Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Claudia Ragsdale | The Athletes of the Legends Master CrossFit Games

Transcript

Claudia Ragsdale | The Athletes of the Legends Master CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:11
  I was born to kill it.
• 0:16
  I was meant to win.
• 0:17
  I am down and willing,
• 0:19
  so I will find a way.
• 0:20
  It took a minute,
• 0:21
  now it didn't happen right away.
• 0:23
  When it get hot in the kitchen,
• 0:24
  you decide to stay.
• 0:25
  That's how it winters me.
• 0:26
  Stick a fork in the heater
• 0:28
  on my dinner plate.
• 0:35
  what's going on everybody
• 0:37
  welcome to the Clydesdale
• 0:38
  media podcast where we are
• 0:40
  highlighting the athletes
• 0:41
  of the 2024 legends masters
• 0:44
  crossfit games and I'm so
• 0:46
  honored and privileged to
• 0:47
  have with me tonight
• 0:48
  Claudia Ragsdale what's
• 0:49
  going on Claudia hey Scott
• 0:51
  how are you doing
• 0:52
  I'm good.
• 0:54
  Got Holly in the chat.
• 0:56
  She says, hello.
• 0:56
  And for people who don't know Holly,
• 0:59
  like when you see the links
• 1:01
  to all the fundraising
• 1:02
  t-shirts that we put out and,
• 1:04
  and all the stats and
• 1:05
  graphics to this girl.
• 1:08
  Awesome.
• 1:08
  She does all that research
• 1:10
  and she loves the masters community.
• 1:13
  That's awesome.
• 1:16
  So, so Claudia,
• 1:18
  you are going to your first
• 1:19
  ever CrossFit games.
• 1:20
  I am.
• 1:21
  Yeah.
• 1:22
  Yeah.
• 1:22
  Which is pretty exciting.
• 1:24
  Yeah.
• 1:25
  You've been doing this since 2019.
• 1:28
  Um, actually 2012, 2012.
• 1:29
  Yeah.
• 1:30
  So you have one of those
• 1:33
  split accounts on CrossFit.
• 1:34
  Yeah.
• 1:35
  It's split on CrossFit.
• 1:36
  So like I started in, uh,
• 1:39
  like November of 2012,
• 1:40
  did my first open in 2013 and
• 1:44
  Okay.
• 1:45
  Okay.
• 1:46
  Yep.
• 1:46
  Yep.
• 1:47
  I saw the second version and
• 1:49
  then it didn't have a games appearance.
• 1:51
  So I was like, well,
• 1:52
  it's either her second account or,
• 1:56
  or somebody that I don't know.
• 1:57
  Yeah.
• 2:00
  It's weird how they have,
• 2:01
  have that split sometimes.
• 2:03
  And I think if you change
• 2:04
  your email address that like, right.
• 2:05
  Doesn't pick it up.
• 2:07
  Yeah.
• 2:07
  If you change your email
• 2:08
  address or last name,
• 2:10
  there's a couple of reasons
• 2:11
  I've seen where it happens.
• 2:13
  um so yeah so yeah so you're
• 2:16
  you're going to your first
• 2:17
  games it's separated out
• 2:19
  are you are you excited
• 2:21
  about that were you more
• 2:22
  looking forward to it as
• 2:23
  part of the main show um
• 2:27
  you know for the longest
• 2:28
  time like I was looking
• 2:30
  forward to it as part of
• 2:32
  the main show but
• 2:34
  I don't know.
• 2:34
  I've heard so many great things.
• 2:35
  I haven't done the Legends comp,
• 2:37
  but I've heard so many great things about,
• 2:39
  you know, that team, Joe and Bob,
• 2:41
  that I'm excited to see
• 2:43
  what they do for us because
• 2:44
  I feel like they really know who we are.
• 2:46
  And from what I've seen,
• 2:50
  programmed pretty appropriately for us.
• 2:52
  So I'm excited to see what
• 2:53
  they're going to throw at us.
• 2:56
  So I got word that they had
• 2:58
  a meeting today with all
• 3:00
  the athletes up to 55.
• 3:02
  So I'm guessing your meeting is coming.
• 3:06
  Yeah.
• 3:06
  Tomorrow.
• 3:08
  Yep.
• 3:09
  So are you excited about that meeting?
• 3:11
  It'll be interesting to see
• 3:14
  what they share with us, you know, um,
• 3:18
  for sure.
• 3:19
  Yeah,
• 3:20
  I've heard it's like duration of workouts,
• 3:23
  how many workouts, things like that.
• 3:28
  But not real big details.
• 3:31
  Sure.
• 3:32
  Yeah.
• 3:33
  I don't know if they're
• 3:34
  going to release anything
• 3:35
  to us ahead of time or
• 3:36
  we're just going to find
• 3:36
  everything out when we get there, right?
• 3:39
  Yeah.
• 3:40
  I know that when they did Legends,
• 3:46
  they did not release them
• 3:47
  until we got there.
• 3:53
  Well,
• 3:53
  that's good because then you don't
• 3:54
  have to stress about it.
• 3:56
  Yeah.
• 3:57
  You don't overthink things.
• 3:58
  I tend to think through things a lot.
• 4:01
  Larry Young said,
• 4:02
  I personally thought it was
• 4:03
  dead at the games without
• 4:03
  the masters there.
• 4:07
  I got to meet Larry at the games.
• 4:08
  It was so cool to finally
• 4:09
  meet him in person.
• 4:11
  For people to know,
• 4:11
  that's John Young's dad.
• 4:12
  Oh, cool.
• 4:15
  So that was cool meeting him there.
• 4:20
  So what's your background in sports?
• 4:23
  Um, so when I was in my youth,
• 4:27
  played a bunch of sports, so tennis, swam,
• 4:30
  played soccer.
• 4:31
  And then in high school,
• 4:34
  I played soccer all through high school.
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  And then beyond that, pretty much,
• 4:38
  I also rode horses a lot
• 4:39
  when I was younger,
• 4:41
  but not super competitively.
• 4:42
  And then as I got out of
• 4:44
  college and was able to afford it,
• 4:46
  really dove into that
• 4:48
  passion because I just love
• 4:50
  that sport the equestrian
• 4:51
  sports um and love horses
• 4:53
  so I competed in three-day
• 4:56
  eventing for quite a few
• 4:58
  years I rode for about 20
• 4:59
  years after college so and
• 5:02
  competed in three-day
• 5:03
  eventing so um that was my
• 5:06
  background coming into
• 5:07
  crossfit really there's a
• 5:08
  handful of athletes elite
• 5:10
  athletes that came from
• 5:12
  horse riding as a
• 5:14
  background uh jacqueline
• 5:15
  dalstrom uh annika greer
• 5:18
  they all from that background
• 5:20
  Yep.
• 5:21
  Yeah, definitely.
• 5:22
  I mean, I think that sport for sure,
• 5:24
  like makes you super strong
• 5:26
  in certain parts of your body.
• 5:27
  Like your whole posterior
• 5:29
  chain gets super strong, right?
• 5:31
  Your legs are really strong.
• 5:32
  So coming into CrossFit,
• 5:33
  like I'd never touched a barbell.
• 5:36
  And from the get-go,
• 5:38
  like my squat and my
• 5:39
  deadlift were pretty decent, you know?
• 5:41
  So I think it was just a
• 5:42
  result of so many years of
• 5:43
  horseback riding.
• 5:44
  Yeah.
• 5:46
  Yeah.
• 5:48
  So everywhere where I found your name,
• 5:50
  it kind of said you're a
• 5:51
  health and wellness like aficionado nut.
• 5:54
  Yes.
• 5:57
  I completely geek out on
• 5:59
  anything health and wellness and fitness.
• 6:02
  Those are the rabbit holes I
• 6:03
  love to go down.
• 6:05
  Also,
• 6:06
  I feel like I love helping people too.
• 6:10
  I have friends or family
• 6:12
  that are always reaching
• 6:13
  out asking me questions.
• 6:15
  I love to try and guide them
• 6:17
  to find answers or if I can
• 6:18
  share anything with them
• 6:19
  that will help them along their journey.
• 6:23
  Super passionate about that.
• 6:26
  Are you able to do any of
• 6:27
  that for your employment?
• 6:30
  Um,
• 6:31
  I did coach for several years in
• 6:33
  CrossFit.
• 6:35
  It's always been kind of a side thing.
• 6:38
  So for my employment,
• 6:41
  spent many years working in
• 6:42
  the ad agency business.
• 6:44
  And then most recently,
• 6:45
  I was at a tech consult
• 6:46
  consultancy doing tech
• 6:47
  implementation and recently
• 6:49
  just transitioned to
• 6:50
  another opportunity helping
• 6:52
  a friend that I've known
• 6:53
  for years within the CrossFit community,
• 6:55
  help them scale their small business.
• 6:56
  So kind of working in that
• 6:58
  um realm right now but never
• 7:01
  really I mean the health
• 7:02
  and fitness thing I would
• 7:04
  love to do that as you know
• 7:05
  a full-time career I think
• 7:09
  it takes time to build
• 7:10
  right those kinds of
• 7:11
  businesses so and I'm not
• 7:14
  in the position to do that
• 7:15
  at the moment um
• 7:17
  I've got a kid going off to
• 7:18
  college next year.
• 7:19
  So you know,
• 7:19
  like different things that
• 7:20
  I've got to consider as I
• 7:21
  make those decisions.
• 7:22
  But regardless,
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  like just having coached
• 7:26
  CrossFit for many years in
• 7:27
  several different locations.
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  That alone was I mean,
• 7:32
  I didn't do it because the
• 7:33
  money obviously hits like
• 7:34
  it was really just because
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  I loved like seeing people
• 7:37
  make progress and like
• 7:38
  helping them along their health journey.
• 7:40
  So it was that part of it's
• 7:42
  just super fulfilling.
• 7:44
  Well, one, I,
• 7:45
  I just finished the college
• 7:47
  journey with my daughter.
• 7:48
  Um, she's now working in the real world.
• 7:52
  Um, and the other thing,
• 7:54
  so you had to leave coaching,
• 7:55
  was it because like,
• 7:57
  you just didn't have the time or yeah.
• 7:59
  Yeah, it was a time issue.
• 8:01
  So like when I moved,
• 8:03
  transitioned into the tech consulting job,
• 8:06
  it was just really, um, demanding.
• 8:09
  So of my time.
• 8:11
  So I just couldn't allocate it.
• 8:13
  Um,
• 8:14
  in order to keep doing that.
• 8:15
  But it's not to say that I
• 8:16
  wouldn't want to go back
• 8:17
  and do that again.
• 8:18
  You know,
• 8:18
  I think it's just a matter of
• 8:19
  juggling everything, you know, job,
• 8:22
  two kids and get trying to
• 8:25
  fit my training in, you know,
• 8:27
  everything else.
• 8:27
  So.
• 8:29
  So what kind of athlete,
• 8:30
  what kind of CrossFit
• 8:31
  athlete would you say you are?
• 8:32
  Definitely strength biased for sure.
• 8:37
  Yeah.
• 8:37
  Like give me a barbell any day.
• 8:40
  I think for me, I'm, I'm probably like,
• 8:44
  one of the larger athletes in my age group,
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  I think, you know,
• 8:47
  I think there's a lot of
• 8:48
  smaller athletes.
• 8:49
  So like, for me,
• 8:49
  like I tend to not do as
• 8:51
  well in the open when it's
• 8:53
  like just purely like body
• 8:55
  weight endurance stuff.
• 8:57
  And then I tend to do better
• 8:58
  in like the qualifiers and
• 8:59
  semis when they bring in
• 9:01
  some other things into the mix.
• 9:03
  So yeah.
• 9:04
  Although we've been working very hard on,
• 9:05
  you know,
• 9:06
  all the things that are
• 9:07
  challenging for me.
• 9:08
  So I feel like we've made a
• 9:09
  lot of progress over the
• 9:10
  past couple years, which is great.
• 9:13
  Just, I mean, I love to train.
• 9:15
  So that's really the fact
• 9:16
  that I made it through is
• 9:18
  like icing on the cake
• 9:20
  because I just love to
• 9:20
  train and see the progress.
• 9:22
  Yeah.
• 9:24
  Yeah.
• 9:25
  So how excited are you to be
• 9:27
  able to go and compete in person?
• 9:29
  You've done semis for a couple of years.
• 9:32
  You've done the age group
• 9:33
  online qualifier for years.
• 9:35
  Now you get to go on a
• 9:37
  competition floor against your peers.
• 9:40
  Yeah, that's going to be,
• 9:41
  I just feel like I tend to
• 9:43
  always perform better in
• 9:44
  person and I haven't done
• 9:45
  like a ton of individual comps.
• 9:48
  Um,
• 9:49
  you know, at the last gym I was at,
• 9:52
  I was at that gym for over 10 years.
• 9:53
  And like,
• 9:54
  there was a huge masters community there.
• 9:56
  And so I had done like a ton
• 9:57
  of team competitions and it's like,
• 9:59
  you definitely, I mean,
• 10:01
  the adrenaline definitely
• 10:02
  puts you on another level, right.
• 10:04
  When you're doing those in-person comps,
• 10:06
  that is just different.
• 10:07
  So I'm definitely looking forward to like,
• 10:10
  see how much I can push past
• 10:14
  what I think my limits might be.
• 10:15
  Because, you know, a lot of times,
• 10:18
  that atmosphere just makes
• 10:20
  you achieve things that, you know,
• 10:22
  you maybe thought you could before.
• 10:23
  So that part of it's super fun.
• 10:26
  It's kind of like an
• 10:27
  interesting study because
• 10:29
  all the online stuff,
• 10:30
  you don't know how fast to go, right?
• 10:32
  You don't know what anybody
• 10:33
  else is doing and you're
• 10:34
  trying to push to the best you can.
• 10:36
  Then in person,
• 10:38
  you may have someone that
• 10:39
  comes out like a shot and
• 10:41
  you got to be careful not
• 10:42
  to go with them.
• 10:44
  absolutely I think part of
• 10:45
  that too is just knowing
• 10:47
  like knowing how you are as
• 10:49
  an athlete right and
• 10:50
  knowing like where you need
• 10:53
  to make your moves um and
• 10:55
  where you need to just stay
• 10:56
  in your own lane right like
• 10:57
  and manage your capacity
• 10:59
  because you know I think if
• 11:01
  you and I've done this
• 11:01
  before like in just in
• 11:03
  class workouts too or you
• 11:05
  know where you're kind of
• 11:05
  getting caught up in like
• 11:07
  trying to catch someone and
• 11:08
  then it's like you blow up
• 11:09
  so I think just over time learning like
• 11:14
  how you can manage different
• 11:17
  movements and like the
• 11:18
  volume and like what your capacity is.
• 11:20
  I think those things you
• 11:22
  just have to stay in your
• 11:25
  lane from that perspective.
• 11:26
  And then knowing when you can push, right?
• 11:29
  Like, I know certain workouts,
• 11:31
  it's like people will pass
• 11:33
  me on one movement and then
• 11:34
  I'll pass them on something else, right?
• 11:35
  So it's just like knowing
• 11:38
  where you can push, right?
• 11:41
  Yeah.
• 11:41
  When I first started CrossFit,
• 11:43
  there was a guy who we
• 11:45
  competed every night in class, right?
• 11:48
  He was a better runner than me.
• 11:49
  I was a better lifter than him.
• 11:51
  Like, and it was,
• 11:54
  and I just had to get good
• 11:55
  enough to keep up with them.
• 11:56
  Right.
• 11:57
  So when we got back to the barbell,
• 11:58
  I could cycle faster.
• 12:00
  Right.
• 12:00
  Yeah.
• 12:02
  And it's,
• 12:03
  so with this being your first time,
• 12:05
  you don't really know the
• 12:07
  people around you.
• 12:07
  You're going to meet them
• 12:09
  for the first time this weekend.
• 12:12
  Yeah, I'll meet them for the first time.
• 12:13
  But I feel like I've been
• 12:15
  seeing these names on the
• 12:16
  leaderboard for 10 years, right?
• 12:17
  Like, so it's like,
• 12:19
  it's the same women that
• 12:20
  have been moving up in those age groups.
• 12:22
  And it's kind of the same.
• 12:24
  And some people filter in
• 12:25
  and out for different reasons, right?
• 12:27
  Maybe life things or injuries or whatnot.
• 12:29
  But for the most part,
• 12:30
  I think it's a core little group.
• 12:32
  And you can kind of follow
• 12:33
  their journey as well on
• 12:34
  social media and kind of
• 12:37
  follow them a little bit and
• 12:37
  get to know a little bit of what they do.
• 12:40
  So it'll be exciting to meet
• 12:41
  them in person.
• 12:42
  Cause I mean, some of these women,
• 12:43
  I feel like it's cool to
• 12:46
  see like what we're able to
• 12:51
  achieve at our age.
• 12:52
  So it's almost like inspiring to be like,
• 12:54
  Hey, if they can do this, well,
• 12:55
  it's not impossible for me
• 12:56
  to try and do that as well.
• 12:57
  Right.
• 12:58
  So I think it's encouraging
• 12:59
  to see their journeys and like,
• 13:01
  try and like, just keep pushing.
• 13:03
  Right.
• 13:04
  Because it is possible.
• 13:05
  So.
• 13:06
  I think one of the most
• 13:07
  fascinating things is,
• 13:09
  and I see this in the
• 13:10
  masters community is you're
• 13:12
  in the corrals together.
• 13:14
  You're in the warmup area together.
• 13:15
  And after a weekend,
• 13:17
  it's like you've hung out
• 13:18
  for four straight days.
• 13:20
  Yeah.
• 13:21
  And you leave like really,
• 13:22
  even though you're competitors,
• 13:24
  you leave really good friends.
• 13:27
  Yeah.
• 13:28
  Yeah.
• 13:28
  I've heard that.
• 13:29
  I think that's, that's exciting.
• 13:30
  That's fun.
• 13:31
  I think masters the different environment.
• 13:34
  Right.
• 13:34
  I mean, for sure.
• 13:36
  Everyone's still competitive
• 13:37
  and wants to do really well,
• 13:38
  but I think there's just,
• 13:40
  there's definitely like a
• 13:40
  camaraderie there that kind of, you know,
• 13:42
  um,
• 13:44
  Because I think we're all
• 13:45
  just happy to be able to do
• 13:46
  this right it's like so
• 13:48
  cool that we can be doing
• 13:48
  this at our age so and
• 13:51
  achieving the things we are
• 13:52
  achieving like I've shocked
• 13:53
  myself so many times right over the years,
• 13:56
  what I do so it's really cool.
• 14:00
  It's that thing where, yeah,
• 14:02
  you want to compete,
• 14:03
  but this isn't number one
• 14:05
  priority for most Masters athletes,
• 14:08
  right?
• 14:09
  Right.
• 14:10
  There's no fame or fortune, right?
• 14:11
  We're not doing fame or fortune.
• 14:14
  You work full-time jobs.
• 14:16
  You have families that you
• 14:18
  have to prioritize over
• 14:22
  your own training.
• 14:24
  Yeah.
• 14:25
  For sure.
• 14:26
  It's like just fitting it in,
• 14:27
  juggling it in or figuring
• 14:29
  out how to fit it in, you know,
• 14:31
  either before or after and between,
• 14:35
  you know.
• 14:35
  Which makes what you guys do
• 14:38
  all that more impressive.
• 14:40
  Yeah.
• 14:41
  But honestly, for me, I feel like.
• 14:43
  my training is like the, the one time,
• 14:46
  like it's my time.
• 14:48
  So it's like,
• 14:49
  I get to focus and not have
• 14:50
  to think about everything
• 14:51
  else I have to do.
• 14:52
  Right.
• 14:53
  It's like my,
• 14:53
  my peaceful time where I get
• 14:55
  to just focus on my
• 14:56
  training and then I feel recharged,
• 14:58
  refreshed,
• 14:59
  and then can come back and like
• 15:01
  deal with everything else I
• 15:02
  need to deal with.
• 15:02
  Right.
• 15:03
  So it's almost like it,
• 15:05
  it rebalances and like resets, you know,
• 15:07
  the system.
• 15:09
  So how did,
• 15:10
  how did you find CrossFit in
• 15:11
  the first place?
• 15:13
  Um, so funny story.
• 15:14
  Like I had no idea what CrossFit was.
• 15:16
  And, um, after I had my daughter,
• 15:19
  I'd been working with a
• 15:20
  friend of mine who I rode
• 15:21
  horses with for a long time
• 15:22
  and she was personal trainer.
• 15:24
  So I told her I need to like, you know,
• 15:27
  start moving again, get back in shape.
• 15:28
  So I worked with her for a
• 15:29
  little while and then, um,
• 15:32
  started just buying like different,
• 15:34
  like group bonds to
• 15:36
  bootcamps and things like that.
• 15:37
  And I happened to just buy
• 15:38
  one for CrossFit and ended
• 15:41
  up showing up and
• 15:43
  the gym I had joined at that
• 15:44
  time was a very small gym.
• 15:44
  They literally had just opened.
• 15:46
  It was a group of, um,
• 15:49
  young adults that had left
• 15:50
  another gym they were
• 15:51
  originally at and like
• 15:52
  started their own gym.
• 15:54
  And there was like a couple,
• 15:56
  only a couple of us in,
• 15:57
  I remember I went to the
• 15:58
  6am class and they were so
• 16:01
  excited and like,
• 16:02
  do you know what CrossFit is?
• 16:03
  I'm like, I have no, I have no idea.
• 16:05
  It's like a bootcamp, right?
• 16:06
  Little did I know, but, um,
• 16:09
  Yeah.
• 16:09
  And I think for me, what I loved,
• 16:10
  cause I've,
• 16:11
  I've never really been like a gym person.
• 16:15
  I've always loved being like outdoors more,
• 16:17
  but I think what hooked me
• 16:19
  was just the fact that it's
• 16:22
  never the same.
• 16:23
  It's always different.
• 16:24
  And like,
• 16:25
  you can always make it harder.
• 16:29
  Like you can always get better.
• 16:31
  Right.
• 16:31
  And there's always something
• 16:33
  to like try and learn and
• 16:36
  different skills to try and acquire.
• 16:38
  So just that,
• 16:39
  like chasing those things
• 16:43
  becomes addicting, I think.
• 16:45
  Right.
• 16:45
  Like you want to figure out
• 16:47
  how to master it, you know?
• 16:50
  And nobody ever masters it.
• 16:52
  No, no one masters it.
• 16:53
  I mean,
• 16:53
  you definitely get better and then
• 16:55
  it just gets harder because
• 16:56
  you try to master things
• 16:57
  that are more difficult or challenging.
• 16:59
  Right.
• 16:59
  Right.
• 17:01
  But I think that pursuit is,
• 17:04
  that pursuit is definitely
• 17:05
  addicting and super fun.
• 17:07
  And I for sure have like, like,
• 17:11
  I definitely came into it
• 17:13
  having limiting beliefs of
• 17:14
  what I could do and I feel
• 17:16
  like over time it's like
• 17:17
  you just kind of start to
• 17:19
  embrace like the failure is
• 17:22
  what leads you to the next
• 17:23
  stage because I for sure
• 17:25
  have always like early on
• 17:27
  was like trying to get it
• 17:28
  exactly right and be a
• 17:30
  perfectionist right but
• 17:31
  it's like I feel like it
• 17:32
  let me kind of let go of
• 17:33
  all that and just failure
• 17:35
  is part of the process and
• 17:37
  it's like that's the only
• 17:38
  way you're gonna move forward
• 17:40
  Right.
• 17:40
  By letting it be messy.
• 17:42
  So, um, so I definitely,
• 17:44
  I've grown a lot just as a person too,
• 17:47
  through the whole,
• 17:49
  through my whole CrossFit journey.
• 17:50
  Right.
• 17:50
  I feel like it's expanded my
• 17:52
  mindset to embrace that
• 17:55
  discomfort of like getting
• 17:57
  through the messy part to
• 17:58
  get to the acquisition of
• 17:59
  the skill you want.
• 18:01
  So,
• 18:02
  so you said you were buying Groupons
• 18:04
  for all kinds of things
• 18:05
  when you did the CrossFit,
• 18:07
  did it stop your Groupon buying?
• 18:09
  Oh yeah.
• 18:10
  Yeah.
• 18:10
  Yeah.
• 18:10
  I pretty much signed up for
• 18:12
  a membership like within a month.
• 18:14
  So,
• 18:15
  and then pretty much never looked back.
• 18:17
  I mean,
• 18:17
  I've pretty much been consistent since,
• 18:20
  since 2012,
• 18:21
  other than having like a
• 18:22
  couple of things here and there,
• 18:23
  like 2014,
• 18:26
  right after the age group
• 18:28
  online qualifiers,
• 18:29
  my appendix ruptured like
• 18:31
  weeks after that.
• 18:33
  So I was out for a bit there
• 18:36
  and really just
• 18:37
  did, you know,
• 18:38
  I was swimming to recover from that.
• 18:39
  And then when I came back, you know,
• 18:42
  you jump in and you get a
• 18:43
  little caught up in trying
• 18:44
  to get back to everything.
• 18:45
  And then my core wasn't as
• 18:47
  strong as it had been earlier.
• 18:49
  So then my back was like,
• 18:51
  not feeling great.
• 18:52
  So I feel like it was just like a journey.
• 18:54
  And I, at that point, I was like,
• 18:56
  you know what,
• 18:56
  I had kind of a hiatus from the open,
• 18:58
  like, um, in 2015 and 2016,
• 19:00
  where I literally just did class.
• 19:03
  Um,
• 19:04
  And then I did the open in
• 19:06
  2017 and I almost made the
• 19:09
  online qualifiers,
• 19:10
  but I literally had just
• 19:11
  been doing an hour class, you know,
• 19:12
  that whole time.
• 19:14
  So I'm like,
• 19:15
  then that fired me up again to like, hey,
• 19:17
  if I actually try and like
• 19:18
  work on some of these, you know,
• 19:20
  things that I'm not the greatest at.
• 19:23
  and put some effort behind it.
• 19:24
  Maybe I can make the qualifiers, you know?
• 19:28
  So,
• 19:29
  so what does a training day look like
• 19:30
  now?
• 19:31
  Do you still just do the
• 19:32
  class and some accessory work or?
• 19:35
  No,
• 19:36
  I pretty much have been working with
• 19:38
  like one-on-one coaches,
• 19:39
  like as far as like getting
• 19:40
  programming for probably
• 19:43
  since 2014 and then took a
• 19:45
  little bit of a break.
• 19:47
  I don't know if I took a break,
• 19:48
  but like basically was
• 19:50
  doing class and then I do
• 19:51
  like a little bit of
• 19:52
  accessory work on the side early on.
• 19:55
  And that then evolved to
• 19:56
  like full programming,
• 19:58
  full individualized programming.
• 20:00
  And that probably was like starting in,
• 20:02
  I want to say like, you know, like 2017,
• 20:04
  2018.
• 20:05
  And how many hours a day is that?
• 20:09
  It varies.
• 20:09
  I would say...
• 20:17
  maybe I mean right now it's
• 20:19
  like prepping honestly like
• 20:21
  this is probably like the
• 20:22
  most I've trained ever
• 20:24
  right um just doing like
• 20:26
  double sessions so like
• 20:28
  maybe like an hour session
• 20:29
  in the morning and then a
• 20:30
  couple hours in the
• 20:31
  afternoon like two or three
• 20:32
  hours in the afternoon and
• 20:33
  then my weekends are
• 20:34
  usually pretty long like
• 20:35
  three to four hours and
• 20:36
  that's pretty much my I
• 20:37
  usually have gotten like
• 20:38
  bigger sessions in on the
• 20:39
  weekends always just
• 20:41
  because I have more time um
• 20:44
  so the week during the week
• 20:45
  in the past it's been
• 20:48
  maybe a couple hours each day, you know,
• 20:52
  but definitely heavier
• 20:53
  right now just as we're
• 20:53
  leading up and building.
• 20:55
  So,
• 20:56
  so you're in the 55 to 59 year old
• 20:59
  division and you're doing
• 21:01
  that many hours of training a day.
• 21:03
  That is remarkable.
• 21:05
  Yeah.
• 21:05
  And I, you know,
• 21:06
  I think that's the timeframe,
• 21:08
  but you know,
• 21:09
  not all of it is obviously
• 21:10
  like Metcons and things like that.
• 21:12
  Right.
• 21:12
  There's a lot of bodybuilding in there.
• 21:14
  There's mobility.
• 21:15
  There's, there's a little bit of,
• 21:18
  everything, right?
• 21:19
  Zone two works.
• 21:20
  So it's a mix, right?
• 21:21
  So it's not, I don't know.
• 21:23
  Definitely early on when I was in CrossFit,
• 21:26
  when I first started,
• 21:27
  I definitely like overtrained,
• 21:28
  like way overtrained.
• 21:30
  Even though I was just doing
• 21:31
  class sometimes too,
• 21:32
  it's like just doing that
• 21:33
  high intensity all the time was like,
• 21:36
  just beat me up.
• 21:37
  And I think over the years
• 21:38
  I've learned like,
• 21:40
  it's just not sustainable, right?
• 21:42
  And especially as I've gotten older,
• 21:43
  it's like,
• 21:44
  it's definitely not sustainable.
• 21:45
  So it has to be more of a mix of like,
• 21:47
  bodybuilding, like gymnastic skill work.
• 21:50
  Right.
• 21:51
  Um, and,
• 21:52
  and the Met cons come at
• 21:54
  appropriate times,
• 21:55
  but I would say it's not,
• 21:57
  it's not an everyday thing.
• 21:59
  Right.
• 22:00
  Yeah.
• 22:00
  And you listen to your body, right?
• 22:02
  Like if it's a day where you
• 22:04
  just don't have it, just back it down,
• 22:06
  get through it.
• 22:08
  Yeah, for sure.
• 22:09
  And I feel like too, like even just
• 22:11
  Well,
• 22:12
  having gone through like this life
• 22:14
  transition right in the
• 22:15
  menopause period years.
• 22:17
  I mean,
• 22:17
  I've been working with M2
• 22:20
  Performance Nutrition since 2018.
• 22:23
  Because as you get into like,
• 22:25
  I remember it was one of the...
• 22:29
  qualifier workouts,
• 22:30
  and I was doing a rowing work,
• 22:32
  which I'm usually rowing is great for me.
• 22:34
  But I like could not hold a row pace.
• 22:37
  And I literally was overheating.
• 22:38
  And I didn't know what was
• 22:40
  going on at the time.
• 22:40
  But obviously,
• 22:41
  I was kind of getting into
• 22:42
  that transition period of life, right?
• 22:44
  Where like,
• 22:44
  I couldn't regulate my body temperature.
• 22:46
  So and that's
• 22:49
  kind of when it had started, you know?
• 22:52
  So I think like going through that,
• 22:54
  definitely just having like
• 22:56
  the help of a nutrition coach,
• 22:58
  like just kind of helping
• 22:59
  like to navigate that whole
• 23:01
  thing has been super
• 23:02
  helpful and just doing a lot of research.
• 23:04
  Like there's,
• 23:04
  I think there's a lot of
• 23:06
  great resources out there.
• 23:08
  Stacey Sims,
• 23:09
  Dr. Stacey Sims is great from
• 23:11
  a female hormone
• 23:12
  perspective and she
• 23:14
  specializes in athletes and performance.
• 23:16
  So a lot of great people
• 23:18
  that you can tap into and
• 23:20
  reference and follow that
• 23:21
  have some good suggestions
• 23:24
  and science-backed information.
• 23:29
  So I got to ask the question,
• 23:33
  from a nutrition standpoint,
• 23:36
  that you could reduce the
• 23:39
  side effects or the
• 23:41
  symptoms of menopause?
• 23:42
  Yes.
• 23:44
  It's definitely,
• 23:46
  I would say it's kind of
• 23:51
  more managing them.
• 23:52
  Right.
• 23:53
  So like hydration, super important.
• 23:58
  You know,
• 23:59
  things that certain things can be
• 24:01
  disruptive to your gut,
• 24:02
  which I'll show you
• 24:04
  affects your hormones right
• 24:05
  so just looking at things
• 24:07
  holistically and sleep is
• 24:09
  obviously disrupted during
• 24:10
  that period of life as well
• 24:12
  and when I say nutrition
• 24:13
  like obviously you know
• 24:15
  when you get nutrition
• 24:15
  coaching so much of it is
• 24:16
  more more than just
• 24:17
  nutrition itself right like
• 24:19
  it's kind of more lifestyle
• 24:20
  so like reducing your
• 24:22
  stress um because when your
• 24:24
  estrogen goes down you
• 24:25
  become more susceptible to
• 24:26
  stressors right I mean
• 24:27
  there's all these different factors um
• 24:31
  to think about and maybe to
• 24:32
  try and optimize, you know,
• 24:35
  are the way that we process
• 24:39
  sugars also is impacted.
• 24:40
  I mean,
• 24:41
  there's just a lot of things that
• 24:42
  are impacted.
• 24:42
  Right.
• 24:44
  So I think the one thing
• 24:46
  that we know for sure that
• 24:49
  becomes super important is protein intake,
• 24:52
  right?
• 24:52
  Because our estrogen drops,
• 24:55
  the only way for us to
• 24:56
  maintain muscle is to
• 24:57
  really do the heavy lifting.
• 24:59
  And again, the protein,
• 25:01
  getting the protein to be
• 25:02
  able to sustain putting on
• 25:04
  muscle or maintaining
• 25:05
  muscle is super important,
• 25:06
  especially as we go through
• 25:08
  that stage of life and beyond.
• 25:11
  So yeah,
• 25:12
  I think there's a lot of just
• 25:13
  considerations that are helpful, right?
• 25:15
  To ensure you can recover appropriately,
• 25:18
  um,
• 25:19
  from your training and then just try
• 25:20
  and help manage like your stress,
• 25:22
  your sleep, um, hydration,
• 25:25
  like when your estrogen drops also,
• 25:27
  like you don't, your receptors,
• 25:29
  as far as thirst receptors are off.
• 25:32
  So it's easier for you to get dehydrated.
• 25:35
  Um, all,
• 25:36
  all these little things that you
• 25:37
  learned along the way.
• 25:38
  Right.
• 25:38
  But I think having that
• 25:40
  knowledge helps you better
• 25:41
  optimize like your performance,
• 25:43
  your training and just how
• 25:44
  you feel overall.
• 25:46
  So,
• 25:48
  Jeffrey Birchfield, that's interesting.
• 25:49
  Never thought about
• 25:51
  menopause and performance.
• 25:53
  And Holly says, all those pesky hormones.
• 25:56
  Yep.
• 26:00
  Yeah,
• 26:01
  that's a really interesting thought
• 26:05
  and subject to kind of dive into.
• 26:07
  And Mike Malloy, who started M2,
• 26:10
  is just one of the nicest
• 26:12
  guys I've ever met in my life.
• 26:14
  Yeah, Mike's fantastic.
• 26:16
  He remembers everybody's name.
• 26:18
  Yeah.
• 26:19
  And I met him for the first time.
• 26:20
  I went to power monkey one
• 26:21
  year and I met him there
• 26:24
  for the first time.
• 26:24
  And yeah, he's just super knowledgeable,
• 26:27
  you know?
• 26:28
  And he has a great team in
• 26:30
  place there as well.
• 26:31
  So yeah,
• 26:32
  I feel fortunate to be working with them.
• 26:35
  Power monkey.
• 26:36
  That's another subject.
• 26:37
  That's something I would
• 26:39
  love to do sometime in the future.
• 26:42
  Oh, yeah, that it's,
• 26:43
  that's a great experience
• 26:44
  to another great team of
• 26:46
  people and coaches.
• 26:47
  And I think like any
• 26:48
  opportunity I've over the course of time,
• 26:51
  it's like any opportunity
• 26:52
  you get to be around other
• 26:54
  folks in the CrossFit community.
• 26:56
  You know,
• 26:56
  I feel like you walk away with so
• 26:58
  many new friends.
• 26:59
  Right.
• 27:00
  So from Power Monkey,
• 27:01
  and then also the coach
• 27:02
  I've been working with, like he
• 27:05
  um had a training camp um
• 27:07
  and so I went to that and
• 27:08
  got to meet a ton of people
• 27:09
  I met john young john young
• 27:10
  there actually because he
• 27:11
  was being coached by the
• 27:13
  same coach and it's like
• 27:14
  you walk away and all of a
• 27:15
  sudden you have all these
• 27:15
  new friends right yeah
• 27:18
  that's so cool yeah I've
• 27:20
  met dave dranny um he's
• 27:21
  been on a show before and
• 27:23
  he's the one who brought
• 27:24
  who created power monkey um
• 27:27
  yep uh he's just one of the
• 27:29
  coolest dudes too and you
• 27:31
  you know all the cool people
• 27:33
  They have a great
• 27:35
  opportunity there for
• 27:36
  anyone who's interested.
• 27:38
  I think it's definitely
• 27:40
  something worth considering
• 27:41
  going to if you can swing it.
• 27:44
  They have experts in every field.
• 27:47
  You can go to different
• 27:49
  workshops and work on what
• 27:50
  you need to work on.
• 27:51
  I know Dave Newman from RX
• 27:55
  Smartgears there for jump roping there.
• 27:58
  Margo Alvarez goes a lot.
• 28:00
  yeah feast of coffee goes I
• 28:02
  so I know there's a lot of
• 28:04
  really high-end athletes
• 28:06
  too yeah they had when I
• 28:08
  was there were some of the
• 28:09
  group athletes were there
• 28:10
  and then also chris henshaw
• 28:11
  was there you know I mean
• 28:12
  it's just everyone that
• 28:15
  they have on the team you
• 28:16
  know mike service and chad
• 28:18
  and everyone's just
• 28:19
  fantastic yeah so back to
• 28:23
  you in the games what are
• 28:25
  your expectations this year
• 28:28
  Honestly,
• 28:29
  I'm just excited to see what I
• 28:31
  can do and see where I'm at.
• 28:36
  I obviously have a very good
• 28:38
  understanding of the things
• 28:39
  that are challenging for me.
• 28:40
  So I can easily look at the
• 28:42
  workouts and be like, okay,
• 28:44
  this is going to be great for me.
• 28:45
  This one's going to be a little bit,
• 28:46
  you know,
• 28:47
  more of like strategizing and
• 28:48
  figuring out how to manage it.
• 28:50
  But I'm excited to just meet people.
• 28:52
  And then as far as expectations,
• 28:54
  I really have no
• 28:54
  expectations as far as like placement,
• 28:57
  because I feel like there's
• 29:00
  always things that I would
• 29:02
  love to be further along as
• 29:04
  far as mastery.
• 29:05
  but it'll be a good test to
• 29:07
  see where I'm at you know
• 29:08
  and I feel like sometimes
• 29:10
  when you're in those
• 29:11
  environments it's like in
• 29:12
  training you might not
• 29:13
  think you're able to do
• 29:14
  something but then when
• 29:15
  you're in those
• 29:16
  environments all of a
• 29:17
  sudden you're like pulling
• 29:17
  it off right so so I'm just
• 29:21
  happy to be there I
• 29:22
  honestly like I'm I'm
• 29:25
  excited to have that
• 29:26
  opportunity to be there yeah
• 29:29
  Yeah.
• 29:30
  I'm, I'm one of those athletes.
• 29:31
  It's the rollercoaster, right?
• 29:33
  I'll,
• 29:33
  I'll win an event and then I'll
• 29:34
  finish dead last.
• 29:35
  And then, you know,
• 29:36
  middle of the pack win dead last.
• 29:39
  Um, because my, my bias is all in one,
• 29:43
  one direction.
• 29:45
  Yeah.
• 29:46
  I mean,
• 29:46
  definitely gymnastics are
• 29:48
  definitely more challenging for me.
• 29:49
  I never did gymnastics as a kid.
• 29:52
  And when you're trying to learn it,
• 29:53
  when you're like in your fifties, right.
• 29:54
  It's,
• 29:56
  like takes a little longer
• 29:57
  with coordination and just
• 29:58
  like body awareness and all that.
• 30:01
  So, and even just like, for me, it's like,
• 30:04
  I feel like in certain things,
• 30:05
  like I have the strength
• 30:07
  like to handstand walk,
• 30:08
  but how do you figure out
• 30:09
  how to breathe when you're upside down?
• 30:11
  Right.
• 30:13
  Right.
• 30:13
  Like little things like that.
• 30:14
  It's like,
• 30:15
  I'm always like asking people
• 30:17
  that I know that are gymnasts.
• 30:17
  I'm like, you have any tips for me?
• 30:20
  How do you breathe when
• 30:21
  you're upside down?
• 30:21
  Yeah.
• 30:22
  Yeah.
• 30:24
  so you bring in you bring in
• 30:25
  anybody with you um I have
• 30:28
  some family from that's
• 30:29
  based on the east coast and
• 30:30
  so they'll be coming out
• 30:32
  like my dad my stepmom and
• 30:33
  a couple sisters will be
• 30:34
  coming out to cheer me on
• 30:36
  and watch and then um
• 30:37
  there's a couple from our
• 30:38
  gym whose sister-in-law is
• 30:40
  going to be competing also
• 30:40
  in the same age group so
• 30:42
  they'll be coming out so
• 30:42
  it'll be fun to see them
• 30:44
  out there as well yeah you
• 30:46
  have a coach coming
• 30:48
  I do.
• 30:49
  So my coach is with Brute Strength.
• 30:52
  His name is Coach L. Oh, wow.
• 30:55
  You're with Coach L. Yeah.
• 30:56
  So I've been with him since
• 30:57
  November of 22.
• 30:58
  And so he'll be there.
• 31:04
  And then I think Lindsay also,
• 31:05
  who's the gymnastics coach for Brute,
• 31:08
  is also going to be there.
• 31:09
  So it'll be good.
• 31:13
  Yeah.
• 31:13
  It'll be my first comp with him.
• 31:15
  So it'll be fine.
• 31:19
  Hey, you're at the CrossFit games.
• 31:20
  You need all this.
• 31:21
  Right.
• 31:22
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:23
  And I think it's just more,
• 31:25
  I feel like it's going to be like, okay,
• 31:27
  here's how, how,
• 31:28
  how do we want to approach this?
• 31:29
  Right.
• 31:29
  Like just trying to like
• 31:33
  stay calm and focused and enjoy it.
• 31:36
  Right.
• 31:37
  Yeah.
• 31:38
  Well, Claudia, this has been a blast.
• 31:40
  Thank you so much for taking
• 31:41
  the time out to do this.
• 31:43
  My team will be down there.
• 31:44
  We're going to record a
• 31:45
  behind the scenes of the
• 31:47
  Masters CrossFit Games.
• 31:49
  So Ellie Hiller and myself
• 31:50
  will be in the back just
• 31:52
  chatting with you guys and
• 31:53
  recording all that.
• 31:55
  And then we'll have some
• 31:55
  people out front recording
• 31:57
  the workouts and we'll mash
• 32:00
  it all together and do a cool video.
• 32:02
  however many events there are,
• 32:04
  that's how many episodes of
• 32:07
  the documentary will be.
• 32:09
  That's great.
• 32:10
  I love that.
• 32:10
  I love that you're doing that for us,
• 32:12
  you know?
• 32:14
  Yeah.
• 32:14
  I mean, you guys deserve it.
• 32:16
  You've, you've come all this way and,
• 32:18
  and we want to highlight what masters do,
• 32:20
  you know,
• 32:21
  I don't think anybody's taking
• 32:22
  the time to,
• 32:23
  to do this and highlight
• 32:25
  everything about it.
• 32:26
  And the stories you guys
• 32:27
  have are so much cooler.
• 32:30
  Like you've lived lives, right?
• 32:33
  Right.
• 32:34
  And so we want to share all those.
• 32:36
  That's great.
• 32:37
  We appreciate you being there.
• 32:40
  So with that,
• 32:40
  thank you so much for being here.
• 32:42
  Thank you to everybody in the chat.
• 32:44
  And if you're watching, thank you.
• 32:46
  Support by hitting that like button,
• 32:47
  subscribe to the channel,
• 32:49
  and we'll see everybody
• 32:50
  next time on Clydesdale Media Podcast.
• 32:54
  Thank you so much.
• 32:55
  Bye, guys.
• 32:56
  Thank you.
• 32:56
  Thanks, Scott.
• 32:57
  Bye.