Episode 315: Purple Patch Case Studies - with Rachel Brown and Tiger Paton

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Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. This week, we continue our series on Purple Patch Case Studies, where we hear first-hand experiences of time-starved athletes on their journey towards improved performance in sports and life.

This week, Matt welcomes Purple Patch athletes Rachel Brown and Tiger Paton. Rachel, a busy mother of seven boys, is a passionate runner with a wonderful story of shifting perspectives. By embracing the tri-squad approach, Rachel evolved her understanding of training and multi-sport to become a faster runner and unlocked abilities she never considered.

Tiger Paton, a well-known figure in the Purple Patch community, serves as our squad specialist and program manager. She began her journey as a Purple Patch Squad athlete several years ago. She shares an inspiring lesson about perseverance. As a new athlete, she fully used all the tools in the program to overcome injury and fatigue. Struggling to find time for her health and needing a change, Tiger found support in the Purple Patch community. She integrated training into her life and wholeheartedly embraced her journey as a triathlete. Tiger’s story is an outstanding example of athlete development in sport and life.

Both case studies highlight valuable lessons and practical advice to boost your progress or inspire you to kick-start your journey towards your future self.


Episode Timestamps

00:00 - 03:04 - Welcome and Episode Introduction

03:12 - 09:25 - Coach's Corner

09:32 - 22:00 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 315: Purple Patch Case Studies - with Rachel Brown

22:02 - 23:32 - Purple Patch Squad Information

23:38 - 34:17 - Rachel Brown Cont.

34:21 - 49:15 - Purple Patch Case Studies - with Tiger Paton

49:16 - 50:43 - Purple Patch Program Information

50:45 - 01:10:40 - Tiger Paton Cont.

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Full Transcript

Matt Dixon 00:00

Hi, 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

Today we talk to two inspiring and high-performing women from Purple Patch. By taking a smart approach and a broad perspective on performance, They've not only gotten faster but also stayed injury-free, and they've improved across other areas of life. We're proud of the high percentage of female athletes that we guide and coach at Purple Patch, which is well above the industry standard. Our focus is on helping these women develop a robust platform of health, get smarter about their physiology, and improve across whatever is important to them. A key tool that we leverage in this journey is InsideTracker. By assessing biometrics, including a complete hormonal profile, we gain insights specific to the woman as well as an action plan so that we can improve their current state. Now everything is trackable, so we can see meaningful results and, of course, the yield of our efforts and focus, and you can leverage it too. All you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch and use this code for Purple Patch Pro 20. You'll get 20% off everything at the store. Alright, enjoy the show.

 

Matt Dixon 01:36

And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast, as ever, with your host, Matt Dixon. And today we continue our case study series. Over the last few weeks, we've been sprinkling in episodes where we have had very meaningful and insightful conversations with athletes who are currently with Purple Patch and have something compelling to share. Today, we welcome Rachel Brown, a busy mother and passionate runner with a wonderful story of perspective, evolving an approach to achieve, and the power of multi-sport to get faster at running. And then, following this, we welcome Tiger Patton. Our very own. Tiger began as a Purple Patch Squad athlete several years ago. And it's a wonderful story of what I would call leaning in. As a newer athlete, she engaged and leveraged all of the tools available in the program and became a key part of our community. We loved her so much that we asked her to join the Purple Patch team. She now leads all of our squad programs, and as the program manager, she is central to the community's fabric. I asked Tiger to join me today, not just because she's a team member of Purple Patch, but because I believe she is a wonderful example of athlete development across both sport and life. Her story is packed with prospective lessons and some actionable advice. I think you're going to love it. But before we do it, we're going to do a new section. Remember, this is a restructured show now; it's a bit more streamlined, and we get to the education quicker. So let's do Coach's Corner.

 

Matt Dixon 03:12

Yes, Coach's Corner. Where are we at right now? I want to give you a little glimpse into the insight of how we're approaching things at Purple Patch for our athletes so that maybe you can think about things in context in your journey. Well, we are right amid the races coming thick and fast. And quite frankly, I'm a little bit stunned by the recent results and the start of the season for the races. We had some incredible individual efforts. And over the recent episodes, I discussed our training emphasis and how we're going through a shift. Well, today is a little bit of a glimpse and a build-on to that into some of the key educational aspects of where we're having our conversations and what we're thinking about at this stage of the year. It's really important. So the first component that we're doing a lot of work with athletes around is organizational effectiveness, really making sure that athletes are sticking with that Sunday special habit that's so important to prioritize integrating sport into their lives and making sure that they're able to adhere to the important habits that are going to promote health, yield great results from their training efforts, and of course, bring vibrancy to everything that they have across life. And this must be a focus right now because life continues to flow. But we're just creeping up on some of the training demands. And so, with that, it is a heightened priority to stay effective and organized.

 

Matt Dixon 04:36

A second thing that we're talking about is feeding the engine. So really focusing on supporting the training that, as we discussed last week, is edging up a little bit. It's pretty challenging. Many of the sessions are more demanding. So we're helping athletes connect with the right calories at the right time and in the right amount. And it becomes so important. We need to fully support the tougher training and the intervals with the right fuel. We're also starting to think, by the way, in parallel with just integrating the first elements of race fueling and thinking about practicing and refining those. So a couple of the supporting elements that we use have a lot of athletes leveraging fueling right now with our partners so that we can integrate both eating habits and start to practice the race fueling, as it is aligned to their training because it synchronizes with the training program. We also have a lot of athletes going through precision sweat testing, particularly here in the center, so that we can get insights into their biochemistry, looking at their electrolyte content, and helping them map strategic plans for their race fueling. So feeding the engine is the second component.

 

Matt Dixon 05:44

And then the third, and in many ways, I think the most important for me, is training, management, and decision-making. This becomes important, whether it's the training load going up or the fact that a lot of travel for work is going on right now. And there's a host of little bacterial and viral infections that are going around that are pushing athletes to the edge with a little added suppression and components like that. And we're trying to refine and hone the tools and skills around management. And so, helping athletes make smarter real-time decisions. Should I push through, or is it better to back off? How do I manage setbacks, emerge back out of sickness, or maybe some time off because of work or something else, making sure that they're able to really turn up emotionally and physically when the key sessions are, and focusing on the big upskilling in this area, really trying to empower athletes to take a broader perspective on their training, build consistency—a magic component? So whether it's the consultations we're having, whether it's some of the educational support, whether it's the conversations within the community, these are the main factors right now. I thought you might find that helpful. I think they're a critical part of coaching and certainly, give you a little glimpse into how we think about training and the program going well beyond just what is written on the page and the workouts that are being delivered via training peaks.

 

Matt Dixon 07:11

Alrighty, with that, Second, I just wanted to give you a little reminder: we are hiring a full-time professional coach; this isn't a hobby. This is a career for someone. I'm going to leave the job link in the show notes. It is a wonderful and pretty rare opportunity to become a part of the team. I promise that I will be mentoring the successful candidate; they're going to become an integral part of the Purple Patch coaching team, as well as having the responsibility of helping athletes across the Purple Patch ecosystem with both education and consultations with the squat athletes. I encourage you to apply. Or if you know someone who might be a great candidate, we're looking for a seasoned coach, so feel free to share. I'd love to get someone in who's just a super fit that amplifies it.

 

Matt Dixon 07:56

And finally, a webinar on May 17th. This is a cracker I'm looking forward to at 9 a.m. Pacific is the live version of this, and it's a very special webinar. We are focusing on tackling hard and hilly triathlon courses. And this is a 2.0 version of this webinar, our most popular and most-viewed webinar ever. We did it about a year ago, and here's the key concept: you train for a race, and you arrive incredibly fit. But this webinar is all about the key tactics, strategies, and approaches so that you can unlock your best speed, no matter the terrain. So the webinar is going to be packed with my lessons from, honestly, the last 20 years of coaching. You don't need to be a Purple Patch athlete; it's free. You can register in the show notes. And if you can't attend live, don't worry; we will send you the recording. And I want you to do me a personal favor here. If you get the link, please, please, please send this around to anyone that you know who is racing a triathlon, particularly if they're facing a little bit of personality in the terrain. They're going to get a tremendous amount out of it. They can be coached by someone else. This is not about training methodology; this is about whatever fitness you have, yielding speed. You're also going to have a big opportunity to ask me any question you want because there'll be a thorough Q&A session following. Alright, with that, should we do it, Barry? It is kicking off with Rachel. It's time for the meat and potatoes.

 

09:32

All right, yes, it is the meat and potatoes. And as mentioned, I am delighted to welcome you to the show. Rachel Brown. Rachel, thanks so much for joining us from Alabama.

 

Rachel Brown 09:44

Thank you for having me, Matt.

 

09:46

It's been exciting for this conversation, and we gave it a crack, but we had some technical difficulties. So we're here for round two, and hopefully, we have that strong connection between Alabama and San Francisco, but with every guest, I'd love to understand a little bit of background, a little bit of history, and that side of stuff. You've listened to the show many times, so you're pretty well-versed in this. Why don't you just give the listeners a couple of minutes on your background growing up, where you're at now, family, situation, etc.?

 

Rachel Brown 10:16

Okay, I grew up in Boaz, Alabama, which is a small town of about ten thousand, 70 miles north of Birmingham. I currently live in Boaz, Alabama, and I've lived here my entire life other than when I attended college. And I've been married for 29 years. I have seven children, all boys, whose ages range from 14 to 24.

 

Matt Dixon 10:42

So I want to pause here and talk about this because it's fascinating. I've got—one of my best friends, Peter, has three girls. And he said, I can't believe it—three girls love them dearly. What was that process like? It's a decade's worth, sort of—was it a surprise? I know it's a surprise every time, but you're like, It's got to be a girl coming up here at some stage?

 

Rachel Brown 11:07

Yeah, you would think so. I don't know what a girl would do mixed in with all these boys. But yeah, it's unbelievable that we were able to have seven boys. It's been non-stop for... My oldest is 24, so for 24 years now, just a full-time job. There was a lot of action. It was a lot of fun, though.

 

Matt Dixon 11:30

I can imagine. I can't imagine what Thanksgiving dinners are or things like that. So it must be a lot of food. That's all I can imagine.

 

Rachel Brown 11:41

Especially with all those boys.

 

Matt Dixon 11:43

Well, it's, you know, like we always talk about the executives and CEOs and people like that that we worked with. But, you know, your life is the epitome of time-starved, like a lot is going on. But um, we're going to dig into that. But I'd also love to know your sporting background. And did you grow up doing sports globally?

 

Rachel Brown 12:04

Yes, I was always active, but my primary sport was basketball. I started playing basketball when I was 12. played through high school and went to college on a basketball scholarship. I played two years at a junior college and then two years in Division Three.

 

Matt Dixon 12:20

Well, fantastic. Okay, so what was the catalyst then to get into endurance sports, and starting to go linear rather than every direction and for time and things like that? How did that come about?

 

Rachel Brown 12:35

Well, I guess after my final basketball game, I knew I wanted to continue to stay in shape. Because, you know, that has just been a part of my life, and so I just decided to start running. You know, it was a simple sport. I did a lot of running and basketball anyway. So I just started running to stay in shape.

 

Matt Dixon 12:54

Fantastic. And and you went on—it was, I guess as if you'd gone through the hurricane of being the mom—the really busy time. But was it in the mid-40s that you started to get the bug with a little bit more serious running, edging towards things like marathons and that sort of stuff?

 

Rachel Brown 13:13

Yeah, somewhere around 45. My children were older, and I had a little bit of breathing room. So I decided I'd like to start training. I thought about training for a race. I thought I'd start training for the marathon. So I wanted to complete a few halves, and I thought, Well if that goes well, I'll try to do my first marathon.

 

Matt Dixon 13:32

Fantastic.

 

Rachel Brown 13:32

So that's how I got into the competition.

 

Matt Dixon 13:35

So I want to dig into the nuts and bolts a little bit, because so, you know, 5, 6, 7 years ago, starting to do marathons, you've now gone on a journey, predominantly as a runner, but what we'll get into some of the multi-sport stuff a little bit later is as you leverage it with training, but when you reflect, what were some of the challenges, and maybe we should focus, predominantly, on running globally if you'd like, but also training and competing in marathons. When you go back, what were some of the challenges that you've faced?

 

Rachel Brown 14:14

I guess my primary challenge was optimizing my training time because, of course, I was very busy. And I didn't; I was unsure how to do that. And, you know, when I started to get serious about improving my running, I started reading all that I could about running, articles, and books, and, you know, it was very frustrating, intimidating, and confusing in the way that, you know, most of the training—or the books that I read—advised how to train for a race, but I wasn't sure what to do before the race or after the race. You know, how do you prepare even to get ready to do a training plan, or what do you do after? I didn't know how to, you know, train progressively for a year. So that was something that was a real challenge for me. And I was really confused and intimidated, because, you know, up until this point, I'd never really run more than a 10k. So I didn't; I'd never done speed work. So just looking at all those plans, all that information and all the different names for speed work was very intimidating for me.

 

Matt Dixon 15:29

And it's, it's interesting, isn't it? I was chatting to someone just the other day and said If you Google, and I was talking about open water swimming, how to get better at open water swimming, but in your case, get ready for a marathon. If you Google it, you're going to get 25 different results, and you're going to get 25 different opinions. And most of the people who are supplying those opinions are, on the face of it, pretty credible. So, you know, you've got this massive blizzard of conflicting advice. How are you supposed to filter through that noise and say, This is what? It almost becomes a second job b right away. Yeah, it's like,

 

Matt Dixon 16:07

And were there any -- with the training -- In preparation for the show, you talked a little bit about your propensity in the early years to drive up, which is very common—of course, I'd say probably the most common mistake—but chasing quantity over quality of running and an accumulation of hours. Was that a huge challenge for you? And maybe dig into that a little bit for me?

 

Rachel Brown 16:07

Very time-consuming and very confusing.

 

Rachel Brown 16:36

Yeah, I mean when I was reading all this information, that's what the primary focus was, which was, you know, volume. Build volume, and you'll get better. So, for the most part, what I would do is just read books, find some information, and train according to that book for a while. And, you know, that became frustrating, or, you know, for whatever reason, I couldn't handle the volume, or, you know, just the intimidation of the speed sessions that they prescribed. So then I'd go to a different plan. I kind of followed that cycle over and over, just one plan, one article, a variety of different ways. But basically, my training was based on volume. Now I was swimming a little, and I was riding an indoor spin bike. I had an indoor spin back in our home gym. So I had a little bit of variety, and I was strength training. So those were some positives. But primarily, my running was just very random, and I ran the same course at the same speed with no variety whatsoever.

 

Matt Dixon 17:46

I'm interested. Did the body break down at all? Did you, did you, have a sort of setback with many injuries?

 

Rachel Brown 17:53

No, fortunately, you know, I knew that I needed to be very careful. I was 45 years old; I didn't have a background in high-volume running anyway. So, I wasn't running every day; you know, I was still running like three or four days a week, just trying to focus on as much volume as I could during those three days, particularly the long run. You know, that's what it was all about in the long run: trying to, you know, build the volume and that way I was able to stay healthy.

 

Matt Dixon 18:20

That's great.

 

Rachel Brown 18:21

There were no significant injuries.

 

Matt Dixon 18:22

I tell you, what if we just sort of pause and go back right there, having a little bit of autonomy? You mentioned you swam a little bit and used the bike. And I want to underline that you certainly don't identify with or do triathlons. So this wasn't in pursuit of you getting ready for Iron Man or anything like this. You are; you're a runner. But even you had the intuition to filter through that blizzard of information that you got and say, You know what? This is probably pretty smart. So, it's you; you were doing some smart stuff there. And it was wonderful to hear that you did do strength training, you know, right when you started because, starting at 45 going through, you've heard me talk about it many times, but that's a critical sort of cornerstone as well. One more question before we sort of move on to the evolution and how things have evolved since you've been with Purple Patch, but I'm interested in things like, you know, approaches to eating, fueling, hydration, rest, and recovery. Did you have much strategy in those areas? Or were you busy enough just trying to get dinner on the table for seven boys?

 

Rachel Brown 19:34

Well, you know, those were priorities for me, and it was always important that we teach our children proper eating, and we tried to always keep them active. So that was something that I focused on a lot anyway.

 

Matt Dixon 19:50

Fantastic.

 

Rachel Brown 19:51

Not to mention the degree. I learned so much, you know, from Purple Patch, particularly the four pillars, just how to get that organized and more precise than what I was doing. But it was a priority, just not as much as it should have been.

 

Matt Dixon 20:06

It's fantastic that it was, and you did you did a great job with the kids and that side of stuff. So I guess what? What was the sort of thing that led us into Purple Patch a little bit? What was the catalyst to say, You know what? I'm not going to print out another PDF plan. I'm not going to sort of just cycle through; did we just randomly happen to be the next thing, or was there a catalyst to decide to get involved with the run squad sort of thing? I'm interested. What was this sort of initiative, the spark, for that?

 

Rachel Brown 20:08

Well, I guess what happened was during the research. Of course, you know, I came upon your podcast, started listening to your podcast, and I listened to your approach, you know, a time-starved approach. I was interested in that and the multi-sport with running, and actually, that was at a time where y'all -- I could, you sold an education membership, I guess, you know what I'm talking about, so I bought one of those. And I just researched your website and read all your running and training philosophy. And, and I thought, That's, this is what I think I need to follow. And for a while, I just listened to the podcast, and I think shortly after that, y'all started the Tri-Squad, and I thought, well if I can, I'll just join the Tri-squad because I knew from reading that y'all, in the future, had planned—we're planning a run squad as well. So I thought, I'll just follow the tri-squad until they start running squad, then I'll jump aboard that. So that's what I did, and, you know, I didn't train like I said, like an idiot.

 

Matt Dixon 21:39

Yeah.

 

Rachel Brown 21:40

But I did follow all the strength and tried to complete all the runs y'all had on the plan. And then I do the swimming and biking, and at, you know, a certain level, not anywhere near the level of an Ironman. Yeah, that's what I did. And then, as soon as the run squad started, I changed over to the multi-sport run approach.

 

Matt Dixon 22:02

Just a little interlude here, guys. I want to talk to you about Tri-Squad, which is so much more than a program in which you just follow a training plan. That's yesterday's news. What it takes to be successful in your sport, particularly if you're time-starved, is to have a program that dances with the demands of life so that you can integrate into it. Beyond that, you want to become smarter across all aspects of your performance, including how to prioritize and maximize sleep and how to develop really simple practices in fueling and hydration in your daily eating practices to promote your health and maximize your training. And along with it all, you can also leverage the benefits and power of team and community, as well as a team of coaches that are the wind behind your back. This is a very special program designed specifically for folks like you, time-starved, who are looking to achieve and get results and nail their goals in sports while also not forgetting about all of the other things that are important in life. There are three simple steps: just head to the website, PurplePatchFitness.com, check out the squad page, and reach out to us. You can also click for a complimentary consultation, and we will set up a competency call to understand your challenges and goals and make sure that you're a great fit for the program. Very simple. And we're pretty confident you're going to love it; we'll give you a 30-day money-back guarantee so that if you don't feel it's for you, you will of course return the favor.

 

Matt Dixon 23:38

And tell me how the -- what's been the impact or the results, the biggest changes I guess the biggest evolution was when you said, Okay, I'm going to dance on," because it's a little bit more encompassing. Yeah, it's like the run squad—uh, the tri-squad—these programs that we talk about—they're programs, they're not plans. So we have these sort of very flexible, for folks that are not Purple Patch athletes, very, very flexible, dynamic programs that integrate and work with the demands of life, but also the sort of wealth of education that comes with it and supporting information, resources, and tools. So when you immerse -- from your experience, and obviously, we're not asking this for to make it a huge advertorial or anything like that, but what were some of the evolutions, changes, and benefits of you getting involved in the program? How did it spark your performance?

 

Rachel Brown 24:34

Well, the first thing I was able to get was a year-round progressive training program, which, you know, had some structure. You know, I could focus on key sessions, which had an intent that I could follow. I knew what the purpose of my session was; I knew what the purpose of the purpose of each phase of the year was for each phase of the year, and it was just that I learned so much and it was just tremendous help. And then, you know, I was able to sit down every Sunday and watch. I'll call this Sunday special; I committed to that. So I can sit down, organize my training, and integrate the four pillars into that, you know, so I could focus not just on strength and my run and multisport, but also on my nutrition and how to eat around training during the week. And you know how to plan my training so I could get enough sleep if I needed a recovery day. So those were some of the primary things that I initially used. And then later, of course, coaching consults have been extremely invaluable for me.

 

Matt Dixon 25:42

Oh, yeah. Yeah, and for folks listening, what that is is the opportunity for an athlete to lock in a spot one-on-one with a coach for a really small fee, where you can dig into your individual, whether it's scheduling, whether it's race, strategy, whether it's planning and what workouts are appropriate, etc. But there are little 30 or 60-minute slots that you can spend, and so you've leveraged quite a lot throughout your journey.

 

Rachel Brown 26:11

Yes, one of my biggest mistakes was not using them sooner. But yes, they have been invaluable for my training. I've learned so much. And they helped me understand the program and set up race-specific workouts. So yeah, very valuable.

 

Matt Dixon 26:31

I want to pause the questions, and I just want to do a little reflection. I hope I don't embarrass you with this. Rachel, you're a freakin smart athlete. It's everything you said right now, you know, getting into this sport and deciding to train for marathons. And at 45 years of age, you go to the World Wide Web, a blizzard of information, and through there, straight away you're integrating some really smart things on your own, saying, Okay, multisport is good for me. That makes me feel good. I'm going to do strength training, like thumbs up, thumbs up, great. And you come in, and the first thing that you say, when I said that we didn't stage this, what was the biggest impact? The first two things that you say are that I got into a year-round progressive program, and I effectively put words in your mouth and unlocked effectiveness through the Sunday special. I think those are two absolute cornerstones of effective training for someone who wants to get better. You were training for, you are training for marathons, and the biggest mistake that people make is okay, I've got we've just had Boston, I've got Boston coming up. So, what do I need to do over these 12 weeks to get ready for that? Now I've got to make it up, Berlin. I'm going to go and get ready for this race. And you've got this through-line mindset that I need to get year-round structured training; that's progressive. Thumbs up for that; that's huge. That's so valuable. And then the Sunday special—I think that that is the habit—was spending just a little bit of time. It doesn't matter whether you're a busy mom of seven, trying to do marathon training, leading a multinational organization, or an elite professional athlete—a little bit of time, as we like to call it. Sunday is when most people venture into Monday. We're looking at all components of life, and all components of performance, nutrition, recovery, sleep, exactly what you talked about, and organizing, which is probably the greatest key to unlocking effectiveness and productivity. And so you can tell you're making my heart explode a little bit here. Because that's the golden stuff. Fantastic. And so it's terrific. And I guess, to sort of wrap it up, what's the -- I'm sorry, I'm on a monologue, but I'm going to keep going -- and then you lean into this thing that I think is sitting there as a little pot of gold for folks on these, you know, incredibly affordable like the run squad program and leaning into the individual expertise of that coach consult, really valuable because it's another tool that you say, Okay, now I can, I've carved through that noise. And I know where I'm going, and I may just create consistency. So I'd love to know what the outcome of all of that is, how you're feeling as an athlete now; it sounds like you're doing well, and what's your broad perspective on yourself as an athlete now that you're a few years into this. How are things going, I guess?

 

Rachel Brown 29:44

Things are going well. I mean, I enjoy my training. It's fun, and it's challenging. It adds a lot of quality to my life, rather than being a stressor. And you know, I've been able—we've talked about this—to stay healthy, which is one of the reasons I wanted to follow multi-sport because I believe that it would decrease my likelihood of developing overuse injuries. So that's it, and it's done that. And as far as races go, you know, I've been able to perform well in the race; I've been able to set a PR in the half marathon (10k, 5k). And, you know, one of my goals was to be able to be competitive in my age group, and I'm now competitive in my age group. And so, as far as that goes, that's how I've been able to accomplish that. And my training is just fun, you know, and that's what it's all about just enjoying it, having a good time, and, you know, making it a part of your life, but not the only thing in your life.

 

Matt Dixon 30:48

That's the definition of a Purple Patch athlete; it's a part of your life. I was just about to say that it sounds like this whole journey is additive to the most important stuff of your life, you know, being a mom and everything else that you've got going on in life that we haven't dug into today. But it sounds like it's additive and complimentary, rather than a distraction or a source of tension or conflict in some way.

 

Rachel Brown 31:16

Yeah, exactly. It is. And I think one other thing that's helped me is just looking at training from a long-term perspective that has helped me so much; it takes the pressure off of performing, and you know, whether you miss a workout or whether you have to take a recovery day, that's just something that I feel like has been beneficial, that philosophy that y'all talk about long-term approach.

 

Matt Dixon 31:43

It's fantastic. I guess my last question is for listeners, and you know, we're going to have listeners that are running that are maybe struggling with cycles of injuries, or, or feel like, it's maybe that a part of their identity, they have to break four hours or break five hours or break three hours, whatever it is, otherwise, they're a failure, you know, a lot of sort of challenges, people that are maybe struggling to fit this into life. But some people think I can't do this; you know, I've got too much other stuff going on. Or whatever it might be, we have a broad swath of listeners that might gain inspiration. And I guess what, as an athlete, for those listeners, what are a few of the maybe key lessons that you would like to as an athlete tell them that you've gone through? What are some of the biggest lessons that you've learned throughout your journey?

 

Rachel Brown 32:42

I think the biggest lessons for me would be to focus on, as I said earlier, the long-term approach, focus on being consistent, and organize your time. Try to be as effectively organized as you possibly can so that you can make the most use of your time and optimize your time. And, you know, just if you look at it from a long-term perspective, you can enjoy the journey and the training rather than just focusing on one particular race. You've got a lot to look forward to if you're focusing on the long-term approach.

 

Matt Dixon 33:18

It's fantastic. But I can't thank you enough, it's been so inspirational and such a joy, but beyond that, I just wanted to say a great job, keep the mindset, and keep driving forward. Because it's challenging to get things right, and you're getting things right. And that's why coaches coach. When you like to say that and you see it, it makes my heart flutter. So thank you very much for joining the show, Rachel, and sharing your story, and I hope that folks that are listening, we've got a few that are going to spark the excitement, the desire, and the courage to kickstart their journey and start having fun along the journey, but also having a lot of fun and having a lot of success as well. So I appreciate you being here today.

 

Rachel Brown 34:13

Well, thank you for having me, and keep up the good work. Thanks

 

Matt Dixon 34:17

so much. Take care.

 

Matt Dixon 34:21

We welcome you to the show. I am a very familiar face to everyone at Purple Patch, including myself, Tiger Patton.

 

Tiger Paton 34:31

Hello Matt

 

Matt Dixon 34:32

Hello there.

 

Tiger Paton 34:33

It's good to be here.

 

Matt Dixon 34:33

It's nice to not just be in another meeting. And in fact, we're going to have a really fun conversation over the next 20 or 30 minutes. For listeners who don't know, Tiger is a team member of Purple Patch. And you might think, Why am I asking Tiger to come on a show as a Purple Patch team member? But your story of becoming a part of the Purple Patch team is a little different. We love to recruit from the inside, as it were, but you were originally a Purple Patch athlete, a paying member, a very noisy one, really engaged in the community, and have, I think, a really lovely story. And among all of the Purple Patch athletes, I think you've leveraged the program to the hilt. And Kelli and I were having so many conversations and so many emails with you, now what feels like many moons ago, and finally said, 'Will you just come and join us? Will you just become a part of the team?' And now you oversee all of the Purple Patch squad programs. Everyone who is a Purple Patch athlete knows you. But my conversation today about why I wanted you on the show is for Tiger, the athlete. And I think you've got a lovely story. So I'm so glad that you're willing to share with the listeners some of your journey. Are you ready for this?

 

Tiger Paton 34:34

I am. Longtime listener, a first-time caller. So let's do it.

 

Matt Dixon 35:59

Very true. So, you know how it goes. You've listened to the show. I love to hear a little bit of background. You are a Midwesterner. So why don't you give the listeners a little bit of background on family life and everything like that, to begin with?

 

Tiger Paton, 36:14

Yeah, so I've lived pretty much my whole life in the Chicago suburbs. There is not a whole lot of terrain or elevation out here. But it's been great. And I had. I'm grateful to have had a super supportive family, super supportive parents, one older brother, and a lot of great role modeling in a lot of ways, but not anything related to sports. And so I grew up in a pretty nerdy family, grew up pretty nerdy myself, and watched a lot more Indy Five hundred than then NFL football games. And so I didn't have a lot of initial structure for sport, but I certainly was your typical active kid. And I was very much more of a bookworm than an athlete growing up.

 

Matt Dixon 36:59

Yeah, were sports in any way a part of your childhood?

 

Tiger Paton: 37:05

I think so. I dabbled a little bit here and there at a very hobby level. I did some dancing. And then later on, I did get into horseback riding. So I did that for several years. And that was one of the things that ended up sending me a bit on this journey. I had a pretty severe injury from that sport, but I never did anything serious. I never really liked organized sports or anything like that. And because I had some health quirks and some other things, I never really thought that that was a path for me either. And so I just tended to go in another direction, more academically.

 

Matt Dixon  37:42

So now as we talk, you've done multiple half-Iron Man's, you've done well in them, and you've certainly developed athletically over the last few years. But what was the catalyst to get into endurance sports of all things?

 

Tiger Paton, 38:00

So it was initially a friend who was doing an Iron Man and just would not shut up about it. And she happened to be doing this at a time in my life when I needed a change. And I didn't realize how much I needed it. She was doing it for her reasons; she also really needed a change in her life. And I thought maybe this is what I need; maybe this is what I should be doing. I was in a place where I knew it wasn't where I wanted to be mentally or physically. But I also didn't know quite how to get out of that. And we can talk a bit more about that there. But it was a moment where I said, Maybe I'll try this. I had done a few things here and there but just didn't know where to start on the path of becoming an athlete and had this opportunity put in front of me. So, I decided, without being able to run a mile or swim across a pool, to sign up for my first triathlon.

 

Matt Dixon 39:06

It was funny. I recently discussed with a Purple Patch athlete, Ben Cooper, who said to me, I just had to get going; I needed to take the first step, and you're sort of very much like that. Well, you know, with sharing as much as you feel comfortable. What were the broad sort of challenges? You had physical challenges. Yes, as well as broad challenges. Share a little bit of context there if you can.

 

Tiger Paton 39:35

Yeah, so I think part of it was where I'm, you know, kind of on the life performance side where I was after college. I worked some physically active jobs and all of that, and then, like a lot of people, I ended up shifting to a more sedentary desk job type situation and didn't realize the slow effect that had, but transitioning away from just daily life activity that had on my overall health. I had these underlying health conditions, and in that shift to a desk job, the other thing that changed there was that I was working for startups and some smaller companies. It was a great experience. But there was an enormous amount of additional life stress. And so I had the addition of stress and the reduction of physical activity, which exacerbated some of those underlying conditions. And I developed an enormous amount of fatigue and stress and ended up in that kind of cycle where you don't feel great, so you don't do anything, and because you're not doing anything, you just end up feeling worse. And that kind of cycle slowly continued. And then the other thing that happened was that, you know, when I did try to break out of that when I did try to get into activities or other things, I ended up with a lot of injuries because I didn't know how to do this correctly. And I didn't have any of the sort of supporting connective tissue or infrastructure around, you know, how to fuel right for these activities, how to have the right technique, any of that. And so a lot of my initial attempts to kind of break out of this inevitably ended up with me in failure. And so I didn't have a good way or a good path out of where I was. And so I ended up tired and stressed. And without a good sense of how to break through that and set myself up for success, I didn't know what success would even look like for me. Because I just assumed, well, I have, you know, I have the shortcomings; I have these physical limitations. Maybe this is just what my life should look like. And it wasn't until I did that triathlon, and I said, you know, I was so sure I wasn't going to be able to do it. And then I did it. And I'm like, what else can't I do? And that, I think, helped me kind of reframe and say, Okay, maybe I don't feel like I can get out of this, but what if I was wrong? What if there is a way out? And so I just needed to figure out a way to break out of the fatigue and injury cycle, and Purple Patch, oddly, showed up in my life at just the right time.

 

Matt Dixon 42:22

And whilst that -- but I sort of -- so you had this, I just want to repaint a picture a little bit. You had a sedentary job, you're mentally and physically fatigued, and you took the step to do something better. Was your approach, you know, pretty random? As you went through that, you sort of trained for this thing, but if you end up doing something good, you might be starting to feel better. But also, we're stuck in this cycle of, What should I be doing? And maybe this is going to be a journey that's also saddled with a different set of injuries and a different set of fatigue. Is that an accurate representation of it?

 

Tiger Paton 42:57

For sure, I perhaps could have picked a simpler sport to start with. But you know, I did; I came into it. And I just didn't know; there was a lot of competing messaging. And a lot of the traditional messaging that was out there when I started to get interested in and excited about the sport was still very much traditional, like, You gotta go hard.

 

Matt Dixon 43:19

Yeah, accumulate miles.

 

Tiger Paton 43:21

Yeah, and so it wasn't necessarily a sustainable approach. But I was trying to, you know, weave through all of this complexity around how I was supposed to train, how many hours, how to fuel, and how to do all of these things. And it was. Even though it was an exciting adventure, in a lot of ways, it was also really overwhelming. And for somebody who didn't grow up, a D1 swimmer, or someone who is super experienced in sports, it was tough to navigate. And that also just added more stress, especially because I was already busy. And the thought of trying to figure it out now and adding time on to figure out how to navigate all of this was tough.

 

Matt Dixon 43:58

Incredibly complex. So how did you? I don't even, and I apologize; I don't remember exactly when you joined Purple Patch, because we spend every day with each other now, so how did you find Purple Patch, and what was the catalyst for reaching out and becoming a part of the squad?

 

Tiger Paton 44:22

Yeah, it was, um, you know, again, just trying to find a way to sift through all of the messaging that was out there. I listened to a lot of podcasts. You were on a different, I think, triathlon podcast. I kind of liked what I heard, and I eventually realized that you had your own, so I started listening to it, and what resonated with me was this idea that even though this is a complex sport and even though this is like a really big journey, that there's a way to make it simple and sustainable. And that was so fundamentally different from the traditional, like go-hard, high mileage, high volume type of messaging out there; it was a completely different approach that was centered around, Here's how to fit this into your life, into the space that you have. And if you do that correctly, you can make more space in your life. And really, what did it for me was this idea that, yes, you can take this incredibly complex thing and simplify it. And it's going to enrich not just your fitness levels, not just, you know, improve your ability to be an athlete, but there's also all of these other knock-on effects that begin to occur around things that have nothing to do with triathlon, around how you feel,  around how you organize your day, around how you start to take control of your life. And I was in this place where there was so much stress and so much overwhelming, as much as the fitness end of it, you know, I was attracted to; it was almost more this, this whole other piece, this life performance piece that resonated with me, and I'm like, Oh, shoot, yeah, I need the fitness, but this other thing, that's what I need.

 

Matt Dixon 46:16

It's, Yeah. You. You identified in many ways how I see what makes a Purple Patch athlete in many ways. You know, sort of the greedy people that we are. We want two things: we want to get results in the sport, but we also want the knock-on effect and the amplification of that. What has it been like for you as an athlete? You help a lot of athletes now. You organize and lead all of the squad programs. But for you as an athlete, what were some of the biggest or most impactful components of the program, the methodology for you, and what helped you? I know one of them was the Sunday special, and that's because we embed that in our culture at Purple Patch. We eat our dog food. We do that. But maybe start with that. But I'd also love to hear about some of the other components that were impactful for you as an athlete.

 

Tiger Paton: 47:11

Yeah, I think the Sunday special and this whole concept around learning how to prioritize, learning how to organize, and wrapping your head around the thought that you know, when everything is key, when everything is important, nothing is. And learning how to set priorities. That was huge. And that allowed me to have the tools to develop consistency, which was so awesome. And then, you know, once I had that foundation, it was easier to focus my attention on the training itself. And that, there were a variety of things that were huge for me. The first was strength training. And I will shout that from the rooftops all day long. Strength training was pivotal for me, both in terms of being able to rectify all of these long-standing chronic niggles and chronic injuries, finally breaking out of that cycle, addressing a lot of the long-standing imbalances and things that occurred because of those previous injuries, because of those health issues, and also because I had a sedentary job and lifestyle in a lot of ways. But that drove overall health and performance improvements on the triathlon side. That was huge. And the technique element was also huge—learning how to do all of this, right?

 

Matt Dixon, 48:29

Yeah.

 

Tiger Paton: 48:31

Like, the run, especially the bike, again, not a lot of mountains in Illinois. And the technical elements—learning how to maximize my posture and my momentum—were huge. And learning how to moderate my effort, and then all of the supporting elements too, like learning how to fuel properly. That was something that, you know, maybe I thought I knew how to do—I didn't know how to do it. But all of these other pieces—the fueling, the hydration elements—and all of those then fed into this positive feedback loop where my training was better, my energy was better, and things started to improve from there.

 

Matt Dixon 49:16

Team, if you Google any topic around performance—I'm trying to get faster running off the bike, I'm trying to sort out my race fueling—you're going to receive 25 different results with 25 different opinions, many of them contradictory and seemingly from valid sources. This is the blizzard of noise that makes it so hard to filter out and focus on the key elements that are going to make you faster. And it's even more challenging when you've got all of the other competing demands in life. A part of our role at Purple Patch is to filter the noise to stay on the cutting edge of everything that is going to yield performance gains for you but deliver them to you in simple, effective, and actionable steps. You won't just receive a training program; when you become part of Purple Patch, you'll have someone, a team, partnering with you to make you smarter, reduce the noise, and give you time back. And the outcome of that is that you're going to get faster, and you're going to nail your goals. Three simple steps: simply reach out to us at info@purplepatchfitness.com. And we're going to set up a complimentary consultation. We'll talk all about the program, we'll understand your goals, and then, if it's a fit, you can be on the program registered within minutes. And finally, of course, we're pretty confident about this 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you don't love the program, well, don't worry; we'll shake hands, say goodbye, and wish you the very best of luck. Enjoy the rest of the show.

 

Matt Dixon 50:45

I want to come back to the technique a little bit. You mentioned living in and around the Chicago area, which is pretty much dead flat. You might get a little headwind and a little tailwind, but outside of that, there aren't too many mountains. And I know, I know from you, and I'm going to tell a little story about you. When I decided, ultimately, as leader of Purple Patch, we were going to adopt this new bike platform, and the reason that I wanted to do it, and we had a lot of discussions internally in the team, I said, This is an amazing coaching tool, and this will help people go faster; they're going to become smarter on the bicycle. And you were very passionate about a certain Zwift, and you loved it, and you were pretty vocal against it and said, This is crazy. And you are going to be leading, and I said we are going to try and transition our athletes off of these other platforms, and there is nothing wrong with those other platforms; they're good training because this is a game changer. And I remember saying that, and I'm not telling this story to say that I told you that we're right. But now almost every Purple Patch athlete has made that jump, including you. I wanted to focus, and I want you to give your experience of that riding platform because I think as we leverage it more, it's called Velocity, but as we leverage it more, and we leverage the Purple Patch approach with Terrain Management, and that's what I want you to focus on, I think we're getting smarter on how to use it even more. How has that impacted your bike riding? Because, I think it's been pretty big for you, yeah, in terms of your understanding of how to ride a bike.

 

Tiger Paton 52:38

It's been—yeah, it's been mind-blowing. And I'm pretty sure somewhere there's still a text that says, You know, I never, I want to use, like Zwift is better, and I have never been so wrong. So yeah, I think, you know, if you want to put it into a single sentence, Zwift doesn't teach you how to ride a bike.

 

Matt Dixon 52:56

Yeah.

 

Tiger Paton 52:57

And, you know, there's such a huge divide; I don't think any of us have the illusion that indoor riding is the same as outdoor riding. But there is such a huge divide between being stuck at a set power that's being controlled by something external and following something along on the screen and being able to completely check out versus being on a platform that can begin to replicate some of the elements of terrain, some of these elements of outdoor riding, and give you the feedback that you need to learn how to maximize your momentum over that terrain. And again, we don't have a lot of huge climbs out here; we have little punchy pieces here and there. But I didn't realize how much I was missing out on. I didn't even know there were so many dots that I didn't even realize that I could connect. And that was massive. The technical elements—learning—yes, you need to get stronger, and there are a lot of platforms out there that will help you get stronger, but that strength is useless if you don't know how to apply it as efficiently as you can. And I tell people all the time that I can pass folks with way more expensive bikes and higher FTPS, and I have on a course because I know how to apply the power that I've created over that terrain. I understand how to best maximize my momentum when I'm going over hills, how to be able to carry that energy through, how to use it, and how to be more efficient in where I choose to apply my power or not apply it. And even though I live in the middle of the flatlands, I can go to pretty darn hilly courses and do well, and certainly, if I go to a flat course, I can do great too, but I now have the tools to be able to ride phenomenally well over any kind of terrain. And I can do that sitting in suburban Chicago in my room. And the other piece of it that has been so incredibly important for me is the coaching element. So there's a ton to learn about how to optimize the power that you're generating, and that's huge. Part of that comes from the tree management part of it, which also comes from understanding how to not waste that energy on improper technique or improper body positioning that leaves you fatigued down the road.

 

55:33

This morning's session was probably a great example of this because we were doing four by six minutes, and it was right around the threshold. And most people in the audience are going to understand some sort of threshold tipping point, or whatever you want to call it. And we started to transition at this time of year around that. And we deliberately designed it where the odds were; we did four of these intervals, and the odds were just a steady state, and we called it building the physiology. So right at zone four, right around your FTP or threshold, we wanted to do that, so that's how the rest of the world is doing it. And then we did the interviews with Terrain Management. So we embedded in the system a couple of rollers, and we were looking for a line of physiological stimulus around zone four, but coaching to distribute the power so that we could get the best speed while working on that physiology. And it's amazing the difference in mental focus and application of looking at as I'm coaching live, all of the people live, and of course, the people in studio one in San Francisco, it's just a different thing. And we haven't gone anywhere. That's the funny thing we've just been doing; most of the time in Studio 1, I'm just getting abuse shouted at me. But yeah, it's remarkable. And as I think about those intervals, another word comes to mind for me, which is that I know you are really important. I would say it was probably one of the most important things for Kelli and me to reach out and say, 'Would you like to leave your job and come and work at Purple Patch'? It's a simple word of community, and doing it with others, and you are an athlete who has very little background in endurance sports; you weren't a part of some huge Tri group in the Chicago area. The community has always been very, very important to you. How—you're now leading a community, but you're also an athlete in that community, and we're very clear about that—how's that from an athletic side of it? How has that helped you or been a part of your journey?

 

Tiger Paton, 57:45

It's been pivotal. And I have to give a shout-out in particular to Jeff, who I know we had on the podcast just recently as well because he was one of the first people to reach out and sort of help bring you further into the community. But I didn't have a lot of support structure; I didn't have a good sense. You know, I had a training plan in front of me and all of that, but I didn't have this extra layer of support until I joined Purple Patch, which allowed me to maintain accountability, motivation, and commitment. So I think one of the most critical elements of that community is that it's there to fuel you on the days where you don't necessarily feel like, you know, showing up yourself, and that's critical. But there was also such a breadth of helpful information, and people were meeting me where I was and being incredibly inclusive. I mean, there are folks in here who have been to Kona several times, people who are unbelievably good athletes. And I came in with zip experience, and it was so helpful to have those folks help me along where I was in the journey and get to that next step. And then obviously, throughout the pandemic, that was, you know, huge having that support structure there. But even coming out the other side, having that accountability, having that shared sense of journey, knowing that we're all moving towards the shared goal, and having people around you who believe in you, who are cheering you on, who are going to be there to continue to push you on the days where you don't necessarily quite feel like pushing yourself.

 

Matt Dixon 59:38

Which was terrific. I mean, you talked about the pandemic. That was a really important time for us. I would say that as an organization, you've been a part of it. It's probably one of our proudest moments in our 15+ years of really helping people navigate what was a pretty horrible time for all of us here to provide sport as a framework in life and continue to be a part of something, even though we didn't have anyone to connect with in real life, at least for a couple of months for most of us. So, that was so important. I want to finish on the impacts because you talked about when you got faster. You finished several Half Ironman races, but you also talked about the impact of life. So, you're taking on this journey; you went from being sedentary to taking up triathlon; you've now developed physically; I've seen the videos; you are, I was going to say, strong as an ox, but that might sound a little bit rude; I won't say that, but you're freaking strong. And you're just an athlete. That's what you are now, which is just so fantastic to see. From your lens, what's the impact on you of your journey—your physical journey? How has it impacted your life? What have the results been like for you?

 

Tiger Paton 1:00:57

Yeah, I mean, this is going to sound super cliche, but it has been transformational. It's been life-changing in a way that when I started, and I'm still very much on the journey. But certainly, when I started the journey, I never imagined that I could be anywhere close to here. And that's on the athletic side; yes, there's been a lot of these cool achievements. But on the life performance side, I think that's where I, in some way, wasn't expecting to see such a huge difference. And it starts at even the most basic pieces; it's having so much more energy; it's having so much more sense of empowerment and control over my daily life. And, as I said, even though I've added triathlon to an already pretty busy life, it has given me more space and more opportunities. And, you know, and I'm, I am so much healthier. I've learned how to, and I'll certainly give Fuelin a shout here as well, but as I learn how to fuel myself properly and how to eat better, I've become just so much healthier overall. And, of course, the community provided a great deal of accountability and support. But I think from a daily point of view, you know, it's really hard to live a fulfilling life to be happy, and all of that when you're stressed, when you're in chronic pain when you're always feeling overwhelmed. And this structure, the sport, has given me a chance to turn that around. And it's also allowed me to start tackling some really exciting goals. And I think that's something that everybody needs to have in their life: a chance to chase something really exciting. And I will take a second to just look. If we just zoom in on, let's say the past six months. In the fall, I decided, You know what? I'm going to do my first marathon this year. I never thought that'd be something I'd be able to do, but now I'm at a point where I think I could. And I set up; I doubled down on nailing the basics, which I'm sure all of our listeners have heard you talk about a few times, but on the strength, on the fueling, on the sleep, not on increasing my training volume, but just on hitting these basic pieces. And just the difference in the last six months has been enormous in body composition, fitness, energy, and all of that. And it's not rocket science. But it is doing those same simple things and seeing the knock-on effects in your life that once you add a little bit of one thing in, focus a little bit on endurance training, get to the gym a couple of times a week, well, now I have to eat better, now I have to sleep better, and all of these other shifts start to occur. And that's the place where I'm at now.

 

Tiger Paton: 1:03:56

I think you just highlighted once again something really important: not trying to change everything at once. It just happens as a cascading effect, where suddenly you look back and -- I think you and correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think that as a part of this journey, you've got rid of a whole bunch of medicine that you've been on for many, many years. Is that accurate?

 

Tiger Paton: 1:04:20

Yes, yes. There was a lot for the fatigue elements and all of that, as well as for other health-related issues. Yes, I mean, this has not been just fluff and just saying, yeah, I feel kind of better. It's been, medically, for me, a complete game changer. And not being able to get through a day without falling asleep, not being able to get through a day without being in a dark place, is completely different now.

 

Matt Dixon 1:04:47

It's so empowering, and I'll tell you, but from a work standpoint, listeners, no one works harder, by the way. So, you know, I'm in a unique position having this conversation because I get to see the productivity on the other side and the work ethic on the other side. And, you know, if I were naive, I'd say, How does she fit it all in? And of course, I understand it's the key to unlocking your effectiveness. Tiger, I have two quick last questions for you. The first is, if you are going to give any advice to anyone who's either thinking about taking on a journey with a challenge like this or maybe is already on a journey and is frustrated, what would your advice be with you being so successful?

 

Tiger Paton: 1:05:42

I think the first is to just get started. Don't wait for inspiration or motivation to show up. Get out there, set a goal, and get started. But with that, find support. Like the best athletes, the best people in the world have a team around them to help them do this. You sure as heck can't do it alone. So find a community and find support. I could not get here without everything that I've learned from the community of athletes around me—everything I've learned from the coaches—that has been pivotal. And don't worry about the blizzard of insane information out there that is so easy to get caught up in. Focus on doing a few really simple things, right? Focus on a habit, focus on eating well after you do a workout, and focus on getting to the gym a couple of times a week. Pick some basic habits and allow the progression to flow from there. And do strength training. That's the other piece. If you pick something, do strength training. But I think that's the biggest piece: you can't wait for everything to align perfectly. And you are more than capable; you absolutely can get to this place. Just—you're capable of so much more than you think. And Matt, you've said that to me several times. But, you know, just get in, pick some basic habits, and get some support. And remember that the future you, the one that's going to be able to live independently or reach some huge goal, whatever your personal or athletic goals are down the road, is relying on you right now, like you of today, to get up and take some action. And you don't want to let them down.

 

Tiger Paton: 1:07:44

Don't let them down. Here's the last question. It's not my question. A few people knew you were coming on, so I have to read it over here. It's uh. The question is, how do you, daily, keep your sanity despite having to work with Matt every day? It's your biggest life challenge, isn't it?

 

Tiger Paton: 1:08:11

I can't, Yeah, I can't legally answer that on the podcast. But we manage to suffer together now. It's been such an awesome journey. Like I said, as an athlete, First and foremost, It's been unbelievable to be able to learn as much as I have and continue to as well. So, you know, I suffered through your company so that I could pull a few good nuggets out here and there, and we made it.

 

Matt Dixon 1:08:40

We make it. Well, Tiger, thank you for sharing your story. Thanks for being a part of the show, but much more importantly, thanks for being such a key and valued member of Purple Patch. You are a lightning rod within the squad programs, and I know that everybody loves working with you in Purple Patch. So, thank you very much, and hear on out. Don't fuck it up. Keep the journey going. And we'll take it from there. Thanks for being on the show.

 

Tiger Paton: 1:09:06

I'll try, Matt. Thanks.

 

Matt Dixon 1:09:09

Guys. Thanks so much for joining, and 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 subscribe, to 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, and keep smiling while doing whatever you do. Take care.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

athlete, patch, training, purple, sport, journey, talk, running, people, focus, program, love, terrain, important, little bit, triathlon, race, squad, helped, part

Carrie Barrett