REBROADCAST: Marina Gelman - How Adopting an Athletic Mindset Saved this Mother's Life
Purple Patch Podcast
Matt Dixon
4.8 • 647 Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast! On the episode IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon welcomes guest and Purple Patch Athlete Marina Gelman.
In 2000, at the age of 40, Marina Gelman lost her college-aged daughter in a tragic car accident. At the time, Gelman was a new fitness enthusiast and avid runner. Overcome by grief after the accident, however, she holed herself up for almost two years and focused only on work to numb the pain. Unfortunately, during this time, she abandoned her fitness goals, started smoking again after a long hiatus, and put on weight; reaching over 200 pounds.
Ironically, it was another tragedy a short time later, the death of her Father from a heart attack, that inspired her to start training again. As it turns out, training non-stop turned out to be a blessing and a curse. Yes, she lost weight and found relief from her stress and heartache, but she was also overtraining…severely. Marina eventually succumbed to the devastating effects of chronic fatigue. Even the simple act of walking up a flight of stairs became unbearable.
In 2012, after hearing about Matt Dixon and Purple Patch from her running club, she reached out. At the time, she was 240 pounds, her heaviest. She explained to Matt that she had only two small goals:
-
Recover from her chronic fatigue
-
Run three miles again. That's it.
Matt set her sights higher. Not only did he give her hope, but he also gave her a long-term structured plan and a wonderful community of support. Today, Marina Gelman is a Half-Ironman finisher, with her hopes set on finishing a full Ironman in the near future. She has also lost 105 pounds and trains daily, fully recovered from chronic fatigue.
This is a story of hope and promise. Adopting an athletic mindset, regardless of where you find yourself, just may be the one spark to save your life. "Losing a child is something unimaginable to go through," says Marina. "Sport, in a way, and running saved me from sadness for the rest of my life."
If you have any questions about the Purple Patch program, feel free to reach out at [email protected]
Purple Patch and Episode Resources
Check out our world-class coaching and training options:
Book a complementary needs assessment coaching call:
https://calendly.com/coaches-purplepatch/offseason-assessment-call
Tri Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/squad
1:1 Coaching: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/11-coached
Run Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness/com/run-squad
Strength Squad: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/strength-1
Live & On-Demand Bike Sessions: https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/bike
Explore our training options in detail: https://bit.ly/3XBo1Pi
Live in San Francisco? Explore the Purple Patch Performance Center: https://center.purplepatchfitness.com
Everything you need to know about our methodology:
https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/our-methodology
Amplify your approach to nutrition with Purple Patch + Fuelin
https://www.fuelin.com/purplepatch
Get access to our free training resources, insight-packed newsletter and more at purplepatchfitness.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | 2026, do you want to make this the best season yet for you? Well, guess what? It doesn't start in |
| 0:06.3 | January. It starts in off-season. It is a critical phase. And in the world of Triathlon, |
| 0:12.4 | there's a ton of information out there. It can be complicated, it could be time-consuming to understand. |
| 0:18.5 | But we're going to help you break through. We are offering complementary |
| 0:21.8 | off-season needs assessment calls. You can meet with one of our coaches where we can understand |
| 0:26.7 | your background, your goals, what your ideal pathway is to success. Now, it might result in us |
| 0:34.3 | finding that you're a great fit for Purple Patch. |
| 0:43.0 | But either way, I'll tell you what, you're going to leave with some real practical insights to make sure that you can go ahead and nail your offseason, |
| 0:46.0 | which I have said many times is the baseline most critical phase for athletes to have performance breakthroughs. |
| 0:54.0 | It's very, very simple to get involved. |
| 0:56.0 | All you need to do is reach out to us. |
| 0:58.5 | Info at purple patchfitness.com. |
| 1:00.8 | Let them know that you'd like a needs assessment with whether they want our coaches |
| 1:03.6 | and we will set you up. |
| 1:05.6 | We are going to unlock your effectiveness and your off-season magic. |
| 1:10.1 | Enjoy the show. |
| 1:11.6 | I mean, losing a child, it's unimaginable, something unimaginable to go through. |
| 1:19.5 | But sport in a way, running in a way saved me, saved me from sadness for the rest of my life. |
| 1:30.3 | I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. |
| 1:33.3 | The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. |
| 1:39.3 | Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. |
| 1:43.3 | The purpose of this podcast |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Matt Dixon, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Matt Dixon and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.