Meet The Team

Sport and coaching have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I studied Sports Science at college and university, gaining qualifications in weight training and as a Football Association coach. At that point, I thought my career would be in sport and coaching. Instead, life took me in a rather different direction.

I joined the British Army and spent 18 years as an infantry officer, leaving in 2022. Throughout my military career, sport, physical training and coaching remained a constant. I qualified in Nordic and Alpine skiing, canoeing and endurance training, and spent a great deal of time training and coaching soldiers to develop the fitness, endurance and resilience required to perform in demanding environments.

It was also the Army that introduced me to triathlon. While based in Cyprus in 2011, I completed my first triathlon and was immediately hooked. My first 70.3 followed in 2012 and my first full Ironman in 2013. Since then, I have completed four full Ironman races, more than 20 Ironman 70.3s and plenty of standard, sprint and super-sprint triathlons.

My sporting background goes beyond triathlon. I competed in athletics from a young age, representing my county at 100m, 200m and triple jump. More recently, I have started exploring the world of ultra running, completing my first ultra in 2025, and I am currently working through my paddleboard qualifications after discovering a new love for being out on the water.

I was born and bred in Yorkshire, but I have lived in the South West for the past decade and have absolutely no intention of leaving. I’m married with two young daughters and a cocker spaniel, so I understand first-hand that endurance sport rarely exists in a neat little bubble.

I know exactly what it is like to train for an Ironman while working a demanding full-time job, raising a young family and still trying to eat properly, sleep enough, manage stress and occasionally have something resembling a normal life.

That experience has become a fundamental part of how I coach.

I have spent years studying and applying different approaches to time management, planning and productivity, both professionally and personally. I don’t believe the answer for a busy athlete is simply to “find more time”. Good coaching is about making intelligent use of the time you actually have and building training around your life, rather than expecting your life to revolve around a training plan.

That philosophy sits at the heart of Norsem Endurance. I want to understand the person behind the athlete: their work, family, pressures, ambitions and the reason their goal matters to them. Then we build the training around that reality.

The athletes I most love working with are those who come to me with a goal that feels almost impossible.

An Ironman. An ultra. A first triathlon. A time they never thought they could achieve. A challenge that perhaps even the people around them think is a little ridiculous.

My job is to help break that seemingly impossible goal down into something manageable, provide the structure and accountability to keep moving forward, and be there as the athlete gradually realises that the impossible might actually be possible.

Then, eventually, I get to watch them cross the finish line. That is why I coach.

I am a co-founder and endurance coach at Norsem Endurance, specialising in triathlon and ultra-endurance events. My coaching focuses on helping athletes of all levels build resilience, improve performance, and balance training with the realities of everyday life. I believe endurance sport is as much about mental strength as physical preparation, and I work closely with athletes to develop both.

I hold a British Triathlon Federation coaching qualification and I am a Certified IBFI Bike Fitter. I am currently furthering my knowledge by studying Level 3 Diet and Nutrition and Level 4 Advanced Sports Nutrition, allowing me to support athletes with a more complete, performance-focused approach.

My personal endurance journey began in triathlon in 2017 and has evolved into ultra-endurance racing. I have completed multiple Ironman 70.3 races and Ironman Lanzarote, and in 2025 I undertook a double Ironman! I am also incredibly proud to have completed the Badlands Ultra Bike Race — an 820km self-supported ultra cycling event through the Spanish desert. These experiences have shaped my understanding of the physical and mental demands athletes face.

What drives my coaching philosophy is the belief that there is no substitute for personal and a human input to coaching. Generic plans cannot adapt to the realities of family, work, and life pressures. I prioritise flexibility, communication, and genuine support, ensuring athletes always have someone they can rely on for guidance, reassurance, and accountability.

I am passionate about helping athletes develop not only performance but resilience and confidence. I encourage a positive mindset and combine practical experience with sports physiology principles, supported by our in-house sports psychologist. Seeing athletes achieve goals they once thought were out of reach is the most rewarding part of coaching.

Before moving fully into endurance sport, I owned and ran a successful high-pressure business for 16-years. This experience gave me a deep understanding of stress management, time constraints, and mental resilience — all of which I now bring into my coaching to help athletes perform at their best while maintaining balance in their lives.

I am a Certified Running Technique Specialist, a HCPC Registered Podiatrist and a Director of Fix My Run Frome.

I qualified as a Podiatrist in 1997 and since then I have worked across clinical and leadership roles in the NHS and privately, with a focus on biomechanics, footwear and rehabilitation and a clinical caseload of adults and children with complex needs and movement difficulties. I’ve always been fascinated by the biomechanics of movement and how the brain, nervous system and musculo-skeletal systems work together. The latest research shows that we can completely re-map how we use our bodies, even if we have been injured, and I’m living proof of that - I recovered from injury and re-learned how to run, thanks to the specialist training methods we use at FixMyRun! I am also a certified executive coach and passionate about all kinds of learning, so I really enjoy the privilege of getting to work with athletes at all levels as they learn how to use their bodies optimally, whether to recover from injury or for endurance, speed and achieving new goals.

My name is Melissa Coyle and I am a registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. 

I have been a practitioner for over 21 years working with elite, national and international athletes from a wide range of sport and exercise contexts; with specialisms in professional football, professional rugby, swimming, and triathlon. 

My approach to practice is centred around the needs of the athlete, and the human being; key elements of my work are developing confidence, reducing and controlling anxiety and negative emotions, and sustaining consistent, productive motivation to enhance performance and enjoyment in both training, and racing / competition.

Outside of work I am an avid hiker, swimmer and golfer, and live in the South West with my lovely family.