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Reese Littlewood - Clydesdale Media Podcast | Is She Next? · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:10
  Chill.
• 0:10
  Chill.
• 0:11
  Hey.
• 0:11
  Hey.
• 0:11
  Chill.
• 0:12
  Let's go.
• 0:14
  I was born to kill it.
• 0:15
  I was meant to win.
• 0:17
  I am down and willing.
• 0:35
  What is going on, everybody?
• 0:36
  Welcome to the Gladstone Media Podcast.
• 0:39
  So good to be with you today.
• 0:41
  So happy to have with us
• 0:44
  top-twenty online
• 0:46
  semifinalist Reese Littlewood.
• 0:49
  And then last week,
• 0:50
  you finished third at the Syndicate Crown,
• 0:53
  I think surprising many and
• 0:55
  winning two events.
• 0:57
  Congratulations on all that.
• 0:58
  Yeah, thank you.
• 1:01
  So before we get into too much,
• 1:04
  you grew up in Pennsylvania?
• 1:06
  Yeah.
• 1:07
  So I did too.
• 1:09
  Nice.
• 1:10
  I grew up on the western side.
• 1:12
  And you are an eastern Pennsylvania girl,
• 1:14
  right?
• 1:15
  Yeah, I'm like an hour outside of Philly.
• 1:18
  So in Pottstown?
• 1:21
  What was that part?
• 1:21
  Sorry.
• 1:22
  In Pottstown?
• 1:24
  Yeah, in Pottstown.
• 1:26
  Yeah,
• 1:26
  so my wife has relatives in Pottstown.
• 1:29
  Oh, nice.
• 1:30
  Yeah.
• 1:30
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:31
  And that's like the hometown of, oh gosh,
• 1:35
  that beer.
• 1:37
  Yingling beer.
• 1:38
  Oh, that's cool.
• 1:38
  I didn't know that.
• 1:42
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:44
  And so we've been over there.
• 1:47
  We visit her aunt and uncle
• 1:48
  all the time when we're over that way.
• 1:51
  But I love the state of Pennsylvania.
• 1:53
  I live in Ohio now,
• 1:55
  but grew up in Pennsylvania
• 1:57
  and miss the mountain when
• 2:00
  we're not there.
• 2:03
  So I have a question for you.
• 2:06
  A couple years ago,
• 2:07
  we did a series where we
• 2:08
  were following athletes
• 2:10
  from the Open to the CrossFit Games.
• 2:13
  we actually approached you,
• 2:15
  my co-host Kat Shearer approached you.
• 2:18
  And I think your mom,
• 2:20
  if you guys wanted to do it,
• 2:21
  but we were kind of new to
• 2:22
  this whole thing and,
• 2:24
  and we just couldn't kind
• 2:25
  of get together on it.
• 2:26
  Do you remember when that happened?
• 2:28
  Yeah, we met her at CrossFit gym.
• 2:31
  I think it was in Kent
• 2:32
  square had like a teen gym.
• 2:34
  partner or teen competition
• 2:36
  of some sort that I went to.
• 2:37
  And then she was there.
• 2:39
  And so she had like brought it up.
• 2:41
  But yeah,
• 2:41
  I think it just kind of got lost
• 2:43
  in the path a little bit.
• 2:45
  But yeah, I do remember that.
• 2:47
  Yeah.
• 2:47
  So we,
• 2:48
  we did that series that year and it
• 2:49
  was a lot of fun, but we,
• 2:51
  she actually saw something
• 2:52
  you with that competition
• 2:54
  where she thought this is
• 2:55
  going to be somebody to watch.
• 2:56
  And we wanted to feature you
• 2:59
  as one of those athletes that year.
• 3:01
  And it's awesome that now
• 3:03
  here we are two years,
• 3:06
  in the future and you're a
• 3:07
  CrossFit games champion.
• 3:09
  Yes.
• 3:10
  It's been crazy the last couple of years.
• 3:11
  It's been a good time.
• 3:13
  I've been enjoying myself quite a bit.
• 3:16
  So for people who don't know,
• 3:17
  you've been to the games
• 3:18
  three times as a team.
• 3:19
  Yeah.
• 3:21
  So that was a twenty two,
• 3:23
  twenty three and twenty four.
• 3:25
  The first two times you finished fourth.
• 3:28
  Yep.
• 3:28
  And then last year you ended
• 3:30
  up winning the CrossFit games.
• 3:32
  Yeah.
• 3:34
  So who was your biggest
• 3:35
  competition during those
• 3:37
  years in the team division?
• 3:41
  I don't know.
• 3:41
  I didn't like think too much about like,
• 3:43
  oh, I'm beating,
• 3:44
  I need to beat this person
• 3:45
  and this person.
• 3:45
  But there were a couple,
• 3:46
  like I competed with Lucy
• 3:48
  McGonigal all of those years.
• 3:50
  Berggross, Bjorn's daughter, Riley Beebe,
• 3:53
  I think was there all three years.
• 3:56
  So there was like a couple,
• 3:57
  there's definitely like a
• 3:58
  class of the team division, if you will.
• 4:01
  That we were all there for
• 4:02
  those three years.
• 4:02
  So I always kind of competed
• 4:03
  with some familiar faces.
• 4:06
  And then this past year when I won,
• 4:07
  like the it was kind of like Elsie,
• 4:10
  Larson,
• 4:11
  Lucy and I. And then I think like
• 4:13
  Miley Wade and I want to
• 4:15
  say Berggross were all kind
• 4:16
  of around the top five for
• 4:17
  most of the time.
• 4:19
  And then it kind of shook out in my favor.
• 4:21
  So, yeah.
• 4:24
  Just kind of shook out.
• 4:28
  So you got to experience
• 4:29
  both the Madison experience
• 4:31
  of going to like the full CrossFit games.
• 4:34
  And then last year they
• 4:35
  separated the teens off and
• 4:37
  they held it at the pit.
• 4:39
  So I wanted to ask you, what was,
• 4:42
  what were the best parts of
• 4:43
  the full experience and
• 4:45
  what were the best parts of the pit?
• 4:48
  I think like the best part
• 4:50
  of the full experience was you
• 4:51
  were there alongside everybody.
• 4:53
  So like you would be in the
• 4:54
  warm up area and Laura
• 4:55
  Horvath was on the bar like
• 4:57
  ten feet from you or you'd
• 4:58
  see like all of the like elite,
• 5:01
  like essentially at that
• 5:02
  time all of your idols are
• 5:03
  like walking in and out
• 5:04
  like right next to you.
• 5:05
  And you're watching them get
• 5:06
  ready for the events and
• 5:07
  like you're not technically
• 5:09
  doing the same thing as
• 5:10
  them but like it feels like
• 5:11
  you're with them in a way.
• 5:12
  You're all warming up.
• 5:13
  You're all kind of have similar emotions.
• 5:15
  So it's really cool to be
• 5:17
  like right there with the
• 5:18
  people that you're looking
• 5:19
  up to the most.
• 5:21
  I also just think, like, at least I was,
• 5:24
  like,
• 5:24
  obsessed with those documentaries
• 5:25
  they'd make.
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  So I'd watched all of, like,
• 5:27
  the Madison movies, like, I'd watch them,
• 5:29
  like, daily leading up to the games.
• 5:32
  So it was, like, really cool to be, like,
• 5:34
  in the place where you had
• 5:35
  seen all of these crazy moments and cool,
• 5:37
  like,
• 5:37
  highlight videos and stuff happening.
• 5:41
  That I was very upset when they announced.
• 5:43
  Well,
• 5:44
  I was sad that they were leaving Madison,
• 5:45
  but then I was really upset
• 5:46
  when they announced that
• 5:46
  they were splitting because
• 5:48
  I felt like that was like
• 5:49
  taking away part of the experience.
• 5:53
  And I wouldn't say that like
• 5:54
  we missed out at the pit.
• 5:55
  Like I think they did a
• 5:55
  really good job of making
• 5:57
  it all about the teens.
• 5:58
  They had like, they still had media.
• 6:01
  They still had like all of
• 6:02
  kind of the coolness factor
• 6:05
  that they gave the teens at Madison.
• 6:07
  And I also think like they could kind of
• 6:10
  make the events a little bit
• 6:11
  more creative at the pit
• 6:12
  because they only had to
• 6:13
  worry about fitting in the teams,
• 6:15
  the heats of the teams.
• 6:17
  They didn't have like,
• 6:19
  seventy different divisions
• 6:20
  going at the same time.
• 6:23
  Yeah,
• 6:23
  we actually did the behind the scenes
• 6:25
  of the Masters CrossFit Games.
• 6:27
  And that was something that
• 6:29
  was perplexing to us is we
• 6:30
  wanted to do the Teens and the Masters,
• 6:33
  but they scheduled them on
• 6:34
  the same weekend.
• 6:35
  Yeah.
• 6:36
  And so we had to make a
• 6:38
  choice as to which one we
• 6:39
  wanted to go cover.
• 6:41
  And we ended up doing the
• 6:42
  Masters and kind of dove into that.
• 6:44
  And the Pitt has their own media,
• 6:46
  so they did a great job
• 6:47
  with everything they were doing there.
• 6:48
  Yeah.
• 6:49
  Yeah.
• 6:50
  But we had a couple of
• 6:51
  stories of parents and
• 6:52
  children who both made the
• 6:53
  games and had to separate
• 6:56
  on that weekend.
• 6:57
  Yeah, that's insane.
• 6:58
  And my, like my mom hasn't made the games,
• 7:01
  but she does like the quarter,
• 7:03
  she follows the season.
• 7:03
  So she'll go to like
• 7:04
  quarterfinals or semis or
• 7:06
  whatever she makes for the age group.
• 7:07
  And like, just thinking about having to,
• 7:11
  either compete while your
• 7:12
  mom's also competing or
• 7:13
  like kind of choose is insane to me.
• 7:15
  So I was like,
• 7:16
  who thought this was a good idea?
• 7:17
  And I get that like venues,
• 7:18
  like they probably didn't
• 7:19
  have much of a choice,
• 7:20
  but I did think that was
• 7:22
  crazy that they were like
• 7:23
  putting them in opposite
• 7:25
  parts of the country on the
• 7:26
  exact same weekend.
• 7:28
  Yeah.
• 7:28
  What's,
• 7:29
  what's really cool this year is
• 7:30
  they're bringing them back together here,
• 7:33
  here in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
• 7:35
  Um,
• 7:36
  and so we'll get to cover both this
• 7:38
  year and I get to sleep in my own bed.
• 7:41
  Oh, you're just winning on all fronts.
• 7:42
  That's awesome.
• 7:42
  Yeah.
• 7:43
  Yeah.
• 7:43
  So it's going to be cool.
• 7:45
  So this year you leveled up
• 7:48
  to the elite division.
• 7:50
  Before we get into that,
• 7:51
  like what got you into this
• 7:52
  CrossFit thing in the first place?
• 7:55
  So I guess like originally,
• 7:57
  originally what got me into
• 7:58
  it was the pandemic because
• 8:00
  I was a gymnast still at the time.
• 8:02
  And I was like,
• 8:03
  I can't just do nothing for
• 8:04
  these months when we can't go to the gym.
• 8:06
  Like I have to kind of stay in shape.
• 8:08
  And my mom hadn't done CrossFit before,
• 8:11
  but she kind of knew what it was.
• 8:12
  And she'd done like all
• 8:14
  sorts of other fitness things.
• 8:15
  Like she ran like triathlons, Ironmans.
• 8:17
  She was a strongman
• 8:19
  competitor at the time.
• 8:20
  It's like she'd kind of like
• 8:21
  had her hand in each kind of thing.
• 8:23
  So we just sort of started
• 8:24
  making up these workouts
• 8:26
  that I don't think we even
• 8:27
  realized were CrossFit really,
• 8:28
  but it was like,
• 8:29
  basically chippers all the time.
• 8:31
  So we'd do like, fifty push-ups,
• 8:33
  run to this mailbox and back,
• 8:34
  fifty jumping jacks or whatever.
• 8:36
  And we'd just kind of do those every day.
• 8:39
  And then I went back to
• 8:40
  gymnastics after the
• 8:41
  pandemic and was kind of just over it.
• 8:43
  I was having like,
• 8:44
  some mental health stuff,
• 8:45
  different things that I was like, okay,
• 8:46
  like,
• 8:47
  I think my parents were starting to
• 8:49
  kind of be like, concerned, like,
• 8:50
  you need to get out of this environment.
• 8:52
  And, but they didn't tell me that per se.
• 8:55
  And I was just kind of done with it.
• 8:56
  So we did, um,
• 8:58
  a trial class at the
• 8:59
  CrossFit gym near our house.
• 9:00
  Uh, and I,
• 9:01
  at this point I knew what
• 9:02
  CrossFit was like,
• 9:03
  I'd seen all the movies.
• 9:04
  I was super into it.
• 9:05
  Uh,
• 9:05
  so we did a trial class and I loved it.
• 9:07
  Then my Christmas gift was
• 9:09
  like a membership.
• 9:10
  So we did,
• 9:11
  I think I did like four months
• 9:13
  where I'd go to the six AM class,
• 9:15
  go to school and then go to
• 9:16
  gymnastics practice.
• 9:18
  And then like right after
• 9:19
  the open that year, it was, I was like,
• 9:21
  okay, like I'm done with gymnastics.
• 9:22
  I just want to pursue this.
• 9:26
  So I did read that you kind
• 9:27
  of got hooked by a
• 9:28
  documentary and watching all the movies.
• 9:31
  Do you have a favorite that
• 9:33
  is kind of like your go-to?
• 9:36
  More have come out since
• 9:37
  then that I really like,
• 9:38
  but I think the one that
• 9:39
  got me originally was the Dubai one.
• 9:42
  I think the buttery bros made it.
• 9:44
  I'm not sure,
• 9:44
  but it's like Laura Horvath
• 9:46
  is like pulling candy out
• 9:47
  of her bra while they're running,
• 9:48
  like through the sand.
• 9:50
  And then it's like all these things.
• 9:51
  I was like, this is insane.
• 9:53
  Like, I want to do this when I'm done.
• 9:55
  And at the time I was like,
• 9:56
  when I'm done college gymnastics,
• 9:57
  then I'm going to go and do CrossFit.
• 9:59
  Um,
• 9:59
  and obviously plans changed and I
• 10:01
  didn't really care for gymnastics, uh,
• 10:04
  anymore once I started CrossFit.
• 10:06
  Is that the same one as acid bath?
• 10:09
  Yes.
• 10:09
  Mm-hmm.
• 10:10
  Yeah.
• 10:11
  That is one of my favorite
• 10:12
  workouts is acid bath.
• 10:14
  I, I like it as like a benchmark.
• 10:17
  Um,
• 10:18
  when I'm trying to get back into like
• 10:19
  full fitness shape, like I,
• 10:21
  I do that and then I retest
• 10:23
  it to see where I'm at.
• 10:24
  Um,
• 10:26
  and I love the video of them duck
• 10:28
  walking to the finish line.
• 10:29
  Cause there's just like nothing left.
• 10:31
  Yeah.
• 10:32
  Like dives.
• 10:32
  And then they're in the tunnel.
• 10:33
  It's insane.
• 10:35
  Yeah.
• 10:35
  Yeah.
• 10:36
  It's it's, that's such a good movie.
• 10:37
  They did a great job with that one.
• 10:40
  Yeah, I'm like really old school.
• 10:41
  Like I go back to like the
• 10:45
  behind the scenes of all
• 10:47
  the games back in the day.
• 10:48
  And we were lucky enough
• 10:50
  that they premiered the
• 10:51
  Rich Froning documentary
• 10:52
  here in Columbus at a movie theater.
• 10:54
  Nice.
• 10:55
  And so we got to go see that
• 10:58
  because my best friend
• 10:59
  actually was a spokesperson for Rogue.
• 11:02
  And then we got invited because of that.
• 11:03
  And it was awesome.
• 11:07
  Seeing that on the big screen was so good.
• 11:09
  Yeah, that's really cool.
• 11:12
  So then you go into this affiliate,
• 11:14
  and I read that you were
• 11:17
  hooked immediately.
• 11:19
  Yeah, pretty much right away.
• 11:20
  I was like, okay, this is awesome.
• 11:22
  I want to do this with all of my time.
• 11:25
  Yeah.
• 11:26
  Was it the community?
• 11:27
  Was it the workouts?
• 11:29
  Was it the coach?
• 11:30
  I think initially it was just the workout.
• 11:33
  I just really loved it.
• 11:34
  I was like, this is so fun.
• 11:36
  I can push myself in a way that, like,
• 11:39
  not that you can't push
• 11:40
  yourself in gymnastics,
• 11:41
  but there's not as much of
• 11:42
  an element of like,
• 11:42
  you're just going to will
• 11:43
  yourself through this.
• 11:44
  Like at some point it's like
• 11:45
  you can do it or you can't.
• 11:46
  Um,
• 11:46
  so I think I really liked that aspect
• 11:48
  of it.
• 11:49
  Um,
• 11:49
  and I just thought the movements were
• 11:50
  fun.
• 11:51
  And then, um, at the time,
• 11:53
  like we were just going to
• 11:54
  a class a couple of times a week,
• 11:56
  but then I got real where I
• 11:58
  got like exposed,
• 11:59
  I'd say to the community during the open.
• 12:01
  And that's really,
• 12:01
  I think what kind of hooked me was like,
• 12:03
  Oh, this is awesome.
• 12:04
  Like beyond just the workouts,
• 12:05
  like I love every bit of this.
• 12:07
  So you said your mom did
• 12:08
  triathlons and all of your
• 12:11
  original workouts were long chippers.
• 12:15
  Do you like that grind, go dark,
• 12:18
  just figure out a way to get to the end?
• 12:20
  And did you get that from her?
• 12:22
  Yeah.
• 12:23
  I don't know if I got it from her.
• 12:25
  I'm sure part of it is or
• 12:26
  just like kind of.
• 12:28
  natural, I don't know.
• 12:29
  But it is kind of funny.
• 12:31
  The stuff that we did that
• 12:32
  was just pure grunt work,
• 12:34
  not a lot of skill or heavy,
• 12:36
  is not my favorite thing now.
• 12:38
  Now I love doing all the
• 12:40
  skills or the heavy dumbbells.
• 12:42
  And I wouldn't say I'm great at them.
• 12:44
  But that's my favorite types of workouts.
• 12:47
  But I think, yeah,
• 12:48
  like I definitely got
• 12:50
  things from her genetically.
• 12:51
  I'm a lot like my mom and
• 12:53
  she's like always been very
• 12:55
  fit and very like open to
• 12:56
  trying things and pushing herself.
• 12:58
  So I definitely think part
• 12:59
  of that's from her.
• 13:03
  Is is her like lifestyle
• 13:05
  what got you into gymnastics initially,
• 13:07
  like just doing something
• 13:09
  at something movement related?
• 13:12
  yeah I don't think like not
• 13:15
  that I didn't choose to get
• 13:16
  in gymnastics but like they
• 13:17
  just put me in the baby
• 13:17
  classes when I was like um
• 13:19
  really little and I kind of
• 13:21
  just stuck with it from
• 13:21
  there I competed on like um
• 13:24
  a gymnastics for all team
• 13:25
  for a while and then I
• 13:26
  switched to like the
• 13:27
  artistic gymnastics which
• 13:28
  is like the stuff you see
• 13:30
  in college or the olympics
• 13:31
  um and I did really love it
• 13:33
  like I loved um pushing
• 13:36
  myself and going to hard practices.
• 13:37
  Like I really like structure of that sort.
• 13:40
  Um,
• 13:41
  and I kind of just fell out of love
• 13:42
  with it at the end, but it was also like,
• 13:44
  I did it for years.
• 13:46
  So I think at the,
• 13:46
  by the time I had found
• 13:47
  something I loved more,
• 13:48
  I was already kind of burnt out of that.
• 13:52
  Yeah.
• 13:52
  That's, that's really cool.
• 13:53
  And it's a great
• 13:54
  demonstration about like
• 13:56
  your mom was super fit.
• 13:57
  You saw that every day that,
• 13:59
  and it just became part of your life.
• 14:01
  Yeah.
• 14:03
  So you jump into this CrossFit thing,
• 14:05
  you're going to a class,
• 14:06
  you're going to school.
• 14:08
  How much time could you
• 14:09
  devote to CrossFit when you
• 14:11
  initially joined?
• 14:13
  Initially, not much at all.
• 14:14
  Cause I think my gymnastics, I don't,
• 14:17
  our practice was like three to eight,
• 14:18
  maybe like we were doing, um,
• 14:21
  it was six days a week and
• 14:22
  I think it was.
• 14:23
  either three to eight or
• 14:24
  like three thirty to seven
• 14:25
  thirty or something in that time frame.
• 14:27
  So my mom and I would wake
• 14:29
  up and go to the six a.m.
• 14:30
  class.
• 14:31
  And then I was doing high school.
• 14:33
  I think I was going to six
• 14:34
  periods at the time.
• 14:35
  So I have a couple of online classes,
• 14:37
  but I go to school
• 14:38
  basically like seven thirty to two.
• 14:40
  We'd drive the hour to the gymnastics gym.
• 14:42
  I'd do practice, drive the hour back,
• 14:44
  and then by that point,
• 14:45
  it was time to go to bed.
• 14:46
  So I didn't, like, I would do the class,
• 14:48
  and then John Wernick,
• 14:50
  who's now been my coach
• 14:52
  since the start and owns the affiliates,
• 14:54
  Um, the days he was coaching class,
• 14:56
  he'd give me like a little
• 14:57
  something extra to do,
• 14:58
  but the classes are on the hour.
• 14:59
  So it would be like here do
• 15:01
  five bar muscle ups right now, or do.
• 15:04
  I think that's all I really remember doing,
• 15:05
  but I'm sure there was other things,
• 15:06
  but he'd give me like a
• 15:08
  five or ten minutes of
• 15:09
  practice or something, but there was no,
• 15:11
  like,
• 15:11
  I wasn't doing two days or anything
• 15:13
  outside of the class when I
• 15:14
  first started.
• 15:16
  That's bananas to me.
• 15:18
  Because I was a swimmer in high school,
• 15:20
  so I swam two hours before school.
• 15:22
  I swam two and a half hours after school.
• 15:24
  And then I got home and I
• 15:26
  ate dinner flat exhausted.
• 15:28
  Homework became really tough to fit in.
• 15:32
  It was like study hall, homeroom,
• 15:35
  cramming everything in.
• 15:36
  How did you work all that in?
• 15:39
  I think a lot of it was like
• 15:41
  I was not fortunate, obviously,
• 15:43
  but that year was still
• 15:44
  there was a lot of COVID
• 15:47
  like restrictions at school.
• 15:48
  So it was like I don't want
• 15:49
  to say it wasn't like legit school,
• 15:51
  but it was very different
• 15:52
  than like my last my like
• 15:54
  back two years of high school.
• 15:55
  So like we did have classes,
• 15:57
  but there was a lot of time of like.
• 15:59
  half the school was online.
• 16:00
  Half of it was in,
• 16:01
  half the kids were going to
• 16:02
  in-person school.
• 16:03
  So they did give us a lot of wiggle room,
• 16:04
  which I think helped.
• 16:06
  But other than that,
• 16:07
  like just weekends and try
• 16:08
  to get ahead for the week.
• 16:09
  Um, fortunately I don't get car sick.
• 16:11
  So the ride to gymnastics, I do homework,
• 16:14
  the ride back, I would do homework.
• 16:16
  Um,
• 16:17
  just kind of get it in whenever I could.
• 16:19
  So then you decided to quit
• 16:21
  gymnastics and go full in
• 16:22
  on this CrossFit thing.
• 16:24
  Did you up your time at the
• 16:25
  gym at that point?
• 16:27
  Yeah.
• 16:27
  So like looking back, I'm like,
• 16:29
  what was I thinking?
• 16:30
  Like,
• 16:30
  why did I think that this would work?
• 16:32
  And luckily it did.
• 16:33
  But I basically went to my
• 16:35
  parents and was like,
• 16:36
  I'm done with gymnastics.
• 16:38
  Like, I don't want to go anymore.
• 16:39
  I want to do more CrossFit.
• 16:42
  And I think by this point I
• 16:43
  was like hardcore watching
• 16:45
  all of the YouTube of like,
• 16:46
  Brooke Wells, Mal O'Brien, Haley Adams,
• 16:48
  and like watching their
• 16:49
  different training things.
• 16:50
  And I'd be like,
• 16:51
  I want to do more of that.
• 16:52
  Like they're doing this for
• 16:53
  like four or five hours a day.
• 16:55
  I want to do that much CrossFit.
• 16:58
  Um, so my parents,
• 17:00
  I think had a meeting with
• 17:01
  John and we're like, okay, like,
• 17:02
  will you coach her?
• 17:04
  She wants to do this.
• 17:04
  She wants to be done with gymnastics.
• 17:07
  Um,
• 17:07
  and I don't know exactly the details of
• 17:09
  that meeting, but I guess he said like,
• 17:11
  yes.
• 17:12
  So I stopped gymnastics and
• 17:14
  then my initial training
• 17:16
  schedule was like,
• 17:18
  I think I did four three
• 17:19
  hour days and then
• 17:22
  one or two two hour days and
• 17:24
  then like whatever was left
• 17:26
  was resting but basically I
• 17:27
  would do one hour of skills
• 17:30
  I'd take the class and then
• 17:31
  one hour of lifting so I
• 17:32
  wouldn't really do any
• 17:33
  extra like metcons or
• 17:34
  anything uh because I still
• 17:36
  didn't really know what
• 17:37
  half the movements were
• 17:39
  what's crazy is that
• 17:40
  actually reduced the total
• 17:42
  time you were spending
• 17:44
  moving yeah yeah wow
• 17:49
  So it was like,
• 17:50
  it was almost like getting
• 17:51
  a break from gymnastics.
• 17:53
  Yeah.
• 17:53
  Only do three hours a day.
• 17:55
  Yes.
• 17:56
  Because I was had an
• 17:57
  arrangement with the school
• 17:58
  where I was not staying for
• 17:59
  the whole day.
• 18:01
  I feel like I had so much
• 18:01
  time on my hands those
• 18:02
  couple of months until we
• 18:04
  switched to like a summer schedule.
• 18:09
  So then you're doing this.
• 18:10
  Are you doing local competitions?
• 18:12
  Are you just doing the open
• 18:14
  and age group quarterfinals,
• 18:16
  stuff like that?
• 18:17
  Or what pulled the trigger to say,
• 18:20
  I want to be competitive at this?
• 18:22
  Yeah.
• 18:23
  So I started in January of
• 18:27
  twenty twenty one.
• 18:27
  And then I think I quit
• 18:28
  gymnastics like right after the open.
• 18:30
  So I did do the open that year.
• 18:33
  I didn't really know what I was doing,
• 18:35
  but I was having fun with it.
• 18:36
  So I was like, this is cool.
• 18:37
  I want to.
• 18:38
  Like if this is what competing is,
• 18:39
  I want to do this,
• 18:40
  but I don't think I had any
• 18:41
  real understanding of like
• 18:42
  the team division or how
• 18:43
  the season worked or anything.
• 18:45
  Um,
• 18:46
  but I quit gymnastics and then a few
• 18:48
  weeks later.
• 18:49
  So after I'd been doing that,
• 18:50
  like kind of three hours,
• 18:51
  a couple of times a week, I did the,
• 18:54
  I don't remember if they
• 18:55
  had age group quarterfinals yet.
• 18:57
  It might've still been the online.
• 18:59
  like the big online qualifier.
• 19:01
  But I did that, did not make the games.
• 19:03
  But I was like, okay,
• 19:04
  now I want to make the games.
• 19:05
  Then I had an understanding.
• 19:06
  I was like, okay, John,
• 19:07
  next year I'm going to the games.
• 19:08
  I want to train and make it.
• 19:11
  So I'd say it was around
• 19:12
  then when I was like, yeah, okay,
• 19:12
  I want to be competitive with this.
• 19:14
  And I think I heard you say
• 19:16
  at Syndicate this weekend
• 19:17
  that your coach has no
• 19:19
  experience with other
• 19:21
  high-level athletes.
• 19:22
  You were his first.
• 19:24
  And so you're throwing all this at him.
• 19:27
  How is he reacting to that?
• 19:29
  yeah I want to give him some
• 19:30
  credit he's I'm not like by
• 19:32
  any means the first athlete
• 19:34
  he's coached like he's done
• 19:36
  personal training and
• 19:37
  coaching crossfit classes
• 19:39
  for a long time I think
• 19:40
  well I am just the first
• 19:42
  one that he's coached like
• 19:43
  specifically to be
• 19:44
  competitive in crossfit um
• 19:46
  but I don't really know how
• 19:48
  he reacted at first like I
• 19:49
  wasn't really involved with
• 19:51
  like the meetings that my
• 19:52
  parents had with him
• 19:54
  Um, but I think he's done a great job.
• 19:56
  Like he's really good about
• 19:58
  doing research and like,
• 19:59
  he knows all sorts of
• 20:00
  different things about like,
• 20:02
  he'll look up their splits
• 20:03
  of athletes and he's like, okay,
• 20:04
  this is the split that you can hold.
• 20:06
  This is the split that you
• 20:07
  need to be able to hold to
• 20:08
  be at this point.
• 20:10
  Like,
• 20:10
  this is what we're going to do to get
• 20:11
  you there.
• 20:11
  Um,
• 20:12
  so he has like so many spreadsheets and
• 20:15
  different, like,
• 20:17
  after every competition
• 20:18
  pretty much I'll fill out
• 20:19
  my splits for workouts and
• 20:20
  then he'll fill out the
• 20:21
  splits for like somebody
• 20:22
  that won the workout or did
• 20:23
  really well in that and
• 20:25
  that kind of that's kind of
• 20:26
  how he I think designs my
• 20:28
  training from there is like
• 20:29
  okay we need to get from
• 20:30
  here to here um this is
• 20:31
  where you're at this is
• 20:32
  where you need to be is he
• 20:34
  your only coach or do you
• 20:35
  have specialist coaches at
• 20:37
  all nope he's my only coach
• 20:39
  um when I first started
• 20:42
  Well, maybe like a year in,
• 20:43
  he had me work with a
• 20:44
  running coach because I
• 20:45
  legit like could not,
• 20:47
  I was waddling every time I tried to run.
• 20:49
  So he had like a,
• 20:51
  someone that was like
• 20:52
  specifically a running
• 20:53
  coach teach me how to, how to run, um,
• 20:56
  just form wise.
• 20:57
  But he's always done any of
• 20:58
  my progressions and like
• 21:00
  he's teaches me Olympic
• 21:01
  lifting and all the
• 21:02
  CrossFit stuff does all my programming.
• 21:07
  So here's a, here's a bizarre question.
• 21:09
  So you guys have this
• 21:10
  relationship that's now
• 21:12
  going on three years as coach athlete.
• 21:15
  And you were the, the,
• 21:16
  like the first one you're
• 21:17
  having so much success.
• 21:20
  I can't imagine his door not
• 21:22
  getting knocked on by other athletes.
• 21:24
  Now,
• 21:25
  how would you feel about another
• 21:28
  athlete taking part of his time away?
• 21:32
  I think it's like kind of a loaded,
• 21:35
  like at this point,
• 21:36
  so I've known him for four
• 21:39
  and a half years now.
• 21:40
  He's essentially been my
• 21:41
  coach for four of those
• 21:43
  four and a half years, but he wasn't like,
• 21:44
  I've never had another coach.
• 21:45
  It was just,
• 21:46
  I wasn't working directly with him.
• 21:48
  Um, but even still,
• 21:49
  like he was overseeing everything I did.
• 21:51
  Like he had me in class all the time.
• 21:53
  He was giving me the little
• 21:54
  extra practice.
• 21:55
  And he is one of my best
• 21:56
  friends at this point.
• 21:57
  Like he's my coach, but also like,
• 21:59
  he knows me so well.
• 22:00
  I know him very well.
• 22:01
  We have a great relationship,
• 22:02
  like outside of just like
• 22:05
  coach and athlete,
• 22:05
  like we're not anything weird.
• 22:07
  We're like good friends.
• 22:09
  Um,
• 22:10
  so I think it would just be strange to
• 22:12
  have, like, I know he said that like,
• 22:14
  he's not interested in writing like
• 22:17
  personalized programming for
• 22:19
  another person but we've
• 22:20
  had talks about like what
• 22:21
  if someone wanted to follow
• 22:22
  yours um and I'm I'd be
• 22:24
  open to that um I think it
• 22:26
  would definitely take a
• 22:26
  little bit of like getting
• 22:27
  used to on all the parts
• 22:28
  we'd have to have a lot of
• 22:29
  conversations but I'm not
• 22:31
  like absolutely not john
• 22:32
  can't work with anybody
• 22:33
  else or anything like that
• 22:35
  well it's it's cool that
• 22:36
  you've had the conversation
• 22:37
  and know that that's a
• 22:38
  possibility um and you know
• 22:40
  and you have a plan and I
• 22:42
  think that's the probably
• 22:43
  the most important part is
• 22:44
  that open communication with him
• 22:47
  As you guys are moving forward.
• 22:48
  Yeah.
• 22:51
  So, so now you're working with John,
• 22:53
  you're doing the extra work.
• 22:56
  Did you know at that point,
• 22:58
  when you told him next year,
• 23:00
  I want to go for the games.
• 23:01
  You knew you had the ability to do that.
• 23:05
  I don't know if I knew I had
• 23:07
  the ability but I knew like
• 23:09
  I was within striking
• 23:11
  distance that first year
• 23:13
  and it was kind of like I
• 23:14
  knew that I had a lot to
• 23:15
  get better at so I think I
• 23:16
  kind of figured I was like
• 23:18
  if I put a year into this
• 23:19
  and really learn all of
• 23:20
  these skills then like
• 23:22
  there would be nothing
• 23:23
  there wouldn't be like a
• 23:23
  barrier holding me per se
• 23:25
  like it would just be like
• 23:26
  I needed to get on the same
• 23:28
  I needed more time and I
• 23:29
  think I felt because at the time I was
• 23:32
  going into my like, fifteen year old year.
• 23:34
  So my second year for the
• 23:36
  younger team division.
• 23:38
  So I think at that point,
• 23:38
  like I knew I was good at
• 23:40
  gymnastics or I could be
• 23:41
  good at gymnastics for that division.
• 23:44
  And I think I kind of saw that I was like,
• 23:46
  I just need a bit more time,
• 23:47
  but I feel like I could get
• 23:49
  to this level.
• 23:50
  But I wouldn't say that I
• 23:51
  was like certain I was
• 23:52
  going or anything like that.
• 23:57
  You just blow my mind at your age,
• 23:59
  the way that you look at these things.
• 24:00
  I just want to say that
• 24:01
  first and foremost.
• 24:05
  So then you make it to your
• 24:06
  first CrossFit Games.
• 24:09
  What was that day like when
• 24:11
  you achieved that goal?
• 24:14
  It was insane.
• 24:15
  I remember,
• 24:16
  I think it was like the format
• 24:19
  where you had however many days,
• 24:20
  as long as they were all,
• 24:21
  all the workouts were in by Sunday night.
• 24:23
  And I remember the last one
• 24:25
  I did had like a max clean
• 24:26
  and jerk at the end.
• 24:28
  And it,
• 24:28
  like the CrossFit community at the
• 24:30
  affiliate, I go,
• 24:31
  so it's CrossFit
• 24:32
  Phoenixville or Iron Cross Athletics,
• 24:35
  it's the same gym.
• 24:37
  But the like community was amazing.
• 24:39
  is amazing still but I was
• 24:41
  like doing this max clean
• 24:42
  and jerk and there was a
• 24:43
  bunch of people just in
• 24:44
  there watching and I like
• 24:46
  almost was crying at the
• 24:47
  cheering like it was so
• 24:48
  sweet I made the lift I
• 24:49
  don't remember what it was
• 24:50
  but I think just at that
• 24:51
  moment I was like I don't
• 24:52
  even like I don't know if I
• 24:54
  made it or not but I was
• 24:55
  like feeling just so
• 24:57
  excited and happy like
• 24:59
  peak of joy.
• 25:01
  And then I was kind of just
• 25:01
  sitting around all Sunday
• 25:02
  waiting for the leaderboards to come out.
• 25:05
  But then I like saw the name.
• 25:06
  I was like, like, I did it.
• 25:07
  It's done.
• 25:08
  Like I made the games.
• 25:09
  I was so pumped.
• 25:12
  And it's, and at that point,
• 25:13
  it's just top ten, right?
• 25:15
  Yeah.
• 25:16
  Yeah.
• 25:16
  Yeah, that's insane.
• 25:20
  So you go,
• 25:21
  you get a fourth place finish
• 25:22
  your first year.
• 25:23
  Are you satisfied with that?
• 25:24
  Did you have a good games or?
• 25:27
  Did you step back and say, I want more?
• 25:31
  I think it was kind of a both.
• 25:32
  I was still so new.
• 25:34
  I think the games was my...
• 25:36
  It was my second big competition,
• 25:37
  but it was like three or
• 25:38
  four competitions ever.
• 25:41
  So we were still learning a lot about...
• 25:44
  strategies for workouts and
• 25:46
  kind of like how to execute
• 25:47
  outside the competition,
• 25:48
  like nutrition and
• 25:49
  different things like that,
• 25:50
  still learning how to compete.
• 25:52
  Um, and going into the weekend,
• 25:54
  like I was just happy to be there.
• 25:55
  Like I didn't really have a
• 25:56
  goal for my place or anything, but, um,
• 25:59
  I'm sure like people have been there.
• 26:02
  Like I ended up being in
• 26:03
  third on the last day.
• 26:04
  So then I was like, Oh,
• 26:05
  I need to be on the podium.
• 26:06
  Like,
• 26:07
  I'm already here.
• 26:08
  And I kind of imploded on the last event.
• 26:10
  I got a ton of no reps.
• 26:12
  I think I got dead last in it.
• 26:13
  It was just a rough ending.
• 26:16
  And I think that shook me quite a bit.
• 26:17
  I was pretty heartbroken.
• 26:20
  But I think for the time,
• 26:23
  I'm proud of that version
• 26:24
  of myself that did that game.
• 26:25
  She didn't know what she was doing.
• 26:27
  But she was there having fun.
• 26:28
  The goal was to get there.
• 26:30
  So I think it was kind of both.
• 26:31
  I was pretty upset afterwards.
• 26:32
  I was like,
• 26:33
  I don't want this to happen again.
• 26:36
  don't want to implode like
• 26:36
  that but I couldn't have
• 26:38
  said that I was like
• 26:39
  disappointed per se if that
• 26:40
  makes sense well then
• 26:42
  you're hit with you move up
• 26:43
  a level and but you're the
• 26:45
  youngest in that next
• 26:46
  two-year group so like
• 26:49
  really it favors the older
• 26:51
  athlete yeah right so
• 26:53
  you're coming in as kind of
• 26:54
  an underdog and you take
• 26:55
  another fourth was it a
• 26:56
  different kind of fourth
• 26:57
  for you that year
• 26:59
  I think so, yeah.
• 27:00
  It was actually kind of a
• 27:01
  similar situation.
• 27:02
  Like I was in contention for,
• 27:04
  I think I was probably fourth.
• 27:07
  I was either third or fourth
• 27:07
  going to the last event,
• 27:08
  but like it was possible.
• 27:10
  And then this one was kind
• 27:11
  of just like a little bit rough,
• 27:13
  but not in the same way.
• 27:14
  I didn't look at the
• 27:15
  leaderboard that year at all.
• 27:16
  So like I knew where I was.
• 27:18
  overall but I didn't have
• 27:19
  any clue of points or
• 27:20
  anything so I knew who was
• 27:22
  right behind me and I was
• 27:23
  like okay if you beat her
• 27:25
  it'll be fine I had no
• 27:26
  concept of points or like
• 27:28
  the ability of people to
• 27:28
  leapfrog or anything so I
• 27:30
  beat this girl and I'm like
• 27:31
  jumping around so excited
• 27:32
  I'm like I got third I did
• 27:33
  it uh but I did not I got
• 27:35
  fourth because the person
• 27:37
  that won the event that was
• 27:38
  in fifth and she she won it
• 27:40
  and I got like it was close
• 27:41
  enough that even though I got
• 27:43
  fourth or fifth or whatever in the event,
• 27:45
  like she bumped ahead of me.
• 27:46
  So it's still stung.
• 27:48
  Like no one wants to fall
• 27:49
  off the podium or like get
• 27:51
  close and then not make it.
• 27:52
  But it wasn't the same feeling at all.
• 27:53
  Like I was very proud of my
• 27:56
  efforts for the whole weekend.
• 27:57
  Like I didn't have,
• 27:58
  it wasn't the same thing
• 27:59
  where like one event went
• 28:00
  really terribly and that cost it for me.
• 28:03
  So then you become,
• 28:05
  you go into the oldest age
• 28:07
  in that age group and the
• 28:08
  next year was the goal to
• 28:10
  win the games or was it
• 28:12
  still just to go have fun?
• 28:14
  Yeah.
• 28:14
  See how it all kind of played out.
• 28:17
  My goal was not, well,
• 28:18
  my goal of course is always to win,
• 28:20
  but that was not what I had
• 28:21
  set out for that season.
• 28:23
  I think that was the first
• 28:24
  year that I'd said like,
• 28:25
  I want to be on the podium.
• 28:26
  Um,
• 28:29
  but I'm always kind of like
• 28:30
  try to check myself of like,
• 28:32
  it's not all about where
• 28:33
  you end up at the end.
• 28:33
  Like if you do every event
• 28:35
  to the best of your ability,
• 28:37
  you have fun doing it.
• 28:37
  Like you put in,
• 28:38
  you're proud of the work
• 28:39
  that you put in before the weekend.
• 28:40
  Like it's fine.
• 28:41
  Like that's enough.
• 28:43
  Um,
• 28:44
  and then I think it was like maybe two
• 28:46
  months leading up to the games.
• 28:49
  Like people started telling me like, Oh,
• 28:50
  you're going to win it this year.
• 28:51
  Like I have a feeling like
• 28:52
  you're looking so good.
• 28:54
  Like some of my training
• 28:55
  partners were like,
• 28:56
  based on my times and stuff.
• 28:57
  And they're like, yeah,
• 28:58
  you're going to win the games this year.
• 28:59
  And I was like, OK.
• 29:00
  They're just saying that
• 29:01
  because they're my friends.
• 29:04
  That doesn't mean anything.
• 29:06
  But I kind of had it in my head.
• 29:07
  I was like, it would be cool if you won.
• 29:12
  So, yeah,
• 29:13
  I feel like I answered way more
• 29:14
  than I needed to for that.
• 29:15
  But it wasn't like in my
• 29:16
  head that I was like,
• 29:17
  I want to win the games this year.
• 29:18
  Like, that's my goal.
• 29:19
  It was more just like,
• 29:20
  I'm going to go and see.
• 29:22
  I'm really hoping I'm on the podium.
• 29:24
  And like, of course,
• 29:25
  winning would be cool.
• 29:28
  And then you end up winning.
• 29:29
  Yes.
• 29:31
  So, and you beat like Lucy McGonigal,
• 29:34
  right?
• 29:34
  That is considered one of
• 29:37
  the better young athletes as well.
• 29:39
  And you named off a lot of
• 29:41
  names at the beginning of
• 29:41
  the show that are all well
• 29:44
  known in this sport.
• 29:46
  What was that feeling like
• 29:47
  standing on top of the podium?
• 29:48
  Your first podium finish too.
• 29:50
  Yeah.
• 29:51
  And it's a win.
• 29:51
  Yeah.
• 29:52
  crazy.
• 29:52
  It was such a whirlwind too.
• 29:54
  Like I'd had, I'd moved into college,
• 29:56
  like not long, I think,
• 29:58
  ten days before the games.
• 30:00
  So I was like,
• 30:02
  I explained it to John.
• 30:03
  It was pretty recently.
• 30:05
  I was like,
• 30:05
  I feel like I was the least
• 30:07
  nervous for that games
• 30:07
  because I was so
• 30:08
  overwhelmed with every
• 30:09
  other part of my life that I was like,
• 30:10
  at least I know what I'm
• 30:11
  getting into when I'm going to compete.
• 30:14
  I know the level of stress
• 30:15
  that I'm going to be at.
• 30:17
  But it was just such a good weekend.
• 30:18
  It was so fun.
• 30:20
  I enjoyed every event.
• 30:22
  I had a bunch of my friends
• 30:24
  and family from home there,
• 30:25
  and we were all in an Airbnb.
• 30:27
  So the experience on the
• 30:28
  whole was just amazing.
• 30:30
  kind of cap it off with like
• 30:32
  a goal that I hadn't even really set.
• 30:34
  Like it was like a far off
• 30:35
  dream that I was like, yeah,
• 30:36
  that would be amazing.
• 30:37
  But that's not like my
• 30:39
  expectation for this weekend.
• 30:40
  It was so cool.
• 30:41
  And I think it didn't even
• 30:42
  like fully set in until a little later.
• 30:46
  So where, where's the metal?
• 30:48
  It's in a shadow box at the CrossFit gym.
• 30:51
  That's cool.
• 30:53
  Yeah.
• 30:53
  That's a cool place to put it.
• 30:55
  Um,
• 30:57
  So I want to dive into
• 30:58
  college now before we get
• 31:00
  into this season,
• 31:01
  you pick to go to South Carolina.
• 31:04
  Yeah.
• 31:04
  Which is, is not Philadelphia.
• 31:07
  It is not.
• 31:09
  So what,
• 31:09
  what made you choose to go South
• 31:12
  for college?
• 31:13
  So I think like the whole
• 31:15
  college application process,
• 31:16
  like I wanted nothing to do with it.
• 31:18
  Like I knew that I needed to
• 31:20
  go to college and that like,
• 31:21
  that was going to be good for me.
• 31:22
  And that was my plan.
• 31:22
  But I like the thought of leaving college,
• 31:25
  specifically iron cross athletics.
• 31:26
  Like, yeah, moving out was scary,
• 31:28
  but I was like, I can't leave this gym.
• 31:29
  Like, these are my people.
• 31:31
  I don't want to go.
• 31:33
  So I was like,
• 31:34
  my mom and I would like have
• 31:36
  talk conversations and she
• 31:37
  did research and stuff.
• 31:38
  And I was like, okay,
• 31:38
  like I know what's going to
• 31:40
  be best for me as far as
• 31:41
  like developing and
• 31:43
  becoming like a whole human being,
• 31:45
  not just a CrossFitter is
• 31:46
  to go where I can't come
• 31:47
  home every weekend.
• 31:49
  And I like the South,
• 31:50
  like I like the warm weather.
• 31:52
  I like palm trees a lot.
• 31:53
  Like I just, I like that area.
• 31:55
  So I applied a bunch of
• 31:56
  places in the South,
• 31:57
  ended up South Carolina was
• 31:58
  the one I got into.
• 32:00
  So we went down and I loved the,
• 32:03
  or I guess backtrack a little bit.
• 32:04
  I was like between South
• 32:05
  Carolina and University of Pittsburgh.
• 32:09
  So neither one was close
• 32:11
  enough that I could come
• 32:11
  home every weekend.
• 32:13
  But Pittsburgh is obviously a lot closer.
• 32:15
  That's like a four hour
• 32:16
  drive versus a ten hours
• 32:17
  drive or a flight.
• 32:20
  Um,
• 32:20
  but then we went down to visit South
• 32:21
  Carolina and I was like, okay,
• 32:23
  like I need to go here.
• 32:24
  The gym was awesome.
• 32:25
  Really the palm trees on
• 32:26
  campus sold me quite a bit.
• 32:28
  Um,
• 32:29
  and I just kind of had the feeling when
• 32:30
  I was there, I was like, yeah, I can,
• 32:31
  I can see myself here.
• 32:33
  What a stark difference
• 32:34
  between Oakland in downtown
• 32:38
  Pittsburgh with the
• 32:39
  University of Pittsburgh
• 32:40
  and South Carolina.
• 32:43
  Night and day different.
• 32:44
  Yeah.
• 32:45
  Yeah.
• 32:47
  Um, so you pick South Carolina,
• 32:48
  the warm weather,
• 32:49
  all that stuff you mentioned,
• 32:51
  like leaving iron cross
• 32:52
  would be very hard for you.
• 32:54
  How do you keep training in
• 32:58
  a whole new location?
• 32:58
  Do you find a new CrossFit gym?
• 33:00
  Do you find a community
• 33:03
  there to get involved with this John?
• 33:05
  And do you do a lot of
• 33:06
  FaceTiming now because you're, you're.
• 33:09
  Ten hours away.
• 33:11
  Yes.
• 33:11
  So like,
• 33:13
  I'll be the first to admit the
• 33:14
  transition was brutal.
• 33:15
  Like I already knew what
• 33:16
  CrossFit gym I was going to
• 33:17
  go to when I moved down there.
• 33:19
  We had visited that like
• 33:20
  before visiting the school.
• 33:22
  Um, and I knew they were great.
• 33:23
  Like I love the owners.
• 33:24
  Megan and Riley are awesome.
• 33:25
  Um, Carolina CrossFit,
• 33:27
  the community there is awesome.
• 33:28
  Like now I have great friends there,
• 33:31
  but the first, like,
• 33:32
  so I moved to college in August,
• 33:33
  I'd say through November,
• 33:36
  I was crying daily.
• 33:37
  Like I was so homesick.
• 33:39
  Um,
• 33:41
  I just was just kind of blue all the time.
• 33:44
  Looking back, I was like,
• 33:46
  I don't know how I was
• 33:47
  getting to class and to the gym.
• 33:48
  I was just struggling all around.
• 33:51
  But I think looking back at that, I'm like,
• 33:53
  thank goodness I have
• 33:54
  something I'm that
• 33:54
  passionate about that I'm
• 33:56
  going to go and it's going
• 33:57
  to make me feel a little
• 33:58
  better for a few hours of the day.
• 34:00
  But now,
• 34:01
  by the time we got partway into
• 34:03
  the spring semester, I love it there.
• 34:05
  It's like a second home.
• 34:07
  Carolina CrossFit's amazing.
• 34:08
  And it was never not amazing.
• 34:09
  I was just really homesick.
• 34:12
  but I love it now.
• 34:13
  Um, so yeah,
• 34:15
  I think that was actually good
• 34:16
  for my CrossFit too,
• 34:17
  because similar to the games,
• 34:18
  like I was almost so
• 34:20
  overwhelmed with every
• 34:22
  thing and just kind of out of it,
• 34:23
  not myself, that it was like,
• 34:24
  it was easy to focus on
• 34:25
  something I loved a lot.
• 34:26
  Like it wasn't like I was
• 34:29
  kind of living to go to the gym.
• 34:30
  So it was like,
• 34:30
  it probably did help my
• 34:32
  fitness in the long run that I was like,
• 34:34
  okay, I can't,
• 34:35
  I'm like so overstimulated
• 34:36
  and overwhelmed,
• 34:36
  but I know how to do CrossFit.
• 34:40
  So how does it work when you
• 34:41
  walk into Carolina CrossFit
• 34:42
  and you're like,
• 34:43
  you're a team games
• 34:44
  champion and you need extra
• 34:47
  time in the gym that's not class time?
• 34:51
  How do you start that conversation?
• 34:52
  And how supportive are the
• 34:54
  owners right away?
• 34:56
  Yeah,
• 34:57
  I actually didn't have to have that
• 34:58
  conversation at all because
• 34:59
  Carolina CrossFit has open gym all day.
• 35:03
  So that was kind of taken
• 35:03
  care of from the start.
• 35:05
  But Megan and Riley,
• 35:07
  the two of the owners there
• 35:08
  are so supportive.
• 35:09
  Like they immediately like I
• 35:11
  get back and Riley starts
• 35:12
  calling me champ all the time.
• 35:14
  Like they were so supportive.
• 35:16
  They were like anything you need.
• 35:19
  They like would take me to
• 35:20
  places on the weekend.
• 35:21
  So I had something to do
• 35:22
  that we went down to.
• 35:24
  a CrossFit competition that
• 35:25
  was like happening the
• 35:25
  weekend after I got to
• 35:26
  school to watch and see the
• 35:27
  people from the gym.
• 35:28
  It's like, they were amazing.
• 35:30
  And I really don't,
• 35:31
  like Megan's seen me cry
• 35:32
  many times over being away from home.
• 35:35
  So I really think like without them,
• 35:37
  I probably would have had
• 35:38
  to transfer or I don't know,
• 35:40
  I would have just been a disaster.
• 35:43
  So how many hours a day are you in school?
• 35:47
  I would say like I'm actually in class
• 35:52
  Maybe like an average of
• 35:53
  maybe four to five hours.
• 35:56
  I kind of screwed myself
• 35:57
  scheduling wise in the spring.
• 35:59
  So I'd have like five
• 36:00
  classes one day and then one another one.
• 36:02
  But I think if you take the average,
• 36:04
  like my classes are like
• 36:05
  max ninety minutes and then
• 36:07
  I took like five or six.
• 36:09
  So I'd be in there like
• 36:11
  maybe three to four and a
• 36:12
  half hours a day.
• 36:15
  Is it easier than high
• 36:16
  school because you're more
• 36:17
  focused on like just your
• 36:19
  major and what you're trying to do?
• 36:21
  I think so.
• 36:22
  This year I was still most I
• 36:23
  was kind of in every
• 36:24
  subject because I had to
• 36:25
  get the general stuff out of the way.
• 36:27
  But time wise, yeah,
• 36:28
  it's way easier than high
• 36:29
  school because like my
• 36:32
  junior and senior year of high school,
• 36:33
  I started doing two sessions.
• 36:34
  So I'd be gym right to school,
• 36:36
  drive back to the gym and
• 36:38
  then drive home.
• 36:39
  So I have a little bit of
• 36:39
  time before I went to bed.
• 36:42
  But college,
• 36:42
  like I only have to put aside
• 36:45
  if I'm in class for four
• 36:46
  and a half hours a day,
• 36:47
  I need another two to do homework.
• 36:49
  But that's six rather than
• 36:50
  the seven and a half,
• 36:51
  eight that we were in high school.
• 36:52
  So just time-wise, it's a lot easier.
• 37:03
  I apologize.
• 37:04
  Allergies are so bad here right now.
• 37:08
  So then motivation when
• 37:09
  you're living at home,
• 37:10
  like it's easy to be
• 37:12
  motivated to do things
• 37:13
  because your parents are
• 37:14
  there and there's
• 37:16
  expectations built in with that.
• 37:18
  Now you're out on your own
• 37:19
  and it's all on you.
• 37:20
  Did you have any trouble
• 37:21
  with the motivation or is
• 37:23
  it just ingrained in you already?
• 37:26
  Yeah,
• 37:26
  I think it's just kind of there at
• 37:28
  this point.
• 37:29
  Um,
• 37:30
  Like not that my parents
• 37:31
  don't help motivate me or
• 37:32
  like keep me disciplined or anything,
• 37:33
  but like they don't,
• 37:35
  they've never had to tell
• 37:36
  me like Reese go to the gym.
• 37:38
  Like it's just kind of, it's what I do.
• 37:41
  So that part wasn't so much
• 37:42
  of a difficulty when I got to college.
• 37:44
  I just kind of was used to
• 37:45
  like knowing what needed to get done,
• 37:48
  kind of building my schedule around that.
• 37:51
  And now you used to do three
• 37:53
  hours a day in the gym.
• 37:54
  Are you doing more than that these days?
• 37:56
  Yeah, I do a lot more than that now.
• 37:58
  Um,
• 37:58
  it's been kind of like a steady buildup
• 38:00
  since then.
• 38:01
  I'd say like, I kind of add in like, okay,
• 38:03
  now this day is also three hours.
• 38:05
  And then eventually we're
• 38:05
  here where we are now.
• 38:06
  So now I'm like, well,
• 38:08
  this week I didn't really
• 38:09
  do that much training,
• 38:10
  but leading up to competitions,
• 38:12
  I'm usually three, five hour days,
• 38:13
  which is two sessions.
• 38:15
  And then three, like
• 38:18
  two to three hour days.
• 38:19
  So the way we did it leading
• 38:20
  up to syndicate was like Monday,
• 38:21
  Wednesday, Friday were really hard days.
• 38:23
  Like they were two sessions,
• 38:25
  lots of met cons.
• 38:26
  Like I would be at the end of the day,
• 38:28
  like, yeah,
• 38:28
  that was everything I could do today.
• 38:29
  And then Tuesday and
• 38:31
  Thursday would be a little more chill.
• 38:32
  One session still intense and high volume,
• 38:35
  but not just not the same.
• 38:36
  And then Saturday would be
• 38:37
  kind of similar to Tuesday, Thursday,
• 38:39
  like three hours of pretty focused work.
• 38:43
  So you actually qualified
• 38:44
  for syndicate last year.
• 38:47
  And you came and you
• 38:48
  competed with the elite athletes at what?
• 38:50
  Seventeen years old.
• 38:51
  Yeah.
• 38:54
  That year you finished.
• 38:55
  I can't get my cursor to work.
• 39:00
  Okay.
• 39:02
  Like twenty seventh.
• 39:05
  Yeah.
• 39:06
  Twenty seventh at the
• 39:07
  semifinal for the North America East,
• 39:09
  which is a stacked stack semifinal.
• 39:14
  At seventeen years old,
• 39:15
  were you happy with your
• 39:16
  performance in the in the elite division?
• 39:18
  I think, yeah, I was happy with it.
• 39:21
  I wasn't like satisfied by any means.
• 39:25
  But I also like was pretty
• 39:26
  proud of my efforts.
• 39:27
  I had some things go wrong
• 39:28
  in different events here and there.
• 39:29
  But I think last year I was
• 39:31
  more there for the experience.
• 39:33
  I wanted to do well,
• 39:34
  but I had no like
• 39:35
  expectation of being near the games.
• 39:37
  Like I knew I was going for
• 39:38
  the team games later that year.
• 39:40
  So I was going to do
• 39:41
  everything I could to do well and like
• 39:43
  put forth a good effort,
• 39:44
  but I was more there.
• 39:45
  Like,
• 39:46
  like getting there was an accomplishment.
• 39:48
  So I was kind of just
• 39:49
  excited to be there and
• 39:50
  kind of see what I could do.
• 39:53
  Then you come in this year
• 39:54
  and this was this your only
• 39:56
  in-person qualifying event.
• 39:59
  Yeah.
• 40:00
  So you come in this year and you,
• 40:03
  you're kind of like you're,
• 40:05
  you're a team games champion,
• 40:06
  but you're not really known
• 40:08
  on the elite circuit and
• 40:11
  you put on a show last weekend.
• 40:15
  So two event wins and an
• 40:18
  overall third place
• 40:19
  finished only eight points
• 40:20
  away from a game spot at
• 40:22
  eighteen years old.
• 40:26
  That's insane.
• 40:28
  So what did that do?
• 40:31
  One,
• 40:31
  did you come in hoping for a game spot
• 40:34
  to what did this do this
• 40:36
  performance do for your
• 40:37
  expectations moving forward?
• 40:39
  yeah so I wouldn't like of
• 40:42
  course I came in hoping for
• 40:43
  a game spot like I think
• 40:44
  anyone kind of going for
• 40:45
  semis is like yeah I want
• 40:46
  to go to the games but I
• 40:47
  don't think I had any
• 40:48
  expectation like the goal I
• 40:50
  said at the beginning of
• 40:51
  the year was top ten at
• 40:52
  syndicate um well beginning
• 40:55
  of the year slash once we
• 40:55
  knew what the structure of
• 40:57
  the season was um but my
• 40:59
  goal was top ten um and
• 41:01
  then after the in or the in
• 41:05
  affiliate whatever the
• 41:06
  online semi after that when
• 41:08
  I was kind of like
• 41:10
  feeling a little bit better about it.
• 41:11
  Cause I knew a lot of the like top,
• 41:15
  top athletes in the East
• 41:16
  qualified to the games.
• 41:17
  And then I also like did a
• 41:18
  lot better in that online
• 41:19
  one that I was expecting.
• 41:20
  So I was like, okay, like,
• 41:22
  I know like I wasn't
• 41:23
  expecting to go to the
• 41:24
  games or like that wasn't
• 41:26
  that still wasn't like my
• 41:28
  big goal per se for the weekend.
• 41:30
  But I was more like, like it could happen.
• 41:32
  Like don't count yourself completely out.
• 41:35
  But still like what I was
• 41:36
  focused on was being in the top.
• 41:37
  What I was focused on was
• 41:38
  giving my best effort and
• 41:39
  like performing as well as I could.
• 41:41
  But like the kind of numbers
• 41:42
  goal was I wanted to be top ten.
• 41:45
  And that was still true
• 41:46
  throughout the whole weekend,
• 41:47
  like going into the third
• 41:48
  day where my goal was to be
• 41:50
  in the top ten so I could
• 41:51
  be in the final heat on the third day.
• 41:53
  And then I didn't want to
• 41:55
  see a leaderboard at all.
• 41:57
  after the handstand one
• 41:58
  because I figured I would
• 41:59
  be somewhat close because I
• 42:01
  I think I was in like sixth
• 42:02
  or seventh or something so
• 42:04
  I figured I'd be kind of
• 42:04
  close to two after winning
• 42:06
  it and then I was like
• 42:08
  walking back to see like my
• 42:09
  friends and family and this
• 42:10
  guy shows me his phone and
• 42:12
  he's like look at this and
• 42:13
  I like have it I was like
• 42:15
  oh what is it and I was in
• 42:16
  second um but I even going
• 42:18
  into the last event like of
• 42:19
  course I was like really
• 42:20
  hoping to stay in second I
• 42:21
  was like you came this far
• 42:22
  like you can do this
• 42:24
  Um, but I also was like,
• 42:26
  I've already far exceeded
• 42:27
  my expectations.
• 42:28
  Like as long as I go out and
• 42:30
  give my best on this last event,
• 42:31
  like I kind of owe it to
• 42:33
  myself and my coach and
• 42:34
  like all the work of the
• 42:35
  past year to walk away proud.
• 42:39
  Did the past experiences at the team games,
• 42:41
  when you went into that
• 42:43
  last event with an
• 42:45
  expectation and maybe fall
• 42:48
  short from what, what it was,
• 42:50
  did that help you in this
• 42:51
  situation to be more mentally prepared?
• 42:54
  little bit I think like as
• 42:56
  horrible as it was to feel
• 42:58
  that way I think my
• 42:59
  experience the first year
• 43:00
  at the team games when like
• 43:02
  I walked I walked in in
• 43:03
  third and it just like
• 43:05
  everything went badly like
• 43:06
  it was um echo bike it was
• 43:09
  like a sprint workout echo
• 43:10
  bike which is already not
• 43:11
  like my favorite thing
• 43:12
  burpee box getovers,
• 43:14
  and then it was sandbag cleans.
• 43:16
  And the main issue that
• 43:18
  first year was I got,
• 43:19
  it was twenty burpee box
• 43:20
  getovers and I think I got
• 43:21
  maybe ten no reps on the
• 43:23
  way to getting twenty.
• 43:25
  So I think knowing that like
• 43:27
  panicking and going as fast
• 43:29
  as you can and just losing,
• 43:31
  I wouldn't say I lost my mind,
• 43:32
  but like getting all
• 43:33
  overwhelmed and super
• 43:34
  stressed out isn't going to
• 43:35
  make it any better.
• 43:37
  So I think that definitely helped.
• 43:39
  But I also like I'll admit I
• 43:40
  was freaking out going out
• 43:41
  into the last event of this one.
• 43:43
  I don't think I was expecting to be.
• 43:46
  I don't think I was
• 43:47
  expecting like the tension
• 43:48
  that was going to be in the warm up area.
• 43:50
  Like there was just a lot
• 43:51
  going on and understandably,
• 43:53
  but I was like definitely
• 43:54
  kind of shook going out for
• 43:55
  the last event.
• 43:56
  But I do think being able to
• 43:58
  calm myself down and being
• 43:58
  like all you need to do is
• 43:59
  go and do these stand by
• 44:00
  cleans like it's not.
• 44:02
  no matter what's happening,
• 44:03
  like your goal is to do this workout.
• 44:05
  And like, if I knew Lexi wasn't third,
• 44:07
  but I didn't know points.
• 44:09
  I was like,
• 44:09
  if Lexi and every girl out on
• 44:10
  the floor is.
• 44:11
  Twenty reps ahead of you,
• 44:12
  but you're getting through
• 44:13
  these reps at your pace.
• 44:14
  Like that's all you can do.
• 44:15
  And so I think definitely
• 44:16
  the past experiences of
• 44:17
  like freaking out and
• 44:19
  having that make it worse
• 44:20
  or going through smoothly.
• 44:22
  And even if the result wasn't great,
• 44:23
  like being able to walk away,
• 44:24
  knowing you did your best
• 44:25
  was very helpful.
• 44:28
  And you learned that you
• 44:29
  definitely have home runs.
• 44:31
  Yeah.
• 44:32
  Like you,
• 44:32
  you have a couple of things in
• 44:33
  your bag that nobody can beat you at.
• 44:37
  And what does,
• 44:38
  so what does that do for
• 44:39
  your confidence going into next season?
• 44:43
  I wouldn't say the home runs
• 44:44
  changed my confidence much.
• 44:45
  Like I knew I was good on my hands.
• 44:47
  Um, and I know that I like.
• 44:50
  heavy jump ropes and legless rope climbs.
• 44:52
  So like those,
• 44:53
  like knowing that I'm
• 44:54
  confident in them and that the confidence,
• 44:56
  like I would say it made me
• 44:58
  a little bit more confident
• 44:59
  in them than I already was,
• 45:00
  but I don't like my coach
• 45:01
  and I always talk about how like,
• 45:03
  you don't have to have home runs.
• 45:04
  You just need to be good at everything.
• 45:07
  So I don't think like,
• 45:08
  like winning the events was
• 45:09
  the coolest thing.
• 45:10
  Like that was the most
• 45:11
  amazing feeling ever,
• 45:13
  but I don't think that
• 45:14
  specifically is what made
• 45:15
  me more confident about next season.
• 45:16
  I think more like,
• 45:18
  like the eighth in the run
• 45:19
  or the twelfth in that hundreds workouts,
• 45:21
  like those made me more,
• 45:22
  those boosted my confidence
• 45:23
  more than the event wins did.
• 45:27
  You said like winning the
• 45:28
  event is very like
• 45:30
  overwhelming and exciting.
• 45:32
  The other day after you
• 45:34
  agreed to do the show,
• 45:36
  I was watching your
• 45:36
  Instagram and you did like
• 45:39
  ask me anything.
• 45:40
  Yeah.
• 45:41
  And you had some friends
• 45:42
  kind of dogging you on your
• 45:45
  victory celebrations at the
• 45:46
  end of events.
• 45:47
  Yeah.
• 45:49
  So like the, just the jump, jump, jump,
• 45:54
  jump, jump celebration,
• 45:55
  or like sometimes you get a little,
• 45:57
  little shooting guns going.
• 46:01
  Do you have a go-to yet or
• 46:03
  is it something you're
• 46:04
  thinking about or just let
• 46:05
  the emotion take over?
• 46:06
  Yeah.
• 46:07
  My approach thus far has
• 46:09
  just been pure like emotion,
• 46:10
  like so excited.
• 46:12
  I don't really control what's going on.
• 46:15
  But this like kind of
• 46:16
  started a few years ago.
• 46:17
  I like never would be one to
• 46:19
  like celebrate in the gym.
• 46:20
  Like I was like excited and
• 46:21
  bubbly or whatever,
• 46:22
  but I wasn't like jumping
• 46:23
  up and down when I made a lift.
• 46:25
  And then it was,
• 46:26
  I don't remember what year it was,
• 46:27
  but there was like heavy
• 46:28
  snatches at the end of an open workout.
• 46:30
  And that was my one rep.
• 46:31
  So when I made it,
• 46:32
  I like did a stupid like jump and clap.
• 46:34
  And so that has kind of been
• 46:35
  a joke since then.
• 46:36
  I don't even think the
• 46:37
  people that were making fun
• 46:38
  of me for it recently know about that.
• 46:40
  But ever since then,
• 46:41
  like it's kind of a running
• 46:42
  joke that like my celebrations are like,
• 46:44
  little kid Reese coming through,
• 46:46
  like not cool in any capacity.
• 46:49
  It's like jumping and
• 46:50
  clapping the finger guns.
• 46:52
  I was, I don't even know what that was.
• 46:54
  I think I was trying to do
• 46:55
  like the South Carolina spur up thing.
• 46:59
  But yeah, so no,
• 47:00
  I do not have a signature
• 47:01
  celebration and I need to
• 47:03
  work on one because these
• 47:05
  videos are embarrassing.
• 47:06
  I think we have a still shot
• 47:08
  of the finger guns ish.
• 47:10
  Maybe, no, maybe not.
• 47:12
  Oh, that video is funny though.
• 47:14
  That one like slow motion and I'm like,
• 47:16
  yeah, yeah, there it is.
• 47:18
  The jump jump.
• 47:22
  Yeah.
• 47:29
  Yeah.
• 47:29
  So I was trying to do the
• 47:31
  like South Carolina, uh, spurs up thing.
• 47:35
  Gotcha.
• 47:38
  Yeah.
• 47:39
  We're definitely going to
• 47:39
  have to work on that one.
• 47:41
  Yeah.
• 47:43
  Because I think you're going
• 47:44
  to be first in a lot more
• 47:46
  events going forward.
• 47:47
  I hope so.
• 47:49
  Yeah.
• 47:50
  So now all this has happened.
• 47:54
  You're blowing up.
• 47:55
  Everybody's talking about you.
• 47:57
  Every show I watch,
• 47:58
  you come up as someone.
• 48:00
  You decided not to do NorCal.
• 48:04
  It took a lot out of you
• 48:05
  last weekend or just you have time.
• 48:08
  So why rush into like another event?
• 48:11
  I think it was.
• 48:12
  Yeah.
• 48:12
  So I pulled out of NorCal or
• 48:14
  I qualified through the
• 48:15
  qualifier they did in like January.
• 48:19
  But my coach and I had like
• 48:20
  established from the start
• 48:21
  that it was a backup plan.
• 48:23
  Like I wanted to compete at
• 48:24
  Syndicate because I'd been there already.
• 48:25
  I'm like, I know they run it really well.
• 48:28
  And I was like,
• 48:29
  this is like the East semifinal.
• 48:31
  That's the one I want to do
• 48:32
  if I if I had my choice.
• 48:34
  So then I made Syndicate out of the open.
• 48:37
  I think, yeah,
• 48:38
  I made syndicate out of the open,
• 48:40
  but I kept the NorCal
• 48:41
  registration just still as like, uh,
• 48:44
  in case.
• 48:45
  And then I think after the online semi,
• 48:47
  that's when I emailed the
• 48:50
  people and was like,
• 48:50
  I'm not going to compete,
• 48:51
  like pulled out of that one.
• 48:53
  And it was kind of for both
• 48:54
  the reasons you were talking about, like,
• 48:55
  uh,
• 48:55
  like I would say the in-person
• 48:58
  competitions do take a lot out of me.
• 49:00
  Like it's a lot physically,
• 49:01
  but also like just the emotions, like my
• 49:03
  systems feel like they're
• 49:04
  out of whack for like at
• 49:05
  least a week after those,
• 49:06
  just like you're so high
• 49:07
  and so low and everything's
• 49:09
  all over the place.
• 49:11
  So two back to back,
• 49:12
  I knew it was going to be a lot,
• 49:13
  but also like,
• 49:14
  I don't want to burn myself
• 49:16
  out competing now.
• 49:17
  Like I want to be doing this
• 49:18
  still when I'm twenty five, thirty,
• 49:21
  like that's still seven, eight, ten,
• 49:22
  whatever years away.
• 49:23
  Like I have a long time.
• 49:24
  So like I don't want to just
• 49:26
  because I'm competitive now
• 49:27
  and I want to do everything
• 49:29
  right now doesn't mean that
• 49:30
  that's like the best idea
• 49:31
  for me in the long run.
• 49:34
  mentioned a while ago you
• 49:35
  watched all the
• 49:35
  documentaries before and
• 49:38
  and you mentioned mal um
• 49:39
  that's someone who did burn
• 49:41
  out and ended up taking a
• 49:42
  step back from things
• 49:44
  hayley adams famously took
• 49:45
  a year off um is that
• 49:47
  something that you're
• 49:48
  really aware of and you're
• 49:50
  looking at moving forward
• 49:51
  for yourself yeah I would
• 49:53
  say I was not aware of that
• 49:54
  at all before like that
• 49:56
  happened to them like I was
• 49:57
  still so fresh to the sport
• 49:59
  that I was like
• 50:00
  like, no, didn't,
• 50:01
  I didn't have like emotional,
• 50:03
  as much emotional, uh,
• 50:04
  like attachment to my,
• 50:05
  I wasn't really competing yet.
• 50:06
  Like I didn't have as much
• 50:07
  awareness of that.
• 50:08
  Um,
• 50:09
  and then I think kind of right around
• 50:10
  when they came out with
• 50:11
  their issues is when I
• 50:12
  started realizing like how
• 50:13
  I could go down that path
• 50:14
  if I wasn't careful.
• 50:16
  Um,
• 50:16
  but I have like the best support system
• 50:18
  now,
• 50:18
  both in Pennsylvania and South Carolina,
• 50:21
  like people that like will
• 50:22
  tell me they're proud no matter what.
• 50:23
  And they like,
• 50:24
  they make sure I know that like,
• 50:25
  they're not
• 50:26
  they're not in this because
• 50:27
  I'm good at CrossFit.
• 50:28
  Like they,
• 50:28
  they care for me outside of the sport.
• 50:30
  They care for me if I do
• 50:31
  badly or if I do great, whatever,
• 50:32
  like they're going to be there.
• 50:34
  So I think just having that
• 50:36
  helps a lot and having
• 50:37
  people that are comfortable
• 50:39
  and care for me enough to
• 50:40
  tell me that like on a random Tuesday.
• 50:44
  But I also think, yeah,
• 50:46
  kind of being aware of like,
• 50:47
  you can't do seven
• 50:48
  competitions this year.
• 50:49
  Like that's, that's not smart.
• 50:50
  Even if you get through the
• 50:51
  season without getting hurt
• 50:52
  or without feeling burnt out,
• 50:53
  like that is not a logical way to,
• 50:56
  progress yourself if you
• 50:57
  want to truly grow and develop,
• 50:59
  not just kind of get what
• 51:00
  you want this year.
• 51:02
  Uh,
• 51:03
  any chance you do the last chance
• 51:04
  qualifier or do you think, okay,
• 51:08
  I saw you nod.
• 51:10
  So initially when they came
• 51:12
  out with the last chance,
• 51:13
  or I guess when I got the email about it,
• 51:15
  I was like, yeah,
• 51:16
  I'm definitely doing this.
• 51:17
  And my coach is like,
• 51:18
  and this was like maybe two
• 51:19
  weeks before syndicate.
• 51:20
  He's like, oh, okay.
• 51:21
  Like, are you sure?
• 51:22
  And I was like, yeah.
• 51:23
  Like, why would I not do this?
• 51:24
  Like, it's an online one.
• 51:26
  You don't have to travel.
• 51:28
  Like, why not just try?
• 51:29
  He's like, well,
• 51:29
  if you're burnt out from competition,
• 51:32
  then like, that's an easy one to pass on.
• 51:35
  So then I think it was the
• 51:36
  first or second day syndicate.
• 51:37
  I'm like,
• 51:38
  I don't know about this last
• 51:39
  chance qualifier.
• 51:40
  Like, I might not want to do it now.
• 51:42
  And he's like, okay, like,
• 51:43
  you don't have to decide now.
• 51:45
  And then afterwards,
• 51:47
  I think I was still kind of on the fence.
• 51:48
  But I knew like, like, I know myself,
• 51:50
  I know I'm going to want to do it.
• 51:52
  So I haven't registered,
• 51:53
  but my plan is to do it.
• 51:56
  So you,
• 51:57
  so there is still a shot that you
• 51:58
  go to the games this year.
• 51:59
  I guess technically.
• 52:01
  Yeah.
• 52:02
  Yeah.
• 52:03
  That one's that one lone spot left open.
• 52:06
  Yeah.
• 52:06
  That doesn't make me feel great.
• 52:07
  Yeah.
• 52:08
  Yeah.
• 52:10
  I think it's,
• 52:11
  I wish the season was designed better.
• 52:14
  I think that if, and you know, I,
• 52:17
  Andrew Hiller talked about this,
• 52:19
  if they would have put the online stuff,
• 52:21
  all of it last and,
• 52:23
  Yeah.
• 52:23
  All the in-person stuff first,
• 52:25
  then you get like the best
• 52:27
  fields at all the in-person
• 52:29
  and then you have like a big last chance.
• 52:31
  It has like five spots left.
• 52:33
  Yeah,
• 52:34
  I think I don't understand really how
• 52:36
  they do the world ranking stuff.
• 52:38
  Like,
• 52:39
  I don't understand the system for that.
• 52:41
  Or like the two years, like,
• 52:42
  I think I'm in like,
• 52:43
  two hundredth or something.
• 52:45
  So like, I don't not that like,
• 52:47
  that's not where I should be,
• 52:48
  but I just don't understand
• 52:49
  the math or how they do that.
• 52:51
  But so that that said,
• 52:52
  I don't understand how they
• 52:53
  allocate or how they did it
• 52:54
  last year where they like
• 52:55
  allocated the different spots per region.
• 52:59
  But I do think that like
• 53:01
  certain regions are
• 53:03
  more stacked than others so
• 53:05
  I do think that needs to be
• 53:06
  counted for next year
• 53:07
  instead of just the
• 53:07
  universal like here you
• 53:09
  guys get two you get two
• 53:11
  you get one but the rest of
• 53:12
  you are all getting two
• 53:13
  like I feel like there does
• 53:14
  need to be some like they
• 53:15
  need to account some way
• 53:16
  for the strength of the
• 53:17
  region yeah either don't
• 53:20
  put any regionality on any
• 53:22
  of them so you can go
• 53:23
  anywhere you want in the
• 53:24
  world or or they all get
• 53:27
  regional and you actually
• 53:29
  have to figure out where
• 53:31
  the the stacked fields are yeah
• 53:35
  But yeah, North America East is always,
• 53:41
  the East Coast is just killer.
• 53:43
  Yeah.
• 53:44
  Tennessee as a state is just,
• 53:45
  they have so many.
• 53:48
  North Carolina is really strong.
• 53:51
  You have TTT in Georgia
• 53:53
  that's right there.
• 53:54
  Burt's killing it in Florida.
• 53:55
  Yeah, like, yeah, it's insane.
• 54:00
  Pennsylvania is a hotbed.
• 54:02
  Like,
• 54:03
  Yeah.
• 54:03
  I think, um, is it Sammy Pugh?
• 54:06
  I think she just made the games on a team.
• 54:08
  I didn't realize she was
• 54:08
  from Pennsylvania until
• 54:09
  like a few weeks ago.
• 54:10
  Yeah.
• 54:11
  And then here in Ohio, like I went to,
• 54:14
  I go to Christie or Ramo
• 54:15
  O'Connell's gym before she sold.
• 54:17
  Um,
• 54:18
  and then we have Amanda Barnhart here
• 54:20
  in Ohio.
• 54:21
  Um, I'm missing people.
• 54:24
  This, the panchecks,
• 54:25
  all the panchecks are here.
• 54:26
  Right.
• 54:29
  So yeah, it's,
• 54:31
  it's crazy all on the East coast.
• 54:33
  And it kind of started in
• 54:34
  California and California
• 54:35
  is kind of a hotbed,
• 54:36
  but then the middle needs to catch up.
• 54:39
  Yeah.
• 54:41
  Yeah.
• 54:41
  So, okay.
• 54:42
  So you're going to do last
• 54:43
  chance qualifier.
• 54:45
  Do you,
• 54:47
  we've talked about like the
• 54:49
  emotional toll that all this can take.
• 54:51
  So are you going to take some time?
• 54:53
  If you do last chance and don't qualify,
• 54:55
  you're going to take some
• 54:56
  time off this summer to
• 54:57
  just kind of chill.
• 55:01
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 55:04
  I feel like time off is
• 55:05
  almost worse for my mental
• 55:06
  health than just toning
• 55:08
  down the training a bit.
• 55:10
  I took off completely Monday
• 55:11
  and Tuesday this week,
• 55:12
  and I was losing it.
• 55:14
  Then I texted my coach
• 55:15
  Wednesday or Thursday.
• 55:16
  I'm like, yeah, I lost all my fitness.
• 55:17
  This isn't good.
• 55:18
  He's like, okay,
• 55:19
  you did not lose all of
• 55:21
  your fitness in three days.
• 55:22
  That's not how that works.
• 55:24
  But I think...
• 55:26
  I think the plan right now
• 55:27
  if I don't qualify to the
• 55:29
  last chance is to do like a
• 55:31
  partner competition with my
• 55:32
  friend Emily in July and
• 55:35
  then make the next big
• 55:36
  thing I do be crashed in October.
• 55:38
  So it gives me kind of an
• 55:39
  off season to either like
• 55:42
  not really chill like I'll
• 55:43
  still train pretty hard but
• 55:44
  like not have that kind of
• 55:45
  pressure of like you're
• 55:46
  training for something
• 55:47
  right now like there's
• 55:47
  competition in here and here and here.
• 55:50
  So that would be the plan if
• 55:51
  I don't make it.
• 55:53
  If I do, obviously I would games train.
• 55:54
  So yeah.
• 55:55
  Yeah.
• 55:56
  How close is a university of
• 55:57
  South Carolina to crash?
• 55:59
  It's only like nine minutes.
• 56:00
  So last year, um,
• 56:02
  it fell on my birthday weekend.
• 56:04
  So I had like my friends and
• 56:05
  my mom came down.
• 56:07
  So we ended up just driving
• 56:08
  up for the last day to watch.
• 56:09
  Um,
• 56:10
  and then I went there to train for a day,
• 56:13
  like maybe two months ago.
• 56:15
  Um,
• 56:16
  so it is pretty close and that I
• 56:17
  watched it last year.
• 56:18
  I was like, this competition is awesome.
• 56:19
  I really want to do it.
• 56:21
  And I think I told, um,
• 56:22
  parent from think tank in
• 56:24
  the back at civic kid.
• 56:26
  I was like, I really hope JR invites me.
• 56:27
  I really want to go to crash.
• 56:29
  She's like, yeah, he'll invite you.
• 56:30
  And then he made the comment
• 56:31
  on my Instagram, like,
• 56:33
  hope you want to be the first announced.
• 56:34
  So.
• 56:36
  JR has all the toys.
• 56:38
  Yes.
• 56:39
  So like it,
• 56:40
  that makes that competition so
• 56:42
  much fun to watch and he's
• 56:44
  such a good programmer and you,
• 56:46
  and hell you want two of
• 56:47
  his events at syndicate, right?
• 56:50
  Yeah.
• 56:52
  Um, so yeah, he, that'd be awesome.
• 56:55
  I would love for you to do
• 56:56
  crash and get to watch you, um,
• 56:58
  take that on.
• 56:59
  Cause I think that that's a
• 57:01
  really cool event.
• 57:02
  Yeah.
• 57:02
  It comes in a nice time too,
• 57:04
  especially like if you are at the games,
• 57:06
  then you still have a
• 57:07
  couple of months if you
• 57:08
  want to do it to kind of
• 57:08
  take like some time off and
• 57:10
  then ramp back up.
• 57:11
  And if you're not at the games,
• 57:12
  it kind of serves as like a,
• 57:14
  it's not that far off.
• 57:17
  Yeah.
• 57:17
  Okay.
• 57:19
  So,
• 57:19
  so you're already looking into the next
• 57:21
  off season and maybe some
• 57:22
  stuff this year.
• 57:23
  Um, and then with what's crazy,
• 57:29
  you're so young and it's a good thing,
• 57:31
  I think,
• 57:32
  because we don't know what's
• 57:33
  happening next year with
• 57:34
  the sale of CrossFit.
• 57:35
  Right.
• 57:37
  And if someone buys it next
• 57:39
  year could be completely
• 57:40
  different format.
• 57:41
  Yeah.
• 57:42
  Does that stress you out or do you,
• 57:45
  it does stress you out?
• 57:48
  I would say I've gotten
• 57:49
  better recently about not
• 57:51
  obsessing over it.
• 57:52
  I know nobody cares my
• 57:54
  opinion on the matter.
• 57:55
  I can't do anything about
• 57:56
  the structure of the season.
• 57:58
  It's not in my hands or
• 57:59
  anywhere close to them.
• 58:01
  So I think I've been better
• 58:02
  now just being like,
• 58:04
  I know why I do CrossFit
• 58:05
  and I know why I like to
• 58:06
  compete and what the
• 58:07
  competition is doesn't matter so much.
• 58:10
  I want there to be a Games
• 58:11
  because my dream is to go
• 58:12
  to the Games as an elite.
• 58:13
  But at the end of the day,
• 58:14
  if there's no Games, what are you?
• 58:16
  you can't create a games.
• 58:17
  Like you're just going to do
• 58:18
  kind of what the rest of
• 58:19
  the field is doing.
• 58:20
  Like wherever,
• 58:21
  like everyone else you would
• 58:22
  be competing against is going like,
• 58:24
  that's what I would try to go to then.
• 58:26
  Um, but yeah, I would say like,
• 58:29
  it does make me nervous.
• 58:30
  The idea that like,
• 58:31
  there might not be one next year.
• 58:34
  Well,
• 58:35
  I don't think there's not going to be one,
• 58:36
  but it just,
• 58:37
  the format of the season
• 58:38
  could be different for sure.
• 58:39
  Right.
• 58:40
  Um,
• 58:42
  you're going to school.
• 58:43
  What is your commitment to school?
• 58:46
  And then this CrossFit thing?
• 58:50
  I would say like I'm fully
• 58:52
  committed to both.
• 58:53
  Like I go to full time, well,
• 58:55
  I'm home for summer,
• 58:55
  but I do school full time.
• 58:58
  Um,
• 58:58
  like I care about my grades and I don't
• 59:00
  really know what I want to
• 59:01
  do when I grow up.
• 59:03
  Um, but I, I care about school.
• 59:05
  I take it seriously.
• 59:07
  Um, and I care a lot about CrossFit.
• 59:09
  Obviously I take that very seriously.
• 59:11
  Um, so like there are some considerations,
• 59:13
  like I can't do all of the
• 59:15
  competitions cause I can't
• 59:16
  be missing all of the school.
• 59:18
  Um,
• 59:19
  But I would say like there's
• 59:21
  a balance to be found,
• 59:22
  but I wouldn't say that I
• 59:23
  like put one over the other.
• 59:25
  The main reason I ask is you
• 59:27
  have this thing,
• 59:27
  this this WFP thing that's out there.
• 59:30
  Yeah.
• 59:31
  Where if you get in the top twenty,
• 59:32
  you earn a salary for the year,
• 59:35
  essentially.
• 59:37
  And is that something that
• 59:38
  would ever entice you or is
• 59:39
  it too much commitment for
• 59:41
  a full time student?
• 59:44
  it's tricky like this year I
• 59:45
  do World Fitness Project
• 59:47
  because I can't miss that
• 59:48
  much school like it came
• 59:51
  right around when finals
• 59:52
  week was so in affiliate
• 59:53
  semifinals was finals week
• 59:55
  which that was an
• 59:56
  interesting time but I we
• 59:59
  kind of just had the talk
• 1:00:00
  of like there's some like I
• 1:00:01
  can't do Rogue if it's
• 1:00:02
  going to be in Ireland in
• 1:00:03
  December because that's two
• 1:00:04
  weeks out of school so
• 1:00:06
  there are like
• 1:00:07
  considerations where like I
• 1:00:09
  if I'm going to do both of
• 1:00:09
  these like I have to know that
• 1:00:11
  I can't do everything for
• 1:00:12
  both ones like I'm gonna
• 1:00:13
  miss some school but I
• 1:00:14
  can't miss weeks of school
• 1:00:16
  for crossfit um so I
• 1:00:18
  wouldn't say like I think
• 1:00:19
  if I could time it out well
• 1:00:21
  or if there comes a time
• 1:00:22
  when it's like okay like
• 1:00:23
  you're gonna compete a lot
• 1:00:24
  this semester pick as many
• 1:00:25
  online classes as you can
• 1:00:26
  like I could see that
• 1:00:27
  happening where like I kind
• 1:00:28
  of manipulate my schedule a
• 1:00:30
  little bit to allow me to compete more um
• 1:00:33
  But like also college is four years.
• 1:00:36
  Like I'll have time.
• 1:00:36
  I'll only be twenty one when I graduate.
• 1:00:38
  So I'll have still time if
• 1:00:40
  there's like I really want
• 1:00:41
  to do this competition,
• 1:00:42
  but I can't right now.
• 1:00:47
  that's such a mature way of
• 1:00:48
  looking at things like, yeah, you are,
• 1:00:51
  you're only going to be like,
• 1:00:53
  I just got done listening
• 1:00:54
  to an interview with Anika
• 1:00:55
  Greer and she's,
• 1:00:57
  she's turning two and a week.
• 1:00:58
  Yeah.
• 1:00:59
  And, and it's like,
• 1:01:01
  she's been trying to make
• 1:01:02
  the games for eight years.
• 1:01:04
  Yeah.
• 1:01:04
  Like finally got it.
• 1:01:05
  And,
• 1:01:06
  and you just think like with as much
• 1:01:09
  time as she's put in,
• 1:01:10
  she's gotta be like and
• 1:01:11
  she's not even yet.
• 1:01:14
  Yeah,
• 1:01:15
  I think also people don't think about
• 1:01:16
  this,
• 1:01:16
  but there's so much of a rush for
• 1:01:18
  the teen athletes because
• 1:01:19
  you only get four years of eligibility.
• 1:01:21
  And you only like at some extent,
• 1:01:24
  like I know I felt a lot of
• 1:01:25
  pressure when I was fifteen
• 1:01:27
  because I knew that I was
• 1:01:28
  going to age up and it was
• 1:01:29
  going to be a lot harder the next year.
• 1:01:31
  So there is like when you're
• 1:01:32
  in the teen division,
• 1:01:33
  like you are rushing like
• 1:01:34
  you if you're not quite at that level yet,
• 1:01:36
  like you kind of have to
• 1:01:37
  really make sure that
• 1:01:38
  you're going hard until you catch up.
• 1:01:40
  Cause you don't have like,
• 1:01:41
  it was kind of like a
• 1:01:42
  peaceful or like comforting idea when I,
• 1:01:45
  this kind of going into the season,
• 1:01:47
  I was like, you don't have to rush.
• 1:01:48
  Like you,
• 1:01:49
  you want to make it this year and
• 1:01:50
  you want to keep working
• 1:01:51
  hard and pushing as hard as you can.
• 1:01:53
  But like, there's plenty of time.
• 1:01:55
  It's not like this year or bust.
• 1:01:58
  Not that it is in the teen division,
• 1:01:59
  but there is a little bit
• 1:02:00
  more of a timeline on it.
• 1:02:02
  Is it hard to gear down that
• 1:02:04
  thought process moving from
• 1:02:06
  the teens to the elite?
• 1:02:07
  Yeah, for sure.
• 1:02:08
  And I think like just kind
• 1:02:10
  of who I am is like,
• 1:02:12
  I like to be stretched a little bit thin.
• 1:02:14
  Like I like to be like, not rushing,
• 1:02:16
  but I like to be a little
• 1:02:18
  bit under pressure.
• 1:02:19
  Like I like to kind of have that of like,
• 1:02:21
  you're going for this, like,
• 1:02:21
  let's go as hard as you can right now.
• 1:02:23
  Let's go.
• 1:02:24
  And like,
• 1:02:24
  that's not really a healthy approach.
• 1:02:25
  You can't do that for the
• 1:02:27
  entire year for years on years on years.
• 1:02:30
  So I think right before the Open this year,
• 1:02:33
  I took the longest deload
• 1:02:34
  I've ever taken.
• 1:02:35
  And it wasn't really intentional.
• 1:02:36
  Some stuff came up where I was like,
• 1:02:38
  I need to, something's got to change.
• 1:02:40
  But I did not a ton of
• 1:02:41
  intense CrossFit for two
• 1:02:43
  weeks before the Open started.
• 1:02:44
  And I think it was maybe the
• 1:02:45
  best thing I could have done.
• 1:02:46
  Because then I've never been
• 1:02:48
  so excited to hurt really
• 1:02:49
  bad as I was going into
• 1:02:50
  that first Open workout.
• 1:02:52
  So I think just knowing that like one,
• 1:02:54
  like, well, I still haven't learned this.
• 1:02:56
  I freak out every time,
• 1:02:57
  but your confidence,
• 1:02:57
  your fitness hasn't left
• 1:02:58
  just because you don't feel
• 1:03:00
  great after a competition,
• 1:03:01
  but also like you can ease
• 1:03:03
  back a little bit here and
• 1:03:04
  there and it'll be okay.
• 1:03:08
  Well, and, and the reality is you,
• 1:03:10
  you probably have long-term
• 1:03:11
  goals of like podiuming at the,
• 1:03:13
  the elite games and building,
• 1:03:16
  building yourself to that level of,
• 1:03:19
  is probably going to take some time.
• 1:03:20
  And if you try to rush to make it now,
• 1:03:23
  what good is it finishing?
• 1:03:27
  For three years in a row or
• 1:03:28
  building you to be the
• 1:03:29
  better athlete to podium.
• 1:03:31
  Yeah.
• 1:03:32
  And even like certain things,
• 1:03:34
  like my strength needs some work.
• 1:03:36
  Like it's not a huge hole, but like,
• 1:03:38
  it's going to take a long
• 1:03:38
  time for me to up my lifts,
• 1:03:42
  however many pounds.
• 1:03:43
  And like that strength
• 1:03:44
  training takes time
• 1:03:45
  building your aerobic takes time.
• 1:03:46
  Like you can't, you can rush it,
• 1:03:48
  but that's not going to
• 1:03:49
  really make it any better.
• 1:03:50
  That's just kind of going to
• 1:03:51
  make you frustrated and maybe hurt.
• 1:03:54
  How many sandbag cleans are
• 1:03:55
  in your future?
• 1:03:56
  A lot, yeah.
• 1:03:58
  My coach told me yesterday, he's like,
• 1:04:00
  so our gym has, I think, a fifty,
• 1:04:03
  a seventy-five, a hundred,
• 1:04:05
  a hundred fifty, and two hundred.
• 1:04:07
  So it is kind of tricky
• 1:04:08
  because he can't just turn
• 1:04:09
  me loose and be like, go,
• 1:04:11
  you're going to do a
• 1:04:11
  hundred fifty sandbag cleans.
• 1:04:13
  at a hundred fifty pounds
• 1:04:14
  every day like that's your
• 1:04:16
  body can't handle that but
• 1:04:18
  then the hundred isn't like
• 1:04:19
  stupid oh I'm sorry the
• 1:04:21
  hundred isn't like have the
• 1:04:22
  same effect like the
• 1:04:23
  hundred I can cycle very
• 1:04:24
  well I feel very good about
• 1:04:25
  that the hundred fifty I
• 1:04:27
  feel less good about um so
• 1:04:29
  he just told me yesterday
• 1:04:30
  he's like yeah there's a
• 1:04:31
  hundred twenty five on the
• 1:04:32
  way you're gonna be able to
• 1:04:32
  touch and go twenty by the
• 1:04:34
  end of the year or I don't
• 1:04:35
  know if he put a deadline
• 1:04:36
  on it but he was he said
• 1:04:37
  something along the lines
• 1:04:38
  of like when you can do
• 1:04:39
  twenty touch and go at one
• 1:04:40
  twenty five the one fifty
• 1:04:41
  is gonna feel way better
• 1:04:43
  Yeah.
• 1:04:44
  Well, Reese, we're past the hour.
• 1:04:46
  I try to keep these to an hour.
• 1:04:48
  Thank you so much for taking time.
• 1:04:49
  Before I go,
• 1:04:50
  I do want to share a couple
• 1:04:51
  comments with you.
• 1:04:52
  I'm trying to live since
• 1:04:54
  Reese is so impressive.
• 1:04:55
  Thanks.
• 1:04:56
  Benita, so mature.
• 1:04:59
  John Jenkins,
• 1:05:00
  amazing performances at Syndicate Reese.
• 1:05:03
  And then Lana,
• 1:05:05
  loved her after judging online semis,
• 1:05:07
  but love her even more
• 1:05:08
  after hearing her speak.
• 1:05:10
  It's fun to follow your
• 1:05:11
  progress with the sport, Reese.
• 1:05:12
  Good luck.
• 1:05:13
  Oh, thank you.
• 1:05:15
  So a couple of your fans in the chat,
• 1:05:17
  I just wanted to share a couple of those.
• 1:05:20
  But I want to thank you for doing this.
• 1:05:21
  This has been awesome.
• 1:05:22
  You've been fun to watch
• 1:05:23
  this year and I can't wait
• 1:05:25
  to see what happens in your future.
• 1:05:26
  Oh, thank you so much.
• 1:05:27
  Thanks for having me.
• 1:05:29
  And you're always welcome
• 1:05:30
  back on the show anytime.
• 1:05:31
  Thank you.
• 1:05:33
  With that, guys,
• 1:05:34
  thank you so much for joining in with us.
• 1:05:36
  We'll be back on Sunday
• 1:05:37
  night with Sunday Night
• 1:05:39
  CrossFit Talk with Carolyn
• 1:05:40
  Prevost and Jamie Latimer and myself.
• 1:05:42
  We'll see everybody then.
• 1:05:43
  Thank you, guys.
• 1:05:45
  Bye.