Coeur Sports Kit Review

Well now that I’ve raced a few times in my Coeur Sports kit, I’ve been getting questions about how I like it.  Full disclosure, I’m a member of Team Coeur for 2015, so I am biased.  But they don’t require me to do a kit review, I just want to share what I love about this kit.

This review is of the very adorable triathlon kit in the Monaco Grand Prix design.

I’m going to start at the bottom, because I think the tri shorts are amazing.

This particular pair is a size large, which works on me, but I prefer the XL because they make my legs look less like sausages.  Either fits well enough though.  And hey, I chose a sport that requires spandex.  I love that the little grippy parts are the Coeur name.  I think that’s adorable.

The shorts have three little pockets on the back.  They’re small and lay flat, which I love, but they hold small items like a gel, a sunscreen wipe (critical) or lip balm (even more critical).

This.  This is the key to these shorts and what makes them so glorious.  That chamois looks funny, but because it continues all the way down the leg, there is no spot for it to chafe your thighs as you pedal or run.  It’s perfect.  Absolutely perfect and I’m just waiting to see other companies doing something similar.  The chamois is thin, but does what it needs to without making you feel like you’re running in a diaper.  It’s a win all around.

The top, as you can tell, is on the longer side, and this is something I love.  No issue with it riding up as I cycle.  Plus, well, I have a few more curves for it to get around, so the added fabric is a good thing.  I wear the XL and my chest wouldn’t fit in a smaller size.  It’s tight, but not uncomfortably so.  The fabric is incredibly light and thin, but provides excellent coverage.

Again, pockets!  These are much bigger and if you wanted to, you could put your phone in there (though I wouldn’t do so while running since there’s nothing to hold the pocket closed).  Tri kits need more pockets.

The Coeur tops do have a built-in bra.  I wear a 36G.  A built in bra is useless for me.  Sometimes I cut them out of kits, but I actually like how this one hugs around my bra and keeps the top from shifting around more than I want it to.  If you can wear the top without a bra, I am jealous, but for those of you who can’t, I’ve seen a lot of ladies wear this top with a racerback bra.  I actually wear mine with my Enell bra, making sure to save the pretty colors for race day.  It shows around the front and definitely in the back, but it definitely doesn’t look bad, and well, it’s way better than bouncing around everywhere.

I love Coeur Sports because the products are great and I love what they stand for.  The kit fits incredibly well and takes care of a lot of the issues I’ve had with other kits, namely chafing and a too-short top.  The ladies of Coeur are fabulous and always there to answer any questions you might have.   And don’t worry, fellow Athenas.  They’re working to get larger sizes into their store!

Plus I love this from our “about us” page:

Coeur is French for heart & the root of the word courage. And that’s what we put into our collections and our sport. As an athlete, you know that athletic performance is about so much more than genetic talent. Its also about heart. Heart is about digging deep and being mentally tough. Heart is what gets you to the finish line when all the body wants to do is lay down.  Heart is at the center of the community and the friendships you find in sport. Heart is what makes you give back to the community that has given you so much.

This is one of the reasons I love triathlon.  It’s a sport that gives back to the other competitors in a way that I haven’t seen in other sports.  It’s a sport where fast finishers cheer on the slow finishers and where we all feel the heartache of a DNF.   At my last race, as I was slogging through the miles, a fellow Coeur athlete called out to me “Heart and Courage!” and she was right.  That’s what the sport is really about.