over time. But it definitely can lower the risk of getting hurt or increase your ability to learn and maybe not get frustrated, too. There were times with swimming that I was like, You know what? This is not working. Isn't I? I'm not a swimmer, so this is not working. Maybe I can do some kind of run bike thing or something. And I tried everything. I won't bore you with those details. But it can also get so frustrating that you want to quit. So I think with proper coaching and the proper community around you, that allows you to overcome some of those challenges that we're talking about that happen to a lot of us early on in the sport.
Matt Dixon 18:19
Yeah, I mean, so I love talking to you because I can't help but go on tangents, but coaching is interesting because, you know, I'm a coach. So I'm going to value it. I'm going to stand up on the soapbox and say coaching is valuable. It's important. But I think one of the things is that, if I reflect on my journey as an athlete, I was an incredibly loyal athlete. So I was sort of almost parental, looking at my parents probably through my lens. I just wanted to please my coaches. But that didn't make me a really good coach. Because I was almost there, I'd just run through the barn doors. So I didn't have any autonomy. But it's very, very difficult, whether you're coached or otherwise when you're doing the doing to emerge from the weeds. And I think the coach, a coach or qualified...some form of coach, is enabling perspective, guiding you, helping you course correct, and enabling you to pull back. That's the valuable stuff, and I think there are often people who misunderstand coaching. Why I talked about sort of some of my failures as a coached athlete was that I always viewed the coach as the person who was just going to deliver the magic program that would unlock everything, versus a fruitful coaching relationship and everything where it's like, actually, I'm still doing the doing. I'm still in control of my program. This person has the wisdom, perspective, and expertise to help me get the most out of my efforts and make smart decisions. It's different than just unlocking these key workouts. But anyway, back to the discussion at hand. I find that very, very interesting. I do want to say before that I do want to say something about your riding, because you came from a writing background, but one of the things she said to me before we came on to the show to record it was that I thought I knew it all when it came to bike riding. And so you're doing (inaudible) but not with the form and not what we call Purple Patch strength endurance work, which is low cadence work at high torque. Can you just unpack that a little bit for me? What do you mean by that? Because I never asked.
Jeff 20:29
Yeah, you know, it's easy. It's easy when you're hanging with those guys and Dallas at the back of that little peloton, there, or sometimes the front, they play games, right? Now that you've got it figured out, it's easy to build that much confidence because you're a strong cyclist. But then, over time, you'll learn. Listen, there's something to be gained from doing the different kinds of workouts indoors: strength, endurance, and low cadence. I didn't do low cadence until I met you—never, ever, ever. I mean, I did intervals when it was hip, when it was the thing to do, right? Intervals have been around for a while; they're not a new thing. And that's where I would put the video. I want to say the VHS tape, but I mean, I think it was at least a DVD. I would put it in and do the intervals; I would be loyal. Like you said, I would just do the work, do the work, and whatever. But if you figure out, depending on your coaches, that there's more to cycling than just doing the work, Yeah. So you have to realize there's a skill set. And I'll tell you that to this day, I'll admit it in front of everybody: I'm still not perfect on my pedal stroke, and I'll be doing my workouts with Purple Patch. And with my buddies, I still ride with the same Purple Patch folks that I had since 2019, since we started riding together and will be Hey pull up on the backside. Come on, loosen up, loosen up, you know, get the shoulders loose, and all these things. It's like, I'm sure I wasn't doing any of those things when I was riding before we were pushed. So it's easy. It's easy to be lulled into the confidence that you're doing it right. Maybe it's not that you're doing it right; you're doing it right enough to do well. And it's like, but you could be doing better. And here's the thing, Matt: when you're a cyclist only, at the end of that hard t-shirt ride, you get a beer; you don't go run a marathon. Right? So athletes say I'm doing it well enough because I'm done. And if I have to go run a marathon, I remember Wisconsin. My legs were locked because those hills are badass, you know? So, I had locked quads for an entire marathon. I didn't ride it correctly. So, I mean, those were before Purple Patch. But definitely, I think confidence is important; you can be overconfident. When you're coming into two sports like that,
Matt Dixon 23:00
I want to do that. I want to do a slight detour here, not going too far down the rabbit hole. We're going to come back to the community a little bit later in our conversation, but you mentioned riding with the same group since 2019. So for the last five years or so, now you're based in Dallas. Most people think, Okay, you're based in Dallas; maybe there's a hub for you in Dallas. So this cast of crew, just give me a couple of the cities or a few of the cities where these folks are based that you're riding with on video every single week, where they're based. You're in Dallas.
Jeff 23:30
I'm in Dallas, but I ride with Portland; I ride with Victoria or Calgary; I ride with Michigan and Idaho; and another Michigan, a couple of Michigan's. And what's funny is, here's the funny story. I went to do Waco 70.3, and I learned that there's a Purple Patch athlete competing there. I met him at the race. And he lives five minutes from me. I had never met him before. I'm riding with people all over the country, and here it is, and now I ride with Joe on Saturdays occasionally; he rides with my posse now, but I mean, it was so bizarre, but yeah, I've been riding with those folks since and a few others since 2018. Right before COVID, so I mean, it was Wow, a godsend. As you know, I kind of built a community of riders to ride with on Tuesday and Thursday mornings because we do our own thing before work. And I'll tell you, we have said it many times. Thank goodness I did this one with my friends and did not wait till after work and did it by myself.
Matt Dixon 24:38
It makes a big difference. And these people are genuinely your friends now. It's fantastic that you know we're connected through a common passion but on all different levels. And just for listeners, so that they can understand your different time zones from here in San Francisco. Tuesday, Thursday, the West Coast, and people with more flexible schedules. I'm in Coaching Live; I've got my group in the center in San Francisco, and I've got people all over the world. And it's funny, we go to a training camp, and someone will come in, Anna from my little group, and I met her for the first time a year or so ago. Hi, how's it going? We already know each other well because you're part of this connected community. We will come back to the importance of that in your journey, but I want to keep it narrowly focused on you first and talk about now, who's counting, but I think you've been with Purple Patch for six years now, something like that five or six years?
Jeff 24:41
Something like that (inaudible)
Matt Dixon 25:10
So I want to go back to some of the shifts that have occurred, and I'm not asking this; you know, Purple Patch, Purple Patch, Purple Patch, there's been an evolution in your performance; some of it is the maturation curve of just becoming a smarter athlete, and some of it is that you're genuinely coached now. And we talked about the value of that. What are some of the elements that maybe you can highlight that you feel, as an athlete, have been most important to you? And, you know, whether it's training, whether it's habits, whether it's mindset, whether it's strategies, you know, integrating walk breaks, what do you love to do? So what are some of the aspects that you think have been most impactful for you and some of the changes that you've made over the last few years?
Jeff 26:27
Well, it's easy when it comes to mine, and it's a broken record for a lot of people, and they don't want to hear about his strength. Strength workouts. I have been like, I've been working out with Mike, you know, on my little computer here, and I move it to Mondays and Thursdays or Fridays, and get that done. Just get it done. Yep, it. And I learned a hard lesson when I got ITBS, which stays with you forever. It's like it's not something you want to get again. And it's all about hip, hip, and glute strength and all that, and I did the PT. So I'm like, and actually, that's when I discovered the podcast—secrets I would listen to you while doing my PT. That's when I joined Purple Patch. Right? You know,
Matt Dixon 27:06
So interesting, yeah.
Jeff 27:08
So kind of funny that you were in my ears a long, long time ago, when I was injured, but strength is critical to avoiding injury, yes, but being a stronger cyclist and a stronger swimmer requires core strength. So that was one of the key things that Purple Patch gave me. But again, I'll never forget when you had Sarah pregnant and everything on a treadmill, and what you're doing here are the five things you need to do to be a good runner. She was doing it pregnant; if she can do it pregnant on a treadmill, I think I can learn it and figure it out on my journey. And so just simplifying, maybe, how to be good at these other two sports was critical for me. So it's not just that you're talking about how to do it; you're showing us how to do it. And then, of course, with the videos that we do of the live classes you do, you get off the bike and talk through things—things to think about and things to do when you're on the bike. The visual part is that I think one of the big, big wins for Purple Patch over the last couple of years is that people can see what they're supposed to be doing. Not just hear you coach us on it. Nutrition has been big. I've listened to all the podcasts. You've talked about nutrition in a lot of different ways and had guests talk about nutrition, and it does give us a mindset on how important that is. So, of course, you know, recovery, rest, and all that kind of thing.
Matt Dixon 28:37
All the stuff that is nonnegotiable if you're Purple Patch, it's funny. You smiled as you said that because it's just such a part of the fabric of the program. So I want to ask you that. You have, I mean, you're very busy. You've got a demanding role in life. How is the sport, the journey of sport -- Do you feel -- because I talked about this of the value of sport and it's great and you achieve and you've been to the World Championships, etc. -- What's the impact been on you as a human being and you as an executive?
Jeff 29:15
Well, one could argue I'm a pretty goal-centered kind of person. You know me at all—you know, the goal-centered kind of person—and that's in my career, and it has also been in sports. But defining those goals carefully, I think, is important. And for me, when it comes down to it with triathlon, it's not just going to a world championship and all that; it's also, I think, for me, the roles where my life has just been able to give back within the sport, you know, to take but also to give. There's a wonderful, amazing community within triathlon cycling to where you, you make up. You do make friendships for life, and you can help people through their journeys and things of that nature. So for me, the role of sport in my life has been: I hate to identify myself as a triathlete, but it's a part of who I am. It's a part of my DNA now, you know? I can't imagine life without being a triathlete. It'd be weird. And so it's, it's, that's, that's part of it. But going back to the goals and everything else, I like to challenge myself; I like to push myself, and it might not be that I'm going to be on a podium in that race because I'm going to California, and there's going to be 100 people that are vying for that podium; they're all there; they're loaded with talent over there, you know, for a race like that. So what is your goal? If you're going up against them, if your goal is to try and break 510, or five, or whatever, or have the best run of your life, you know, things like that, you can still challenge yourself with unique and creative goals within the sport, so many that you could come up with. And then, of course, the role. You know, I think you alluded to it. You know, community, we can talk about it in a minute. But for me, it's also just who I identify with to a certain degree and being able to—I mean, you were talking about these folks that I ride with on Tuesdays and Thursdays—some people cherry-pick their races because they want to win that race. I pick my races based on who's going or who I can go with. The people that I ride with on weekdays, I've gone and raced with them in Hawaii, raced with them in Victoria, right, and had that experience of meeting them in person like you were talking about. You know, it's to me; that's like, it adds another dimension to why we do this. And I couldn't do it alone, because I couldn't imagine just being a triathlete and doing it this way. I mean, I've gotten people to go do Iron Man for the first time. I've got a guy that I pseudo-coach; he's almost 80 years old. And we're just trying to get him to 80. He's done a million sprints and some smaller-distance races. And he's getting up there in age. I mean, we have to keep bandages on him. But to see him achieve that goal. But even at the other end of the spectrum—not the 80s, but five or six years old—I've coached 230 kids on how to ride and how to learn to ride without training wheels. Fantastic. Do you remember when you taught Baxter how to ride a bike?
Matt Dixon 32:43
Yeah, yeah, I did.
Jeff 32:45
Do you remember that moment and how it felt in your heart? Do you remember, when he was riding? Yeah, yeah, that feeling that you had, I got the chance to experience it 230 times over the last 15 years. Over and over again, it's always the same feeling when a child takes off on a bike. That's that feeling right there; that's what triathlon feels like; that's what it feels like. The best way I can describe what the sport means to me is that little feeling in your heart when you're like, being with your buddies and racing, or just walking the course together, whatever it is, it's so fun.
Matt Dixon 33:24
You know that, you know, that feeling that you felt there. That's the sort of feeling that I feel when you qualify for the World Championships. And a lot of athletes, it's that's, that's, that's what coaching is; it's great. And let's go down the rabbit hole of opening up community because community is a funny word to me. As a part of Purple Patch, we have a large group of athletes; we go international. And when you say community, it can mean a lot of different things to different people. And like anything, you've got core people who are wholly invested. And you've got the voyeurs and the people that I don't need. I consistently see in any arena that anyone going on an individual journey, whenever you shift towards a team or squad or lean in, does better, because it starts to drive a performance culture, and there's a whole bunch of reasons for it. Your nickname is The Cruise Director. And the reason you've done that is that, just as it emerged out of something that I didn't know about, you're teaching all those kids to ride a bike. You are giving, giving, giving, in so many ways, hosting the ride that we've talked about already. active on our community boards, helping people almost having a coaching role in that organic suitable way of providing advice and counseling, connecting people geographically, there are so many cases that we could go on for five or 10 minutes just talking about everything that you do. So you're giving. And I want to ask a question, because in my thesis, by giving that much, you're getting a lot there as well, aren't you? Are you getting a lot out of that as well? Like, what do you get out of that?
Jeff 35:28
I mean, I genuinely like to help people. But when you receive help from them to start with, you can't coach us 24/7. You can't be there for us all the time. You're great, but you can't be the -- so who's going to pick up the pieces when you're not there? Who's going to tell Jeff? You know, it's 41 degrees outside. I have to go do a brick, so I have to go from a sweaty bike to putting on the right clothes to go outside. You know, it's always a pain in the butt. You know, and Bob will say, we'll throw on a tech tee and then throw on your heavier shirt. Oh, okay. I mean, sorry, Coach, you never told me that. I wouldn't expect you to. It's like, all these little things that your community can teach you can teach me, right? I have been the beneficiary of this for a long time, even when it was just cycling. I learned from my friends how to cycle better, you know, and you take and take and take. It's nice to give because you know that they're going to appreciate what you're sharing with them or what you're doing for them. Or, you know, when we went through COVID Matt, it was, Yeah, so I was messaging individuals, you know, how's it going, you know, especially ones I knew weren't, you know, come join our ride or things like that. One of our athletes lost their father-in-law. So it was like, follow up with him, you know, just the little things that people know you care about because that makes such a difference for them. So it brings me joy; it just makes me feel good. I guess I'm a little bit spoiled. I mean, it feels good to help people, and we've got so many athletes with so many unique stories. And I've learned from a lot of them. So I feel I owe the community something to give back. You know, I guess it's that simple for me.
Matt Dixon 37:18
Yeah, I think the lesson is, yours. I don't think that many people don't appreciate the power of leaning into team, community, squad, et cetera, and helping others and the benefits that you will get. It's an individual sport in which one earns the rewards from it. But it's with training, hard work, commitment, smart decision-making, supporting habits, recovery, and nutrition that the edge, the X factor, the amplifier universally, is when I see people lean in, they get more out of the journey, and they get greater awards. And I think that that extends to, you know, sport, not being the thing that you mentioned earlier, but defining you. And the results don't define you, but they sure help you become a better person. And I think that's and shows up better in other areas of life. And, I think a key to unlocking that is community, sharing, being a part of it, and helping others mentor others, you get so much more of a reward for it. And I think you're the beacon of Purple Patch for that. That's honestly the biggest reason I wanted to talk to you about it. Let me ask you. One more question. And, and this is, as you sit now, and you're sort of a decade plus into your journey, and it's your opportunities, what would you do if you wanted to leave the show and extend your wisdom with one or two lessons or takeaways to say, everyone listening to this show, appreciate this, or take this perspective, take this mindset, what would be the one or two takeaways that you, Jeff, would share with weightlessness?
Jeff 39:16
Wow, but one of them, we kind of talked about just this and we glossed over, so we'll hit it again; details matter, right? For the littlest change that you could make to your gait, to your swim form, to how you ride the bike, whatever it is, those little details will eventually pay dividends. And I used to be that guy and be like, Oh, that's such a small thing. It's not going to put—that's not going to make it—that's not going to get me to here. You know, it's such a small thing. But our sport is very repetitive. We do that same small thing 1000, you know, 1000s of times, right? So it does add up. So those little details matter, so when you preach the different types of things we can do, sometimes it gets repetitive and we are like enough already, but it's like I need that reminding, right? So those details are important to me. I think. I think the other thing I learned was that I started learning this a little bit before Purple Patch. It was funny. I asked a coach on our previous team, How long do you think it'll be before I can qualify? I mean, I wasn't. I wasn't dead serious about it. But I was like, Oh, he's like, Well, Jeff, you just kind of started; it's going to be a couple of years, and I'm like, a couple of years. What? I thought we were in months, not years. I mean, I had to do this for a couple of years before I got dividends from it, and, you know, now all these years later, you realize that the other gem I would share is that patience is paramount. Right? You can't invent yourself. I mean, you didn't invent yourself in a year; it was an evolution that got you to where you are today, or any athlete we look at or any professional executive, whatever it is, even as a parent, we don't start out knowing anything, and we evolve and learn. So you have to be patient with that process. You have to be willing to make mistakes, learn from them, ask questions, and realize you don't know everything. Again, lean on your community to learn faster if you can, but it's going to take time. And so yeah, to me, it's a hard thing, but it wasn't one of the harder lessons to learn; actually, patience will prevail, and it will eventually pay off.
Matt Dixon 41:45
And that means you better, obviously, be consistent and try hard, but while you're doing that and you're being patient, you might as well make it fun. You might like it, so you can work hard, but you better enjoy it as well and allow yourself to have fun along the way.
Jeff 42:02
I think you stole my last one. The third and last one is, yeah, if you don't make this fun, it's because we joke about it. We're not paid. We're amateur athletes. We're not paid to compete, right? I mean, when people ask us all the time, why do you do this? Why do you torture yourself? Why do you not drink on a Saturday night? We race the next day. Or whatever it is? Why do you want to do all this? And it's like, oh, it's fun. But yeah, if it's not fun, then you wouldn't do all this stuff. Yeah, you got to find your fun in it, for sure. Even when it hurts.
Matt Dixon 42:36
Jeff, Thank you so much. And I appreciate you being on the show.
Jeff 42:41
Oh, and I appreciate being here. Oh, you know what? Before we parted ways, there was one more thing you were talking about: lessons learned. There's one more thing I think is important: as I was talking about it, I entered the sport without knowing anything about swimming or running. And there's a lot of people out there that I think are intimidated by jumping into our sport because it looks really hard. Yeah, it looks like it's easy to fail; they don't have the experience. But my advice to them is, well, more or less, just go for it; you have to be willing to try and fail. You know, learn the lessons from it, and grow and continue to blossom within those hard sports. To anybody thinking I can't do that: Because you see people doing this hard thing. Just try. My last gem is to just give it a try. You'd be surprised at what you can do when you allow yourself to get out of your comfort zone and do something new. For sure.
Matt Dixon 43:38
It is a powerful message. Now we're starting to do a lot of work with leadership teams and in organizations. And as we come out and emerge from the seminars, my takeaway is that we often take on challenges. And for a lot of people, it's normal; most people struggle to do that because of the anxiety of failure. And taking it on. And just as I always like to say, just jump off a cliff and flap your arms because you might just find out you can fly. And if you can...
Jeff 44:12
You know what else, man? It ties back to community because you have a community; that's the net. You can jump off that cliff, and we'll catch you. You're not going to fail catastrophically; we will catch you, and you will rebound from even the failure that comes from learning.
Matt Dixon 44:28
I think -- and I think that sport is the safest venue to take the risk. It's not like, oh, not sure if I'm going to, you know, like living in this city. So I'm going to move across the country—well, there's a pretty big risk—or I'm going to change careers. That's a pretty big risk. Sport is risk-free. So you can; it's a great venue, and when you lean into a community as well, as you've put it so nicely, it's the safety net. It's the place that's going to facilitate success and ensure that you grow and learn. It's a great one, and it's a great way to end the show. So, Jeff, thank you for being on the show. That's what I said, but also thank you for being a part of Purple Patch—all of the support, the education, the guidance, and the council. Your title is cruise director, and it's well-earned. We deeply appreciate it. And, you're, you're such an integral part of the community that we've talked about, to the team, and I'm proud of your journey as well. So thanks once again. It was terrific fun, and I appreciate it.
Jeff 45:32
I appreciate it, too. It's an honor to be a part of this community. I encourage everyone to join us.
Matt Dixon 45:37
Good man.
Matt Dixon 45:38
Thanks, Matt, as always.
Matt Dixon 45:39
All right. Cheers, Jeff.
Matt Dixon 45:43
We're going to introduce and welcome Purple Patch athlete Marcel. Marcel, thank you so much for joining us.
Marcel 45:51
Thanks for having me, Matt.
Matt Dixon 45:52
Taking your time out of your busy day, you get to have, well, I've got a nice cup of coffee. With me, I hope you're loaded up there in Florida. But we want to talk about your journey a little bit. And you're part of a series that we're doing that shines the spotlight on you guys who are down in the trenches doing the hard work, and I think your story has a lot of lessons that listeners can draw from and apply to their journey throughout the sport. And, if you're willing, we're just going to dig in and talk about your journey, some of the lessons, and some of the training methodology, and hopefully it will be a little bit of fun. So why don't we kick off, as I like to do with everybody, and let's introduce ourselves and go back to the start? So, um, tell us a little bit about yourself, your family, and your living situation growing up. Who is Marcel Lopez?
Marcel 46:48
So, as Matt said, my name is Marcel. I'm 44 years old. I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently live in Miami, Florida. I moved here about 14 years ago and am now coming up to 14 years old. I met my wife here, who is married and has a five-year-old boy.
Matt Dixon 47:11
So you are the proverbial time-starved athlete in many ways, still in the hurricane of it all. Yeah?
Marcel 47:18
Yes, yes, that is true. Now it's even getting busier because now he's getting into, you know, little extracurricular activities like tennis and swimming. I'm trying to get him to swim from a younger age; maybe it'll help them down the line.
Matt Dixon 47:34
Well, we're going to dig into that with you a little bit. We were just laughing about how your swimming expertise aligned with my running expertise. But we'll get there in a couple of moments, and professionally, what do you do? What's your profession?
Marcel 47:49
So I've been in the IT world for 24 to 25 years now. I went from networking to currently IT security slash consulting, working at a local, local firm here in downtown Miami.
Matt Dixon, 48:06
Fantastic, and let's go into sports. I always like to do this. So I like the background. Triathlon attracts a really broad range of people from a wide variety of athletic backgrounds. So, growing up in San Juan, what was your sort of childhood like as far as sports?
Marcel 48:25
So my first introduction to sports was kind of track and field. I put it into quotes because it was not anything official; it was kind of like in the field days and elementary school, kind of like running and running the shorter distances going fast. Or I thought I was going fast. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, I kind of woke up, kind of like competitiveness, or showed my competitiveness as a person; I'm pretty much type A, I would say so. And then from there, I got into volleyball at the end of elementary school and went into high school, and at the same time, I was playing baseball, which, by those two sports, couldn't be anything further from endurance sports. I disliked running—running anything that had to do more than a mile. So that's pretty much my background in sports.
Matt Dixon 49:30
And so and then here we are, many years later, talking about half Ironman, 70.3, racing, et cetera. So how on earth did you find your passion for triathlon?
Marcel 49:42
Wow. So it's funny because I already started cycling again. So I had my road bike, and I was going out like weekend stuff—nothing structured or anything—riding on the weekends, and I saw that a former classmate of mine had completed the 70.3 in Puerto Rico. And me being type A, I'm like, if he could do it, I definitely can do this thing. So I started thinking I was going to register to do 70.3 Puerto Rico without thinking about swimming; it was just jumping in the water and, yeah, it'll be easy. And that's when I realized I had started training. I contacted a very good local coach, and I learned a lot from him. A lot of the things that I know today are because, thankfully, I landed with a good coach. So I went to my first pool session, and I couldn't even get to the other side of the pool without feeling like I was drowning. And that's when it hit me that, no, you're not doing a 70.3 anytime soon. So that's kind of where it started.
Matt Dixon, 50:56
And now, since then, you have completed 70.3s, and you've done very well. You're still chasing the top 10 in your age group. You mentioned so, but you've now got a solid background. So why don't you just give sort of a couple of your heady heights of accomplishment? Oh,
Marcel 51:18
well. So I mean, I think the first couple of years, I kind of stayed doing sprints because I wasn't that confident in my swim. But then, as I grew more confident again, I started delving into longer distances. I did my first Olympic in Cleveland, which was one of the worst water conditions that everybody had seen in internationals. That was my first DNS. I pretty much got in the water, got panicked, and then I'm like, I'm not swimming out there. So I just turned around, gave my chip, and that was it. So, that was a little bit humbling. So, but then I did my first 70.3 in August 2018. So that kind of did pretty well for being my first, and then, I mean, I think that my biggest accomplishment to date was that I wanted to go, and one of my first targets was going under five hours. So I was able to do that one in 2021 in North Carolina. Current an assistant, so I would say that some of that is thankful for the current, but yeah, I mean, it's been a pretty fulfilling sport so far.
Matt Dixon 52:42
Well, I want to dig into that a little bit because one thing that's very clear so far is that swimming is your biggest weakness. So you've got a relatively robust background in cycling, running as a relative strength, etcetera. I know the catalyst was seeing your buddy do the 70.3 in Puerto Rico. I think I can do that too. But now you've gotten into it. I'm always interested because triathlon is an interesting sport in which almost everybody has a weakness. So swim is yours. The run was mine; I came from a swimming background. So polar opposite of worlds, is that, now that you're into the sport, is that a part of the appeal in many ways that you're not just focusing on proving your strengths, but you're also sort of forced to back against the wall to be successful, you have to improve your weaknesses? Is that part of an appeal? Or do you just wish you were great at everything?
Marcel 53:38
I mean, I would say absolutely. Like you said, I mean, one of my current goals is to qualify for a 70.3 World Championship. So in a way, if I want to do that, I have to get better at swimming; there's no going down there; I cannot just go in the water and just take my time. So in a way, it forces me to just keep working and keep improving as much as possible. Or at least getting my swim to a point where it's not a hindrance to the entire rate. So, you know, getting out of the water with enough energy to then attack the bike and run legs.
Matt Dixon 54:28
It's one of those things that, if you think about the sport, and, if you expand it to a broader life, there are very few occasions where we naturally really work on something that we are weak at. And I think that's sort of interesting, not just for your story, but you're a great example of this. If you did go on and qualify for 70.3 words, it would have been because of something most people don't do, which is to face a challenge in something quite daunting, something that is a weakness that must be overcome. And in many ways, that's different than, you know, imagine if I said, I want to swim the English Channel; let's just make it up. Well, I come from a swimming background, and all it is is hard work and something that I'm strong at. But if I wanted to qualify for Boston or run the rim to the rim in Colorado, whatever it might be, well, that's something that's a clear weakness. And so I do think that's something compelling about the sport for you. I want to dig into your mindset a little bit because we're going to lock into your training a little bit. You mentioned to me before the conversation that quite often, you're hard on yourself. You've already mentioned your Taipei, you said, as really almost judgmental of yourself around training; can you just expand more on that? And the real question is, how have you managed to evolve through that or overcome that, and how can you sort of be a part of helping Purple Patch with that?
Marcel 56:02
Well, I mean, it's. So before, I would say, a couple of years ago, I would think that to get better at either the swim bike run or the three disciplines, you needed to do a track session eight hundred or four hundred, whatever it was, and or intervals on the bike feel to max intervals, that you have to either hit your target numbers or go above them. And if you didn't do that, then that would mean that, okay, you're not improving; you're just either getting worse or getting weaker, or your fitness is not increasing at the rate that it needs to, etc. So obviously, as time has gone by, I can go back and think of, I don't know, a bunch of sessions that didn't go as planned or as prescribed, but then I go to a race, and I'm able to either exceed or at least meet my expectations for that race. So now, in hindsight, I can say that, that has nothing to do with, how are you going to perform on any given day. It's just on that day; that's what you had, and you just learned to deal with it, and just go. You didn't hit whatever the numbers were, but you showed up and trained? So it's just like, "Is there money in the bank? I guess.
Matt Dixon 57:36
Yeah, and I guess, you know, if you think about what it's called, it's called training or practice; some people call it that. That's really what it is; it isn't called Judgment Day. And I think that mindset is very, very common amongst athletes, yeah? Where you're, you're sort of every single day, we want to see validation, we want to see improvement. And it's in part because of your motivation, because of your drive, and because of your commitment. So it's a really sort of natural, organic emotion to have. How has being a part of Purple Patch evolved that? Is that something that maybe the community or the coaching—or, like, how has it evolved your perspective? Or is it just the experience, as you've got wisdom in the sport, do you think?
Marcel 58:27
I think it's a combination of everything I would say. Again, like I mentioned, in my previous coach, one of the things he also kind of liked to emphasize was learning how efforts feel like learning to go by not necessarily what a little computer is telling you. And that, for me, is super hard because I'm obsessed with numbers. And I love data. And if I'm going on an interval and not seeing that number, specifically there, it kind of drives me nuts a little bit. Now, I just tend to ignore it, for the most part. And then the Purple Patch methodology is kind of the same. Like going by effort, knowing and understanding what your body's doing or feeling. How do zones three, four, and five feel? In the community as well, everybody kind of feeds into each other, and results from everybody in the community kind of show that it's just about showing up. I mean, one of the reasons why I started working with John one-on-one was to kind of get a little bit more specific feedback on what I'm doing and around my specific races. That's also helped.
Matt Dixon 59:53
You're working with the right guy, you're, you're—so something pretty common at Purple Patch—you are sort of both squad members. So a slight, let's call it a more autonomous program, leaning into the team of coaches in broader education and the community to work directly with John are some experts. You're also getting the benefit of having the guy for swimming and helping, and you're giving your feedback on that. So I'm positive. I'm interested in your shift in training approach globally. You mentioned one thing that I want to dig into a little bit, which is, as you said, realizing or not approaching each week with every session being key and how to go easy. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Marcel 1:00:39
Sure. So one of the biggest, I think, mistakes I made before understanding that piece was especially running. I would not go for an easy run on easy days; I would have a long run. And I wasn't going all out, but I was going too fast or too hard, for sure. And it took me a while to understand that going easy doesn't mean that it's not going to make you slow; it's not going to make you slow. It's just going to do what it's meant to do, which is build your aerobic side. So it's on the bike as well. Sometimes I would go out for two, three, or four hours on the bike, and I would come back and look at training peaks. My normalized power was like 145 Watts, and I'm like, that's weak. So...
Matt Dixon 1:01:34
And appropriate, but that's not how it feels.
Marcel 1:01:38
Yeah, I mean, it's just that it gives you that endurance of being able to, in a race, ride hard for two hours, two and a half hours, and then have enough in the tank to run well off the bike. So it's just, I think it's just matter. It's yours. It's an experience. Like everything you learn, learn to trust the process. Learn to trust your coaches. What they're telling you is that they're guiding you in the right direction.
Matt Dixon 1:02:12
So what are some other sorts of shifts in the overall approach that I think will be interesting for listeners? I've got the magic list that you gave me here. But I'd love for you to expand on that. So beyond going easy and not every session being key, there are a few things that you have embraced over the last couple of years that have helped you, particularly in the fact that you do have travel and a lot of competing demands in life. But what are some of the specific sorts of training approaches that you've evolved?
Marcel 1:02:44
So strength. That's been something that I've been doing since joining Purple Patch, and one of the reasons that I joined Purple Patch was that I knew that I needed to do something specific to the sport around strength. So integrating strength a little bit more into my program hasn't been easy. I think that this year, so far, it's finally that I can say right now that it's consistent. Like last year, I did at the beginning of the year that 30-day thing that we did in January, and I stuck to it, but then as the year progressed, I kind of dropped it. I did drop it 100%. But it could have been better. So this year, I'm making the effort to, at a minimum, have at least one strength workout a week. So, so far, it's consistent. Another thing I wasn't doing consistently was, after every workout, having a protein shake or some food, carbs, and protein to kind of get my body in that recovery mode. So I think that that's improved—how am I consistent, how my training progresses, rather? And in terms of travel, when I was traveling a lot, I couldn't take my bike. So I kind of learned how to shift; I can do a swim bike; I can just swim, run, and have strength. So I would, on the days that I had a bike, swim, or do strength training and learn how to move things around to at least do something productive to my training.
Matt Dixon 1:04:45
The post-workout fueling, I think, is quite common. People ask me in interviews what's the number one thing, and you've just highlighted two of them that will always be my number one, and I can't separate them, which is to go easy in easy workouts. I think that's fundamental so that you can string together consistency. Most people struggle, whether it's injuries, fatigue, or a lack of return on investment, so adaptations are typically too hard in the easy stuff. That's why that's always one that I highlight. The second is post-workout fueling. And if you can integrate that as a, as a, as almost a religion, you know, it's an absolute non-negotiable habit; it has such a positive knock-on effect on your consistency or the adaptations you're making during the day. So I think those are great. And then just the last thing on strength training, it's really difficult for many people that are enthusiasts that love to, in this case, triathlon, swim, bike, and run, to stick with strength throughout the season. We're now recording this mid-March; stay with it, like give yourself the experiment over this year. And don't correlate it directly to faster or slower in your first race of the year, second race of the year, etc. Just go through the year and then pause, come back, and say okay, because it's then a bona fide, genuine 910 months that you've done it. So that's a habit, and just see how you feel functioning in life, as well as, of course, the objective side of the results. So I would say almost all three pillars of this are what I want to see around an athlete doing it well, which is terrific. We also talked a little bit about a couple of things: walk breaks, and I want to go there. And then on the bike, we have some pretty specific strength work that we do on the bike and terrain management. Now you live in Florida. So can you let us focus? We'll hold on to the walk breaks for now. But why don't you talk about your bike training a little bit beyond the endurance stuff?
Marcel 1:06:53
Well, I mean, as you just mentioned, I live in Florida, where the highest mountains here are bridges. And so usually, where I train on the weekends, it's just flat. I avoid the bridge, not because I don't want to do it; it's just because it's safer not to have to do the bridge. So it's challenging because when we do races, for example, Chattanooga, which I did last year; St. George, which I did in 2021; and Augusta, which I did in 2019, those are rolling slash hilly courses. So there's a lot of climbing and a lot of demand on knowing how to shift, knowing how to purposely use your cadence to maximize your effort. As well as descending, with which I've kind of been a little bit more comfortable now. Not because of any specific training that I'm doing, but just because I got experience, I feel a lot more comfortable. The bike that I have right now has disc brakes. So it helps to know that your brakes are not just going to heat up and not work at the end of a descent. But in terms of climbing, I do most of my bike training indoors in two sessions, and I try to go out at least once for my long rides. And before I wasn't doing anything, well, when I joined Purple Patch, we still did strength and endurance stuff on the bike; I did it on Zwift. But there was not that focus, and learning how to use your bike and your body to attack those inclines. And that's one thing that, since starting the Velocity platform, has kind of been game-changing in terms of learning how to use gears and how to use cadence to maximize your speed and return. And then one of the funny things is that every single race that I've done on a hilly course, I am passing so many people on the downhill that it's crazy, like because a lot of people like, like, we see they reach the top of the hill and they just relax. Yeah, instead of gaining speed and then relaxing on the downhill, which you do, you're not going to go that much faster. So learning those little details, it's just free speed and free time that you're getting with very little effort, in a way.
Matt Dixon 1:09:47
Yeah, what it is, so I mean, I'm not a fan of the term free speed, but there is sort of one, because I think it's well earned, and your input over there. I will say, and I know this is just slightly tangential, but you know, when we decided to transition to the platform, and I did it, I, you know, made this decision to go to the Velocity platform because I realized that it was an effective coaching tool. And I had the hypothesis at the time that it would help people become better bike riders. I am even, frankly, quite surprised at how impactful it has been and how realistic it is. Because, you know, and for people, listeners that have not been on the platform, our ability to create any sort of terrain, and for the bike and the trainer to interact in a directly real-world way. So how do you carry speed? How do you build speed? As a coach, it is interesting. And just last week, we were doing some terrain management stuff, and as everybody sort of, you know, synthetically hypothetically, proverbially crested the hill, I deliberately didn't say anything. And I had the whole of Studio One in San Francisco, everybody at home, keenly looking at their leg speed, and I saw them all accelerating. And I was like, That is the behavior that you want. It's now ingrained in how I do it. So even you in the desperate flatlands of Miami are sort of, from home, genuinely able to do it. And there isn't another platform like it. It's very, very special. I think we get to benefit from it, which is a great thing. Go ahead.
Marcel 1:11:27
Yeah. And to add to that, it was also in North Carolina last year. It was very windy. So pretty much on the way out, I would say 25, 30 miles. We were against a headwind. And I think that we've done certain sessions, which is, I think, called heads and tails. Which is what, once, I don't know, three or four minutes is simulating a headwind and then the other one is simulating a tailwind? And even here, that is something that I can practice because there are a lot of headwinds. Yeah. I mean, I'm on most of my rides; I would say 50% to 53% of it's like it's a headwind, and knowing how to use my bike to assist me in getting quicker through it. It's it's, it's been it's a it's a it's a game changer, literally.
Matt Dixon 1:12:18
And sorry, I'm overriding because I'm coaching a little bit, but I'm the -- it is the, like what you're highlighting here, and I think this is the, one of the central reasons I wanted to have you on the show is that you are an IT guy, very metrics-based, very numbers-based. And what you've developed over the last couple of years is a toolkit, that it's not just you think about how we started very harsh on yourself, every session needs to be good otherwise, it's a failure, and evolving to say, You know what, I'm it's not just practices practice, logging the time doing the sessions to the best of your ability on the day, but in addition to that, I'm building a toolkit that you got the real-world application, which is, you deserve a lot of kudos for that. I know, I know, we're stacked up against time here. So I want to come just to sort out the results a little bit and the impact of this. You become much better from an organizational effectiveness standpoint; integrating strength training and post-workout fueling was important. We didn't get to go to sleep. I know that's been a big catalyst for you. And then there was the whole mindset around training. I'm interested in what the outcome has been for you if we're sort of treating this as a little bit of a case study. A lot has changed and evolved in your training, your habits, and your mindset, and I think that's central. So what's the impact of your words?
Marcel 1:13:48
I mean, I can use two races as good examples of how I've been able to apply pretty much a lot of the things, the lessons, and the education that we get from Purple Patch. In 2000, was it 22? I did 70.3 Puerto Rico. So on the Wednesday leading up to that week, I was traveling on Thursday. That Wednesday, I was setting my wheels, and one of them just literally blew up my rims at 9 p.m. I had no spare, so I had to, but thankfully, I had a friend as a mechanic who sent me and lent me a pair of wheels. But when I got to Puerto Rico, those were not my race wheels. I'm not used to them. The cassette wasn't necessarily compatible with the gear I had on my bike. So I had to do the entire race on four gears. And I could have just thrown the towel, which I thought about when I got back into T2 before going on to the run because I had no running legs. I knew that that run was going to be horrible. But, you know, I couldn't do it just because I didn't want to let myself down. And because I had to try, So I went out, and I finished the run, even though it wasn't pretty, I finished it. And then the second was that same year in North Carolina, during the swim, my watch got ripped. So I did the entire race with nothing—no metrics; I had to go by feeling. And that technically was, it's been, it's my 70.3-distance PR. And that was totally by feel. The lesson for me there was that sometimes I'm so focused on heart rate, power, or whatever that I hold myself back even though my body still has more to give. And being blind, I think that allowed me to push a little bit more because I didn't know what my heart rate was. I didn't know what the power was, and it was. Again, it's eye-opening.
Matt Dixon 1:16:04
You let the body do its thing.
Marcel 1:16:07
Yep, pretty much.
Matt Dixon 1:16:08
How about? How about a broader life? You've started the conversation with your very busy schedule. What was the impact on your life globally?
Marcel 1:16:19
I mean, I think it's the organizational skills that are easier in terms of being able to make sure that I train, and then time to either go to a barbecue, a friend's house in the afternoon, or move training around so that I can go to my kids swim class. So stuff like that. Also. And it's funny because my wife always tells me all the time that she doesn't understand how, why, how I can do it, or how I have so much energy. And I think that part of the sport has given me a lot more energy to do all the other things around me, like work and training. And, to an extent, it's kind of an outlet. So in terms of energy, I wouldn't say energy, but it mellows me and calms me down. So I'm not so reactive. So I can think things through a little bit better before doing something.
Matt Dixon 1:17:27
So if you wanted, if you had one chance to impart a lesson or two to listeners, what would it be as it applies to sport or life?
Marcel 1:17:40
Be patient; I think endurance sports are not something that you're going to get. It's not; it doesn't happen overnight. It's very difficult. And if you want to, not only be good at it but stay healthy and enjoy it. I think that being patient is one of the most important things because that way you don't try to do too much at any given time. And then, you know, injuries or whatever it is that gets you out of your routine.
Matt Dixon 1:18:20
Fantastic. Well, Marcel, thank you. Thank you so much for joining the show. Appreciate it. And also, thank you for being a part of Purple Patch. Thanks so much for putting your trust in us. We appreciate it.
Marcel 1:18:30
Thank you for having me, Matt.
Matt Dixon 1:18:33
Cheers.
Matt Dixon 1:18:34
Guys, thanks so much for joining. Thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel on YouTube, and you will find it there, and you can subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you if you will also share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. If you have any questions, let me know. Feel free to add a comment, and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show on the Purple Patch page, and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset, as we like to call it. And so, feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're trying hard to make it a special experience, and we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, and do whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sport, swim, patch, bike, purple, ride, race, people, athletes, run, learn, life, cycling, coach, training, coaching, community, pretty, triathlon, talking