Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Kate Currie | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

Transcript

Kate Currie | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:12
  Hey, hey, chill.
• 0:14
  Let's go.
• 0:35
  What is going on, everybody?
• 0:36
  Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
• 0:39
  where we are highlighting
• 0:41
  the athletes from the 2024
• 0:44
  Masters Legends CrossFit Games.
• 0:47
  And I am so honored to have with me today,
• 0:50
  Kate Curie.
• 0:51
  Hi, Scott.
• 0:52
  I'm so stoked to be here.
• 0:53
  I'm a little nervous,
• 0:54
  but I'm really excited.
• 0:55
  Thanks for having me on.
• 0:57
  No need to be nervous.
• 0:58
  You're just here with friends.
• 0:59
  True.
• 0:59
  Okay, fair.
• 1:02
  So this is your first time to the Games?
• 1:04
  Yes.
• 1:05
  This is.
• 1:05
  Yeah,
• 1:06
  I just aged up this season to 40 to 44.
• 1:10
  It's a goal I've had since I
• 1:11
  started competing in the
• 1:12
  Masters division.
• 1:14
  And thankfully to the expanded field,
• 1:17
  I was able to qualify this year.
• 1:21
  Expanded field.
• 1:23
  For me as a spectator and a
• 1:25
  lover of the Masters part of the sport,
• 1:28
  only taking 10 when the
• 1:30
  only way to get there was
• 1:32
  online competition was unfair.
• 1:34
  Yeah.
• 1:36
  It was, yeah,
• 1:37
  I think that that was
• 1:38
  underrepresented for sure.
• 1:40
  I think that when it was 20,
• 1:42
  that felt like kind of a nice sweet spot,
• 1:44
  still super like elite level goal,
• 1:46
  but a little bit more attainable.
• 1:48
  And candidly,
• 1:49
  when they first expanded it to 40,
• 1:51
  I was a little bit like, oh,
• 1:53
  wondering like,
• 1:54
  does that dilute this goal
• 1:55
  that I've been striving for for so long?
• 1:57
  Because last year in 35 to 39, I was 28th.
• 2:01
  in semis.
• 2:02
  So still, you know,
• 2:04
  there's a big difference
• 2:04
  between a number 28 and number 10 athlete,
• 2:08
  right?
• 2:08
  But I could see that it was kind of,
• 2:09
  I was getting closer and
• 2:10
  closer to that goal.
• 2:11
  So initially, I was like, oh, man,
• 2:12
  I don't know, the goalpost has moved,
• 2:15
  but the goal was the same.
• 2:16
  And it all worked out
• 2:17
  because I got 33rd at semis.
• 2:20
  So I'm very grateful for
• 2:22
  that expanded field.
• 2:22
  I think it'll actually be
• 2:23
  really awesome to have way
• 2:25
  more representation from like,
• 2:27
  what happens on the
• 2:28
  leaderboard throughout the
• 2:29
  four days with the
• 2:31
  the bigger competitive
• 2:32
  fields in each age group.
• 2:34
  So two notes to that one,
• 2:35
  it only dilutes the field
• 2:39
  for the people who don't do
• 2:41
  well in person.
• 2:42
  That's fair.
• 2:43
  Right.
• 2:44
  Yeah.
• 2:44
  So if you're a better
• 2:45
  in-person competitor and
• 2:47
  you come in in 33rd, but finish in eighth,
• 2:50
  then to me,
• 2:51
  it shows more of the fallacy
• 2:52
  in the online competition
• 2:55
  than the dilution of the product.
• 2:58
  I agree.
• 2:58
  And I think it'll also be very interesting,
• 3:01
  both the strength and those
• 3:02
  that can kind of show up on
• 3:04
  game day and compete in person,
• 3:05
  but also just with 10 tests
• 3:08
  compared to the four that we had in semis,
• 3:11
  like there's still a lot
• 3:12
  that we haven't done yet.
• 3:13
  So there's still a lot of
• 3:15
  opportunity to push that
• 3:16
  larger field and sort of
• 3:18
  see how things might shake
• 3:19
  out very differently because of it.
• 3:21
  Right.
• 3:21
  Yeah.
• 3:22
  Yeah, I'm pumped to see what we have.
• 3:24
  So Corey Leonard,
• 3:25
  as someone who finished
• 3:26
  157th in his age group,
• 3:28
  does not dilute it.
• 3:29
  I work at 40.
• 3:31
  Yeah, no, I'm so, it's, whether I was,
• 3:35
  you know, 40th or,
• 3:37
  it doesn't matter to me.
• 3:38
  I was able to qualify.
• 3:39
  I can call myself a Masters Games athlete.
• 3:42
  Like, that was the dream.
• 3:44
  So regardless of how big that field is,
• 3:47
  it's still, you know,
• 3:48
  that accomplishment is the same.
• 3:50
  And I would point out my own co-host,
• 3:52
  Jamie.
• 3:53
  Who I've known for years.
• 3:55
  Yeah.
• 3:56
  We're the same age.
• 3:57
  Yeah.
• 3:57
  You age up every year together.
• 3:59
  Yeah.
• 4:02
  She is so much better in person.
• 4:04
  Oh, yeah.
• 4:05
  When she gets to be in person,
• 4:07
  she wins or podiums.
• 4:09
  Yeah.
• 4:10
  No, she is a force to be reckoned with.
• 4:13
  It's those game day performers.
• 4:16
  Like she shows up and I
• 4:17
  think she's just so good at
• 4:19
  knowing her abilities,
• 4:21
  but also her ability to
• 4:22
  kind of actually race and
• 4:23
  see where other people are in the field.
• 4:25
  She's remarkable in person.
• 4:26
  Yeah, I've been competing against Jamie.
• 4:28
  We did Granite Games together back in 2019,
• 4:31
  which was like all of our
• 4:33
  first large masters competition.
• 4:36
  So yeah,
• 4:37
  we've been coming up together for
• 4:38
  a while.
• 4:39
  The other thing this does
• 4:40
  with 40 athletes is you're
• 4:43
  going to have a lot more
• 4:44
  specialists and people that
• 4:46
  are going to mess with the
• 4:47
  leaderboard a lot more than
• 4:50
  when you only had 10 at the games.
• 4:52
  So these 150 point wins are
• 4:55
  not going to be as easy
• 4:57
  that have been happening
• 4:58
  the last few years.
• 5:00
  than this year because
• 5:01
  you're going to have
• 5:01
  specialists crushing the
• 5:03
  field in certain events.
• 5:05
  I agree with that.
• 5:05
  I think that's going to be
• 5:06
  really cool with so many
• 5:08
  people to see how much
• 5:09
  things shake out from day to day.
• 5:11
  I mean,
• 5:12
  even at legends where there were 40 of us,
• 5:14
  like the leaderboard was
• 5:16
  very different as the weekend went on.
• 5:18
  And I think that that's
• 5:19
  really exciting and being
• 5:21
  able to really lean in on
• 5:22
  your strengths and having
• 5:25
  more events between to maybe mitigate,
• 5:27
  um,
• 5:28
  uh something that you're not
• 5:29
  as strong at I just I think
• 5:30
  that that'll be really
• 5:32
  really exciting for all of
• 5:33
  us to to participate in and
• 5:35
  hopefully for people paying
• 5:36
  attention along on the
• 5:37
  leaderboard fans family and
• 5:39
  so forth yeah I think the
• 5:41
  more movement on the
• 5:42
  leaderboard the more people
• 5:43
  watch I agree you know so
• 5:47
  the other question I have
• 5:47
  for you is last week the um
• 5:52
  Organizers of the
• 5:54
  competition had a Zoom call
• 5:57
  with the athletes.
• 5:59
  Any thoughts coming out of that?
• 6:03
  I mean, I just, I'm so anxious.
• 6:04
  They said that they'd start
• 6:05
  releasing programming this
• 6:06
  week and I haven't seen anything yet.
• 6:08
  So it's just constantly like
• 6:09
  refreshing emails to see if
• 6:10
  we're getting anything.
• 6:12
  They did mention that the events,
• 6:15
  like the implement,
• 6:16
  the types of equipment or
• 6:17
  like the types of workouts that we'll be,
• 6:19
  we'll be doing.
• 6:20
  I'm paraphrasing are fairly
• 6:22
  straightforward CrossFit.
• 6:24
  So I think that's,
• 6:26
  Good, because those are going to hurt.
• 6:28
  And we all know how to
• 6:29
  really push CrossFit style events.
• 6:31
  It does, you know,
• 6:33
  never having prepared for
• 6:34
  the games before,
• 6:35
  we've been doing a lot of
• 6:36
  things that you typically
• 6:37
  don't train during a normal
• 6:39
  competitive season, pegboards, yokes.
• 6:42
  handstand obstacle courses,
• 6:43
  things like that.
• 6:44
  So it sounds like those
• 6:45
  won't necessarily be at play,
• 6:47
  which is maybe a little bit of a bummer,
• 6:49
  but I also understand.
• 6:51
  So I'm just excited to see
• 6:53
  what they're going to throw at us.
• 6:55
  I'm somewhat familiar with
• 6:57
  Bob and Joe's programming.
• 6:58
  I don't know what level of
• 7:00
  input from HQ there has been.
• 7:02
  The workouts are always a lot of fun.
• 7:06
  So I'm just really anxious
• 7:09
  to see what they're going to have us do.
• 7:12
  They also,
• 7:13
  you now know you have 10 events.
• 7:15
  Yeah.
• 7:16
  You know time domains.
• 7:18
  The first event is like two
• 7:19
  minutes or something.
• 7:22
  it's interesting yeah so we
• 7:24
  have rough idea of time
• 7:25
  domains without knowing
• 7:26
  what actually what anything
• 7:27
  is so I mean I think we
• 7:28
  have events that are short
• 7:30
  as two minutes and then our
• 7:31
  longest is maybe like 18 so
• 7:32
  it's nothing super long and
• 7:34
  grindy we're not looking at
• 7:36
  a 30 to 45 minute event
• 7:37
  which makes sense just for
• 7:38
  the sheer volume of
• 7:40
  athletes that they have to
• 7:41
  get through the competition
• 7:42
  floors throughout the day
• 7:43
  like I get it um but yeah I'm like
• 7:47
  we're playing around with
• 7:48
  two minute AM reps or like
• 7:49
  max reps of X things this week,
• 7:52
  just to like potentially
• 7:54
  prepare for things that
• 7:54
  could be thrown at us.
• 7:56
  Yeah.
• 7:56
  I, um, I wish they,
• 7:59
  they would find a way to
• 8:00
  get one long workout.
• 8:02
  Yeah.
• 8:02
  Me too.
• 8:03
  Just because that's like very gamesy.
• 8:05
  Right.
• 8:05
  Yeah.
• 8:06
  Yeah.
• 8:06
  I agree with you.
• 8:08
  Something that you could do
• 8:09
  like a mass start or, uh,
• 8:12
  and this is our first year.
• 8:13
  So.
• 8:14
  Right.
• 8:14
  Yeah.
• 8:16
  That's how the approach that
• 8:18
  I've had for all of it.
• 8:19
  It's like,
• 8:19
  this is brand new doing it this way.
• 8:21
  I know the masters community
• 8:24
  can be very vocal in what
• 8:27
  we want for better or for worse,
• 8:30
  where I just want,
• 8:31
  I'm just so grateful to
• 8:32
  have this platform to
• 8:34
  compete at this level.
• 8:35
  Like the fact that they give
• 8:36
  a crap to let us old folks
• 8:39
  compete in an elite level is just like,
• 8:41
  I think so incredible.
• 8:42
  So it's like, let's go,
• 8:43
  let's see how it is.
• 8:43
  Let's make the most of it.
• 8:45
  And hopefully this is a
• 8:46
  great example of like a
• 8:48
  really well run safe event
• 8:50
  that we just build upon
• 8:51
  from year to year and we'll
• 8:52
  get more momentum, right?
• 8:54
  All things go as planned.
• 8:56
  Yeah.
• 8:57
  I've heard a couple of
• 8:58
  guesses on the short workout.
• 9:00
  Corey's in the chat saying
• 9:01
  two minute max calorie echo bike.
• 9:03
  I've heard max handstand hold.
• 9:07
  I would, I would like that one.
• 9:09
  Yeah.
• 9:09
  You have a gymnastics background, right?
• 9:11
  Yeah.
• 9:11
  I did gymnastics through college.
• 9:13
  So I did division one
• 9:15
  gymnastics at William and
• 9:16
  Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia,
• 9:18
  but that was, you know,
• 9:19
  a lifetime ago when I graduated.
• 9:21
  But yeah, it's the,
• 9:22
  that foundation has been
• 9:23
  super helpful for CrossFit.
• 9:26
  Yeah.
• 9:27
  I,
• 9:28
  I saw an old post of yours on Instagram.
• 9:30
  I do a deep dive where you
• 9:32
  showed a picture of
• 9:33
  yourself doing gymnastics
• 9:35
  at William and Mary because
• 9:36
  you cut the program.
• 9:39
  They did, but then it was reinstated.
• 9:41
  It was fun because that was
• 9:42
  during the pandemic and it
• 9:43
  was my husband and I got
• 9:45
  married during COVID.
• 9:46
  So it was already like super stressful,
• 9:47
  crazy time.
• 9:48
  And like a week before our
• 9:49
  wedding is when they had announced,
• 9:52
  I think there were nine
• 9:53
  different teams that had
• 9:54
  been cut from the varsity program.
• 9:56
  And it was super tumultuous,
• 9:58
  but eventually both men's
• 10:00
  and women's gymnastics were reinstated.
• 10:02
  And then a number of the
• 10:03
  other sports were as well.
• 10:04
  So it was super fun.
• 10:06
  stressful for a little while
• 10:07
  and I like couldn't get
• 10:08
  involved because I was
• 10:09
  getting married but a lot
• 10:10
  of my teammates the alumni
• 10:11
  associations like the
• 10:12
  donors everybody got
• 10:13
  involved and like the team
• 10:14
  was doing great that's
• 10:16
  awesome yeah um swimming
• 10:19
  and diving was one of them
• 10:21
  wow yeah my co-host cat's
• 10:24
  son goes to William & Mary
• 10:25
  oh really and he was he was
• 10:27
  there on a baseball
• 10:28
  scholarship um and then he
• 10:31
  quit baseball but he's
• 10:32
  still there as a student okay cool
• 10:36
  Corey says his max handstand
• 10:38
  hold is six seconds.
• 10:41
  I haven't tested one in a long,
• 10:43
  we had one during age group
• 10:44
  semis last year.
• 10:45
  It was like a part B after a
• 10:47
  barbell cycling workout.
• 10:49
  And I had really high
• 10:50
  aspirations for what mine would be.
• 10:52
  And then just because of
• 10:53
  that gymnastics background.
• 10:54
  And I was so smoked from
• 10:56
  that event that I remember
• 10:57
  it not going that well.
• 10:59
  And I haven't really tested it since.
• 11:00
  So we'll see.
• 11:03
  Can that be a problem where
• 11:04
  you're so confident in your
• 11:06
  ability in one thing that
• 11:08
  you don't address it as
• 11:09
  much anymore because you
• 11:11
  need to work on these other seven things,
• 11:14
  right?
• 11:14
  This freaking sport,
• 11:15
  you have to be good at everything.
• 11:17
  And at any given time,
• 11:19
  that means something is
• 11:20
  kind of taking a bit of a back burner,
• 11:21
  right?
• 11:22
  While you address your weaknesses.
• 11:24
  So absolutely.
• 11:25
  But then, you know, I,
• 11:27
  I work with a coach and
• 11:28
  he's really good at making
• 11:30
  sure we're getting touches
• 11:31
  on things regularly.
• 11:32
  And if there's anything that
• 11:34
  we would normally consider a strength,
• 11:35
  and if I do it and I'm like, Oh,
• 11:36
  that was a little bit more
• 11:38
  challenging or I got more
• 11:39
  fatigued than I normally would.
• 11:40
  Like,
• 11:41
  it just means we need some more
• 11:42
  exposure to it.
• 11:43
  So yeah,
• 11:43
  hopefully there's nothing
• 11:45
  that we've been totally
• 11:46
  neglecting there's no way
• 11:47
  to know like you're
• 11:48
  preparing for the unknown
• 11:49
  and unknowable but like
• 11:51
  it's a constant mind f
• 11:53
  being like turning up the
• 11:55
  dials in certain areas and
• 11:56
  turning them down in other
• 11:58
  areas and like just hoping
• 11:59
  everything levels out at
• 12:00
  some point there's no like
• 12:01
  gaping holes do you it
• 12:05
  sounds to me like you're
• 12:07
  the athlete that wants to
• 12:08
  know what the workouts are ahead of time
• 12:10
  Dude, I am like, yeah, I would, well,
• 12:13
  I don't know.
• 12:15
  I say that, I said that so confidently,
• 12:16
  like, yes, I absolutely want to know.
• 12:17
  But then with that comes a
• 12:19
  little bit more anxiety.
• 12:20
  It's kind of nice when it's
• 12:21
  out of your control.
• 12:22
  And I do like the level
• 12:24
  playing field of people
• 12:25
  kind of showing up and
• 12:26
  getting the information at the same time.
• 12:28
  Because depending on where
• 12:29
  people are traveling from
• 12:30
  and having the opportunity
• 12:31
  to test things or not test things,
• 12:34
  like...
• 12:35
  or I don't want to have to question like,
• 12:37
  do I need to do this in its entirety?
• 12:39
  Are we doing intervals based
• 12:40
  on what it is?
• 12:41
  You know what I mean?
• 12:42
  So it takes a little bit of
• 12:43
  the guesswork out of it,
• 12:44
  which is kind of nice.
• 12:45
  Ignorance is bliss a bit,
• 12:47
  but I am like by nature,
• 12:49
  very much an over preparer.
• 12:51
  I like to go into any scenario,
• 12:53
  like with every T crossed and I dotted.
• 12:58
  So I wouldn't mind at this
• 13:00
  point knowing a little something,
• 13:02
  a little bit more than we have now,
• 13:03
  at least.
• 13:05
  And hopefully they release
• 13:06
  at least a few workouts this week.
• 13:08
  It sounds like we'll get the
• 13:10
  one with running where
• 13:11
  we're leaving the
• 13:12
  convention center and then
• 13:13
  coming back in.
• 13:14
  It sounded like that was
• 13:15
  going to be the first one
• 13:16
  that they release.
• 13:17
  So we'll see.
• 13:18
  I hope so.
• 13:19
  But if not, like that's okay too.
• 13:22
  So what do you do for your daytime gig?
• 13:26
  My daytime gig.
• 13:27
  I'm a professional CrossFit athlete.
• 13:29
  I am not.
• 13:31
  I work for a global architecture firm.
• 13:33
  So I'm an interior designer
• 13:35
  at a large architecture firm.
• 13:36
  So we're an international firm,
• 13:38
  but I'm at the Washington DC studio.
• 13:41
  So I design commercial interiors,
• 13:43
  primarily like workplace.
• 13:44
  I do some civic project, like libraries.
• 13:47
  We do some healthcare.
• 13:48
  And I absolutely love, love, love my job,
• 13:51
  but it has nothing to do with
• 13:53
  CrossFit.
• 13:54
  I think there's opportunities.
• 13:55
  Like I love infusing my projects with,
• 13:57
  you know,
• 13:58
  health and wellness at the
• 14:00
  forefront to kind of design
• 14:02
  spaces that make people
• 14:03
  happier and healthier and
• 14:05
  more productive.
• 14:06
  Um, but it's, you know,
• 14:07
  I don't work in the fitness
• 14:10
  industry per se.
• 14:13
  That's really funny because
• 14:15
  that is what my wife is degreed in.
• 14:18
  Oh yeah.
• 14:19
  yeah so I have everything I
• 14:22
  own that is decorative is
• 14:24
  in this room it's one room
• 14:28
  of our house so is that
• 14:30
  what you were allowed to
• 14:31
  decorate and then he she
• 14:32
  has domain of everything
• 14:33
  else yeah that sounds about
• 14:34
  right I have the podcast
• 14:36
  center she has everything
• 14:38
  else in the house yeah my
• 14:39
  husband when we first moved
• 14:40
  in together like
• 14:42
  I think there was some
• 14:43
  initial push about him
• 14:45
  wanting more control over that.
• 14:46
  But eventually, I mean,
• 14:47
  it's also amazing how his
• 14:49
  styles and like design eye
• 14:51
  has evolved just since
• 14:52
  we've been together.
• 14:54
  But I think he can
• 14:55
  definitely relate to that.
• 14:56
  He's constantly asking, like,
• 14:57
  can I just hang up this thing?
• 14:58
  I'm like,
• 14:59
  we'll find somewhere where not a
• 15:01
  lot of people will see it
• 15:01
  and we'll let you put it on a wall.
• 15:03
  When we first got together,
• 15:04
  I fought and I lost a lot.
• 15:10
  And then we started watching
• 15:12
  shows together.
• 15:13
  So then, you know, I'm old.
• 15:16
  I'm really old.
• 15:18
  So we were watching Trading Spaces.
• 15:20
  Oh, I remember Trading Spaces, of course.
• 15:22
  All that kind of stuff, right?
• 15:24
  Oh, yeah.
• 15:24
  And then my design eye got better.
• 15:25
  Like I was actually talking
• 15:27
  to her in her language.
• 15:28
  Yeah.
• 15:29
  My husband,
• 15:30
  he just became a co-owner of a gym.
• 15:33
  It's a new CrossFit affiliate.
• 15:35
  And as a part of the
• 15:36
  affiliation and the rebrand,
• 15:38
  we did some minor cosmetic
• 15:41
  renovations associated with
• 15:42
  this new brand.
• 15:43
  And he had the best time.
• 15:45
  I definitely leaned in to
• 15:47
  kind of help with that,
• 15:48
  but like from developing their logo,
• 15:50
  like their typology and font,
• 15:52
  their colors,
• 15:53
  and then like how to apply
• 15:54
  that within the gym to kind
• 15:55
  of holistically make it
• 15:56
  embody this new brand.
• 15:58
  Like he ran with that and it
• 16:00
  looks so great.
• 16:00
  And that was all him.
• 16:03
  Yeah.
• 16:03
  For me,
• 16:04
  it's all the stuff around this
• 16:06
  media company that I have.
• 16:08
  Yeah.
• 16:08
  I design all the graphics.
• 16:10
  It's your baby.
• 16:12
  Right.
• 16:13
  And I play around and I
• 16:14
  change them every year.
• 16:15
  I think my wife instilled that in me too.
• 16:18
  Like they get a little bored with it.
• 16:19
  So then the next year
• 16:20
  everything looks a little bit different.
• 16:22
  You can always evolve, tweak, improve.
• 16:24
  Yeah.
• 16:24
  I think that's especially
• 16:25
  like when it's your ship to steer,
• 16:28
  like that's one of the
• 16:29
  benefits of being able to do that.
• 16:32
  Yeah.
• 16:34
  And you, and you,
• 16:35
  does that give you like a
• 16:36
  reprieve from the training
• 16:38
  or does the training give
• 16:39
  you a reprieve from your job?
• 16:41
  Yes, both maybe.
• 16:43
  I think that training is
• 16:45
  definitely an escape for me still.
• 16:47
  My husband has been in
• 16:49
  CrossFit as a coach.
• 16:51
  He was a competitive athlete
• 16:52
  for a really long time,
• 16:53
  and that's what he's
• 16:54
  entrenched in all of the time, right?
• 16:56
  So it can become...
• 16:58
  not overwhelming but he
• 16:59
  doesn't get that like
• 17:00
  escape from it as much as
• 17:02
  as I do like so I it's
• 17:05
  really special that it's
• 17:06
  something separate um it
• 17:08
  definitely gets challenging
• 17:09
  from a balance standpoint
• 17:10
  the demands of of training
• 17:12
  especially for something
• 17:13
  like the games with the
• 17:14
  volume that we're doing and
• 17:15
  I mean I work a lot of
• 17:16
  hours so kind of figuring
• 17:18
  out ways to to make that
• 17:20
  work but we've struck a
• 17:21
  balance it's working and i
• 17:24
  you know,
• 17:24
  I would love to be able to spend
• 17:25
  more time in the gym if I could,
• 17:26
  but I also love my career
• 17:28
  so much and the opportunity
• 17:30
  to work with people in the
• 17:31
  capacity that I do that.
• 17:32
  It's just like,
• 17:33
  whatever we need to do to make both work,
• 17:34
  we're going to make it work.
• 17:35
  And if we get to a breaking
• 17:36
  point where things are like
• 17:37
  tipping too far in one
• 17:38
  direction or the other,
• 17:39
  we kind of recalibrate and move forward.
• 17:42
  But training and competing
• 17:45
  is definitely like an
• 17:46
  escape from the job that
• 17:48
  can get very stressful at times.
• 17:52
  So you live in the DC area.
• 17:53
  I do.
• 17:55
  The only thing that goes
• 17:56
  through my head is avoid that place.
• 17:59
  Like the plague.
• 18:00
  Why?
• 18:00
  Oh,
• 18:01
  just because of everything going on
• 18:02
  currently.
• 18:03
  No, the traffic.
• 18:04
  Oh, it's, it's awful.
• 18:05
  It's not great.
• 18:07
  Every time I would go,
• 18:09
  like we would vacation in
• 18:10
  the Outer Banks all the time.
• 18:11
  We love the Outer Banks.
• 18:13
  I grew up in Pennsylvania
• 18:14
  and then moved to Ohio.
• 18:16
  We have to go down near D.C.
• 18:18
  to the Outer Banks.
• 18:19
  And every time it's like, okay,
• 18:21
  how do I reroute to avoid the D.C.
• 18:24
  traffic at all costs?
• 18:26
  How do you deal with that daily?
• 18:27
  You don't get anywhere fast.
• 18:29
  How do I deal with that?
• 18:32
  Part of it is I've worked at
• 18:33
  my firm for a very long time,
• 18:35
  so I have a little bit of
• 18:35
  flexibility where if that
• 18:37
  means kind of coming in
• 18:38
  after rush hour in the morning,
• 18:39
  like working from home for a little bit.
• 18:41
  So I train first thing in the morning.
• 18:43
  I'm like a 6 a.m.
• 18:44
  to 8.30 kind of gal.
• 18:46
  And then I'll be working
• 18:47
  from home in the morning to
• 18:49
  then commute downtown.
• 18:50
  And I'm only downtown like
• 18:52
  three days a week.
• 18:53
  So Mondays and Fridays,
• 18:54
  I typically will work at home.
• 18:57
  um but it's really just
• 18:58
  trying to navigate around
• 19:00
  rush hour because that gets
• 19:02
  sticky um so that's
• 19:04
  something that we're coming
• 19:06
  up against so my husband's
• 19:07
  new gym is 20 miles in the
• 19:10
  opposite direction so I
• 19:11
  work downtown we kind of
• 19:13
  live equidistant currently
• 19:14
  and eventually we'll be
• 19:15
  moving out closer to his
• 19:16
  gym um but that just means
• 19:18
  another 20 miles to my
• 19:20
  commute which for me is
• 19:21
  like a future kate problem
• 19:23
  like we'll look at that after the games
• 19:25
  Cause I don't want to really
• 19:26
  wrap my head around what
• 19:27
  that would look like.
• 19:28
  We'll make it work.
• 19:30
  A new home to decorate.
• 19:32
  Yeah.
• 19:33
  Eventually again,
• 19:34
  another future Kate problem.
• 19:35
  Like that sounds fun,
• 19:36
  but that's also sounds so
• 19:38
  overwhelming right now,
• 19:38
  just with everything else
• 19:39
  kind of coming up on my immediate agenda.
• 19:42
  But yeah, yeah.
• 19:43
  We'll move out there.
• 19:45
  Maybe like late fall timeframe.
• 19:47
  Okay.
• 19:48
  TBD.
• 19:49
  The other thing I remember
• 19:50
  is if you get on that outer belt and,
• 19:54
  like buckle up and hang on
• 19:55
  because everybody's moving
• 19:58
  oh yeah it's just like it's
• 20:00
  the wild west but then you
• 20:01
  know it's the dmv area so
• 20:03
  it's dc maryland virginia
• 20:04
  and depending on where you
• 20:05
  live you always think the
• 20:07
  other people are the worst
• 20:08
  drivers so if you're from
• 20:09
  virginia you think the
• 20:10
  maryland drivers are the
• 20:11
  worst if you're maryland
• 20:12
  you think people from
• 20:14
  virginia are the worst you
• 20:15
  know I think just
• 20:15
  everybody's kind of that
• 20:16
  driver because we're all in
• 20:19
  a rush to get somewhere and
• 20:20
  not getting anywhere that
• 20:20
  quick and people are mad who knows
• 20:24
  So you've mentioned your husband, Cam,
• 20:26
  correct?
• 20:26
  Yeah.
• 20:26
  Cameron.
• 20:27
  Yeah.
• 20:28
  And you guys,
• 20:30
  you guys didn't get married
• 20:30
  all that too long ago.
• 20:33
  We're coming up on four
• 20:35
  years this September.
• 20:36
  So yeah,
• 20:36
  it was very much a pandemic
• 20:38
  pandemic wedding.
• 20:40
  We pulled it off.
• 20:41
  It was small.
• 20:41
  We wanted it to be small anyway,
• 20:43
  and it was a little bit
• 20:43
  smaller because of that.
• 20:45
  But yeah, so we're,
• 20:46
  we'll be four years married
• 20:48
  on September 12th.
• 20:50
  And he's an affiliate owner.
• 20:51
  He is Cardinal CrossFit in Chantilly,
• 20:54
  Virginia.
• 20:54
  If you're in Northern Virginia,
• 20:56
  come visit.
• 20:57
  How did you guys meet?
• 20:59
  On Bumble.
• 21:01
  We met,
• 21:02
  it was before I had started CrossFit.
• 21:04
  Yeah.
• 21:06
  And then we went on like a
• 21:08
  date and then we ended up
• 21:09
  reconnecting about a year
• 21:10
  and a half later,
• 21:10
  but it's because I had
• 21:12
  started CrossFit and he saw
• 21:14
  that I was like getting
• 21:15
  really into it and getting competitive.
• 21:16
  And it was his little in to
• 21:18
  like slide into my DMs and be like,
• 21:20
  Hey girl, I see you're doing CrossFit.
• 21:22
  You're doing really well.
• 21:23
  And that,
• 21:23
  and we were engaged like six
• 21:25
  months later.
• 21:27
  Okay.
• 21:28
  Yeah.
• 21:30
  Never knew the slide into
• 21:31
  the DM thing worked, but apparently.
• 21:35
  i think I think I don't know
• 21:37
  how many people probably
• 21:38
  openly talk about he's
• 21:39
  gonna be so embarrassed
• 21:40
  that I told the story but
• 21:42
  yeah it's probably more
• 21:43
  common than you think I
• 21:44
  don't know yeah he must
• 21:47
  have written it really well
• 21:52
  yeah no he's yeah he's
• 21:54
  awesome so it wasn't it was
• 21:56
  a tough for me to get
• 21:58
  re-interested in that
• 21:59
  situation and you have a dog pixie
• 22:01
  We do.
• 22:02
  You did do your research.
• 22:03
  That's our girl.
• 22:04
  She's coming to Birmingham with us.
• 22:06
  We're driving from DC to
• 22:09
  Birmingham so we can have a
• 22:11
  car full of everything that we need,
• 22:12
  but also to be able to bring her.
• 22:16
  Very cool.
• 22:16
  Yeah.
• 22:17
  We like to take her as much
• 22:18
  as we can when we travel.
• 22:20
  And what kind of dog is she?
• 22:22
  little pit bull mix we call
• 22:23
  a little pocket pity she's
• 22:25
  kind of small um but she's
• 22:28
  she's special we joke that
• 22:30
  we kind of got a lemon she
• 22:32
  like gets sick a lot and
• 22:33
  everything is wrong with
• 22:34
  her at all times but she
• 22:37
  was made for us you're
• 22:38
  actually the second athlete
• 22:40
  that told me they're
• 22:40
  bringing their dog I can't
• 22:41
  remember who the first one
• 22:42
  was oh really but the
• 22:45
  person was like listen in
• 22:46
  between wasn't it kyle
• 22:47
  wasn't it kyle ruth from
• 22:49
  ttt it might have been kyle I think so
• 22:52
  he's like I need to be able
• 22:53
  to chill in between events
• 22:56
  and nothing makes me chill
• 22:57
  more than my dog it like it
• 22:59
  really brings you just back
• 23:00
  down to normalcy when you
• 23:01
  like get home between an
• 23:02
  event you need to go take
• 23:03
  your dog out for a poop
• 23:05
  just like normal normal
• 23:07
  life right I did that right
• 23:10
  before this podcast it's
• 23:12
  just so that's pretty
• 23:13
  normal must do's oh yeah um
• 23:19
  I wish I could bring mine
• 23:22
  Well,
• 23:22
  you're welcome to come visit ours if
• 23:23
  you want to.
• 23:26
  So that's really cool.
• 23:28
  So the event's coming up.
• 23:30
  I can't even believe this in
• 23:32
  like seven days, eight days.
• 23:34
  It felt like because semis
• 23:37
  was so long ago that we had forever.
• 23:40
  And now it is crazy to wrap
• 23:42
  my brain around how quickly
• 23:44
  it's coming up.
• 23:46
  So what are your realistic
• 23:48
  expectations for this week?
• 23:52
  I knew you'd ask me this,
• 23:53
  and I still don't know how
• 23:55
  to answer that.
• 23:55
  I don't have a placement goal.
• 23:58
  I'm not saying I want to be top 10,
• 24:00
  I want to be top 20.
• 24:02
  At least I haven't set one
• 24:05
  of an outcome-based goal like that yet.
• 24:10
  I do...
• 24:12
  I want to come away from the
• 24:13
  weekend knowing that I gave
• 24:15
  my literal all on every
• 24:17
  single event because I
• 24:18
  think that with a
• 24:20
  competition that has that many events,
• 24:23
  I've had experiences when
• 24:25
  you finish something up and
• 24:26
  you know in your heart of
• 24:27
  hearts that you left
• 24:28
  something on the table.
• 24:31
  An executioner,
• 24:32
  I freaking fell on a dumbbell thruster.
• 24:36
  Who falls on a dumbbell thruster?
• 24:37
  I fell at Legends in 2022.
• 24:40
  Stupid stuff happens sometimes,
• 24:42
  but I'm not even talking about that.
• 24:43
  It's just from the grit and the approach,
• 24:48
  just staying in it and
• 24:50
  walking away from each and
• 24:51
  every event being like,
• 24:53
  regardless of how I placed,
• 24:55
  like that is where my fitness was.
• 24:57
  I gave everything I could.
• 24:59
  I'm really proud of that performance.
• 25:00
  So I think that that's my,
• 25:02
  and I don't know if that's
• 25:03
  like a cheesy miscongeniality answer.
• 25:05
  I want to be proud of my performance,
• 25:07
  but I genuinely do.
• 25:09
  I'm going to dive into this
• 25:10
  a little more because what I'm,
• 25:12
  I'm cool with the goal.
• 25:14
  You're going to poke holes in it.
• 25:17
  I'm cool.
• 25:17
  Cool with the goal, but yeah,
• 25:20
  I swam for a very, very long time.
• 25:22
  Right.
• 25:23
  And I would swim like two or
• 25:25
  three events a meet.
• 25:26
  Yeah.
• 25:28
  In my entire career, in my entire career,
• 25:33
  I swam at the perfect race twice.
• 25:35
  Yeah.
• 25:37
  That's fair.
• 25:38
  And I don't say it needs to be perfect.
• 25:42
  But that means I've left
• 25:43
  something on the table.
• 25:44
  Yeah.
• 25:44
  At 99.9% of the time.
• 25:48
  So what kind of goals were you setting?
• 25:51
  I mean, that's time specific, right?
• 25:53
  For swimming events.
• 25:54
  Did you have specific time
• 25:55
  goals that you were trying
• 25:56
  to hit in each of those races?
• 25:59
  Everything was a time goal.
• 26:00
  Everything was hitting a time.
• 26:03
  And it would differ
• 26:04
  depending on the season and
• 26:05
  how far into training I was
• 26:07
  or taper or blah, blah, blah, right?
• 26:09
  Yeah.
• 26:11
  But for this – and I get
• 26:12
  what – I think I get what
• 26:13
  you're trying to get to.
• 26:14
  Yeah.
• 26:15
  Like the fact that I don't
• 26:17
  want to leave anything on
• 26:18
  the table in any event.
• 26:19
  Trust me, by the end of the weekend,
• 26:21
  there's going to be –
• 26:21
  There's going to be something.
• 26:22
  No, I don't disagree with you.
• 26:24
  It's just hard for me –
• 26:28
  to put specific outcome
• 26:30
  goals on things where all
• 26:31
  I'm in control of is my preparation.
• 26:34
  And I had a conversation with my coach,
• 26:37
  I think it was this past weekend,
• 26:38
  just being really confident
• 26:40
  in the work that we've put in,
• 26:41
  knowing that I've done
• 26:42
  everything I can to get ready for this.
• 26:47
  taking a lot of feeling a
• 26:50
  lot of accomplishment out
• 26:51
  of that in and of itself
• 26:52
  but at the same time I'm
• 26:53
  not the girl like yes I
• 26:54
  have the goal of uh
• 26:56
  qualifying for the crossfit
• 26:57
  games and I've done that
• 26:58
  and it's not like a box
• 26:59
  that I've checked that now
• 27:00
  I'm gonna coast and just
• 27:02
  have fun like I'm gonna
• 27:03
  have fun no matter what
• 27:04
  like competing is fun but I
• 27:06
  am not going to the
• 27:07
  crossfit games to have fun
• 27:08
  like I'm going to the
• 27:09
  crossfit games to kick ass
• 27:10
  I just don't know what that
• 27:12
  will mean comparatively to
• 27:14
  this like amazingly stacked
• 27:15
  international field
• 27:17
  that I'll be competing against.
• 27:19
  So what if we rephrase it?
• 27:21
  I didn't mean this to turn into this,
• 27:23
  but my therapy session, I'm into it.
• 27:26
  Okay.
• 27:27
  Is that what if we rephrase it as,
• 27:29
  I know there's things that
• 27:31
  are going to go wrong this
• 27:32
  week and I'm not going to
• 27:35
  give up on myself.
• 27:37
  I like that a lot.
• 27:41
  And if I can say I've done
• 27:42
  that in every event,
• 27:44
  I didn't give in to the mistake.
• 27:47
  And I didn't give up on
• 27:48
  myself and it's a success.
• 27:51
  No,
• 27:51
  I think that's a great way to look at it.
• 27:56
  Because I mean, when you say realistic,
• 27:58
  you have to say something's
• 27:59
  going to go wrong.
• 28:00
  You guys are doing 87
• 28:02
  different movements in 14
• 28:05
  different time domains.
• 28:07
  Like with 20 people in a heat,
• 28:09
  it's going to be like pandemonium.
• 28:11
  Yeah.
• 28:12
  Yeah.
• 28:14
  I think that rephrasing it that way,
• 28:16
  like gives you something a
• 28:17
  little bit more tangible to
• 28:18
  hold on to when you're evaluating like,
• 28:20
  was this successful?
• 28:21
  I mean,
• 28:22
  would an amazing performance on the
• 28:24
  leaderboard be successful?
• 28:26
  Absolutely.
• 28:27
  But I just,
• 28:29
  I want it to be a little bit
• 28:30
  more about the process and
• 28:31
  kind of being in the moment
• 28:33
  in each and every one of those events.
• 28:34
  And then collectively across
• 28:36
  each of those individual moments,
• 28:37
  where does that put me at
• 28:39
  the end of the weekend?
• 28:40
  Yeah.
• 28:41
  Well, in life,
• 28:42
  we have realistic goals and that,
• 28:44
  which is what we're talking about now.
• 28:46
  And we have shoot for the moon goals,
• 28:48
  right?
• 28:48
  100%.
• 28:49
  Right.
• 28:50
  And we're not talking shoot
• 28:51
  for the moon on these ones.
• 28:52
  Just realistically,
• 28:53
  what do you want to be the weekend?
• 28:55
  And yeah.
• 28:57
  Cause I mean,
• 28:58
  thinking back to my own athletic career,
• 29:00
  there's been times I've
• 29:01
  given up on myself in the middle of a,
• 29:03
  an event and that really makes me feel.
• 29:05
  Oh yeah.
• 29:06
  You feel like garbage after the fact.
• 29:09
  Yeah,
• 29:09
  where I made a mistake and then it just,
• 29:13
  I gave up.
• 29:13
  Yeah,
• 29:14
  it's hard to bounce back from those
• 29:15
  things.
• 29:15
  But I think what's so great
• 29:17
  about our sport and
• 29:19
  competitions like this is
• 29:20
  we have 10 chances, right?
• 29:22
  It's not a one and done
• 29:24
  where we've been preparing
• 29:26
  all year for one thing.
• 29:27
  There's going to be a lot of variety,
• 29:30
  a lot of different
• 29:31
  opportunities to kind of
• 29:33
  step up and deliver.
• 29:34
  So I'm just hoping I can do that.
• 29:37
  Yeah.
• 29:37
  And that goal gives you the
• 29:38
  headspace of things are
• 29:40
  going to go wrong.
• 29:41
  Yeah.
• 29:42
  I'm never going to quit on myself.
• 29:43
  So then if you have a bad event,
• 29:46
  you're not quitting on
• 29:47
  yourself and you're ready for the next.
• 29:49
  My coach Kyle would joke
• 29:51
  when things get really hard
• 29:52
  in a workout or if there's
• 29:53
  a certain movement that I struggle with,
• 29:55
  I'll text him after and be like,
• 29:57
  I got really sad on those
• 29:58
  dumbbell snatches.
• 29:59
  Or I got really sad.
• 30:00
  You hear people talk about grief burpees.
• 30:02
  I got really sad on those
• 30:04
  burpee box jump overs.
• 30:06
  So we want no sad moments next week.
• 30:10
  Um, what kind of athlete are you?
• 30:12
  So you were, have a gymnastics background.
• 30:14
  Yeah.
• 30:15
  You like to hang from the rig.
• 30:17
  You like to go upside down.
• 30:19
  I do.
• 30:20
  I do.
• 30:20
  It's, um,
• 30:21
  I like that stuff just cause it's
• 30:23
  familiar to me.
• 30:24
  I do feel like there's a
• 30:26
  little bit of an edge when
• 30:27
  it comes to like high volume,
• 30:29
  higher skill gymnastics,
• 30:30
  but we've been putting in a
• 30:31
  lot of work and in my top end strength,
• 30:33
  I've always been a little
• 30:34
  bit of a strength limited athlete.
• 30:36
  So, um,
• 30:37
  I mean truly for years we've
• 30:39
  been hammering top end
• 30:41
  strength and then in this
• 30:42
  past year alone I've put on
• 30:43
  like eight pounds and that
• 30:47
  man that's an adjustment
• 30:49
  like mentally but like uh
• 30:51
  from a performance
• 30:52
  standpoint has been paying
• 30:53
  off in dividends just in
• 30:54
  terms of my ability to like
• 30:55
  move weight so it's been
• 30:57
  really interesting to see
• 30:58
  because after gymnastics I
• 30:59
  ran marathons for
• 31:02
  Eight years.
• 31:03
  And so I had become very
• 31:04
  much like a long grindy kind of athlete.
• 31:07
  Like I wanted the 20 minute
• 31:08
  workout where I could just
• 31:10
  settle into a pace and maintain it,
• 31:12
  but slowly,
• 31:13
  but surely over the cross of
• 31:14
  this competitive career,
• 31:16
  like my output is getting better.
• 31:17
  And I'm,
• 31:18
  I'm finding that some of the
• 31:19
  shorter high output stuff
• 31:20
  is more my wheelhouse than it used to be.
• 31:24
  That sounds like you're set
• 31:25
  up for success in this
• 31:26
  event because of short power output.
• 31:30
  Yeah.
• 31:32
  Well, Kate, this has been a blast.
• 31:34
  Yeah, it's been fun to talk to you.
• 31:36
  I can't wait to meet you in person.
• 31:39
  As I've said on every show,
• 31:40
  we're going to be there
• 31:41
  doing my behind the scenes.
• 31:43
  So we'll be back.
• 31:44
  Ellie Hiller and myself will
• 31:45
  be back in the back talking
• 31:47
  to the athletes,
• 31:49
  recording your
• 31:49
  conversations with other athletes.
• 31:51
  And then we'll have a couple
• 31:52
  of videographers doing some
• 31:53
  stuff on the floor.
• 31:54
  But we want to give you guys
• 31:56
  a highlight reel of your
• 31:57
  weekend in Birmingham.
• 31:59
  We just,
• 32:00
  I don't want to speak collectively
• 32:01
  on behalf of the entire Masters community,
• 32:03
  because I don't think that
• 32:04
  I'm qualified to do that.
• 32:06
  But just in terms of my
• 32:08
  personal appreciation for
• 32:09
  all of the support and
• 32:11
  exposure that you bring to our community,
• 32:13
  Scott, like,
• 32:14
  thank you for everything that
• 32:15
  you and your team does,
• 32:17
  because it's very apparent
• 32:18
  that you really value Masters athletes.
• 32:22
  It's like, it's people like you,
• 32:23
  it's people like Bob and
• 32:24
  Joe that kind of allow us
• 32:26
  to do what we love to do.
• 32:27
  So I wanted to give you
• 32:29
  like a huge thank you for that as well.
• 32:31
  Well, thank you so much.
• 32:33
  The Masters community means a ton to me.
• 32:35
  You know, I'm an older athlete myself.
• 32:38
  And I feel like I'm with my people.
• 32:43
  So can't wait to be there
• 32:44
  and can't wait to meet you.
• 32:46
  Everybody in the chat,
• 32:46
  you've been awesome.
• 32:48
  Thank you so much for being here.
• 32:49
  And we'll see everybody next
• 32:51
  time on the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
• 32:54
  Thanks.
• 32:55
  Bye, guys.