Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 67: Tia-Clair Toomey, 3x 'Fittest Woman On Earth'

Transcript

Episode 67: Tia-Clair Toomey, 3x 'Fittest Woman On Earth' · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, I'm doing something I've never done before,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: an episode repost, but with really good reason because Tia
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Clear to me is crowned once again crossfits fittest Woman
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: on Earth. Wow, what an amazing weekend watching her performance.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited for her, and so I felt like
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: it was only appropriate to repost her episode from earlier
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: this year. I'm going to keep this intro short, but
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: if you don't know anything about CrossFit or Tia Claire,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: she is the three time now fittest woman on Earth.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: She's from Australia and the craziest thing about her is
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: that she went from pretty much not working out at
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: all to in a very short amount of time being
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: such an excellent, outrageously fantastic I can't say enough good
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: adjectives here. Athlete, She's an Olympian, she's an all around sweetheart.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: We had the opportunity to record this earlier this year
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: at the Rebok CrossFit Athlete Summit, and I just I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to sit
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: down with her. As always, a huge shout out to
• 1:04
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• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Just head on over to Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle again.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: That's Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle to grab yours today.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I'm an for this one.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Guys again at Emlabodi at Hurdle Podcast. If you weren't
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: following along this weekend, go do yourself a favor. Head
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: onto YouTube watch some recaps. They're gonna blow your mind.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: This woman is a machine with that. Let's get to hurdling.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting here with Tia Claire. To me, she is
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the fittest woman on earth. Does that ever get old?
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: No? No, it's every time someone says that, it's still
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: something that's like, oh wow, that's really cool.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy that CrossFit came up with that
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: for like the title of the person that wins the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: CrossFit Games. Okay, so I feel like there's a little
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: background to provide here for my listener. Tia is an
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: excellent crossfitter and in CrossFit. Every year there are the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: CrossFit Games and they take place over the summer months,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and when you come in first place, you win this
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: superstellar title. Yeah, the Fittest woman on Earth.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: It's pretty cool.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, it's rad.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: There's also the fittest man on Earth. But I today
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: am lucky enough to be sitting with this lady. So
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: before we get going here, I want to like do
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: like some baseball cards stats.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, let's do some max left stats dead.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Left four point fifteen I believe, which was at the
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: games heavier squat. You would think that I actually would
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: know these like off by heart, but the amount of
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: times I actually try and work up to like a
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: one RM is very rarely.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: R M and CrossFit speakers rep max.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, rep max PB sorry personal best. I think it
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: was around the one sixty kilograms, so I don't know
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: what that is in pounds.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I should probably just have opened up a conversion trying. Yes, yeah, okay,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: what about snatch?
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: We got a squat snatch, but or a power snatch
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: just to be precise, No, so my snatch would be
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: two or five I think in pounds.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, I'm like randomly.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Pulling out these numbers, but I'm not even sure if
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: they're the right one.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: You're doing excellent pull ups.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Sixty five.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: They need to update the CrossFit website. Oh really, ta's fifty.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: And okay, last thing, how fast can you spread four
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: hundred meters?
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I think I'd like to say around the one minute.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Wow. And that's a quarter of a mile for you
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: guys at home. That's pretty incredible. Okay. So those are
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: just some benchmarks for being this fit.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I try. So.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: You won the CrossFit Games this past year.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: You've been competing as a CrossFit athlete now for four years.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how's that been.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: It's been a whirlwind. It was something that I never
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: even expected or anticipated. I got into CrossFit purely just
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: to build my fitness for a different sport, and at
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: the time that was track and field. And when I
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: started CrossFit, you know, I really enjoyed the challenge is
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: it provided every training session and the community and camaraderie
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: that it provided. But I never thought that I would
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: be competing on a world stage and also being the
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: best in the world, which is just mind blowing.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I mean every time we say this, I kind of
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: like get chills talking about it. Okay, so let's rewind
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it back. So you said track and field. Did you
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: grow up being really athletic back at home?
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so every day I would be doing a different sport.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Mom and Dad they were very encouraging in, you know,
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: taking me after school to different types of training sessions.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: So I would do tennis. I would play netball, which
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: is a more of the Commonwealth countries know what netball is.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: I would play football nippers there was a Nippers is
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: like a surf life saving kind of sport that we
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: have back home in Australia, which is a lot of fun.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: What else did I do? I did swimming, cross country?
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Wow, everything I did.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: So much, like if there was a sport that I
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: could get involved in, Like mom and Dad were very
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: supportive and you know, had me there every day. So
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: like that was something that I think made me who
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I am today, and that's why I'm so sporty and
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: very competitive.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, and growing up with this much love for athleticism.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: You know, when I was younger, I dreamed of being
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a journalist, which man like talk about some like I
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: could have dreamed to be so many things, but I
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: dreamed of moving to New York and writing articles like
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I do. Now, were you dreaming of becoming this stellar athlete?
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: I do? Remember when when you grow up, all you
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: think is like the pinnacle oh of our you know,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: the sporting careers is going to the Olympics, or you
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: know in certain sports, it may be like the World
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Championships in specific sports. I know that the Olympics isn't
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: the pinnacle for every single sport. But for me, like,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I was really focused on running and I was good
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: at it, and my dad helped train me and take
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: my training to another level, which was also very special
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: because it was, you know, something that we could do together.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: And I was like, well, the pinnacle of that would
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: be going to the Olympics. So I want to go
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: to the Olympics for eight or four hundred meter hurdles.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: So that was something that I grew up dreaming about.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: And it like, I mean, I look back and think, well,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: it's not crazy to have these dreams, Like it's actually
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: pretty incredible.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: I think, what's even more crazy about this? Now?
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: In retrospect is that you have been to the Olympics,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: but not for tree. So talk to tell me just
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a little bit about that.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: As I got older and school became a little more important,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: I had to make sure that, you know, I was
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: getting the right grades because I needed to focus on that,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: you know, building that career and getting the right op
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: which is you know, you need a specific score in
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: order to get into a university degree back home in Australia.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: And so for me, that was definitely a high priority
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: because my mum and dad put a lot of money
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: into my secondary.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: School and.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Through that I kind of put my sporting interests on
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: a whold. I still did them, but I wasn't fully
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: involved because I wanted to really focus on, you know,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: getting the right grades in secondary school, and so that
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: dream of going to the Olympics, as much as I
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: still wanted to do that, I kind of felt like
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: it just wasn't going to happen because I knew how
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: much work you needed to do in order to go there.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: But I also was being thinking and kind of hearing
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: from other people like no, you know, you need to
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: go out and get a good career and create an
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: income for yourself so you can support yourself, and this
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: is the right way of going and getting a university degree.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: And so that's what I thought was probably the best
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: decision to take, And that's no one's fault, it's just
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: that that's in my eyes, I was like, that's probably
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: the better option, Whereas my passion for the Olympics is
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: probably like I just didn't see it, you know, earning
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: me the income that I needed to live a long
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: and successful life. And so I just left that on
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: the back burner and went to UNI and kind of
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: fell into a bit of a rut and didn't really exercise,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: didn't do anything.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: To be honest, when you say a little bit of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: a rut, like what did that entail?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Well, I actually was at boarding school and when I
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: went to university, I moved away from my family to
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: go to this university in Brisbane, which it was like
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: one of the major universities, and I had to obviously
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: really focus on studying and everything. But I just didn't
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: pick the right degree for me. So my interest and
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: passion just wasn't there. And I think that when your
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: heart isn't fully in something, you kind of do it
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: half hearted and then you find all these excuses on
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: why you don't want to study for that exam or
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: you don't want to put in the hard work, and
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: you get that a plus on your assignment. And for me,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I actually just started eating rubbish food. I wasn't healthy.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, I wasn't exercising, so I wasn't stimulating the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: brain as well, and I just watched TV. So really
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: I was just getting into the slump of just being
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: such a homebody and not really socializing with the people
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: that I loved being around and also doing the things
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: that I really enjoyed and made me the person I am.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: So I definitely change and I kind of felt like
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: I was just wasting life. And I don't ever want
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: to have a go at other people because that may
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: be certain things that they want to do in their life,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: but for me personally, that's just not who I was.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: I was always someone that was outdoors, very active, and
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: very social with my friends and family, and I just
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: wasn't being like that. So that was something that I
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: looked back at and think, oh, wow, like that was interesting.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize it at the time, but now I
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: can see just how much that affected me. Where I
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: wasn't following what I wanted to do, and I was
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: doing what I thought was the right decision.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: How did you even go about pulling yourself out of
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: that rut? Because I'm assuming you had to spend a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: certain amount of time or you were supposed to anyway,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I spend a certain amount of time going through the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: motions of taking all these courses.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I definitely didn't want to waste the money
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: that we were spending. And when I say we, my
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: parents were helping me support that, so I didn't want
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: to waste their money. But when it came to the
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: six month mark, every month, like you would, you know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: put on a certain like take on another subject or whatever,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: and I was like no, no, no, like when it
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: gets hard, like don't just give up. So I wrote
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: it out for another like six months, and then I
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: still felt like I just wasn't enjoying it and I
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: was wasting my parents' money, really, and so I put
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: it on hold so that, you know, maybe in five
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: years time, when I've kind of grown up a little
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: bit and I know what i want to do and
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: I'm maybe more motivated and I'm in a better headspace,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: I can come back and revisit that, and that wasn't
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: that six months wasn't a waste. But you know, I
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: can just put that on hold and go on, just
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: try and figure out, you know, who I am as
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: a person as well, because I just graduated from school,
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: you know, a young adult that had no idea what
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: she wanted to do with her life. And you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: I'm also trying to figure out who I was as
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: a person as well.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I think it's tough because even you know in America,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: when you get to college at eighteen and they say
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: to you, all right, right now, you have to pick
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: what you think you're going to do for the rest
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: of your life, and there's so much pressure on that,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: so much pressure and what like pleases any eighteen year
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: old in to be like, I know exactly what I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: want to do when I'm thirty seven.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: But like some kids do, which is amazing, yeah, but
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: the people that don't. I mean, for me, I didn't
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: know what I wanted to do, and so I was like, man,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: am I am I not doing it right? Like is
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: there something wrong with me? Because personally I was like,
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: everyone has everything together and they know what they want
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: to do, but like I just don't want to make
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: the bad choice, but you have to kind of live
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: and learn. And obviously, as life goes on, you kind
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: of learn that and you realize that, hey, this may
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: not go as planned, but what if it actually does,
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Like what if it goes, you know, above and beyond
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: your expectations and takes you to a whole nother world
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: And that I guess that's what happened with CrossFit.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Right, Okay, So you do you move back home?
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: I never moved back home, So I actually I moved
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: out of home in grade ten and I went to
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: boarding school for my last two years just because where
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: we lived it was a lot more rural, so, you know,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: to make sure that I was getting that good education,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Mom and dads sent me to a boarding school and
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: then from there I went to UNI, but I stayed
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: in Brisbane for the university degrees and from there. That's
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Shane and I, who's my husband at the time. He
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: was my boyfriend. We'd been dating since high school and
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: he was working on the other side of the country
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: in Western Australia, so he decided to leave his job
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: and actually get relocated to a different place on the
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: east coast of Australia in a town called Gladstone, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: so we moved. I deferred university in Brisbane and we
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: both moved our house up to Gladstone. And then it
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: wasn't that's pretty much like I don't look at it
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: as like I was running away from my problems, but
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: it was a different opportunity. And I looked at that
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: is like, okay, like this is going to be a
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: fresh start. I can just try and figure out who
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: I am and what I want to do. And as well,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: you know, Shane and I we get to actually live
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: together and stop doing long distance, which is obviously really nice.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: At the time, I actually got a job as a
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: dental assistant. I did that for about eighteen months, and
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: I really enjoyed that because I do enjoy the health industry.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So that was very different.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: What a random I know, it was so.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: So random, so you know, I know about so many
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: people's teeth. But then like that just still wasn't fulfilling.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: But in that time I actually started running and I
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: started being a lot more energetic and I kind of
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: starting to get my mojo back a little bit. But
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: then I decided that hey, you know, like I'm I
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: really want to make some money so that Shane and
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: I can go traveling more regularly. And he was working
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: for a mining company called Rio Tinto and there was
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: a job coming up in the lab and so I
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: actually applied for that, and due to my personality, I
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: got that job, which was just I couldn't believe it actually,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: because there was a lot of people with so much
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: experience in the lab that was going for that job.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: And for me, for someone that's never had any experience
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: in the laboratory in a major company, I was like, wow, Like, man,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: I must have had done a good interview, you know,
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: So that was interesting. I was like, all right, well,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: you know, like I'm starting to build something here and
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I'm starting to kind of get out of my right
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: a little bit. I'm eventually going to be earning a
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: decent amount of money. I'm in a secure job, and
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: Shane and I we can save up and maybe go
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: traveling a little bit more. And who knows where this
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: you know, laboratory job is going to take me. And
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: so in that time I started realizing that I wanted
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: to take up track a little bit more as well.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: So I needed to build my fitness because that was
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: like two years off the track, and I'd put on
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: a little bit of weight and I definitely wasn't as
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: fit as what I was, So I was like, I
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: need to build my fitness. And Shane at the time
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: was playing football and he was going to this CrossFit
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: gym in the preseason and was like, Hey, I think
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: s Tea would like this, and was like, hey, like
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: you should really come to one of the classes here
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: because I think that this training at this gym would
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: really help and benefit your track training. So I was like,
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: all right, I don't give it a go.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask were you at all resistant
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: to that? I feel like sometimes, especially when you're a runner,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you just love running, yeah, and someone's like, let's go
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: lift these weights, and you're like, do we have to?
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: I've always a pre shated the variety of what swimming
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: can do to my fitness to benefit my running, what
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: a bit of weight training can do to build that
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: power to help with my speed and running. So I
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: wasn't I wasn't opposed to the idea, but I definitely
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: was how did that little bit of an ego like Hey,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: I'm already fit and you know, like whatever you guys
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: are doing there like I can do that?
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: What about lifting heavyweights? And I think that's just another thing.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I mean talk about things that as you're the fittest
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: woman on earth, like things that a lot of women
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: stand back from are like going anywhere near wheat plates
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: or even like thinking that they should be in that arena.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm a person that if someone says I can't
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: do it, like, I'm going to prove to them that
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: I can. It was an interesting thing because the day
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: that I went there and did my first class, I
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: did not like the coach and I walked out of
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: the class like, nuh, this is just not for me.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: I enjoyed it, but I just didn't like how the
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: coach directed and didn't allow me. It was actually hands
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: stand push ups, and I was like, I will go
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: upside down and try that because I've never ever seen
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: that before, but he wouldn't allow that. And obviously, now
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: after understanding you know, the skill and everything that's required
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: for that, I appreciate what he was trying to do.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: But no, I had an ego back then where I
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: thought that because I run track, I was fit enough
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: and I was very capable of it that Yeah, I
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: just had that nah, Like I don't need.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: This, so why do you go back?
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Well, I kind of felt obligated because the owner of
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: the gym, he was a very nice person and we
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: would bump into him at this local grocery store and
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: he'd be like, oh, hey, Tea, you know, when are
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: you coming back to the gym? And I was always like, ah, soon, mate,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: you know, it was awkward. So it was like the
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: third time we bumped into him, I was like, man,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I keep telling him that I'm going to come back,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: and I just have to bite the bullet and do it.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: And I'd already used up my like one free trial,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: so I had to sign up for like a month,
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: and so I obviously, like I put money into that
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: and I wasn't going to waste that. So I would
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: go twice a day. Oh wow, Yeah, I know, because
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: because of my job, it was a shift work, so
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I had five days of work and then five days off.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: So on those five days off, like I would just
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: train all the time. It was just because it was
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: so enjoyable, you know, Like I mean I could run
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: with my dogs as well. Like there was just I
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: could just do so much. And yeah, I was really
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: utilizing that whole month, and by the end of it,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: I was like, Wow, this is so much fun, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: like I've created so many friends through this, So that
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: was definitely something that I was like, wow, like I'm
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: so pleased that I came back to this. But I
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: never had any intention to compete in CrossFit. I didn't
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: even know there was a thing called CrossFit games. And
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: I mean I was light. I could do the body
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: weight movements well, but it was always like very strict.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: So you know, the burpies they're a little more there's
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: a motion to the burpies. Mine were always very strict.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: The pull ups they had this kipping style. Mine were
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: always strict. And I found it very hard to I guess,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: pick up on the momentum or using momentum throughout these
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: movements through CrossFit, because in my head I was like, no,
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: that's cheating, Like you have to do it strict because
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: that's just the way it goes, and these people are cheating.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: But by the end of it, I realized we'll hang
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: on like these guys are doing workouts with like a
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: hundred pull ups, like they have to create momentum, and
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: you know, like it was just all like all these
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: things were going in my head that like I was
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: kind of fighting how much I loved it, but like
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: still not allowing it to break through and be like
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: no tear, just embrace it and just go with the flow.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: And I think what's so great that you pointed out
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: about CrossFit is obviously that amount of camaraderie. Yeah, it's
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: something that keeps everyone from newbies to you know, people
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: of your caliber walking into the box, which is what
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: crossfitters call the gym day in and day out. I mean,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: obviously you're still doing it. What is this six years later?
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it will be. It will be six years, which
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: is crazy because a few months had passed and as
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: I was getting into CrossFit, like weightlifting was a huge
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: weakness of mine, like I could never wrap my head
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: around a snatch and a clean and jerk, and that
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: was something that Shane and I we wanted to improve
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: on and kind of just understand the movement more. And
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: once we started getting along that journey and realizing that
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: the Olympics was a potential opportunity, like I just thought, Okay,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to be in it for a year
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: or two and then that's it. But it's like open
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: up a whole other world.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Quick break from today's episode to give my sponsor, Athletic
• 24:33
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• 24:35
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• 24:38
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• 24:43
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• 24:46
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• 24:48
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• 24:50
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• 24:54
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• 25:04
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• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Let's get back to it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I think, what's so insane, And I know we hinted
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: at this before, but we haven't really dove into the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: fact that you went to the Olympics is that you
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: had a point where that wasn't even something that was
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: on your radar, and you had a point where you
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: were total beginner. And so many people every day don't
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: even start something because they're like, well, I've never done
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: it before.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Like so there has been commentators that have said, oh,
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: she's a weightlifter doing CrossFit. You know, she's gone to
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: the Olympics and done all this. I was like, no,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: I'm actually a cross for crossfitter doing weightlifting. And because
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: if it wasn't for CrossFit, I would never have picked
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: up weightlifting. And I know this sounds a little corny,
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: but I kind of felt like weightlifting chose or picked me.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: And then you know, my dream of going to the
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Olympics was fulfilled. Yes, it wasn't fulfilled through the track
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: that I thought it was going to be, but I
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to go to
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: the Olympics. So of course I was going to dive
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: in and put all my like work into weightlifting.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: What year did you go to the Olympics twenty sixteen,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and you had come in second place that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: year in the CrossFit Games?
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, wow, Yeah, it's a lot of work.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: It wasn't It was two weeks apart from each other.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: That was pretty full on.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, did you've I feel like the Games were good
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: prep for the Olympics.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: I did. I don't think that they there was any
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: jeopardization or whatever between the two. The hard part was
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: actually getting into the Olympics and being the one, like
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: the only one from Australia to represent you know, Australia
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: at the Olympics for weightlifting. There was myself and then
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: a male from Australia because we only had one spot
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: you know for males and for females. And just getting
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: to that spot that was what was so rewarding. And
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: being at the Olympics was it was just fun and
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: it was just like wow, like this is incredible. But
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: the CrossFit Games it was so different. Like I was
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: going into see if I could, you know, back up
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: my performance from the year before, because that was it
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: was just so shocking, Like I know, it surprised the world,
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: but it surprised me too because I had no intention
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: of podiuming at the CrossFit Games. I was just so
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: happy to be there.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: What was it like the first time that you competed
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: in the CrossFit Open and made it to the Games?
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And when I ask you that, I'd love it if
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: you could just touch briefly on how that whole process
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: works for someone who doesn't know.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: So currently, it's actually a little different. But a few
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: years ago, well actually last year and prior to that,
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: there is a procedure to make it to the CrossFit Game,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: So you have to go through at the start of
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: the year, from the last week of February through to
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: the end of March, you go through a five week
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: online qualifier called the CrossFit Open, and anyone in the
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: world can sign up online and do it. Every week
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: there is a different workout and you have all weekend
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: to do the workout as many times as you want,
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: and then on Monday you get to upload it and
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: you get put on a leaderboard depending on which region
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: you are. So at the time I was in the
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Pacific region, which was Australia, New Zealand and Asia. You
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: had to make the top thirty in that region to
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: go to regionals, which was held in May, and there
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: was you know, a number of regions all over the world.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: So there was one in Europe and there was a
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: handful in the US, and you would go to this
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: regionals and try and get into the top five in
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: order to make it to the CrossFit Games. And then
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: there was forty men and forty females that competed at
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: the cross for Games in August. So there was like,
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: you know, a few procedures that you had to go
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: through in order to qualify. But that's what created the.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Journey, I guess, yeah, so like you're qualified.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: I qualified. So when I started the Open in twenty fifteen,
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: the year prior, I went to regionals and I did
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: not enjoy my experience. I enjoyed competing, but I just
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: wasn't happy when I was there. I didn't enjoy the
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: camaraderie between the competitors. And I know that that sounds
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: a bit crazy, you know, and a lot of people
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: they don't go to compete and create friends, but this
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: was different. I just didn't enjoy it as much as
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: what I thought I had because CrossFit for me was
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: just it was so much about being behind each other
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: and you know, just trying to be a better version
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: of yourself, and I just didn't feel that right, so
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: I had no intention of pursuing a CrossFit competitive career.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: It still blows my mind because like just to go
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: back to this idea, like I never thought I would
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: be a professional weightlifter, Like I never thought I was
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: going to like CrossFit. I didn't like CrossFit for this
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: time and this time in this time, and like to
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: still be at this point. To stick with something like
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: it shows so much compassion for how you treat yourself,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: like being willing to give it so many tries.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: But I think it's also got a lot to do
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: with the people that I surround myself with. So the
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: team that I have, my friends, my family, my husband
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Shane who's my coach, and we literally do this as
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: our profession now that if it wasn't for them, like
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be where I am today, and having their
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: support has obviously made that journey so much more enjoyable.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: So we owned the gym. We actually ended up buying
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: the gym that I started CrossFit in. I left my
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: laboratory job and it was halfway through the twenty fifteen
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: open that I was in the middle of fifteen point three,
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: that's what it was called. Middle of that workout. And
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: I finished that workout and I walked out to Shane
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: and I was like, Shane, We're going to the Games.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: It was like this flick of a switch that happened.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: I don't even know what it was, but it was
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: like this hunger that I was like, nah, I'm not
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: going to give up yet, like I'm actually going to
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: go and give it a go. And I, you know,
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: went to Regionals, came third, secured my spot to the Games,
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: and I was just like, I done it, Like this
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: is awesome. Like I it was. I just had a
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: different approach to it, and I didn't worry about what
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: other people were doing. I was just solely focused on
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: myself and giving my absolute best to that. And then
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: getting to the Games was like, man, this is amazing,
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: Like I just want to be a part of this experience.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: And yeah, that's the same thing that happened with the
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Olympics for sure.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think, also, what is so great here?
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Not to spoil anything, it's public knowledge, but you show
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: up in twenty fifteen and you come in second.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: I know, I know I did tell me we actually
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: the girls and I were talking about this earlier today,
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: and we're laughing about certain things, like there was this
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: workout that we kind of all got a little dehydrated in,
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: and you know, it was just one of those things
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: that like obviously at the time you just kind of
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: like whoa, Like that was really hard. That was very brutal.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: But now we're laughing about it, you know, and I'm
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: hanging around my competitors, you know, just reminiscing, but we
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: actually were laughing. Like I remember during that workout, I
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: was like, who is this lady? Like tear clear to me?
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: What I've never heard her before. I was like, I know,
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I was amazed too.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I remember I was at the Games that year and
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: just like watching everyone run through that sheet.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty hard.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: It's pretty hard.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I enjoyed it. I mean not at the time,
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: definitely not. But I look back and I'm like, well,
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: that that's what it was about, you know, the unknown
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: and unknowable. That's we signed up for this. So yeah,
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: I enjoyed every moment of it.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: And then you came back in twenty sixteen, you came
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: back in twenty seventeen, Yeah, and everything changes in twenty seventeen,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: it did.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: It was something about the twenty sixteen games that throughout,
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: like throughout my whole journey, even when I was younger,
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: like competing at in CrossFit and all my you know,
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: sporting events back back in school, I just was so
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: happy to be involved in a very competitive environment, so
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: like winning was not a priority for me, and I
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: never looked at it. I never looked at, you know,
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: wanting to compete for a particular placing. It was to
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: be a part of that and just to push myself
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: as best as what I could, and the same I
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: went in with the same mentality for the twenty fifteen
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: twenty sixteen games because it was so new. I woul
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: I was just so happy to be there. And then
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: when I came second again, it just felt different to
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: the first time, Like there was tears in both years.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Twenty fifteen I was so ecstatic. I was like, oh
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: my gosh, like did this happen or am I like
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: dreaming right now? Like what happened? Like surely they've stuffed
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: something up with the scoring because I was not meant
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: to be second. And then twenty sixteen I came second again,
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: and I mean that's that's no easy fee Like it
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: was very I'm very proud of it, but it was
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: just something like it just didn't sit right, and I
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: was actually really broken, Like I felt like I hadn't
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: done my absolute best. If I if I could, like
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: I could stand on that podium in second place knowing
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: I'd done my absolute best, I would have been so
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: proud of it. But knowing if I look back throughout
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: at like my events on that weekend, and I knew
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: that there was certain places that I just gave points away,
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: or I'd just given up, or you know, I stopped
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: at one particular moment to have a rest when I
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: should have just kept going. I knew deep down that
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: it wasn't my absolute best, so I wasn't happy, and
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: then that stuck with me for the rest of the season,
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: and I just I just went for in twenty seventeen
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: and then came first, and I mean that win was
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: just It's something that like Shane and I hold really
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: deeply and true to our hearts. So it was It's
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: pretty cool to look back and kind of see that
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: because at the time you don't realize.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: It right when you're in the thick of air.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I also think it's just the most remarkable thing
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: to be able to go to the Games and place
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: like you have so many times in a row. Like
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: you said, you broke it down how it has been
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: in year's past that anyone in the world can sign
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: up for the CrossFit Open and then they go through
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the Open and they qualify for Regionals, and then you
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: go from Regionals and you go to the Games, and.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: Four years in a row you were in the top
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: two spots.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I know, it's been pretty incredible.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when you think about what goes hand in hand
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: with this title, I mean obviously great sponsors like Rebok.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Do you still pinch yourself sometimes that this is all happening?
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: In twenty fifteen, I approached who is now a very
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: dear friend of mine, Andreas. He works for Rebook in Australia,
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: and I approached him through an email. I was like, hi, Andres,
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: my name's Tia. You know, I just I'm starting to
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: do CrossFit and going and representing the Australia at the
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: CrossFit Games for my very first year. I was wondering
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: if you know, I could get a few shoes and
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: clothes from Rebook and you know, He's like, oh, like,
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: I just love how she just kind of emailed me
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: and he all of a sudden, I was sponsored by
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: Rebok and I was like, oh, oh my gosh, so
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: you're telling me I get free clothing. Now. I was
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: just over the moon. But the fact that rebook had
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: no idea who I was. This is before I even
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: came second, So I wasn't like no one, they didn't
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: care about that. It was more the fact that, hey,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: like I really I see something in this girl. You know,
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: she's gone out of her way, put herself out there,
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: and I love that, and like they they took a
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: chance on me, and I haven't looked back.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: Haven't looked back.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, so right now on Instagram Live Update, you have
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: eight hundred and eighty seven thousand people that follow you,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: and they obviously, you know, they have their opinions of
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: what they see every day. But when you look in
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: the mirror, like what is it that you see every day?
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: That's actually a really good question. I've never really thought
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: of that, to be honest, But I mean, I guess
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: the way I look at it is, you know, when
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: I'm done, or you know, out of this space, or
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: it's it's kind of like, it's my time to retire.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: How do I want people to remember me by? And
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: for me, it's it's actually about people remembering I guess,
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: my legacy and reminding themselves that, hey, you know, if
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: you just take a chance and believe in yourself and
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: get that fire in your belly, that determination deep down inside,
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: if you believe in yourself, like anything is possible, so
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: just go after it. And I think like if people
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: can kind of look back on my journey and remember
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: that and remind themselves that, hey, like it doesn't matter
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: what you do. If you're someone that wants to be
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: a journalist, right, if you're someone that wants to be
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: a musician, like, go for it. Like, if you really
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: want it, you will get it. You will be super
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: successful at it too. It doesn't take someone special to
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: make that happen or be very successful. All it takes
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: is that determination inside. And you know, I hope that
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: people can kind of look back on my journey and
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: feed off that energy and motivation and realize that, hey,
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: like if Tea can do it, so can I.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: And I mean it sounds like when you look at
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: the mirror, you see someone that's being authentic to what
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: they want. Yeah, whereas maybe, yeah, you know, after grade twelve, no,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: like I.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: Was so unsure, I was afraid to take a chance.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to ask, you've obviously been on the
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: podium for four years in a row, you've won for
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: the past two what's on your radar?
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, going to the CrossFit Games. I've secured my spot.
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: I've done my job for now. Now it's literally training hard.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: I mean I was training before this. I'm going to
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: go back and do some more training. Like, I just
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: want to go back to the CrossFit Games and you know,
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: do my absolute best, and I hope my absolute best
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: is enough to be on top of that podium because
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: it's something that I know is very possible. But there's
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: just so many incredible athletes out there, and I'm just
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: so wanted to actually be a part of that. Like,
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: I just can't wait to push myself and see how
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: good we've really become since last year as well, and
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: that's something that I'm really looking forward to. So the
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: CrossFit Games is definitely on my radar for this year,
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: and I try not to look too far ahead because
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: you know, I just need to stick to my one
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: priorities and enjoy the ride.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: We are winding down here, but I do want to
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: note that you have finally made the pilgrimage to Tennessee. Yeah,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: which is very different than Australia.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: Moved to the south. Yeah, how's that going for you?
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: It's amazing.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: I've actually been to Cookville. I've been to Rich's house.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: I went there on assignment for Men's Health last year
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: and I hung out with the team and Rich for
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: forty eight hours.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: Amazing, Poy, so much fun. Yeah.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Rich Frowning, who was at one time the fittest man
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: on earth. He is a legend in the CrossFit world
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: and Cookville was something special.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I mean I've seen a snippet of the
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: day in the life of him. Are you training? How
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: many hours a day are you training?
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: I guess it depends on the season. I right now,
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: I'd probably be training between four to six hours a day,
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: probably resting every sixth to seventh day, and then that's
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: just going to increase obviously as I get closer to competition.
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: And I'm in May. There's a competition coming up called
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: the Rogue Invitational. It's the first one and it's actually
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: going to be a pretty incredible event because they also
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: have a category for CrossFit Legends, which is like all
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: the veterans from like back in the day, like before
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: I even knew what CrossFit was. They're going to come
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: back from retirement and do some competing and I'm really
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: looking forward to that. But I also am competing in
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: a different category, so that's going to be a lot
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: of fun.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: It's a lot of training every day.
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: It is a lot of training, but it's a good thing.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: I enjoy it, right.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: I feel like there's like all these last minute things
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to because I'm so curious, like I've got
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to know. No, it's cool, like staples in your pantry.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: Oh god, yeah.
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: I know. Well, I mean we're in America now, so
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: there's peanut butter and we're really enjoying the like the popcorn,
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: the caramelized popcorn, Like, I mean, it's in Australia as well,
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: but it's not as popular over over there than it
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: is here.
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: Are you super strict with what you eat?
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: I like to have a balance. Yeah, I think that's
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: probably the most simple way of explaining. I definitely like
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: to eat clean foods. I work with a specific nutrition
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: coach called the Method Now, and they helped me out
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: with counting my macros and making sure I'm fueling the
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: body with what it needs and how much it needs,
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: just so that I'm built, like improving my recovery and
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: I'm not feeling fatigued, and you know, I'm getting the
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: best out.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Of my body. Sweets, but I yeah, I love it
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: like I love chocolate.
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: I love going to the movies or the theaters or
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: cinemas you're like whatever you call them, and just munching
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: out on like your popcorn, your peanut m and ms.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: You know, I love Tim Tams, So whenever someone comes
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: over to from Australia and visits, they always bring Tim
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: Tams and.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like you know, I love to live balance.
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think balance is key.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: All right, final question, You have an opportunity right now
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: to offer the tea who is going through it after
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: grade twelve, really feeling stuck at her hurdle moment, one
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: piece of advice looking back on it right now, what
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: do you tell her?
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, there's so many things that obviously
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: looking back now that I could be like, you know,
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: there's so many things that you weren't doing right to you.
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: But I mean if I never experienced that, I probably
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be sitting here today. So if I was to
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: tell myself, you know, back in the day, it'd probably be,
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: you know, like, what is it that you want out
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: of your life? And what type of person do you
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: want to be? Because I think that that would have
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: kind of gotten rid of me filtering all the recommendations
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: and thinking, oh, that's what I should do from outsiders,
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: and I wouldn't probably been so confused, and I probably
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: wouldn't have gone and pursued a degree that I didn't
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: really enjoy or wasn't passionate about. But I mean, if
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: I never experienced that, you know, who knows where I
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: would have been. So I'm you know, I've lived and
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: I've learned, and I I don't actually have any regrets.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Amazing. Yeah, thank you so much for sitting down with me.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: Please take a moment to leave a quick review by
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: clicking the link or the description to this episode. We
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: about yours. Reach out to me at Emily at hurdle
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast, Tia.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: Where do they find you? How do they keep up
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: with you? Give me the dats?
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean I have an Instagram account, Tia Claire one.
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: They can always, you know, see my journey on that.
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: I actually have a book, How I Became the Fittest
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: Woman on Earth.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: So casual, casual book title.
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's a pretty good book. It's a
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: very easy book, and I've had some fantastic feedback, so
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: you know, if you enjoy reading, definitely look that up.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: And I mean I'm on Facebook, I'm on all social media,
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: so yeah, they can reach me on anything.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: I am at Emily a Body another hurdle conquered.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: M H.