Process, Not Perfection

Recently, I listened to a standout episode of the TrainingPeaks CoachCast featuring Matt Dixon, head of Purple Patch Fitness, titled Optimal Training Loads & Non-Negotiables.

From my triathlon days I was already a fan, but if you don’t already know Matt, here’s why his opinion matters. He’s a world-class coach who’s helped guide professional triathletes to Ironman and 70.3 wins, elite executives to age-group podiums, and time-crunched athletes to personal bests. He’s also a former professional triathlete and elite swimmer himself, which gives him a rare mix of athletic experience and coaching insight.

I have always liked the way he builds high performance around real life. Work, travel, family, fatigue, he coaches through it, not around it.

As I listened I found parallels with my original Training Maxims (see this newsletter), so here’s the idea for this three part series. Let’s pair up my maxims with Dixon’s principles, and explore how these simple truths hold up in the real world of endurance training.

Maxim 1: Take Process, Over Perfection

There’s something powerful about doing the same thing well, over and over.

For me, a fixed weekly schedule, with repeatable structure, creates consistency. It removes the friction of daily decisions and makes training part of the rhythm of life. I design plans around non-negotiables first (work, family, etc.) and let rest days emerge when they’re needed. Not scheduled, not forced, just taken when life demands it.

“Variation is for the weak-minded,” I wrote half-jokingly in my manifesto, but the point stands: consistency wins over cleverness.

Dixon’s Alignment with a Twist - Flexibility Creates Consistency

Dixon says: “Life isn’t a spreadsheet. It’s dirty and chaotic. But if you’ve got a system that flexes with real life, that’s where consistency comes from.”

His athletes anchor their week with 1–3 key sessions, the ones that drive performance, and treat the rest as supporting work. They plan ahead (his “Sunday Special” ritual), adjust as needed, and avoid guilt over missed workouts.

Both of us emphasize that consistency comes from clarity and constraint, not from chasing novelty or perfection.

Maxim 2: Fitness Comes First

Race-specific prep matters, but only after you’ve built a fitness base. The idea? Build the engine before you fine-tune it.

I also follow the “two-day principle”: never do a session that leaves you unable to perform again within 48 hours. Fitness is built through repeatable quality, not isolated breakthroughs.

I see athletes fixating about the amount of vert at a target race or the technicality of the terrain and try to replicate that in their base training weeks. This kind of specificity can be useful but not if it comes at the expense of building fitness. Given a hard choice I take fitness every time.

Dixon’s Alignment - Build Broad, Then Sharpen

Dixon avoids overly aggressive intervals or race-simulation workouts early in a block. Instead, he focuses on durability and aerobic consistency, only adding event-specific work when the engine is already running well.

He also encourages a long-term view: “It’s not about this week. It’s about the next 8–12. What can you repeat and absorb?”

Training is about compounding fitness over time, not spiking it.

Your Take-Away - Use a Weekly Sunday Checkpoint:

• Choose 1–3 key sessions this week and protect them.

• Review your recovery: are you building in enough low-intensity work to support the hard stuff?

Let go of perfection. Build rhythm.