2012 Reebok Crossfit Games Recap

Do Or Die. Period. Plain and Simple. We (Jeremy Thiel, Michael Winchester, Travis Holly, Conner Moore, Carey Kepler, Jessica Estrada, Ingrid Kantola, Jessica Stephens and myself, knew it…our athletes knew it. #DoOrDie. This was OUR moto when training for the 2012 Reebok Crossfit Games. This was the attitude, the behavior, our style we took on day in, day out; on and off the blacktop. It was blood, sweat, and tears weekly, daily, hourly. You have to have that attitude to compete at this level, without you are left behind. We needed each other to survive and PR in some of the toughest training my body has been through, Rudy with Outlaw Crossfit, and we did. I needed the confidence, encouragement and passion my teammates had in me as well as the sport of crossfit and I got it. The main part of our training was physical, then I swear it became mental training. Both parts needed for the Games. Rudy did us good. During our training and our performance, I hit PRs in darn near everything I did, small to big…nailed them. Small victories lead to BIG victories.

We arrived in Cali on Tuesday July 10^th. We all stayed together as a team. The casa had a perfect set up for us to eat and hang out as a team. We spent hours upon hours in the kitchen cooking, chatting, dancing…yes dancing (thank you Kris Kepler for your AWESOME DJing skills, not everyone gets a DJ at breakfast)…Bonding. Wednesday was check in at the Marriott followed by media interviews then a meeting at Crossfit SouthBay with Coach Rudy to review some of the WODs/Movements that we were going to need, then Affiliate Dinner/Social to reveal the unannounced 2^nd WOD…the 1000# BobSled. Thursday was HQ athlete review, movement review with Coach Rudy, socializing with our sponsors, then team dinner. Friday was Day 1 of the Reebok Crossfit Games. 415m Run & BobSled in the AM….Front Squats and Fat Bars in the PM. We excelled in the 415m Run... Carey, me, Jess, Travis, Jeremy and Michael…no so much in the heavy heavy heavy bob sled. We pushed the sled down, attached ropes and pulled the sled back. Communication was essential. I could write “what ifs” all day regarding this event but the WOD is over and there is nothing we could do about it. After the 5 hr Break (which was nice to be able to see family/fans/athletes and recover in our 20,000ft athlete village area that included food and body work). We were introduced to the fat bar. This was interesting and threw an obstacle our way. The trick in this WOD was to have as little transitions as possible. Travis was my partner in this and we did a fantastic job at communicating during the WOD. We had too. Even though this was our roughest WOD, It was after this WOD that it hit us. WE WERE AT THE GAMES!!! It was our training, our support, our dedication that got us here. WE WERE AT THE GAMES…WE HAD MADE IT, TOGETHER! #DoOrDie. Saturday was Day 2 of the Reebock Crossfit Games. We began the day off being introduce to the Yolk…NOT the one we had practice on…a different one which created a WHOLE new dynamic. Kicker…we didn’t get to practice on the yolk till we lined up under it. I remember Jeremy behind me saying “slow and steady” and Michael in front of me directing me informing me I needed to make it “in the red”. After carrying the yolk 100yds we began WOD 6, Ground to Overhead with Rope Climbs. Even with Carey being injured and the weight being way more than body weight for Jess us girls got through all 30 Ground to overhead and all 20 rope climbs. The guy then NAILED all their ground to overheads and made it down the field. I think only 1 maybe 2 of the 50 teams finished that WOD. After a few hour break we were back at athletes briefing for WODs 7 and 8…Bar MU and The 30s. The weight was light in the 30s so no worries there…Bar MUs…different story. With Carey injured I had to step up. Here is where the mental training came in. When I got off that bar, my team was there and they let me know how proud they were of me. This was #DoOrDie. We did a fantastic job at that. We rushed over to begin our 30s. Jeremy, Michael, Travis, Me, Carey, Jess. Even injured Carey pushed through her 30 unbroken overhead squats. That is passion.

Unfortunately we didn’t make it to day 3. That was harder to stomach than I ever imagined. We did go to the Home Depot Center on Sunday and watch Day 3 with our team, our loved ones, our athletes and many other fans/athletes who crave the sport of crossfit. It was these people who got us where we were. It was the belief they had in us, it was the day in day out support they offered us. It was what they tolerated during our “2^nd Job” aka “training” that helped get us to The Games. It was here that I found out that a couple from crossfit central booked their Cali/Games Trip before regionals because they KNEW we were going to be there. It was these actions that got us there.

My vocabulary before the 2011 Games was, “I want to go to the Games”. And I did that, I went to the games…as a spectator. It was during one of the events at the track during the 2011 games, where I said, “I want to be an ATHLETE in the 2012 games”, and on Day 1 we lined up for the first WOD of the games on the EXACT spot I said those words. One of my goals I set with my Director Megan, was, “To compete in the 2012 Games”. When I returned to the “blacktop” and I was writing my WOD on the white board in my garage, at the top it says “2012 GAMES BOUND”. It’s all over my vision book. My WOD log (given to me by my unofficial mentor), page 1 is Jan.2^nd, 2012 when I started Oly Lifting with Zutfit and the last page is 7.17.12, the day I came home from the games. When you put “it” out there, make sure you add every detail because when it happens you want every detail to be a part of it.

What Now? Make my weaknesses my strengths…2013 Games Bound…#DoOrDie Forever…