She's the Scottish Fireball and he's the Cerebral Brain-Wrangler who helps people perform consistently well in high stress environments.
Lesley Paterson is a 3x Xterra World Champion, multiple 70.3 winner & proud Scot. Her husband, Dr Simon Marshall, is an expert in sports psychology, a UC San Diego professor of mental toughness and equally proud Brit. Together they make up the power couple behind the (notoriously foul-mouthed) coaching company, Braveheart.
They know A LOT about triathlon.
Les & Si chose Coeur to make Les's kit for the 2018 World Championships in Maui. And she dominated the race.
They wanted to make the best fitting, sleekest, & fiercest clothing collection for their brand so they came to the designers at Coeur Sports.
Introducing The Braveheart Collection. For both men and women.
The fierce & feisty Braveheart logo sits on top of a white to blue fade in the colors of the Scottish flag, then is topped off with an edgy pattern. We used our elite, compressive & oh-so soft Italian fabric on all the performance pieces. The tri shorts & suit all have our revolutionary seam-free chamois so you can have happy "bits" all day, as the British say.
You don't need to be a Braveheart athlete to order this gear. This hot collection is all about heart and courage, just like YOU. As a Coeur customer, we're offering you first access to pre-order these limited edition garments. If you order by 4/20 you’ll get guaranteed delivery by the end of June. Also, the first 50 orders will receive a free copy of Simon and Lesley's must-read book The Brave Athlete.
Everyone who attended the Coeur Training camp got to meet Simon and Lesley in person but for those of you who couldn't make it out, we asked them to share a bit about themselves and their coaching service.
Tell us about Braveheart Coaching. What do you do and what makes Braveheart unique?
We are athletes and coaches bound by a common philosophy of the ‘Braveheart Spirit’ -- to embrace the exhilarating and often scary challenge of endurance sport, and to increase our sense of what's possible with our body and mind. When it comes to sport, that 3lb lump on your shoulders is as important as your body. Sure, there’s a whole bunch of science-based training techniques, drills, splits and progress assessments, but at its core, it’s about building a relationship and learning new skills to help you manage internal conflict, embrace the “suck,” and learn to be more comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. To us, you’re not just an email address and TSS Score – you’re a whole person, and chances are there’s a whole lot of stuff happening under the hood that you’ve probably not revealed to many people. We train you physically while helping to sort out your mental gremlins so you can get faster and happier.
Simon, what is your background with respect to endurance sports?
I’ve been a competitive cyclist since I was 12 years old. I rose through the amateur ranks and competed as a Category 1 rider in the UK and USA and then moved into coaching women’s cycling. After meeting my wife, Lesley, I started to compete in triathlon, running events and mountain biking. A multisport lifestyle has been great for my overall health and stops me from getting bored!
Lesley, what is your background with respect to endurance sports?
I started as a rugby player in the fields of Scotland until boobs came (albeit in a small cameo role!). When the girls were no longer allowed to play with the boys on the rugby field, my dad started taking me out on long runs in the hills. At age 13, I entered my first triathlon and was hooked. I got on the Great Britain national junior team at 14 and also won the Scottish schools cross country national championships that same year. I competed in ITU type racing until I was 21 but gave it up when I moved to the US. Four years later, I found the sport of XTERRA (off-road triathlon) and became the 5-time professional world champion. I also compete in professional mountain biking and elite trail running.
People who pre-order a Braveheart Kit will receive a copy of your book The Brave Athlete. Please tell us a bit about the book.
Our book is a step by step guide to how to mentally toughen up, reduce nerves, increase confidence and boost enjoyment of endurance sport. We didn’t want to write a book that doled out useless self-help advice or was just a compilation of anecdotes from pros and high flyers. The Brave Athlete solves the 13 most common mental conundrums that everyday athletes face in their training and racing. We know these are important topics because we asked hundreds of athletes to tell us the problems they wanted help with the most. We then set about answering them using science and real-world experience from athletes. See if you recognize yourself in any of these issues:
- Why do I have thoughts and feelings I don’t want?
- I wish I felt more like an athlete.
- I don’t think I can.
- I don’t achieve my goals.
- Other athletes seem tougher, happier, and more badass than me.
- I feel fat.
- I don’t cope well with injury.
- People are worried about how much I exercise.
- I don’t like leaving my comfort zone.
- When the going gets tough, the tough leave me behind.
- I need to harden the f*ck up.
- I keep screwing up.
- I don’t handle pressure well.
Yup, so we help with that.
Lesley, you won the Xterra World Championships in 2018. What are your race plans for this year?
Yes, 2018 was great for me, especially after last winning my last world title 6 years ago! Perseverance pays off! This year, I’ll be racing XTERRA Greece, then the ITU World Championships in Spain, followed by a series of US-based XTERRA events before heading to XTERRA World Championships in October.
Simon, you are an incredibly well regarded coach with a PhD in Sport and Exercise psychology. If you could give one piece of advice for someone training for their first triathlon, what would you say?
That the voice in your head telling you that you’re not fit enough, lean enough, fast enough, talented enough, or ANYTHING that is not ENOUGH, comes from a part of your brain that is wired to avoid humiliation, embarrassment, and inadequacy at all costs. The problem is that it’s the biggest lie you’ve ever been sold. The good news is that there are easy-to-learn techniques to help fight the battle in our heads to not just enjoy things endurance challenges but also to start living the life you actually want.