Welcome to another "Ask Matt Anything" edition of the Purple Patch Podcast. Today IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon tackles your voicemails and emails. You asked and today Matt answers your questions on training and racing through a coach’s lens. In this installment of "Ask Matt Anything", Matt answers your questions related to: Management of training Expectations around improvement Race preparation strategy And much more Episode Timestamps 0:00 - 03:28 - Welcome and Episode Introduction 3:43 - 07:24 - Word of the Week 07:32 - 37:53 - The Meat and Potatoes: Episode 264: Ask Matt Anything - Troubleshooting Training to Race Day 08:30 - Question 1 from Joan: “I struggle with keeping up the hard training as well as my performance when I head to work. I often find myself falling into really deep drowsiness in the middle of the afternoon desperate for sleep. I try and battle through and I can certainly feel like it's impacting my focus and my productivity in the afternoon. I feel like I sleep okay. But I just wonder what I should try and do to improve my afternoon energy. Is it the hard training that's negatively impacting me?” "The good news is that all of the things I'm going to suggest are pretty simple, they're actionable. And I think that by addressing these simple aspects, you're probably going to see a pretty radical shift in improvements..." - Matt Dixon 16:24 - Question 2 from Neil: “I just put my heart and soul into training for three full months. And I raced my first Half IRONMAN just a couple of weeks ago. And while I feel like I've improved my consistency, and throughout my training, I just didn't have a good day, I improved a little bit, but nowhere near as much as I would have assumed. And to be honest, right now, I'm feeling a little discouraged. I feel like quitting. Is it wrong of me to expect bigger gains in performance after such effort over so many months?" "We want to think about this in longer-term athlete development. Because it's not only going to be a smart approach if you think about gains over the long term, and you don't think about any singular race as pass-fail. It's going to be a really empowering mindset for you." - Matt Dixon 28:25 - Question 3 from Carla: “I recently returned from my first half Ironman distance, but I found myself showing up at the start line, mentally and physically exhausted from the race week logistics, planning my equipment, mapping out my fueling and hydration, trying to get everything perfect around my meals. I just felt like a pinball throughout the days leading into the race. How do athletes remove some of the stresses and the logistics that have impacted me so much? I didn't feel like I raced to my trained potential because I was just exhausted." "I can't overstate how much cognitive load is removed from athletes when they truly prepare for race week before they step into the venue itself before they arrive to the venue." - Matt Dixon Ask Matt Anything! Head to the Podcast Page at PurplePatchFitness.com/podcast and leave a concise question for Matt. Tell us your name and where you're from, and ask your question. We'll get to as many as we can in future episodes.   If you have any questions or want to learn more about leveraging Purple Patch in your performance journey, reach out to us by clicking the links below. Schedule a consultation Join Tri-Squad Learn more about our Tri Squad Program Send us a message   Purple Patch and Episode Resources Purple Patch Video Podcast and More Free Webinar - Maximize Your 70.3 or IRONMAN Performance as a Time-Starved Athlete The Purple Patch Center is Open - Learn More and Schedule a Visit Purple Patch Coaching Consultation 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 ju