Matt Dixon - The Well-Built Triathlete: Turning Potential into Performance

Copyright 2014 by Matt Dixon

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by VeloPress, a division of Competitor Group, Inc.

Ironman is a registered trademark of World Triathlon Corporation.

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A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-937715-11-3 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-937716-57-8 (e-book)

For information on purchasing VeloPress books, please call (800) 811-4210, ext. 2138, or visit www.velopress.com.

Cover design by Pete Garceau

Cover photograph by Nils Nilsen; wetsuit and swim cap courtesy of Roka

Exercise photographs by Nils Nilsen; photograph of Meredith Kessler by Delly Carr

Illustrations by Josh McKible

Version 3.1

A note to readers: Double-tap on illustrations and tables to enlarge them. After art is selected, you may expand or pinch your fingers to zoom in and out.

There comes a time in every athletes life when they realize that their methods have to change in order for them to attempt to reach their goals. My aha moment came when I plateaued as a struggling age grouper. By the time I was 30 years old, I had toiled away for seven years racing random triathlon events, and my improvement in the sport had been minimal. Why wasnt my effort translating into results?

My story is not unlike that of many other age groupers in triathlon. We put in the time at our day jobs to pay for our lifestyle while searching for even more time to stay connected with our family and friends. Add to this the hours of training that we squeeze into every week to fuel our passion for triathlon. I learned to balance all of these important things in my life, and I was making strides in my job and personal relationships. However, my triathlon goals were still far out of reach. I seemed to train more than other triathletes in my situation, yet I was spinning my wheels and not advancing. I was an above-average exerciser but a mediocre triathlete.

Matt has often shared the story of how we met after a cycling class in 2007, noting that I was a wide-eyed, inexperienced triathlete who was a heavy exerciser. He kindly took a chance on me and invited me to a ride in Marin County to see if I could hang. It was an ugly sight. I am thankful that he saw something he thought he could mold and optimizegumption. We continue to nurture that quality today because without gumption, our road to success would not have been as vibrant. Even with gumption on our side, Matt had his work cut out for him. He took me under his umbrella and gave this novice age grouper the tools not only to improve but to become a multiple Ironman champion on the journey to world class.

I had one requirement when I began working with Matt and purplepatch in 2007, and its the same today. I would gladly give myself to purplepatch and his plan for my training as long as he was able to accommodate my busy work and social schedule. I am a firm believer in balanceif something gets out of whack, like excessive training, it can seep into and affect other aspects of your existence. When we started working together, the goal was to turn my chronic exercising into serious, high-quality training. Matt devised a plan that included my 50-plus-hour work week, outings with friends, time with my husband, and a power-packed 15 hours of training per week.

Matts passion and dedication to vastly improving an individuals athleticism can be seen throughout his purplepatch empire. This spirit and vision now radiate throughout the global triathlon community. He has continued to evolve and expand his database of knowledge to the extent that he remains at the forefront of the sport, a beacon for the rapidly expanding triathlon world.

Matching a coach with an athlete is a tricky business. I am fortunate that I found Matt and purplepatch because we are a perfect match. What I know about Matt and the purplepatch philosophy is that it works.... It works if you want to become a better athlete or triathlete, and it works if you want to find and keep balance in your life.

What I have experienced firsthand and seen with other purplepatch athletes is that Matt will put you in a remarkable position to succeed. From there, it will be up to you. You will be given the opportunity to use his knowledge to achieve your goals in athletics and in life.

It is usually up to us whether we capitalize on special circumstances that come our way. I will always be grateful that I walked up to Matt Dixon and asked for his help in becoming a better, stronger, smarter, more vibrant, and even more balanced triathlete. Do you have gumption? Maybe Matt and purplepatch will change your life forever, too!

MEREDITH KESSLER

6-time Ironman champion

www.meredithkessler.com, www.lifeoftriathlete.com

Over the past few seasons, I have been humbled by the success we have experienced with our purplepatch athletes. Our professional athletes have recorded over 150 victories and podium finishes, including multiple top finishes at world championship events. Not to be outdone by the pros, many of our amateurs have secured multiple wins and world championships in all race distances, and more than 100 athletes have qualified and competed at the Hawaii Ironman World Championship. Despite this success, I dont consider myself a master coach. I am well aware that I still have a tremendous amount to learn. I look around at many other experts in their fields and am humbled by their knowledge and expertise. I am passionate about evolving as a coach, learning from others as well as my own athletes and experiences, and producing more and more top results. So why would I decide to write a book on triathlon performance at this relatively early stage of my career? The answer to this question lies mostly in my own athletic experiences and the reason I began purplepatch fitness in the first place.

My athletic career is a great example of how to do it wrong. While I managed to take my swimming to an elite level and raced several seasons as a professional triathlete, I do not advise that anyone emulate my approach. Despite my background in exercise physiology and, in the case of my triathlon career, plenty of coaching experience in swimming, I managed to destroy my potential thanks to a recipe made up of massive work ethic, little focus on recovery, and poor nutrition and fueling. I was a world-class trainer, possessing a passion and ability to train that was unsurpassed by any of my training partners, but it only carried me to early retirement and multiple years of very deep fatigue and ill health. I trained myself into the ground and was left unable to exercise at all for almost two years. Ironically, I reflect on that experience with a certain fondness now, as it proved to be the catalyst for me to step back and think more deeply about endurance sports. My athletic experiences, coupled with my education and swim coaching experience, began to frame my set of beliefs about how to properly coach triathlon. These original beliefs remain the guiding principles of my coaching career, and they provide the framework that all purplepatch athletes follow.