Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Will Moorad | The Clydesdale Media Semifinalist Series
Transcript
- 0:13I was born to kill it.
- 0:14I was meant to win.
- 0:15I am down and willing,
- 0:17so I will find a way.
- 0:18It took a minute,
- 0:19now it didn't have to ride away.
- 0:21When it get hot in the kitchen,
- 0:22you decide to stay.
- 0:23That's how a winner's made.
- 0:24Stick a fork in the head of
- 0:26my dinner plate.
- 0:33What is going on, everybody?
- 0:35Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
- 0:37where we're celebrating the
- 0:38athletes of the 2024
- 0:40CrossFit Games Semifinals.
- 0:42And I have with me CrossFit Games legend,
- 0:44Will Morad.
- 0:45What's going on, Will?
- 0:46What's going on, man?
- 0:47Happy to be here.
- 0:49Yeah,
- 0:49so what's interesting is I've been
- 0:52around the sport a long
- 0:53time as a volunteer and then into media.
- 0:57I've been in the building
- 0:58for a lot of your big events.
- 0:59Yeah.
- 1:00So in 2014 in Cincinnati,
- 1:04I was there when you first
- 1:05punched your ticket to the
- 1:06CrossFit Games.
- 1:08Oh, yeah.
- 1:08Hey, man.
- 1:09Hey, that venue.
- 1:11That's one of my all-time favorite venues,
- 1:14but definitely good
- 1:15memories in Cincinnati.
- 1:18That's rolling back the clock.
- 1:19I haven't really thought
- 1:19about that in a minute.
- 1:21Yeah,
- 1:22you kind of came out of nowhere that
- 1:23year.
- 1:25Yeah, I mean...
- 1:28To the late, to the late.
- 1:29Yeah.
- 1:30Fair.
- 1:31Like, I, I think I was,
- 1:32I was one of the top seeds going in,
- 1:35like after the open, um,
- 1:38whatever that means, but yeah,
- 1:41I didn't have a lot of
- 1:42history behind my name at that point.
- 1:44Uh, well, there you were.
- 1:48Um, and it was a cool venue.
- 1:50Like it had a great warmup area.
- 1:53Um, yeah, huge warmup area,
- 1:55like completely separate from the venue,
- 1:57uh,
- 1:58um it was a little bit of a
- 2:01walk to get to the to the
- 2:03arena but yeah still one of
- 2:06my all-time favorite venues
- 2:08I think just because of the
- 2:09separation yeah because
- 2:11once you were off the floor
- 2:12you kind of were away from
- 2:13everything got to be yeah
- 2:16you know and you can shut
- 2:17it down like really cool
- 2:19the engines and then uh
- 2:21restart which I appreciate
- 2:22I mean every every venue is
- 2:25a little bit different even last year at
- 2:28In Orlando,
- 2:29our hotel was right across the street.
- 2:31So it's similar, right?
- 2:32I like just to be able to
- 2:33turn off the switch and
- 2:35then turn it back on for the events.
- 2:37And then I was in Knoxville
- 2:40when you made the 81-point
- 2:41comeback to punch your
- 2:44ticket to the games.
- 2:46Pretty epic events, man.
- 2:48Yeah, man.
- 2:49I've got a list of them now.
- 2:52We're heading back to that arena.
- 2:53So hopefully less stressful
- 2:55competition next weekend.
- 2:57Yeah.
- 2:59So the big question for me
- 3:01is you've been competing
- 3:02both masters and elite
- 3:04throughout the season.
- 3:06You are,
- 3:07you finished first in the semis
- 3:09for 35 to 39.
- 3:14Is there a focus or are you
- 3:15just doing both until the
- 3:17meter runs out somewhere?
- 3:21No, the plan is Texas, but really,
- 3:25and I wasn't really
- 3:26planning on doing the masters until,
- 3:28Um, just because my focus is Texas.
- 3:31Uh, but there is some,
- 3:35my family and my friends, my coaches,
- 3:37a lot of people were like, dude,
- 3:38no one's ever competed at both.
- 3:41Um,
- 3:41I think people have qualified for both.
- 3:43I think Briggs, maybe Becca Voigt, um,
- 3:48needed I'd need to check my
- 3:49history or maybe you know
- 3:50the answer to that but no
- 3:52one's been able to compete
- 3:54at both so the opportunity
- 3:56to do something that's
- 3:57never been done before in
- 3:58the sport is kind of unique
- 4:01um and rare opportunity not
- 4:04everybody that gets the
- 4:06chance for a first in a
- 4:08sport so that's kind of
- 4:10cool to me um and I i dave
- 4:15actually came to
- 4:17tennessee for one of the
- 4:18open announcements and he
- 4:20stopped by the gym we were
- 4:21training at and he kind of
- 4:22put the bug in my ear as
- 4:23well he's like hey man why
- 4:24don't you try to go for
- 4:25both and I was like well
- 4:26that's a lot of training
- 4:27man and when you're about
- 4:29to be I turned 35 on
- 4:31saturday it's like you
- 4:34gotta respect the body but
- 4:35I ended up doing the
- 4:36semifinals for the masters
- 4:39actually did it I did the
- 4:40whole simulation of the individuals and
- 4:43Then I rested a day and then
- 4:45I did all the Masters
- 4:46semifinal events in like 36 hours.
- 4:48So it was like a mini games
- 4:52just to knock it out so I
- 4:53could get back to
- 4:54preparation for Knoxville.
- 4:56So, yeah, I rushed through them all,
- 4:59ended up winning that,
- 5:00which is I would say was my expectation.
- 5:03I think I'm probably the
- 5:05first gen or like part of
- 5:08that first gen of guys who
- 5:09were like really
- 5:10professionals that are now
- 5:13aging up um and I think
- 5:15there is a gap like now
- 5:18between guys that have been
- 5:19doing this as their
- 5:19livelihood for a decade and
- 5:22then people you know were I
- 5:24don't know I just think
- 5:24there's a gap right between
- 5:26guys who have been bona
- 5:27fide pros for a long time
- 5:28and then now aging up so I
- 5:30think from now on you're
- 5:31going to see some top level
- 5:33guys and girls starting
- 5:34aging up and there will be
- 5:37I wouldn't be surprised if
- 5:38there's a big gap between
- 5:40them and the rest of the
- 5:41field in the age group
- 5:42categories if they decide to keep going.
- 5:47Yeah,
- 5:48a lot of the OGs have not even
- 5:50attempted the Masters.
- 5:52You know, like your Riches, your, you know,
- 5:54Scott Pancheck did last year,
- 5:56but I got sick.
- 5:57Yeah, I think he was sick.
- 6:00He had the flu or something, which sucked.
- 6:04But yeah, Scott did it.
- 6:05I guess Spiel did it, Kasper Bauer,
- 6:09Urencar, I'm leaving guys out.
- 6:13So a couple guys have done it, but still,
- 6:16they weren't 24 when they
- 6:17got into the sport like I was, right?
- 6:19And done it as their livelihood.
- 6:22So it's a little bit different.
- 6:24And for Rich, I mean, why would,
- 6:26that dude's got nothing left to prove.
- 6:28He's the man, so.
- 6:32I get why he didn't do it.
- 6:33It's a lot of training.
- 6:34It's hard on your body.
- 6:36I don't recover like I did when I was 24,
- 6:3825, 26, 27.
- 6:40And he's got kids and stuff.
- 6:43So there's like, I don't have kids.
- 6:45So there's a lot of just
- 6:47lifestyle factors that I
- 6:49think impact your ability
- 6:52to continue to compete at
- 6:53the highest level in sport
- 6:55as you get older.
- 6:57It just,
- 6:59There's a lot of things that become, like,
- 7:00you just reorganize your priorities,
- 7:03which is life, right?
- 7:05Yeah,
- 7:05which is a couple roads I want to go
- 7:07down.
- 7:07One is the recovery.
- 7:09Like,
- 7:10I was talking to Jamie Hagia on Sunday,
- 7:14and she's done the same thing, right?
- 7:15She's done the Elite and the Masters.
- 7:17It's like you don't really
- 7:18get a weekend off.
- 7:20Now she goes a week earlier
- 7:22than you on semis.
- 7:24So you actually had a little
- 7:25bit bigger gap between age
- 7:28group semis and elite semis.
- 7:30How does the body feel after all that?
- 7:34Uh, I feel okay.
- 7:36You know, like I,
- 7:37I feel like I have every
- 7:38other year a little banged up.
- 7:40I don't think I've gone into
- 7:41a semifinal or a games healthy ever.
- 7:45Um,
- 7:46you know, but what's healthy, right?
- 7:48Like I've, I've been training well.
- 7:49Um,
- 7:51my testing has gone very well for these
- 7:52events.
- 7:54The age group went well and
- 7:55I was able to just kind of
- 7:56coast through that.
- 7:57So I feel like I'm a 35 year
- 8:01old athlete who's been
- 8:02competing in international
- 8:03sports since he was 17.
- 8:04So, you know, I, I, uh,
- 8:09I feel good.
- 8:10I'm happy.
- 8:10Like spirits are high.
- 8:12Um, today's a rest day, so that's nice.
- 8:16I'll get some body work and, um,
- 8:18thank you.
- 8:19I do have a lot of nice books.
- 8:20I know how to read.
- 8:21It's pretty cool.
- 8:25Um,
- 8:25I think you're the first person to have
- 8:26like a library behind you as we talked.
- 8:30This is more of my wife, um,
- 8:32as far as the aesthetic goes, but
- 8:35I was a lit major, um,
- 8:38X phase and lit major.
- 8:39So there you go.
- 8:42Yeah.
- 8:42When I, when I graduated with my master's,
- 8:44I swear I'd never read a book again.
- 8:45Um, uh, business.
- 8:50Okay, cool.
- 8:50Yeah.
- 8:50I'm the same way, man.
- 8:51I read so much in college, especially for,
- 8:54for lit.
- 8:55Right.
- 8:55And I read now more of just like training,
- 8:59um,
- 9:00guides and case studies and
- 9:02things to improve recovery
- 9:04like super boring black and
- 9:06white stuff where
- 9:08literature is a little bit
- 9:09more gray as far as what
- 9:11you're reading about but
- 9:13yeah man yeah so my other
- 9:15question that you brought
- 9:17up is you've you've been
- 9:19through a lot in your
- 9:20career right you you had
- 9:22the misdiagnosis in the
- 9:24late teens your wife's
- 9:26cancer all of those things has it
- 9:30made you appreciate what you
- 9:32have now more oh yeah man
- 9:36and that's it was just
- 9:38public I guess me going
- 9:39through that stuff so it
- 9:42seems it is does seem crazy
- 9:44but I think everybody you
- 9:46know has to go through
- 9:48crazy things uh those were
- 9:50just a bit more public
- 9:51facing so it maybe is you
- 9:54know magnified but um yeah
- 9:57man I would say I
- 9:58definitely appreciate things and
- 10:00I think the athlete I was
- 10:01going into the 2014 games
- 10:04will look a lot different
- 10:05than the athlete I am going
- 10:06into the 2024 games,
- 10:09assuming I go do my job next weekend.
- 10:11So I'm just,
- 10:14I've grown up in the sport and
- 10:15I've had a lot of life experiences.
- 10:17And I think those challenges
- 10:20outside of the floor of
- 10:22competition have helped me just grow
- 10:26in life.
- 10:27I've always said sports such
- 10:28a great teacher, you know, and you have,
- 10:31you know,
- 10:32I've missed the games by one spot,
- 10:33and I've made the games by one point,
- 10:36like,
- 10:37I've just have a lot of experience
- 10:41in the sport and outside of
- 10:42the sport to just give me a, I think,
- 10:44a healthy perspective on
- 10:45what is important to me and
- 10:49what gives me fulfillment.
- 10:52Not only like in my training
- 10:53and the way I do that,
- 10:54but just also in life and
- 10:56and the way I'm the husband
- 10:58I am and the brother and
- 11:00the friend and all that.
- 11:01So yeah, I've had a wild ride,
- 11:04a little bit wilder than I
- 11:05would have liked and a
- 11:08little bit wilder than a
- 11:08lot of athletes have had,
- 11:10but I'm better because of it.
- 11:12I wouldn't change a thing.
- 11:14Yeah.
- 11:15when you qualified for the first time,
- 11:17that was the first time I'd
- 11:18ever volunteered for an event.
- 11:19So I instantly became a fan
- 11:21because like you popped on the scene.
- 11:24That was my first ever live event.
- 11:26And then,
- 11:27and then the misdiagnosis happened.
- 11:29And I was like,
- 11:30and we didn't really know about that.
- 11:31You just stopped coming to events.
- 11:33And it was like, what's going on.
- 11:35Then when it popped up later
- 11:37of what the reason was, like,
- 11:39I just was in shock.
- 11:40yeah yeah I don't know I've
- 11:42always been a bit more
- 11:43private with things like
- 11:44that um and I just didn't
- 11:49really it didn't really hit
- 11:51me to be like oh this is
- 11:53low as me you know I was
- 11:54just gonna kind of move on
- 11:55and I thought my my chapter
- 11:58as a my chapter of life as
- 12:00a pro athlete was over and
- 12:02to be completely frank like to do
- 12:06to get to the highest level
- 12:08of sport is great, you know,
- 12:09and I was at peace with that.
- 12:12And,
- 12:12and I thought that that was kind of
- 12:14the end of that.
- 12:15And I just was, I moved on and I,
- 12:17I got a job in the tech
- 12:18world with one of the
- 12:20members of the gym I owned
- 12:22at the time and just kind
- 12:24of turn the page just to
- 12:27keep using the metaphors of
- 12:29the books behind me.
- 12:29So, so yeah.
- 12:33Yeah.
- 12:35Um, so you're in Nashville now.
- 12:38Um,
- 12:38you're close to just about everything
- 12:40that's happening except for Texas.
- 12:42Like Knoxville is just down the road.
- 12:46Then Birmingham,
- 12:47if you would happen to go
- 12:48to the masters games,
- 12:49not that far from Nashville.
- 12:51Um,
- 12:51so you're kind of in the epicenter of
- 12:53everything.
- 12:54When did you move to Nashville and, and,
- 12:57and why?
- 12:59Yeah.
- 12:59So I moved to Nashville in 1994.
- 13:00Oh, wow.
- 13:03with like, so I'm a unicorn here.
- 13:06Um, I think I was, I was three or four, uh,
- 13:08four,
- 13:08I believe what 3 billion people have
- 13:10moved there since it's yeah, dude,
- 13:12it's crazy.
- 13:13Like where my neighborhood
- 13:15is right now was just cow pastures.
- 13:17Um, uh, yeah,
- 13:19we moved because of my dad's job.
- 13:21Um, me and my brother, my sister, my mom,
- 13:23my dad all moved here and I
- 13:26I've grown up here and
- 13:27lived here ever since.
- 13:29So Nashville has changed quite a bit.
- 13:32Um,
- 13:33But it is the happening place.
- 13:36It's, I think,
- 13:37unique to be in a place that
- 13:40for this long and to watch it change,
- 13:42at least it seems unique,
- 13:43maybe just because of the
- 13:46enormity of what Nashville
- 13:47has become now.
- 13:48But yeah,
- 13:49I am close to Knoxville and Birmingham.
- 13:52They're both about two hours away.
- 13:54So it's convenient for this year.
- 13:56And I mean, Texas is what,
- 13:58a 90-minute flight?
- 13:59It's pretty easy.
- 14:00Yeah.
- 14:01Yeah.
- 14:02And two major airports.
- 14:03So you're lucky there too.
- 14:04Yeah, absolutely.
- 14:06Um, so you left proven in the off season.
- 14:10Are you coaching yourself or
- 14:12do you have a coach?
- 14:13Uh, yeah, I moved on from proven, um,
- 14:16after the games, I, uh, no, I, I,
- 14:19I did a lot of my own stuff
- 14:21through the off season.
- 14:21And to be, to be honest,
- 14:22I did a lot of my stuff
- 14:24throughout my whole career.
- 14:25Um,
- 14:26whether I was attached to a brand or not,
- 14:27I just kind of liked the autonomy.
- 14:29And I think that is, uh,
- 14:33just being able to exercise
- 14:34like my ex-fizz background
- 14:35and things like that.
- 14:36And, and trusting myself is important.
- 14:38And I think most,
- 14:40most athletes need to have
- 14:41some autonomy in their life,
- 14:42especially as they become, you know,
- 14:44more veteran athletes.
- 14:45No,
- 14:46no coach is going to know exactly what
- 14:47you need to do all the time.
- 14:49They're just not in your body,
- 14:51but I'm working with Max
- 14:51Elhaj at TTT again, which has been great.
- 14:54Yeah.
- 14:55I've been working with him
- 14:56since around Christmas time.
- 14:59And yeah, it's no, it's,
- 15:01business as usual with him.
- 15:02Like we've known each other
- 15:03a very long time,
- 15:04so we know how to communicate.
- 15:06There was no learning curve.
- 15:09Uh, it was just back, back to work.
- 15:13And like for someone who's
- 15:14been around a lot, as long as you,
- 15:16and you've actually done
- 15:17some coaching yourself, like, yeah.
- 15:20Do you and Max have like
- 15:21this synergy where he knows
- 15:24what you're capable of and
- 15:26what you're going to take
- 15:27care of and just where he has to step in?
- 15:30Absolutely.
- 15:31It's, there's a trust there.
- 15:35And it's all about communication.
- 15:38And we're great at that.
- 15:39I'm actually talking to him
- 15:40a little bit later today.
- 15:43But yeah, he trusts me.
- 15:46And I think it would be
- 15:50almost a regression for me
- 15:52and for him if I just put
- 15:54everything on his plate.
- 15:56So he's helped me a lot.
- 15:58Just
- 15:59develop as an athlete to
- 16:00trust my process um to
- 16:03trust him and to
- 16:04communicate with him and to
- 16:06understand that he's going
- 16:08to look at things
- 16:09objectively and what he
- 16:11thinks I can actually do
- 16:12and and approach them on
- 16:14how we can improve my
- 16:16performance where sometimes
- 16:18if you try to do that
- 16:18yourself it's easier to be
- 16:20a little bit subjective or
- 16:21biased towards different
- 16:22things so yeah he's
- 16:24he's great to work with.
- 16:26I actually, one of my clients,
- 16:28I am coaching.
- 16:29One of my clients has
- 16:29qualified for the masters games,
- 16:31Beth Gillette.
- 16:31So that's pretty cool.
- 16:33I can, I can add that to the resume,
- 16:35which felt just as good as
- 16:36making the games to be
- 16:37completely honest with you,
- 16:39like making the games last
- 16:41year versus getting one of
- 16:42my clients to qualify for the games.
- 16:44So that's that was really cool.
- 16:48I would just love to get
- 16:49more eyes on the Masters altogether.
- 16:52I covered Legends last year.
- 16:55There's so many stories in
- 16:58that group of people that
- 17:00need to be told.
- 17:03And so we're definitely
- 17:04going to be covering the
- 17:05Masters games this year.
- 17:06Very cool.
- 17:09So that's always baffled me
- 17:12with people who coach
- 17:13themselves is how they can self-assess
- 17:17without bias.
- 17:19So it's cool that you have
- 17:21someone like Max that you
- 17:22can talk to that's going to
- 17:24give you the frank answer.
- 17:26Like, no, you really suck at that.
- 17:28Exactly.
- 17:29Right.
- 17:29You know?
- 17:30Well, like in pro sport, it's,
- 17:33there's no sugarcoating it.
- 17:34You know,
- 17:35if you need to snatch 300 pounds
- 17:39and you can't snatch 300 pounds and
- 17:43then you need to learn how to do that.
- 17:45And at this point in the sport,
- 17:46everybody's like, oh, how do I do this?
- 17:48What do I need to do?
- 17:49There's so much data on what
- 17:51the best in the world are capable of.
- 17:54Just open your browser and Google things,
- 17:58and you could probably write out
- 18:01exactly what metrics you
- 18:02need to be across the games
- 18:03athlete or get pretty damn
- 18:05close I mean there's no
- 18:06secret everybody's like oh
- 18:08I got the secret program I
- 18:09got this it's like no at
- 18:10this point sport's been
- 18:11around long enough you've
- 18:12got some of the best
- 18:13athletes to ever do it and
- 18:15all their data and all
- 18:16their regional scores and
- 18:17game scores chase those you
- 18:19know it's it's it's right
- 18:21in front of you um and
- 18:22that's the truth right
- 18:23you're the coaches I think
- 18:25all the big coaches are
- 18:26using those numbers um what
- 18:28else are we going off of right so
- 18:31when it sounds like you're a
- 18:32data guy and you know,
- 18:33max well known for being a data guy, um,
- 18:36are,
- 18:38do you have everything spreadsheet it
- 18:39out?
- 18:39Like this is where, where we, not,
- 18:43not to the,
- 18:45not to probably what Brent has
- 18:46it spreadsheet it out as like that.
- 18:52But, um, uh, yeah, I mean, I,
- 18:56I know I have plans and,
- 18:59I mean,
- 18:59I don't know exactly what you mean
- 19:01by spreadsheet it out,
- 19:02but I have a lot of data
- 19:04points and especially in pre-competition,
- 19:06I have a lot of key
- 19:12indicators of where I need
- 19:13to be in workouts, in preparation,
- 19:17in warmups, in recovery,
- 19:19everything is mapped out.
- 19:22And a lot of that is really
- 19:23just intuitive at this point.
- 19:25It's just programmed into me.
- 19:28So what does it look like on
- 19:29a competition weekend?
- 19:30Is max going to be there?
- 19:31Do you,
- 19:32does your coach's band go to
- 19:33someone else that you just
- 19:34need as support or a pack mule or.
- 19:37Yeah.
- 19:39Yeah.
- 19:40It's a little bit of both, right?
- 19:42My wife will probably get my coaches past.
- 19:44She got it last time we were in Knoxville.
- 19:45So we'll just keep the good vibes there.
- 19:47Uh, but max will be there.
- 19:49I'm sure Travis will give max his,
- 19:51so he'll be in the warmup area with us.
- 19:53Um,
- 19:55And then I'll have a body work guy, Chris,
- 19:57come with me, which is very important.
- 20:00Just keeping the body fresh
- 20:02for the weekend.
- 20:04And that's it.
- 20:06Business as usual.
- 20:07Once we get to Knoxville,
- 20:09everything's on repeat.
- 20:13And it's just rinse, repeat.
- 20:16With you and Travis both being under Max,
- 20:18do you ever train together?
- 20:20Or are you just veterans and
- 20:23you just do your own thing?
- 20:26We trained together a lot in the past.
- 20:27Since I've come back on with Max,
- 20:29I haven't been down to Atlanta yet.
- 20:32I assume I'll go down there
- 20:33for a few weeks for games prep,
- 20:34assuming we both make it next weekend.
- 20:37And me and Travis are longtime friends.
- 20:39He was my first other pro
- 20:42training partner I had in my career.
- 20:45We started training together
- 20:46right after the games in 14.
- 20:48So there's a lot of miles on
- 20:49that relationship.
- 20:50And obviously he's had it.
- 20:53a lot of changes in life
- 20:55with his family growing.
- 20:56And I've had a lot of changes in my life,
- 20:58obviously,
- 20:58with all the challenges you've
- 21:00spoke about earlier.
- 21:01So we've kind of been
- 21:03friends through all that, which is,
- 21:06it kind of transcends sport
- 21:08at that point.
- 21:09So he's a great friend of mine.
- 21:10And yeah, to answer your question,
- 21:12we're just kind of both
- 21:13pros on the weekend.
- 21:14And we kind of do our on the
- 21:16day to day to just do our own thing.
- 21:18And
- 21:18Really,
- 21:19we check up on each other just
- 21:20how's the fam more now than
- 21:23how's training going.
- 21:24We've shared semifinal event
- 21:26scores and stuff like that
- 21:28just to get good pace
- 21:29strategies and insights.
- 21:31But really,
- 21:32it's just checking up on the human.
- 21:36So I actually talked to Kira
- 21:37Napoli yesterday who Travis
- 21:39is coaching and dipping his
- 21:41toe in that coaching water.
- 21:42And it was really
- 21:44fascinating to hear her
- 21:45perspective on Travis as a coach.
- 21:49Um,
- 21:50but that they have all these
- 21:51ground rules because he has
- 21:53four kids and a wife and
- 21:55needs to get to all that.
- 21:57But it was really fascinating,
- 21:59and I love Travis,
- 22:00so it's going to be fun to
- 22:01see him back on the floor
- 22:03next week as well.
- 22:06So the workouts are out.
- 22:12Everybody has said you can
- 22:13take these six workouts,
- 22:15drop them in 2014 or 15,
- 22:15and they would fit.
- 22:22that it's just classic
- 22:23CrossFit nothing I'd like
- 22:25to see I'd like to see the
- 22:26guys run in 2014-15 I would
- 22:28have been alright I was
- 22:32always a good runner but
- 22:35the running game has
- 22:36changed a lot since my
- 22:39first year to now in a
- 22:40great way everybody's a
- 22:42great runner now at least
- 22:42like the top you know top
- 22:4410 15 guys at the games are
- 22:46quality runners so other
- 22:48than that one which would have been
- 22:52uh I think there would have
- 22:53been just a bigger spread
- 22:54um yeah I agree yeah it's a
- 22:58great weekend you've been
- 23:00to knoxville any ideas
- 23:02where you're where they're
- 23:03going to make your run I
- 23:05have an idea um there's a
- 23:10like a yeah I think I think
- 23:13I have an idea where the
- 23:14route will be the loving cock area
- 23:16Yeah, we'll run out the loading dock,
- 23:18and then I think we'll loop
- 23:19around to that one side,
- 23:20not up towards the parking garage,
- 23:21but down around the other side.
- 23:24And then I think that's flat-ish,
- 23:26and it's a longer area,
- 23:28and we might do like a loop
- 23:29there or something.
- 23:31Other than that, if it's not,
- 23:33then it's going to be a hilly run,
- 23:34or maybe they bring those
- 23:35treadmills out for us.
- 23:38I don't think they're
- 23:39bringing the treadmills out.
- 23:41Yeah, I doubt it.
- 23:42It would make sense to go
- 23:43out the loading docks.
- 23:46and either go down or up the hill, right?
- 23:49Yeah, well,
- 23:50I think it's flattish if you go
- 23:51to the right, if you go out.
- 23:54Okay.
- 23:54But who knows?
- 23:55Well, it's as flattish as Tennessee is.
- 23:57Exactly.
- 23:58Yeah, and that area in Knoxville,
- 24:00just where the Civic Center is,
- 24:01is pretty hilly.
- 24:02So we'll see.
- 24:04We'll know next week.
- 24:07You did 16 regional snatch ladder.
- 24:10Yes.
- 24:16how how much better are you
- 24:18today than you were that
- 24:19much much better which is
- 24:22nice for an old man I was
- 24:24like oh dang that's a
- 24:25really good score now so
- 24:27hopefully I can replicate
- 24:28that on on sunday after mid
- 24:30morning or whenever that is
- 24:32uh jake chapman says will
- 24:34looks like bradley cooper
- 24:35if he lifted weights I
- 24:39think that's a good thing I
- 24:41think so too I take that um
- 24:45have a baseball cap
- 24:45collection I'm a cubs fan
- 24:48how about that I'm sorry
- 24:50about that I'm a chicago
- 24:54bears fan but I'm a
- 24:55pittsburgh pirate fan see I
- 24:56just picked all the losing
- 24:57teams yeah I've kind of
- 24:59been in that realm for a
- 25:01long time too um but yeah
- 25:04and then someone compared
- 25:05you to uh troy or gladiator or 300.
- 25:11Or which one do you prefer?
- 25:12Troy?
- 25:13Those are all those are all tough.
- 25:16So 300 kind of inspired the
- 25:18CrossFit thing because all
- 25:21those dudes were doing Jim
- 25:22Jones back in the day.
- 25:23We can really test people's
- 25:25trivia on CrossFit.
- 25:27So Mark Twight, who is a friend of Dave's,
- 25:31I guess, trained those guys for 300.
- 25:33So there's a little CrossFit
- 25:35connect there.
- 25:36I think Gladiator's got to get the nod,
- 25:37right?
- 25:38Like it won.
- 25:39it probably inspired those
- 25:40other two movies.
- 25:41So my pick, but I'm not, yeah.
- 25:45Yeah.
- 25:47Russell Crowe was amazing in that.
- 25:50And, and, uh, what, uh, the Phoenix guy,
- 25:55uh, yeah.
- 25:55Joaquin Phoenix.
- 25:57Yeah.
- 25:58He was, he was awesome in that as well.
- 26:01Um, but yeah.
- 26:02So, uh, what's the plan for Knoxville?
- 26:05You, you live fairly close.
- 26:06Are you going in just Thursday?
- 26:07Uh,
- 26:08uh we'll go up wednesday get
- 26:11settled I mean the good
- 26:12thing about being able to
- 26:13drive up there is we do all
- 26:15the meal prep and I'll get
- 26:16my last training session in
- 26:17here probably at the house
- 26:19and then uh we'll go up
- 26:21wednesday get settled do a
- 26:23flush out thursday check in
- 26:25and then showtime baby and
- 26:28uh you say workout at the
- 26:30house does your garage have
- 26:32everything or do you have
- 26:32to go to an affiliate for some aspects
- 26:35yeah I have everything I
- 26:37mean I have a 14 foot rope
- 26:39I probably won't do rope
- 26:40climbs on wednesday other
- 26:42than that I have pretty
- 26:44much everything it's like
- 26:4725 feet and yeah I don't
- 26:51I've accumulated enough
- 26:52over the past decade where
- 26:54I can I if I needed to I'd
- 26:56get by and train for the
- 26:57games in there which is super convenient
- 27:01So is it like a barn or is
- 27:03that just a big garage?
- 27:04It's just a three-car garage.
- 27:07It's right on the other side of this wall,
- 27:08actually.
- 27:10That's nice.
- 27:11Yeah.
- 27:12Maybe I'll do like a little
- 27:13garage gym tour or something.
- 27:16What was amazing is
- 27:17yesterday Rogue announced
- 27:19that they were moving out
- 27:19of their original facility.
- 27:22And I live here in Columbus.
- 27:23So they posted like all the
- 27:26equipment is free.
- 27:27Just come and get it.
- 27:28No way.
- 27:29And I was in a training for
- 27:31work and I could not get out.
- 27:33I bet that thing was empty so quick.
- 27:36Oh, when they used to do the garage sale,
- 27:39like the amount of people.
- 27:41And that was just when they
- 27:42reduced the price.
- 27:43Like this was free.
- 27:46They would have been like
- 27:46cockroaches flying.
- 27:48Yeah.
- 27:51It's so sad.
- 27:52I missed it.
- 27:53Cause my garage gym is not that big.
- 27:55Uh, and I do have some nice equipment.
- 27:57I just, if I can get a little more,
- 27:59I'm going to go get free.
- 28:00I mean, so, um, goals for this weekend,
- 28:05just, just qualify.
- 28:06Or do you have like,
- 28:08do you want to hit like
- 28:10event wins or something like that?
- 28:12Yeah.
- 28:12I, I mean, I finished six last year,
- 28:15pretty much the same field.
- 28:16I'd like to improve on that.
- 28:18Uh,
- 28:20That's as simple as that.
- 28:21Top five, I guess it would be.
- 28:24In North America East, it's a true test.
- 28:28How you finish there tells
- 28:30you if you'll be good at
- 28:32the games as well because
- 28:34you have a lot of top tier athletes.
- 28:40We have a really studly
- 28:42layout of athletes.
- 28:44That's never changed for where I compete.
- 28:47I've always been in the
- 28:50most competitive region my
- 28:51whole career and I've
- 28:52always had you know a
- 28:53pretty good finish at those
- 28:54events so um yeah I think
- 28:57it is somewhat indicative
- 28:59of how you'll finish at the
- 29:00games but also the tests
- 29:03are a bit different at the
- 29:04games there's usually
- 29:05double the events at the
- 29:06games um and it's like
- 29:09who's peaking and that's
- 29:11another thing that like a
- 29:12lot of people don't talk
- 29:13about like have you peaked
- 29:15correctly it's it nothing's guaranteed
- 29:20for, for anybody.
- 29:20And we have the best, I mean, we got Adler,
- 29:22we got Krennikov, uh, Dallin, Hopper,
- 29:26Trav, me, Saxon, Spence, uh, who else?
- 29:31I'm forgetting some guys,
- 29:32but like we have a studly, studly, uh,
- 29:37roster of athletes, bunch of like,
- 29:39there's always new guys.
- 29:40So, um,
- 29:41you never know who's going to come
- 29:42out of the woodwork.
- 29:43I don't,
- 29:45I don't know what will happen in Texas,
- 29:47but, um,
- 29:51It's probably an okay
- 29:53indication of what will happen in Texas.
- 29:55I finished 6th at North
- 29:58America and then 14th at the Games.
- 30:02I'm sure somebody's got some
- 30:04BS spreadsheet that can compute that.
- 30:09If you do well at semifinals
- 30:11in a tough field,
- 30:11then hopefully you'll do
- 30:12well at the Games in a tougher field.
- 30:15it's so funny cause you
- 30:16started your career with
- 30:18Scott and rich in your, in your region.
- 30:21And that 2014 year, like that was epic.
- 30:26And you were,
- 30:27you were in the mix with all that.
- 30:28And the two of them going at it,
- 30:30that was just craziness.
- 30:32That was, I mean,
- 30:32we had a lot of guys that, I mean,
- 30:34you had Graham Marcus, Nick, your anchor,
- 30:36Nick Corey, Alex Anderson.
- 30:38Yeah.
- 30:42Central central is no joke.
- 30:45Yeah, it's the same thing, though, right?
- 30:46Like, we got a bunch of top 10 guys still.
- 30:50You know,
- 30:50it's always a bunch of top 10
- 30:51guys at our semifinal.
- 30:55So, yeah, man, I don't know.
- 30:58It's just what I've been used to,
- 30:59and you go out there and
- 31:01you race as hard as you can,
- 31:02and you see where the cards fall.
- 31:05Doesn't it make you peak
- 31:06differently than if you
- 31:08were in another division, another region?
- 31:15I think I train equally as hard,
- 31:17no matter what region I was in, you know,
- 31:21I don't think it changes my
- 31:22preparation for, uh, for a big,
- 31:25a big championship weekend.
- 31:26Like next weekend will be right.
- 31:28Uh, or we call,
- 31:29I call it North America champs.
- 31:30I think that sounds better
- 31:31than syndicate crown, uh,
- 31:34at least for the greater
- 31:35cross people that don't
- 31:36know what CrossFit is.
- 31:37They probably have heard of
- 31:38like North America champs.
- 31:41If it's like for track and
- 31:42field or something,
- 31:42I don't know if it sounds better.
- 31:44yes the crown sounds like a
- 31:46game of thrones yeah like I
- 31:48don't yeah they don't give
- 31:51me the chance to name
- 31:52anything yeah but yeah I'm
- 31:55excited man uh it seems
- 31:57like a watching last week
- 32:00started to get me a little
- 32:01bit excited this weekend
- 32:02will get me more excited um
- 32:05and then yeah I'm just I'm
- 32:07ready to get out there and
- 32:09and see what I can do did
- 32:11you learn anything from watching europe
- 32:14Yeah, I mean,
- 32:15it kind of gives you an
- 32:16indication of how your testing went,
- 32:18which is always a good thing.
- 32:19It's kind of like what we
- 32:20were talking about with Max
- 32:21and just your coach's role
- 32:23in giving you the truth.
- 32:26Now you kind of have the
- 32:27answers to the test.
- 32:29Close-ish.
- 32:30We don't know how far the run was,
- 32:32obviously.
- 32:34That's the one event that's
- 32:35kind of an up in the air
- 32:38because their run could be
- 32:42vastly different than ours.
- 32:44What was the temperature?
- 32:45All that type of stuff
- 32:46changes what that dynamic is.
- 32:49But everything else is straight up.
- 32:51It's all on the same competition floor.
- 32:56I believe all the
- 32:57competition floors are
- 32:58probably the same size and stuff.
- 33:01I think they're pretty much all the same,
- 33:02except for the tennis stadium.
- 33:04I've heard that it's shorter
- 33:06and it's outdoor.
- 33:07They're going to have a
- 33:08couple different factors
- 33:09that others aren't going to have.
- 33:11Exactly.
- 33:11I think that's vast.
- 33:12Even comparing semifinal to semifinal,
- 33:16if those dudes are
- 33:16competing in 100-degree sun,
- 33:20it may be different than
- 33:22competing indoors or in a cooler climate.
- 33:28I mean, handstand walking on
- 33:30lava rubber is different so
- 33:35they'll probably do like
- 33:36the glove rule or whatever
- 33:37like they've done in the
- 33:38past if it's out there yeah
- 33:41who knows air conditioning
- 33:43may go down in knoxville
- 33:44you never know yeah I hope
- 33:46not yeah I hope not a year
- 33:49did that at the games man
- 33:50it was sweltering and that
- 33:51was at 21 yeah yeah I
- 33:54remember that during the
- 33:55thruster wall walk workout
- 33:56man I've never sweat more
- 33:58I was, like,
- 33:59slipping out on my wall walks.
- 34:01It was like a splash zone
- 34:03every time you guys came
- 34:04down off the wall walk.
- 34:06Oh, yeah.
- 34:08Well, Will, this has been a blast.
- 34:10I want to thank you so much.
- 34:11Good luck next week in Knoxville.
- 34:15We're hoping to be there.
- 34:17And we hope you punch your
- 34:19ticket to the games again.
- 34:20I appreciate you.
- 34:22All right, man.
- 34:22Everybody in the chat,
- 34:23you've been a blast.
- 34:24Thank you so much.
- 34:25And we'll see everybody next
- 34:26time on Clydesdale Media Podcast.
- 34:30Bye, guys.