Episode 241: Observations of Elite Performance – What Amateur Athletes Can Learn From Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt
Follow the Purple Patch Podcast at:
APPLE PODCASTS - SPOTIFY- AMAZON MUSIC - GOOGLE PODCASTS - YOUTUBE
photo: @kaidenlieto
As a follow-up to our podcast on the evolution of the professional triathlon, this episode focuses on the tip of the performance spear with a spotlight on two athletes who have taken the sport to new heights. Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, also known as The Norwegian Train.
With stand-out Olympic and Ironman performances in recent years, the two athletes paved the way to a stellar showing at the 2022 Hawaii Ironman World Championships and a record-breaking win for Iden.
The pair recently appeared on the Rich Roll Podcast to shed light on their approach and offered a glimpse into their training method, which is well known for its grounding in science and technology, spearheaded by their coach, Olav Aleksander Bu.
In this episode of the Purple Patch podcast, Ironman Master Coach, Matt Dixon takes the insights gleaned from the interview with Iden and Blummenfelt and examines what you can learn from the principles, approach, and success of the seemingly unstoppable Norwegian Train.
Matt discusses:
Context and Perspective: The differences between elite professionals and the time-starved amateur.
(12:48) "It's sort of a monastic life...it's not the game that the vast majority of us are playing."
(20:27) "While the pros have a very pure speed and performance challenge, us as amateurs face an optimization challenge in both training, planning, and where to apply focus so that we can ultimately move our performance needle."
Traits and Approaches: Traits and principles that make up the training approach of elite professionals.
(25:22) "When you listen to Kristian, and Gustav, what comes through for me is a series of traits and approaches, all wrapped up in the team setup that are very, very common across almost any high-performing team and individual. And this could be tailored and positioned to sports, to business, to broader life."
Actionable Takeaways: Key lessons you can draw from the interview to apply to your training approach and performance journey.
(40:48) "What should you apply right now, from all of these insights? You can't just change everything, but what are the components that you should do? Should you go and grab a lactate meter? Should you recruit your partner to help you with the application of the core temperature monitor? If you've listened to the episode and interview you'll understand what I mean by that. Should you hire a personal physiologist? Should you scrap the family holiday so that you can spend it all on data analytics? No, at least not before you do these things that I'm going to break through."
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 06:59 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
07:07 - 46:07 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 241: Observations of Elite Performance - What Amateur Athletes Can Learn from Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt
Purple Patch Video Podcast and More
The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit
The RIch Roll Podcast - Gustav Iden & Kristian Blummenfelt: Lessons From The Norwegian Train Reign
Episode 10: Recovery - Your Key to Improved Performance
Episode 25: Traits of Highly Talented People
Training Camp - 2023 Kona Triathlon Camp
Purple Patch Coaching Consultation
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
This episode is sponsored by our collaboration with INSIDE TRACKER. Inside Tracker and Purple Patch - Receive 20% off their services with code: PURPLEPATCHPRO20
Ask Matt Anything - Leave a voicemail question for Matt
Learn more about Purple Patch Squad High-Performance Training Program
Join Bike Squad - Don’t just exercise and work out; learn to train with our structured online cycling program
Join Run Squad - Increase your running performance through our progressive, multi-sport approach to running
Learn more about Purple Patch Fully Customized 1:1 Coaching
Learn more about Purple Patch Strength Programming
Stay Up-to-Date with Purple Patch News and Events
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 sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:21
All right, guys, high performance is the topic of the day. And if you are chasing your highest performance, well, you're going to benefit from getting a little clarity, a little focus, and some precision of where you are applying your best energy and resources. One of the tools in the toolbox that we use is InsideTracker. By looking at your biometrics and combining it with the insights and recommendations from the team of experts and scientists at InsideTracker, we get precise clarity and focus on what you should apply to your nutrition training, rest, recovery, stress reduction, and even your supplements. And the best news is you don't even need to be a Purple Patch athlete to participate. All you have to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch. And you can use this special code Purple Patch pro 20, that's Purple Patch Pro two zero, and you get 20% off everything at the store. I will add it's a wonderful way at this time of the year to get insights so that you can set up your winter months of training preparation and ensure that you can get some trackable results so that you can build your platform of health. And on top of that, that's going to be the catalyst for you to achieve whatever you want in sport in life. And so, inside tracker.com/purplepatch, use the code Purple Patch Pro two zero. It's 20% off everything at the store. Alright, I hope you enjoy today's show. It is a cracker. It's all about that Norwegian Train.
Matt Dixon 02:00
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. As ever, your host Matt Dixon. Three weeks ago, well, we started to unpack something that was interesting in the professional side of triathlon. The ground is moving under our feet. There is a whole new wave of high performance occurring in the sport. We are seeing performance levels we have never seen before. On the male side of race, as well as the female side. But two athletes, in particular, are driving the levels of men's professional triathlon. They're known as the Norwegian train, Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt. They are at the pointiest end of the spear. And they are changing the whole sport. In fact, if we just cast our eyes on some of their standout performances over the last few years, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2019. In 2020, the Olympic champion. In 2021, the Ironman World Champion, a race that was hosted in St. George, Utah. And then just a few weeks ago, the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, yes, a course record included. And these are just a few of the results. It is a paradigm shift. These kids are fast, they're really, really fast. And they're also really well known for their utilization of a highly scientific approach, where they leverage data tools and analysis like no other. And all of that is spearheaded by a team, including and led by their coach Olav Aleksander Bu. Now recently, Gustav and Kristian appeared on the Rich Roll podcast. And it was a fascinating conversation, I thought, I've got to have a listen to this. And in doing so, so many thoughts sparked in my mind that I thought, you know what? I'm going to build a whole show around this. I'm going to hijack our regular calendar of what we're gonna get planned for next week. And I just want to talk about this episode. Because the whole premise of today's show, the Purple Patch podcast, is what can we as time-starved athletes, learn from the principles, approaches, and the successes of the Norwegian train? And it turns out, there's a lot. Now, I want to ensure as we go through this episode, which should be quite a bit of fun, I want to ensure that the lessons that we can draw are really applicable for you. And so I've decided to break the show down into three main parts.
Matt Dixon 04:28
The first is to frame some context. In order to make it applicable to you, the audience, we have to ensure that we can identify the difference of what they're doing, and their journey to elite sport, and what you're doing and your puzzle that you're trying to create so that you can become the best athlete the best person the best human that you possibly want to be. Because while there are parallels, there are certain differences that require some real context. Then in part two of the show, we're going to break apart some of the Principles and traits that we observed from that conversation in the rich role podcasts. There are some really important factors, what are some of the highlights through that interview? Now we can summarize these, there are a whole bunch of traits. And these are traits that all of us can work on to leverage performance gains. So that's where we start to get a little bit juicy. And then the final component of all of those traits that we unpack, what are the ones that are the key, the instantly applicable actions that you can draw, and go and apply right now to your journey to help you become a better athlete, a more healthy person, whatever your goal might be? Now, I'll give you a spoiler right now, what I'm probably not going to do today is encourage you to rush out and buy a lactate meter, that should signal some of your thinking of how we're going to approach this. And so in the show notes, we're going to leave you the link to the Rich Roll podcast, I highly encourage you to watch it. You can pause now and go and watch it if you would like. Or you can listen to this show and have the context of my thoughts, and then go and listen to it. There's also going to be a couple of episodes from the Purple Patch podcasts that I'm going to encourage you to head back to episode number 25 on recovery. Actually, episode number 10. My bad on recovery, episode number 25. On the traits of high-performing athletes and executives and CEOs, it turns out there's a big parallel between a high-performing leader in business, and of course, a high-performing athlete in sport. And we're going to unpack some of that today. And so that's going to be some sort of almost homework for you some grounding. But as we get on today, we've got so much to get through that we're not going to go through Matt's News-ings, we're not going to do Word of the Week. Barry, I'm going to give you the week off the ukulele instead, we're going to dive in right now to the special part of the show. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 07:07
Yes, guys, the meat and potatoes. Two athletes. Kristian Blummenfelt. Gustav Iden. Norwegian. Been training for a long time. Over the last few years, burst onto the scene. And as few athletes have done before, really changed the sport. There's a whole new bar, there's a whole new bar of preparation and training. There's a whole new bar of performance levels. And in the Rich Roll podcast, I thought it was a really insightful interview of these two athletes because they are changing the sport. But what I was interested in is, what's the driver behind this? Now I should say that I don't know, Kristian or Gustav personally, at all. And I don't know their coach, Olav Aleksander Bu. And so I'm drawing on the same source of information, all of the same media or the same insights. Perhaps I've had a few conversations on the outside with folks in and around triathlon, but really, I'm drawing on the stuff that is publicly out there, I don't have any secret insight. And so I don't pretend that I'm going to get everything right today. But what I do want to do is unpack some of my perspectives, some of the lessons, and some of the things that sparked up for me when I listened to that interview, because I thought it was really, really interesting. Now, as you're gonna hear as we go through both when you listen to the Rich Roll podcast, and you listen to this show today is that the shiny object in the room, the one that naturally draws all of our focus and attention is the team's adoption of Science, Technology, Assessment, data. But there is more to this story. And as we go through and start to unpack and zoom out a little bit as well, and look for the lessons there. It turns out, there are a whole host of observations and lessons that all of us can apply to our own performance journey. And so as I promised, we're going to go through three little sections today.
Matt Dixon 09:14
And the first section, I think is so important. We have to frame some context. There are these athletes here that are going so fast. They're swimming at around 110 per minute, 100 meters over the course of an Ironman. They're riding their bikes close to 30 miles an hour, for the course of 112 miles. And then they're running off the bike in heat, high heat in Hawaii, 2 hours and 35 minutes. This is really fast. So their journey, their puzzle that they're trying to break apart to hit high performance, and your journeys are time-starved athlete’s - we have to create context because it's only then that we can start to draw the lessons and make them applicable to ourselves. And so, let's break apart the game that they're playing. But then also talk about what we're trying to do. Sounds good. Fantastic. All right. Let's start with them. Kristian, Gustaf, and actually all professional triathletes. They are playing a vastly different game than even probably the most dedicated amateur triathlete. In fact, the Gulf I would say, between what occurs or performance levels at training and everything else, what occurs between an elite amateur, someone that's really, really fast in the sport, and a top professional, is way larger than most people can even imagine, and certainly realize. It is a large step to take. And that's why it's very challenging for an amateur that might often when their age group often win overall in amateur races, but then move into the professional field and get sucked down the sinkhole. It is a large Gulf, these professional athletes are really, really good. In fact, even an average pro if we want to label it. So let's leverage an average Pro that someone that competes and maybe gets into the top 10 can secure some prize money, even those athletes, they are incredibly good athletes. And the game for this bubble of athletes is just different. Because both pros and amateurs are seeking improvements. We're all going on a journey where we want to see tangible gains. And we are chasing goals, often event-driven. And all of us can take great pride and satisfaction when things go well. And we qualify or finish a race or win a world championship. And there's an immense source of pride and satisfaction to that, of course, pros and amateurs are not different, we can share that journey. And in fact, in triathlon, you even share the cost of that journey. And that's something that makes it really, really special. But a pro, at least a proper Pro, someone that is wholly dedicated to achieving world-class performance. That's quite a narrow focus in itself. That Pro has appropriately a central focus and absolute dedication and commitment with all of life wrapped around the pursuit of improvement in their sport. Which hopefully then can achieve outcomes such as what we see at the pointy end winning World Championships, etc. And that's great. So if you look at and listen to Kristian and Gustav's every day, their normal day, it's swim, bike, run, sleep, rest, nap, post-workout, fueling, eat, eat again, eat again, plan, review, bed, and nothing else. It is a central focus where every fabric of their day is built around world-class performance. And in fact, theirs is an extreme example of the complete commitment, and really what it takes to reach that level. Okay, that's great to know. And you could aspire to that. It's sort of a monastic life, but you can maybe aspire to it, maybe it's, I'd love to do that one day. But it's not the game that the vast majority of us are playing.
Matt Dixon 11:32
Because as an amateur, particularly a time-starved athlete, the picture and the challenge is completely different. Because for the vast majority of us, we have a whole host of absolutely non-negotiable commitments, whether it's everything under work, family travel, or some form of social life. And yes, that's really important, not just through your sport, but a broader perspective and a social life. And all of those non-negotiable commitments. They make up a large amount of your ability and capacity of focus, and of course, your time. Now, within that context, then even the most dedicated amateur, are seeking to maximize training load within the context of all of those other stresses. And so the mission for a time-starved athlete is to sustainably fit sport into that life and then ultimately hit their sporting goals, but not at the expense of all of the other components all of those non-negotiables that we started with. Now the truth is for both pros and elite amateur As and time-starved damages, whatever it might be. Long-term development and enduring high performance. The parallel is both need to have a platform of health. And we can talk about that platform of health in terms of tissue and musculoskeletal health, mental health, and of course, systemic health. And in order to do that, if we come back to the journey that the Pro is taking, and the journey that the amateur is taking the Pro, that systemic health and their ability to absorb training and adapt in a positive way, it is almost all anchored around their capacity to absorb the plan. And they need to eat a lot, rest a lot, sleep a lot, et cetera. But it's all anchored on the physical training plan. But that's very different for us for you. Because the capacity to nail effective training has to fit in the context of life. So we actually face much more of what we could label an optimization challenge. It's a very different game. While we might be participating in the same sport, we really have to think about things in context, because our capacity to absorb any training program is dependent on the overall load of the other stresses in life work commitments, travel, for work, family, vacations, social life, maybe a little bit of a later night that you anticipate and all of your commitments around your family and friends. And that's non-negotiable. And so we're not just looking at total stress score from our training and saying, Great, I can track that - I have to fit it into context of life. And that becomes really important.
Matt Dixon 16:52
The magic word of all of this, from both sides is capacity. And when listening to the Norwegians, it's very clear that their capacity is great. Their capacity, that is for absorbing training. And the way they get to that is they remove all of life's distractions. And they focus on supporting habits that can amplify the body's ability to absorb training. So they have a smart training program that is wrapped in high analysis and a great team for observing, as well as making a smart program that's developed over many, many years with a long-term plan. But then in terms of solid eating habits, recovery, and of course, under the banner of recovery, sleep being central. So the only other thing they do is spend time planning, education around the programming itself, and a little bit of analysis and assessment. And both of these athletes have massive support and coaching in that department. Well, for us, time-starved athletes, capacity is a very different thing. And it's much less when it comes to our hobby triathlon because we have all the other components of life that take up time. And so within our capacity, in order for us to absorb and adapt, we've got a certain number of training hours, which is almost certainly going to be many less training hours than what these Norwegians and other professional triathletes are doing. And all the while we're trying to break apart enough time to get appropriate sleep, we've got to do a certain amount of planning, and preparation, and eating of our nutrition and our fueling. That all takes up some capacity. And then we have so much time left to focus on planning, education of ourselves, maybe analysis and assessments. And that's typically not very much. And so for nearly all of us, we face a very genuine optimization challenge. So the question for each of you is where are you going to place your energy and your focus? Because the pros and these two Norwegians being a prime example of it, they've got everything at their disposal. And what they must do is they must filter, what actually leads to the final goal for that team, which is very, very simple, going faster. That's their goal. I want the athlete to go faster. That's it, period. So they've got everything available. And then they filter out and say what's actually going to drive the speed needle over the course of whatever events they're getting ready for. As an amateur. We've got that optimization challenge. So we're gonna have to filter everything that is out there. And goodness me there's a whole bunch of education, insight, tools, gadgets, all that can be sold to us, and we're going to have to make decisions on what's gonna create the best yield for you to achieve a few things.
Matt Dixon 20:04
Number one, enjoyment and satisfaction. This is something that you should actually love to do and get a lot of satisfaction from. Number two, promote health, that's obviously important. And I would say that should be a purpose for us all. We don't want to achieve our goals at the expense of health, and finally prepare you to actually go faster as well. That's the really fun part. And that's super. And so while the pros have a very pure speed and performance challenge, us as amateurs face an optimization challenge in both training, planning, and where to apply focus so that we can ultimately move our performance needle. It's very, very different and that's okay. But with that context, what I want to do is dig into some of the lessons that I drew, from that interview in the Rich Roll podcast. And so what are some of the traits of high performance that I feel like were really expressed over the course of that interview? And most importantly, what are some of those traits that you should apply to your own journey?
Matt Dixon 21:09
So as I mentioned prior, the bright, very shiny topic of discussion is, of course, going to start with science, data, analytics, technology. And look, it's really, really cool. And actually, for these two athletes, it is really valuable as well. And part of the reason for that it is very clear through this discussion, that leaning into those big buckets of let's call it science is extremely well, both leveraged and executed. In fact, it's a great understanding or lesson in Applied Science, and then almost Wild West experimentation, to make sure that they're looking and learning about the athletes themselves. And I think it's important in context that we have to realize that these two athletes, they're not the ones that are saying, give, give give, come on, I'm going to do more and more and more. They are surrounded by a team. This is a team setup. And it's very clear that leveraging science is very clearly and well thought through. And in fact, I think it's a great example of a healthy collision between research, peer-reviewed research, but also on the field-applied lessons that are drawn directly from the individual athletes. And I'm going to admit, look, it's really important, and it's incredibly well executed. But equally, I think it would be folly for any of us to think that that, just leaning into science, that that is the thing. That is the catalyst that leads the athletes to change in the sports that leads the athletes to them hitting those performance levels. It's important. It's valuable to the team. But it's not ultimately in for me, for me, at least the biggest driver. You're disappointed aren't ya? The question is, what is it? What I want us to do is zoom out a little bit. And I want to get a little bit of a bigger picture. Because I just simply don't believe that it's just the science and data. That is the true catalyst for the performance. I think there are some really basic fundamentals around their setup, and the athlete approach that are ultimately more universal, and the big drivers of their long-term success, and hopefully, they're enduring success. In fact, when you listen to Kristian, and Gustav, what comes through for me is a series of traits and approaches, all wrapped up in the team setup that are very, very common across almost any high-performing team and individual. And this could be tailored and positioned to sports, to business to broader life. And interestingly, it's really quite simple, but it's critically important. So whether the team realize it, whether the athletes realize it or not, there is some really powerful factors that are helping produce this whole new level that we're talking about. And so from my perspective, let me break a few down. We're gonna go through seven or eight that I think are really important.
Matt Dixon 24:22
Number one, a critical component that any coach listening to this is probably going Yes, of course, and I'm going to label it under patience. Now we can have the subtitle here, long-term development. At Purple Patch, we consistently remind folks embrace the journey. It's not going to happen in six weeks. It's not going to happen in six months. Your performance journey is not a season. It's about stringing seasons together, integrating it sustainably into life that over time, finally, you can go goodness me, I don't even recognize myself as An athlete. Both of these athletes Gustav and Kristian have been wholly committed in the same coaching team. And that's an important factor, the same coaching team has set up for more than a decade, 10 years. And so while they burst onto the scene about three years ago, the truth is that, like every overnight success, it was 10 years in the making. And this is absolutely no accident. They are well funded, incredibly well supported, without a doubt have a very strong coach. And we're going to talk about that more later. As individuals are highly committed. And I'm sure have navigated a whole bunch of lessons and learning along the way that has included setbacks and failures and struggles, I'm sure. It's not just the linear journey to progression and high performance. And what we see here is the start of the last few years of the fruits of a model of long-term performance. And so when you get drawn to the lactate meters, or what's going on with the core temperatures, that's built on a whole journey of long-term development, and I don't think we can undervalue, how critical that is.
Matt Dixon 26:18
The second component is almost coupled with this, which is a strong element through the team of long-term planning. And it's very obvious that they have long-term planning over multiple years. There is a strategic plan in place where they're not just mapping out the next block of training or even that season. It is a long-term strategic plan. And it's all around something that I love a phrase that I love athlete development. It is a big focus on long-term planning, which in fact, and this is important, acts as a catalyst then, for the coach and athletes to make smart and non-emotional decisions in the short term. Because by creating a structure, a vision, purpose, then on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis, they can actually manage that plan, they can make decisions. And they always have to course-correct a compass to come back to a sense of purpose or direction. And that prevents emotion from pulling them off course, I think it also prevents when they do have potentially a bad race or a bad day, an easier passage back onto the runway and the journey. And that becomes even more important. And underneath it all as well, by having this framework, this strategic this long-term commitment, and plan, it actually opens the door for something very simple. And that's focus. And it's not just focus in the way that you think about it. But it's very simple. It's a filter and focus on the things that are valuable to the athletes. And that's certainly a driver that informs their utilization of all of the, quote, science that we all get pulled into looking. Oh it's so bright and shiny, isn't it? So those are two fundamental, critically important traits that are expressed through this team. And of course, led by the two athletes.
Matt Dixon 28:20
The third is very simple. One word, passion. Both of these athletes clearly have a passion for the process of a process for you Americans. They're never just chasing a single outcome. These athletes are very clearly - it comes through the interview I think - very boldly. They are obsessed with personal development, and no finish line of a race is ever a finish line of the journey of performance. Sure, they get to celebrate, I'm sure that Gustav was very happy after winning the recent Hawaii Ironman World Championships, and I'm sure he celebrated and got all of the validation. On the flip side, I'm sure that Kristian who is clearly a little bit disappointed, learn and maybe went through a little bit of grieving of frustration after having that not the performance that he wanted. But these races for these athletes are just smart targets. They are a catalyst for a little bit of motivation. But all within the fabric of that long-term plan and obsession. And in fact, if you expand out your lens a little bit and you think about great athletes across sports - Roger Federer and Serena Williams in tennis, Lionel Messi or Ronaldo in soccer, LeBron James in basketball. Pick your athlete of choice. All of them love to improve. Yes, they love to win world titles and become champions, etc. But they are on a personal journey of growth and development. And there's no doubt that the only way you can do that is if you have passion for the process. And that becomes really important through the Rich Roll podcast. It was very, very clear that both of these athletes Gustav and Kristian had it in spades.
Matt Dixon 30:09
So what else is it, they've got long-term planning, they love the journey. They're very strategic. They're patient, they've gone on this long journey, which now they're starting to reap the rewards for. Super. There is another trait that is common across all high performers. And I'm gonna label this as high coachability. Now, I'm going to add to this, the fact that the coaching that they received is also steeped in education, empowerment, and collaboration. And so the honors for that need to go towards Olav. And I'm looking forward to hearing the interview with Rich Roll on that which I think is coming in the next few weeks. But he can be the best coach in the world, but wouldn't achieve success if it wasn't for both Kristian and Gustav being highly coachable. And so there is long-term commitment. But there's also no coach bounce, there's a commitment to the coach to the team and the process. And with that, these two athletes, and in fact, every great elite athlete that I've coached, every great CEO and executive that are high performing, all of them are highly coachable. They're eager to learn. They're seeking personal development and growth, as we talked about. And they heavily rely on feedback and perspective, from an outside source that actually is not engaged in the journey themselves. They're not going through the peaks and valleys, but an expert that has seen it with others, and can help maintain a higher level of perspective. And great high performers lean into that. It's not ego-driven. It's actually a high degree of coachability. And in fact, it's really tough to find someone who enduringly doesn't have a strong dependency on mentorship or coaching. Now, I want to add to this, what I referenced before, the style of coaching as well because while the two athletes are clearly coachable, I think that there's an amplification that's occurring here as well, which is, they are led by a coach who has a very suitable style of coaching for these athletes - Olav Aleksander Bu. And he's known as the Maverick, the Science Guy, the crazy wizard. And yeah, some of that might be true. But what really came out of this interview for me, is that he's actually a great educator and a really smart leader. Because from the show, what I pulled from it, is collaboration. The quest for athlete empowerment. Education being the backbone so that he could probably get adherence by proper execution of the plan that he's building. And actually, the whole journey being a partnership, in no way a dictatorship. And I think this becomes powerful. This is the door opening to a long-term relationship, where you're going on the journey together. And it also, it adds, that when you start to build a team around it, this component of feeling like you have something very special, that you're a part of something that's unique, different, better. And that's what these athletes clearly believe. But that comes from leadership and coaching. That comes from Olav. And again, I don't know Olav personally, but just from that interview, it's very clear that this isn't a top-down-driven dictatorship. This is about collaboration and partnership, and obviously, a whole bunch of very, very smart leveraging of all of the tools available to help these athletes improve. And I think that that's impressive. But there's another element to this.
Matt Dixon 34:00
Number six is support and accountability. So a part of these athletes' success isn't just looking up at their team and their coach, and saying I'm highly coachable, help guide me. There's also a sense of community, being a part of something holding each other to account. Both of these athletes are individual athletes in a sport where best man or best woman wins. And yet at the same time, both of them, the closest competitors, train almost every day with each other. And so many people, the media wonder, how can they do that? You’re fierce competitors, and yet you exist in harmony, training together every day. But in many ways, I think that might be the wrong question. Because my question would be, would either of these athletes be as good as they are if it wasn't for each other, if They didn't have each other? And I think the answer to that is likely not. Because what they're getting from their setup is a tremendous amount of support. They're sharing the journey. They hold each other to account, proper execution, pulling each other up when they're going through tough days. They can bring perspective to each other. They're going on a shared journey. And that's really powerful. Because that goes even further to amplify on what I was talking about. I'm a part of something. I'm within a tight team with great leadership, which I trust, but I'm going on this journey, where we are doing things different, we're doing things better, I'm gaining an advantage for myself. And in fact, there becomes a co-dependency here. Because all athletes thrive when they feel like they belong to something. But they sparkle when they believe that that thing that they belong to is different, special, better. And so I think what's happened here over time, as folks and other athletes have filtered away and it becomes about these two athletes, is they have a performance healthy codependency, that results in the collective, magnifying the individual.And that becomes really powerful. There are lessons in there for many pro athletes, by the way. All right, two more to go on this.
Matt Dixon 36:31
Number seven, an absolute obsession on recovery. Now, in the same way here, where we used to hear about the tech founder, with the badge of honor - I worked so hard that I sleep under the desk, I don't even go home to meet my family - But now that's viewed as a bit of a badge of stupidity. These guys, these Norwegian athletes, the Norwegian train, they work very hard, and they do a lot of training. They are in the edge, absolutely on the edge of training capacity. As they even mentioned, we need to go to the extreme. But what came through this interview for me, is it's very, very clear that as hard as they do train, recovery holds equal value and focus in their performance. And for them, it's very, very simple. They eat a lot. They always fuel following their workouts. They sleep a lot every night. And they always take lots of rest and a nap every day. Now in Episode 10, of the Purple Patch podcast, I actually break apart recovery. And it's a great time to actually go and listen to that podcast and that show, again. Episode 10, you can find it in the show notes. We'll leave it there. But I talk about this very premise. And these two elements, sleep, and recovery are incredibly potent and powerful. I would argue your most powerful recovery tools. But there's a stark truth to this. Nearly every time-starved athlete that we meet, doesn't consume enough calories to support their training and fails to get enough sleep and downtime to actually optimize their performance. Funny that isn't it? It's really funny. But it's the truth. Don't you realize that it's probably something to think about and perhaps work on?
Matt Dixon 38:27
All right. Finally, Trait number eight. And this might sound like a paradox. In fact, this might be the one that you think, what? What's he talking about? This team chases simplicity. They take something that is very complex. And I believe at the heart of it. When you strip away all of the glitz and glamour, they seek simple and repeatable. And yes, they are wrapped in science, technology, data analysis. They have whole teams assessing every single day and I get it. But it's very clear that all of that is never just for the sake of it. They're not throwing spaghetti at the wall, it's very targeted and very thought-through. And the burden of all of that science, technology, and data falls onto Olav and the team of scientists, and that's very clear. But when you dig past all of that sparkle - the lactate meters, the core temperature readers, the breath analysis, and everything else - what you come to is something very raw, basic fundamental, habit driven. Train, sleep, eat a lot, plan, review, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat for 10 years. And so while yes, the team leaves no stone unturned, my guess is that equally, they only implement a tool or assessment or analysis, if they truly believe that the result can be one thing, one simple aim, get these athletes faster. And so while we get drawn to all of the science and the data, for me, it's very clear that it's a chase for something simple and repeatable. It's why we have the saying at Purple Patch, Nail the Basics.
Matt Dixon 40:20
Look, folks, Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, their team supporting them, they are the showcase right now, of many of the very traits of almost every high-performing athlete, CEO, executive, anyone shining in any endeavor in life. And that becomes really interesting, because a lot of what I just broke apart, is actually highly accessible and applicable for you. But for part three, as you leave today's show, what should you apply right now, from all of these insights? You can't just change everything, but what are the components that you should do? Should you go and grab a lactate meter? Should you recruit your partner to help you with the application of the core temperature monitor? If you've listened to the episode and interview you'll understand what I mean by that. Should you hire a personal physiologist? Should you scrap the family holiday so that you can spend it all on data analytics? No, at least not before you do these things that I'm going to break through. There are three very simple things.
Matt Dixon 41:24
Number one, I hate to be boring but Nail the Basics. Technology is cool, and it can be high value if you've got time, capacity, and resources. And equally, if you truly understand it, and can assess and implement it. And for many time-starved athletes, that's just simply not the case. The most important thing that you can do is have a firm foundation of basics that are repeatable. And then if you have more time, and you've got all of that platform of health and fundamentals, then you can look to add things. Unfortunately, most athletes chase the technology before they've built the fundamentals. And so instead, I would really focus on building a foundation of health. And you get there through repeatable training that fits into your life, a healthy dose of learning and self-perception that can be fostered with things like power meters, HRV, heart rate monitors, whatever the tools are, it can help you, but focus on developing the inner animal and your decision making. And then get proper rest, sleep, recovery, and good habits around eating. And once you get that, that's 95% of the way there. Build that. And that takes time. It's a journey itself. But absolutely, nail that, then you're a high-performing individual. And then you almost have license to say, Now what can I do? Now? How can I tweak, refine, improve? What can I draw around it? And that becomes really important. But nail the basics first. That's very simple. It's a mindset and approach. And I promise you in today's world, it takes bravery, because there's a whole bunch of quackery, and blizzard of stuff that people are trying to sell you.
Matt Dixon 43:19
Number two. Now I realize I say this as a coach, but it's true - coaching. Some form of a program, some form of a structure. Because this journey, whatever your journey is, in high performance is incredibly tough to do yourself without gaining high perspective. And without drawing on expertise and support from somebody or some group that's been there before, that's helped a whole bunch of athletes and has made it their passion and their life to help people like you achieve what you want to do. And it doesn't mean that you've got the thumb and a dictatorship, and suddenly you're going to be shackled. In fact, having a mentorship or a partnership or a coach should be actually liberating. Because now you can gain confidence as long as you find the right person for you. A great program and coach doesn't just write a plan for you. They're helping you. They're empowering you. Delivering expertise, and fostering a sense of smart decision-making and accountability. A great coach, the right coach for you, because you're listening to this, is a program or a coach that is heavily steeped in education, and athlete empowerment. It's not about me or whoever your coach of choice is telling you what to do. It's about a process of education so that you can become empowered to make your own decisions. That's what great coaching is. In fact, I always jokingly say, hey, my mission is to make myself completely irrelevant, because if I've done that I've done my job. Knowledge transfer, perspective, expertise, so that you can become a more empowered athlete. Most amateurs, most adults, in fact, I would say all adults don't need a dictator. They don't need someone that just tells them what to do. This isn't high school football team in 1982. This is about a partnership of collaboration. And you heard that on the interview in the Rich Roll podcast. But in fact, it's highly applicable to you. Getting involved with structure, and coaching so that you can become smarter, makes this journey more fun, helps you with that big puzzle of optimization, and ultimately makes you faster. And that's pretty cool.
Matt Dixon 45:46
The third component is, of course, it is my label, I am the recovery coach, but embracing smart recovery. As I mentioned before, the vast majority of athletes just simply don't eat enough calories to support their training, and, or, appropriately the right type of calories at the right time. And that becomes important. The vast majority of time-starved athletes don't get anywhere near enough downtime, stepping away from all of the non-negotiables of life, sleep, and recovery, to actually optimize the effort that they're putting in, whether it's work, whether it's investing in relationships, whether, of course, it's sport. And of course, you need to hydrate well, and always, always, always a simple rule of thumb, we have at Purple Patch, as you heard on the discussion with Kristian and Gustav, consume calories after every single workout. That's to facilitate adaptations. That's to reduce your overall stress. And that's to amplify your daily energy so that you can be a high-functioning human being and whatever else you're going to do outside of your training. And I would add one thing, if you can high value, take a little nap 15 to 20 minutes every day. Research shows that it amplifies your effectiveness, your focus, and your productivity, significantly more of a performance shift. If you take 15 minutes out of your day, and just rest, then having that lunchtime cup of coffee.
Matt Dixon 47:15
And so those are your lessons guys. Those are the applications. Out of all of this, the most science-driven team at the pointy edge of performance, we come down to very simple, nail the basics, lean into coaching, and embrace recovery. Those are the lessons that you get from the Norwegians. I hope that helps. It was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope inspires you to drive on a find your best performance. Remember, it doesn't need to be complicated. Alright, guys, I'll see you next time. Take care.
Matt Dixon 47:48
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 of YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe. Also, share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now any questions that you have, 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 in fact, 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 at 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 really 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, doing whatever you do. Take care
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
athletes, journey, performance, recovery, coach, sport, fact, training, coaching, important, life, patch, team, lessons, traits, amateur, purple, pro, draw, day