The Latest @ Coeur

This weekend had a pretty big build up due to the sheer number of Coeur Girls racing and it did not disappoint. We were treated to a displays of effort, sportsmanship, camaraderie and athletic excellence that were awe inspiring and humbling. We continue to be grateful to everyone who exhibits the values to which we aspire as a company.

The great thing about having a global team is that the weekend can start early. It was still Friday in Los Angeles when we got news that Renata Bucher had once again made it to the podium. This time it was Xterra Saipan where she grabbed a second place.

Renata Bucher continues her podium streak with 2nd at Xterra Saipan

 As we have mentioned before, we have the good fortune to have an office that is conducive to conversation. There’s a sofa and a couple of comfortable chairs in the entrance area before you get to the sublimation and warehousing area and there’s a wine cooler right across from the bank of printers.

When the last tri kit has been sublimated and things start to quiet down in the evening, it is not uncommon to find us on the sofa with (shock!) a glass of wine. We use this time to debrief on the day and to occasionally tackle a few of the big issues in the world. “What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything?” It’s 42 by the way (kudos to anyone who gets the literary reference). “Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?” Perhaps they are going to make Hawaii into two states? And recently, we tackled one of the toughest ones. “What can be done to help the sport of triathlon grow?”

Just to be clear, we did not accidentally re-post our blog from last weekend where Coeur Girls posted amazing results in an Xterra Race, an ITU Race and an Ironman. That...

Endurance sports demands toughness. As we saw with last week’s performances, we are fortunate to have girls on our Coeur team that are tough cookies. They exemplify what we stand for and we’re constantly amazed at their efforts. Even with this level of teammate steel, we have one lady on our team who sets the standard for Heart and Courage.

At first, she was a rival of mine, someone I had the utmost respect for as a competitor. Then she became a friend, as happens in this sport. We had a couple of great races together where I would come off the bike and try to ward her off on the run, with varying degrees of success. She beat me at Ironman Louisville and then I snuck in ahead of her at Kona in 2010. No matter the outcome, she always inspired and motivated people (including me for sure) with her work ethic, her sportsmanship and her ever present smile.

At Coeur we focus on the effort. To us, results are an outcome. The work is the precursor to the outcome. We obsess over the process and we appreciate people who work hard.

Our sponsored athletes work hard. We mean really hard. Like fall down nine times get up ten kinda hard. And today, we are celebrating the results of that hard work.

Yesterday, we had four of our professionals racing in Australia and New Zealand. Kim Schwabenbauer, Michelle Duffield and Kate Bevilaqua were racing Ironman Melbourne and Katie Hursey was racing the ITU World Cup in Plymouth.

For those of you who don’t know Kim, Michelle, Kate and Katie, not only do they work hard, they are also some of the classiest and most professional individuals you’ll ever meet. In the office, we talk about our “Coeur Values” of honesty, integrity, hard work and the desire to make other people’s live better through health and fitness. These women are the absolute embodiment of those values.

First, the good news. The polar vortex is starting to release its icy grip on the U.S. and spring/aka..the endurance sports season is upon us. Runners, Cyclists, and Triathletes everywhere have started to put away their balaclavas and their gloves as they plan their races, rides and runs for the spring.

Now, the yin to the yang. The down to the up. There’s a good chance that you might have to travel to get to one of your events. Not just drive across town. We’re talking (in the immortal words of Eric "Otter" Stratton & John "Bluto" Blutarsky) Road Trip! Or airplane trip as the case may be. Now, in one sense, travel can be awesome. New cities = new experiences, new memories and fun. In another sense, it can be…how shall we say it? A bit of a drag.

Perhaps the only downside to having such an amazing team of women at Coeur is that someone is racing somewhere almost every weekend and it’s hard to tear oneself away from in front of the computer.

Especially now as the polar vortex has started to release its grip and our ladies are starting to get out to test their early season fitness.

But what a weekend it was. Here are a few of the efforts that we’re celebrating:

Philippines Xterra

 

Recently, we posted a question on Facebook asking about participation in endurance sports. Specifically, we asked “Why do people who have means and access decide not to take that first step and actually participate?”

We were asking the question in advance of a program we’re working on with a retail partner and the responses fell into a couple of expected categories. Namely, Fear and Lack of Knowledge.

One response was a bit different and it caught us off guard.

 

In October of last year, we announced that Coeur will have guaranteed cash as an element in every one of our pro contracts.

Our blog “Let’s hear it for the pros” (https://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/9867528-lets-hear-it-for-the-pros) provides the details behind the decision but one thing that helped drive us was how incredibly hard professional endurance sports athletes work.

Well, over the last couple months, we’ve seen that point proven time and time again. While this isn’t a complete list, here are a few of the training exploits from our pros that caught our attention recently:

 We got lucky with the location of the Coeur office.

It’s in a very hip area of Santa Monica, California and we can count Bonk Breakers, Yoga Glow film studios and even a training center for classical musicians as neighbors. On Sunday afternoons, the classical musicians train and incredible notes from violins can be heard in the distance. Despite being in Santa Monica, the office park is quiet on Sundays and the music is magical. But I digress.

A broad discussion about Women's Triathlon I'm sure the English majors, the Literature majors and the true writers in the world will correct me if this is misstated but I believe an...