Six Years Later

My last day of coaching at CFRX, 12/18/13.

I did my first CrossFit workout six years ago on August 15, 2007 at age 46. To mark my 6th anniversary, I decided to take a look back through the years at what I have learned along the way.

I’ve had the good fortune of learning from a variety of great coaches through the years, the main ones being: Patrick Gallimore, Shana Alverson, Chuck Carswell, Damon Mosley, Laura DeMarco, Kelly Levens, Michael King, and Emily Bridgers. I’m grateful to each one for what they taught me.

Patrick Gallimore was my first coach. He got me in the door, got me moving again, and past those first few months when everything was difficult, and I hurt all over, all the time. Shana was my second coach; I was drawn to her personality and that she was a stickler for good technique. During those first two years, while Patrick and Shana were my primary coaches, I sometimes had the good luck of being coached by Chuck Carswell. This was before he joined the CrossFit HQ training staff. Chuck taught me to stop worrying about how my performance stacked up against everyone else and to just focus on me. He also led the level 1 training course I attended in March 2009.

My third year of CrossFit started with a new gym and new coaches, Damon Mosley and Laura DeMarco. As co-owners of CrossFit Rx at the time, they taught me that I had the strength within to continue – that my commitment to health and fitness had to be my own, not something a coach could, or should give me. Damon fixed my clean and jerk on about day-two of joining CFRX. From Laura, I learned to lift heavy, really heavy, for the first time. I found my inner athlete and owned my training and diet like never before. At her encouragement, I started doing a little coaching, despite my insecurities and the voice in my head that told me I wasn’t good enough, that I was too old and too fat to be anyone’s coach.

With CrossFit Rx at the Southeast Regional in May.

Next came Kelly Levens and Michael King, current owners of CFRX. They built my confidence by allowing me to continue coaching, and I became a better one with practice. The number one thing I learned from Kelly is to chill. I’ve been learning to “let go” for the past twenty years, and just when I thought I had relaxed all I could, I met Kelly, Mr. Chill himself. I’ll never forget the day he got me inverted on the rings, with my head about six feet off the ground. Hearing none of my excuses about being too heavy, too old, too inflexible, too scared, too firmly affixed to the ground, he made me do it. And all the while I screamed. When I found myself upside down on the rings, feet towards the ceiling, head towards the floor, hanging on with a death grip, I began to cry in sheer terror, and Kelly was kind and helped me down. But then he wouldn’t let me go home until I did it again. And I didn’t cry the second time.

Michael gets credit for helping me string together double-unders. Before Michael, no matter how hard I tried, I always had two single-unders between each of my double-unders. Single, single, double. Single, single, double. I found Michael’s coaching style a little “out-there” at first, so I dismissed him as a coach and didn’t think he could teach me anything. When he said he was going to fix my double-unders and had me drop the rope and pretend to jump, I rolled my eyes. “I learn by doing,” I thought, and I have never been a fan of fluffy teaching methods that include things like role-playing or visualization. But I did it anyway. Within minutes, I had the new rhythm down, picked up the rope and strung several together. Michael fixed my double-unders, but more importantly, he taught me that a different approach can be good and to be open to new ways of doing and learning.

Next came Emily Bridgers. I only worked with Emily for a short while, but in the few months that she coached me, she taught me to stop being so critical of myself – that I’m a better athlete (and coach) than I give myself credit for.

And then came me. At the end of 2012, five and half years after starting CrossFit, I moved from Atlanta to my cabin in the woods.* The closest gym is 20 miles away; I gave it a try for a month, but it just wasn’t practical. So I’m my own coach now, and I CrossFit the way many did in the early days – I guess some still do. I workout in my gravel driveway, beneath the trees, in the middle of a ten acre forest. I bought some stall mats from Tractor Supply to put overtop the gravel for firm footing when I lift, and I have a collection of equipment that I have acquired over the years. And a wish list that I’m working as the budget allows. My country gym includes a second, or third-hand, men’s OLY bar with metal plates that I bought from Joey Konieczny for a hundred bucks. That was the best $100 I have spent all year, especially since he threw in a set of dumbbells and a sled.

Since moving here, I have confirmed that my motivation and commitment are indeed my own. Of course they always were; no one sticks to CrossFit for six years if they aren’t internally motivated. But sometimes it can feel like you couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do this if not for the check you write to your gym every month, or the coach who comes looking for you if you’ve missed more than a few days. Or your clan of CrossFit buddies who share your love of the WOD. What started out as an “addiction” in the early days, gradually faded over the years to something less exciting. I rarely dream about CrossFit anymore, and I don’t stay up late, hitting refresh repeatedly, waiting for tomorrow’s workout to post. I can go on vacation without worrying what benchmarks I may miss while I’m away. The honeymoon is definitely over. But you know what? I like this phase better. It feels solid and secure. I like not worrying that at any moment this “relationship” may end. I like that it’s not about trying to be better than someone else – comparing myself to people 20 years younger, or even woman my age. It’s not even about being better than I was yesterday, or last week, or last year, although that’s nice when it happens. It’s about being the best I can be today, and being strong, fit and healthy. It’s really about the quality of each day and aging as well as I can.

So six years later, I’m still at it. At the moment, I may not be at my fastest, or strongest, or leanest. But I’m definitely in the best place I’ve ever been.

*To read more about my adventures in country living, visit my blog, My Country Life. 

After 

Before CrossFit