Marshall Simon - The brave athlete: calm the f*ck down and rise to the occasion

Praise for The Brave Athlete

Lesley Paterson is one of the most mentally tough professional athletes I know, and Simon Marshall knows why. Their special sauce has finally been bottled, and the strategies described in The Brave Athlete promise to help athletes of all abilities become dirty fast.

TIM DON, WORLD CHAMPION TRIATHLETE

Forget marginal gains; Dr. Simon Marshall understands the most important part of performance: the athletes mind. His expertise is an invaluable resource to help athletes master theirs.

DAVID BAILEY, PHD, HEAD OF PERFORMANCE AT BMC RACING TEAM

My training background and philosophy evolved under the coaching of Lesley and the mental slapping of Simon.

JESSICA CERRA, PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST

I have admired Dr. Simon Marshalls talent as a scientist and a communicator for more than two decades. In The Brave Athlete he brings this talent to the fore as he translates psychological science into meaningful strategies to help athletes become more confident, motivated, and calm.

DR. KIRSTEN DAVISON, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

This book will take you deep inside yourself so that you can identify what you thought were your limits and, with Simon and Lesleys help, smash them to smithereens.

BOB BABBITT, HOST OF BABBITTVILLE RADIO, USA TRIATHLON HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

Simon and Lesley get to the heart of what it takes to be a brave athlete. Its about creating a mindset that goes to bat for you rather than against you. The Brave Athlete is an invaluable guide to help you sort out your head. Plus its funny. Really bloody funny.

FLORA DUFFY, WORLD CHAMPION TRIATHLETE

Marshall and Paterson, in some kind of post-Western duo, limn their own version of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Only the guns and whiskey are replaced with doctoral degrees and world titles. In The Brave Athlete they challenge the reader to draw swords on the psychic battlefields of sport but do so with the gift of Continental mirth and compassion.

SCOTT TINLEY, TWO-TIME IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION, AUTHOR, AND TEACHER

Simon and Lesley bring years of training at the world-class level, in multiple sports, together with years of working in academiaall in the real world.

JANEL HOLCOMB, PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST AND COACH

I always struggled with my inner self and demons during races. Simon taught me not only how to deal with those demons, but also how to manipulate them in such a way to take my racing to an entirely different level.

KYLE HUMMEL, IRONMAN 70.3 AGE-GROUP WORLD CHAMPION

Lesley has shown me the ability to suffer like no other with the strategies outlined in this book. With these skills neither family or sport is jeopardized, bringing a much-needed balance to my life.

BRANDON MILLS, AGE-GROUP MOUNTAIN BIKER

The formula for The Brave Athlete is a winner and can be applied to any challenging situation.

DR. JACQUELINE KERR, PROFESSOR OF FAMILY MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO

Working with Lesley and Simon has been one of the biggest life-changing experiences.

MAURICIO MNDEZ, XTERRA WORLD CHAMPION AND IRONMAN 70.3 CHAMPION

TO ALL THE CONFIDENT, MOTIVATED,

WELL-BALANCED, AND HAPPY ATHLETES...

THIS BOOK ISNT FOR YOU.

THE BRAVE ATHLETE

CALM THE F*CK DOWN AND RISE TO THE OCCASION

SIMON MARSHALL, PHD

LESLEY PATERSON

Copyright 2017 by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by VeloPress, a division of Competitor Group, Inc.

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Ironman is a registered trademark of World Triathlon Corporation.

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Boulder, CO 80301-2338 USA

VeloPress is the leading publisher of books on endurance sports. Focused on cycling, triathlon, running, swimming, and nutrition/diet, VeloPress books help athletes achieve their goals of going faster and farther. Preview books and contact us at velopress.com.

Distributed in the United States and Canada by Ingram Publisher Services

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Marshall, Simon (Simon J.), author. | Paterson, Lesley (Triathlete), author.

Title: The brave athlete: calm the f*ck down and rise to the occasion / Simon Marshall, PhD, & Lesley Paterson.

Other titles: Brave athlete: calm the fuck down and rise to the occasion

Description: Boulder, Colorado: VeloPress, 2017. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017005951 (print) | LCCN 2017008297 (ebook) | ISBN 9781937715731 (pbk.: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781937716912 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: SportsPsychological aspects. | AthletesPsychology.

Classification: LCC GV706.4 .M358 2017 (print) | LCC GV706.4 (ebook) | DDC 796.01/9dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005951

Art direction: Vicki Hopewell

Cover design: Kevin Roberson

Handlettering: Molly Jacques

Illustrations: Chi Birmingham

Photos: cover photo, Matt Wright; author photos,

v. 3.1

A note to readers: Double-tap on exercises, tables, and illustrations to enlarge them. After art is selected, you may expand or pinch your fingers to zoom in and out.

CONTENTS

[Enter Lesley, sobbing.] And he can go f*ck himself! And so ended Lesleys career as a professional triathlete at the tender age of 20. Coached by physiologists and bean counters with sport science degrees, she had come to know the dark side of the new paradigm of scientific coaching. Getting ignored by coaches after a bad race, receiving performance feedback as an Excel spreadsheet, or simply being told that she was never going to be a good swimmer or cyclist left her void of inspiration and motivation. This emptiness, combined with the energy spent sustaining mindless hours of slogging up and down pool lanes, roads, and trails, brought her to a tipping point. She had been competing at an international level since age 14, but she found herself disillusioned and emotionally disconnected from her sport. She felt her coaches treated her as a pair of legs and lungs with little regard for the thoughts and feelings of a young woman. She wasnt so nave to assume that results didnt matter. Of course they did. But who was doing the work to find out what it takes to get the best out of the athlete? Facing a seemingly insurmontable philosophical rift, she retiredstill swearing, but exhausted. What a perfect time to get married. Ahem.

Meanwhile I (Simon) was busy completing too many college degrees in sport psychology and trying to help athletes do things faster, higher, and stronger by making better use of their heads. After working with athletes in lots of different sports, I realized that my rigorous academic training hadnt prepared me to deal with real people. Nothing was ever as simple or as clear as the college courses and textbooks made out. Many of the techniques handed down from the ivory towers turned out to be utter nonsense when I tried to use them on real athletes. Even worse, athletes werent always honest about what worked and what didnt. So I retired. I moved out of sport psychology and into the academic faculty of behavioral medicine at a big university. There we werea retired athlete and a retired sport psychologist, and now marriedstill discussing how to best help athletes reach their potential. Clearly, we had unfinished business.