Competing in CrossFit – The Ins & Outs of Training, Nutrition & Mindset [Podcast EP 69]

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Roz:
All right. Welcome to another episode of the Own Your Eating podcast. And I am super happy to be chatting today with coaches Kirsten and Mags from Own Your Eating. And we’re going to be talking today all about competing in CrossFit. Now, it was about two weeks ago that we all took part in the Thunderdome competition up in Punta Gorda. And it was only a week ago that the games finished, so I know that this is a hot topic of conversation for a lot of people out there thinking about maybe trying out their first CrossFit competition. And I thought this would be a great time for us to just recap our experience at Thunderdome and other CrossFit competition experience that we’ve had between the three of us. So let’s kick things off and maybe, Mags, you can you can take this first question for us. I just wanted you to let the listeners know. So what is your competitive background, maybe even before CrossFit? Have you ever been involved in any kind of competitive event in the past?

Mags:
Yes. So in high school, I played field hockey, basketball and softball. So I’ve always loved being on teams. I love that atmosphere and just the camaraderie and also being able to, you know. Jive well with your team and get them pumped and motivated. So, yeah. So ever since high school, actually, even before that grade school, I’ve been kind of on a team sports or in some sort of sport. So yeah, I would say so.

Roz:
That’s cool. And it’s interesting because I think naturally when you think of competing in CrossFit, I think a lot of people instinctively think to compete as an individual because it can be very much, you know, an individual sport, especially when you’re accustomed to just taking CrossFit classes. But, you know, particularly at the Games this year, I loved watching the team events. And really, I think being a part of a team is just so much more enjoyable in that sense that you do get that feeling of camaraderie and also just a little more comfort you I feel anyway for me. I think going to compete as an individual in CrossFit would be pretty daunting. But I love that there’s that that team aspect. When you first took part in CrossFit competition, Mags, did you compete as a team or individual?

Mags:
Individual So this is like my fifth or sixth CrossFit competition.

Roz:
You’re like a veteran now.

Mags:
In the end, three of them were individual and three of them were on teams. So about a little bit of experience with both.

Roz:
Cool. And I’ll definitely ask you a little bit more about your experience in competing and both sides seeing as you have that perspective. How about you, though, Keir? Have you competed in any sporting events in the past?

Keir:
No, I actually in high school or growing up at all, I did no sports, nothing. So CrossFit was kind of like my first go at doing anything sport or as a team or anything like that.

Roz:
You were competitive at board games maybe?

Keir:
Mine was like the musical background, we’ll say competitive.

Roz:
That’s cool. So crossFit really was like your first introduction to a competitive environment. And prior to doing Thunderdome with me and Mags this year, you’ve done Thunderdome before, right?

Keir:
Yeah, I had done it once before. And then I did one other CrossFit competition in Tampa, but I’ve only ever competed on team and never individually.

Roz:
Ok. And, um, why is that, do you think? Why how come you only have competed on a team?

Keir:
I don’t know, I guess just kind of the same reasons as you have about computing individually or, you know, I think I got myself a little too much in ever being ready, but I was never ready for anything.

Roz:
Well, sure. And I think as well. For a lot of people out there, you kind of need to have this driving force, since it’s really natural for us all to have that self-doubt and think, oh, my God, I can’t compete in a CrossFit competition like I’m not a friggin athlete. I go to the gym and I try to keep up with my class like, that’s it. But so, yeah, I think that’s probably why a lot of us don’t don’t have that natural inclination to sign ourselves up for a CrossFit competition in the first place and let alone doing it as an individual. So a lot of the time we need some kind of driving force. And I know for me oftentimes that’s just other people in the gym being like, hey, you know, Thunderdome is coming up in a few months. And I want to do it. Do you want to do it with me and said that’s kind of what actually will happen this time. I think I can’t remember. I think it was Mags, you brought it up first and got us all involved in it. Was that Mags? Did you mentioned it first? I forget who did.

Mags:
Yeah, I think I think we were just talking about Thunderdome at the gym.

Roz:
Right.

Mags:
Own Your Eating Team!

Roz:
Right and I love that. I love that. You know, sometimes you do just need other people around you to kind of be that those instigators in your life to to drive you to do something different and kind of outside your comfort zone. And did you feel like that was had a big impact on on you Keir?

Keir:
Oh, yes, I did. I don’t know. I would say I love competing as a team. I show up better as an athlete when I have other people around me that I know can push me and motivate me. And then I get in my head a little bit too much individually. So I don’t know. I just love team.

Roz:
That’s cool. I like that perspective. I think that’s pretty much how how I feel about it. Like, I I actually think maybe as an individual, I would take things a little too seriously. I kind of I like that I I almost put less pressure on myself and I’m more focused on. OK, well, this is a collaborative effort. I’ll do my best, but really my end goal is for us to all have a good time and just for everyone to feel like they’ve participated and come away feeling positive about the whole experience. Mags, maybe you can tell us a little bit what your perspective is like and how you’ve enjoyed competing on a team vs. competing as an individual athlete.

Mags:
Well, they’re both. Fun, and I actually liked both of them for different reasons. Kind of, as you both mentioned on teams, it’s really nice to be able to push your limit and you can kind of go harder on a team sometimes because you have that rest built in there. You know that somebody else is stronger in something else. So you do have that kind of strategy portion of it that kind of gets fun. But I do also love competing individually because I’ll take chances that I might not do on a team for fear of failure or something like that. So I think and you know, individually, sometimes, at least for me and this I think is a lot different for a lot of other people that I’ve talked to about competing on teams. But for me individually, when I would compete, I never felt, I don’t know, almost more pressure to do well, you know, because it was just me against me. But then on a team, you’re really not wanting to let any of your teammates down. So I personally feel more pressure sometimes when I’m on a team versus when I’m individual.

Roz:
Yeah. And I think that makes a lot of sense. I think I think it just really depends on the type of personality you have as to which situation you would feel like you have a little bit more pressure that maybe rise to the occasion, a little bit more on a team environment, or maybe you rise to the occasion a little bit more as an individual because you know there’s no option. You can avoid your weaknesses. You have to do the full workout and you really dig deep to get yourself through the whole event. And, you know, you’ve learned a lot about yourself as an athlete. I think by doing those individual events. But then equally like you said, there is that opportunity to to learn a lot about yourself, too. On a team. So. I kind of off the back of that, I was wondering, you know, leading up to the competition with and, you know, we could take the scenario whether you’re competing on a team or as an individual. How do you or did you go into the competition with some goals in mind? Were there specific weaknesses that you felt like you needed to address? And did this ultimately kind of help like drive you and motivate you to just demand a little bit more from yourself. During a period where, you know, maybe it’s hard to stay motivated even if you’re going to CrossFit classes all the time. How do you feel about that Keir? Did you did you go into the competition or once we signed up to the competition, were like, OK, cool, you don’t wanna let the team down. These are some of the goals I’m going to work on.

Keir:
I think for me, Well, that’s a hard question for me. I don’t know. I think for me. The biggest thing that I knew I had to attack going in was. I don’t know. Just finding ways to push myself. When you’re just leaning on routine more. When I mean, I don’t know.

Roz:
What I think. I mean, I in my experience going into the competition, I kind of wanted to make sure. All right. I know strength is a weakness for me, and I know that that’s definitely going to be a component of the workouts and the beauty of Thunderdome. We had a lot of the workouts. I think we knew pretty much what they were going to be, you know, bar the exception of a few tweaks here and there about two months before the event. So, you know, going into it, I knew that the strength is my weakness, like barbell movements are my weakness like I really have to focus on, on the barbell and working on my strength. You know, I wasn’t so it just kind of helped me address those weaknesses in my fitness and and really push a little bit more than normal, focus a little bit more in those areas and leave the stuff that I really love. But I’m already quite good at to one side just for a shorter period of time. So I think for me, it allowed me to just find a little more focus and and find that determination and willpower to actually tackle my weaknesses, whereas normally it’s pretty hard to get yourself onboard with doing that 24/7 in the gym. Did did you find that there was. Was there anything in particular that you worked on?

Keir:
Well, I would say it was kind of the say like strength. Like, for example, I was having ninety five pound squat snatches. I was like, there’s no way. So I’m like, those are things I had to focus on and even then just things and workout like endurance wise. You guys kicked butt on running and like my endurance. It is so I don’t know. Just strength and endurance for me. those areas.

Roz:
Yeah, And I think, you know, whether you noticed this or not. Like you. You definitely did focus on those areas because you ended up just crushing some of those workouts that you were really worried about on the actual weekend itself. And I think that just shows, you know, it did help to focus your attention and you put in a little more effort into those things. And when the game day came around, you, you performed. So I think that was really cool. From my perspective, it was really cool for me to see that as your teammate, like I loved to see you just crush some of those workouts and you’re like, I don’t know how I’m doing that.

Keir:
I know I was actually really surprised. And that’s just going back to competing individual. I mean, I’ve never done individually, but competing as a teammate. I don’t think I would have shown up the way I did without. Literally, having to tell my teammates at one point, you need to drive me to finish this, run right now. Because, you know, so just things like that. Yeah.

Roz:
I love it. And Mags, how about you going into Thunderdome as a veteran, sixth appearance at a CrossFit competition. Did you have any specific goals in mind or for you? And you know, I like I said earlier, really, I think tried to emphasize for you guys, like this was just gonna be a fun event for us, but also an opportunity to kind of learn some things and come away come away with some takeaways. But, yeah. Did you have any personal goals that you wanted to achieve going into the competition?

Mags:
Proof. Yeah. I think my personal goal is just to kind of stay in it and motivated because it’s been this last year, I’ve been focusing on a lot of things outside CrossFit and just kind of felt like it’s taken kind of, you know, a little bit of a backseat, of course, not coaching. My personal my personal, you know, regimen, I guess is basically it kind of made me stay in class, you know, and hit the class workouts, not skip any days because I was like, I can’t. I can’t. I’m already struggling through WODs right now. I can’t not show up. So it really was like actually the driving factor for me to stay motivated leading up to it. I know that a lot of people change when they sign up for a competition. They start training more and things like that. But for me, it actually just kept me training in general. So it was really good.

Roz:
That’s cool. And I think that’s that’s important. You know, oftentimes we need these little deadlines or milestones just to remind ourselves. Yes. OK. Long term, bigger picture. We’re working towards better health and fitness. But let’s have these these little milestones sprinkled throughout so that we can stay motivated and stay in the game because it’s so easy to allow, you know, other things going on in our lives to take precedence. And slowly but surely, your five classes a week become three classes become two become OK. I haven’t been to the gym in two weeks and it’s easy. We all we all do that. So that’s why. Yeah, I agree with what you’re saying, that I think just to be able to maintain some consistency with your training regardless of, you know, extra effort or volume or focus on any particular area, at the end of the day, you’ve got to have that foundation of, hey, I’m showing up and I’m being consistent with three or four days a week. Cool. So I’m glad we were we were there to help you stay consistent over the last few months.

Mags:
I don’t know what I would have done without you guys.

Roz:
And then let’s talk about let’s talk a little bit about actually being at the competition itself. And before we talk about equipment or really get into the nitty gritty of nutrition and in preparing yourself for the day, I wanted to know, was there one thing? So other than equipment that you would recommend, everyone brings with them to a competition weekend. So if you’re taking part in a competition, what one thing would you say is yes. I’m so glad I brought this with me. Mags, do you have any thoughts?

Mags:
Well, it’s a tough one. Like a toothbrush. Oh, a brush, hair brush, borrow Cassie’s hairbrush. I don’t know. No. I was actually you put me on the spot. I had no idea that question was coming.

Roz:
I mean, I yeah, I thought of this earlier. And you know why? Because I was just thinking it was funny. I think it must have been thinking about the whole nutrition aspect. And then I was like, wow, you know what? If if we hadn’t brought like a cooler or a cool bag with us that weekend, it would have made things significantly harder. So, you know, if you want to know what my one thing would be that I recommend everyone takes with them, it would be some kind of cooler or cool bag just so that you can take food with you into the event space, the arena. And also just, you know, Keir, I shared a room. It was just really handy because the fridge we had, although it was actually a decent size, it still wasn’t big enough to like hold all of the food that we were going to eat that weekend. So having an extra cooler was just really handy because we could store extra thing in that extra food in there with ice and it just made life so much easier. Yeah. So that was my my one thing that I would definitely recommend people take with them. I’ll come back to you, Mags. How about you Keir? Do you have any ideas? I know what you brought with you that I wished I’d brought with me, actually.

Keir:
What is it?

Roz:
The thing that you had hanging from your bag when you walked into the room.

Keir:
The thing I had, oh, the hook.

Roz:
Yeah.

Keir:
That’s great.

Roz:
Tell everyone about the hook.

Keir:
The hook is some. I don’t even know how to explain this thing, but it’s. It looks it looks like. Imagine a hook and destroys the crap out of your knots in your bag. All right. So it’s amazing. I love it. It was great for us. Yeah.

Roz:
It’s a hook shape. It’s actually called Muscle Hook. Yeah. From Target. That’s where. Well, I picked it up from Target after you guys raved about it to me. But yeah. The thing is the bomb for getting knots out of your body. Oh my God. I mean I’m glad you brought it because I was happy to use it.

Keir:
I wasn’t saying that it was one nice thing, but I don’t know if this is cheating going to nutrition, but I don’t I don’t know what I would have done without your they called nuns or noons those hydration tablets in the water.

Roz:
My gosh, that’s so funny. That was like the second thing that I was super super glad I had.

Keir:
I would not have had my body was cramping. So in the middle of the night, I woke up. I remember telling you, I woke up in the middle of the night and I was up like an hour and my body was cramping because I was so dehydrated. And if I wouldn’t have had those, I would have been a mess.

Roz:
Well, a little bit of background for people listening. You actually went into that competition weekend having gotten off a red eye on the Friday morning before. Yeah. Coming back from Portland. And then you basically got home, crashed for an hour, packed up all your stuff and then drove to Punta Gorda. Yeah, I’d like one night sleep. So not surprising that you were probably going into the competition weekend already, you know? Yeah, maybe not necessarily dehydrate, but definitely I think you’re probably your water balance was a little off. And then unfortunately, that event on Saturday morning for us was late in the morning and we were out in the heat of the day. So I think for sure we you know, we suffered a little bit more than we realized. Yeah. Yeah. Noon tabs. So you can get them pretty much any grocery store, any pharmacy. They are amazing. I love them. The like have a little bit of flavor to them and they make your water just a little bit bubbly and they have no crap in them. And I think they’re like maybe 10 calories and they’re great. So definitely recommend those. All right, Mags, have you thought of something other than a hairbrush?

Mags:
Well, I didn’t realize we could say equipment things and food. But yeah, I mean, coolers for sure. Any sort of food I had like some fuel for fire, vegan options, options that were amazing. I forget what the brand is called. I’ll share it with you when I remember.

Roz:
Wait were they bars that you were eating?

Mags:
Were they sorry? A

Roz:
re you talking about vegan bars that you were eating?

Mags:
No. They were like it was like a fuel for fire. It was like a pouch.

Roz:
I know. I think I know what you’re talking about, but I can’t remember the brand either.

Mags:
But they were really good. And in between. It’s hard to eat in between, you know. You know, in between each event. So. I would love. I love those because it’s just quick, easy and I’m able to digest it really well. So, you know, nerves or anything. Also wipes, I know this is crazy, but, I’m not going to I’m not going to announce his name on here. I don’t wanna embarrass him. A close friend of mine uses wipes all the time like baby wipes or something like that. And I now use them all the time. I travel with them everywhere. And it’s just really nice to have, you know,.

Roz:
100 percent. And I think I had like change of clothes with me every day. And I had some wipes in my bag, too. I’d say one. The only other thing that I think is really great to have with you when you’re at the event space all day long is an extra pair of shoes like sandals that you can just slip on over your socks. I’m not going to say crocs because I can I can’t support crocs.

Keir:
I was so sick of wearing my tennis shoes all day. I just wanted them off and put on so some kind of other sandal shoes.

Mags:
The Birks the Birks.

Roz:
Exactly. It’s about the Birkenstocks. So seeings are we, we did touch on nutrition. And I’m sure people listening to our podcast want to know a little bit more about nutrition, around competition, maybe let’s talk about that and let’s dive right in. So Keir I’ll put you on the spot here. But how did you prep for the weekend? Because I know it was a little bit similar to me, but you were taking some great shortcuts that I was like, damn, I frickin wish I’d just done that because I literally spent all day prepping food and getting myself sorted. So maybe if you could just walk people through what your meals look like for the weekend and what you did to prepare for the weekend.

Keir:
So like you said, I was last minute. I didn’t really have because I was traveling and I got back the day that I needed to leave to head up to come stay with you guys for the competition. I was very limited on my time to actually cook and prep and make my meals, which to me would just make more sense, make my meals. Have them already ready. So they’re ready to go and eat. It’s just lots to do when I’m already up there because I was so time limited. I went to my Publix and bought some egg whites that were they already have made at the store. I bought a bag of already chopped up peppers, bought some fruit to have on hand with me. Basically a lot of the things that I bought was already prepared and easy. Like I knew I was going to have access to a microwave and a fridge. And at the hotel, everything was already prepped, cut up, prepared, ready to go. It just needed to be microwaved and eaten.

Roz:
Yeah, I love that you had just bought like I think it was a pack of already boiled eggs.

Keir:
I bought already cut up, they were like in a frozen bag, already cut up sweet potatoes. I literally just had to cut the bag open and put it in a dish and Put in the microwave.

Roz:
Yeah. And then you had that that little tub of is it called Mush.

Keir:
Oh Mush. The oatmeal. Yeah. Brought with me. I forgot all this stuff I brought with me. Yeah. It was just ready to go. I don’t know, I like that.

Roz:
Maybe we’ll do this. Maybe we’ll post a list when I get this podcast up and I’ll post it on the Web site and we each include a little list of the meals or foods that we brought along with us. Those were definitely great. Like pre-made foods that I was like damn that would save me a lot of time, you know, vs. I ended up bringing like, OK, I made. I measured out different pots of oatmeal. So then I had to add the water and then I had to add the egg whites since I had to bring all these individual little pots with me. And, you know. And then I did some cooking, like I had some protein and some veggies and sweet potatoes and things like that already premade and cooked. So I didn’t go too crazy. But for sure, it would have just been easier if I’d grabbed like, OK, here’s a bag of veggies that I can just microwave when I get there vs. doing all this to prep for the whole day on Friday. But for sure. I’m glad I’m glad that I had done some food prep and that I had extra Tupperware containers with me to make things in and that, you know, I knew all my meals were set for the weekend, so I didn’t have to stress about going out, find a grocery store or worry about what might be on offer in the event area. And then obviously having bars on hand is just super convenient, especially when you’re competing. And like Mags was saying before, you don’t have a lot of time in between events. And it’s, you know, you need something that’s easy to digest and that’s just going to be comfortable for your stomach so that you can work out if you are having to have it close to any one of your events. And for sure, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to our listeners is don’t go outside the box and start trying foods that your body is not accustomed to. Like, really, if you’re competing, it’s best to prepare a lot of your foods and bring as much as you can. You don’t want to leave yourself open to the unknowns of whatever the cafe at the event area is serving that day. It’s just too risky, in my opinion. What do you what do you think about all that, Mags?

Mags:
I agree 100 percent, like I would say don’t really change much. Like do what you typically do when you’re working out at the gym, go to foods that you’re familiar with. Same with supplements like don’t try to. All of a sudden to try a new pre workout or something.

Roz:
Oh, my God. That that is such a sound piece of advice because you never have like Any idea how you’re going to respond to pre workout and different brands use different things in their pre workout. So you can’t just assume, oh, I take this brand. I’m sure it’ll be fine if I just use this one on the day like, Have you ever done that before or have you ever just had a funny experience taking pre workout?

Mags:
Oh, yeah, but not during competition.

Roz:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mags:
Actually, no, I did. Sorry. Actually, my very I just remembered it was like my very first Thunderdome. It was the first competition I ever did. I was individual. It was like in 2014, individual competition for Thunderdome. And I took some pre workout right before my event 3 or whatever it was on that first day and I couldn’t sleep the entire night. I was like having panic attacks, like crying in the middle of the night because I was like, I just wanted to sleep and not really thinking like this has a shit ton of sorry caffeine in it. So, you know, I was up wired all night because I had taken this pre workout at like four. so.

Roz:
Yeah. And that’s one thing that’s interesting. So the pre workout didn’t really affect you on the day like before your event, but it affected you that night. And then of course if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, you’re not going to perform well the next day. So yeah, you definitely want to be careful of taking any supplements that you’re not used to, especially pre workout. And of course, watching how much caffeine you’re consuming as well, because that can just really add to the adrenaline that you’re already feeling from the whole day. And yeah, you don’t want to be messing with your sleep cycle. Cool. So a lot of good advice. And. Moving or putting nutrition to one side for a second. I want to talk a little bit about mental preparation because I know. Doing a competition can be really intimidating or daunting for a lot of people who are just unaccustomed to a competitive environment. You know, maybe, maybe Keir, this resonates with you a little more specifically just because you’re coming to CrossFit and CrossFit competitions with no prior competitive background. So I think a lot of our listeners can relate to that, too. Was there any way that you prepared yourself before your first competition to be like, cool? I think I could handle this. Yeah, I’m going to do it. And and so that’s, you know, in the in the period beforehand that made you feel comfortable about signing up. And then any tips that you have about kind of mental preparation on the day of like how you get yourself psyched up or just feeling confident going in to the event?

Keir:
I think for me, when going into things like that, I do my best when I’m put around my biggest support group. Like people who know me and know how to motivate, motivate me mentally best and know and remind me. That I do. I am good at what I’m good at. And you’re just gonna go out there and kill it and just have fun. And I think I don’t know. I just know. Like for me and how I work when I’m with my social group and my biggest support group. That’s my motivator. That’s what keeps me up and feeling like I got this and everything is going to be fine no matter how else I go out there. Whatever happens.

Roz:
Yeah. And we were pretty lucky. I think we had a big crew of people from our gym, North Naples CrossFit. And I know that Vince, your boyfriend was there supporting you, too. And I could see you like there were definitely moments you guys were having throughout the day. And I was like, this guy is so awesome. Like, he totally understands when you need support and when you just need to be left on your own. So it was cool to see that. I liked that a lot. And Mag, how about you? How do you go about mentally preparing yourself?

Mags:
Well, I think it’s an interesting question because I think it’s different, kind of like Keir mentioned on a team and individual. On individual, you are going out there individually. So I think that your mental preparation does have to be a little bit more calculated. I know that I did like a lot of visualization techniques and things like that where I took like my headphones. I listen to some music, maybe kind of like visualize every single event. And you know what would happen if I’ve failed a rope climb or what would happen just every single rep. Whereas on like on a team. I didn’t really need to do that as much. I think that the what we did and when we performed our best is when we really had a game plan and we went in and attacked it and stuck to it and it worked. And then when we struggled, it was more so when we had a game plan and it fell apart and we didn’t really know what to do. So it was like, oh, shoot, like, this isn’t happening. It’s like Mags is not hitting snatches that she typically can hit. She’s getting no repped. Like, what are we going to do? And like, panic sets in. But then, like, the beauty about a team is that Keir comes in and she’s like, super woman. It’s like without her, you know, we wouldn’t have gotten that far on that workout. So I think that that’s also the beauty of being able to then depend on your teammates when things don’t really go as planned. But yeah communicating when you’re on a team and then kind of individual when you’re out or individually more so kind of using like visualization techniques.

Roz:
Yeah, I think that’s that’s really helpful. And I’m glad you have that individual perspective to offer our listeners. And I think for sure. Using visualization techniques is helpful because it allows you to just anticipate and and be aware of the fact. Ok, well, what am I going to do if I fail? Like what? What is my strategy? And so part of mental preparation also allows you to realize, hey, I’ve got to have a game plan. I’ve got to have a strategy here. Not just plan A, but plan B, C and D. And I think we tried to do that as best we could going into the workout. Sometimes we weren’t 100 percent sure what was gonna be required of us until we were lining up for the heats because unfortunately, a couple of times I think things changed last minute as to what the standards were or what was required of us. But, you know, we we went out there, we did what we could. And like that event you were talking about with this squat snatch I think it was event number two, Mags, with squat snatch and the wallballs. And I think you were having difficulty getting below parallel or. Well, our judge was having difficulty seeing that you were below parallel. And I was having difficulty even hitting my squat snatch, which was, you know, threw me off my game because I just totally did not expect that to happen. And, you know, in retrospect, I do think part of it is because I’ve never done that event following event 1 before. So I just didn’t know how my body was going to respond. But. I liked how, although we didn’t have a specific strategy for what was going to happen in that situation Keir just kind of stepped in and we didn’t completely fall apart. We were just like, okay, well, we’re obviously not all doing individual rounds now. We’re just going to tag in and tag out and try to be as fluid as possible, knowing that it was I think a nine or ten minute AMRAP and just do as many reps as we could. So it was cool that I think none of us freaked out or let panic set and we just chipped away at whatever we could do. And part of that was having that, you know, our own individual mental preparation, but also that collective preparation of just talking strategy and being comfortable with with knowing that our teammates could fill in when when things weren’t going quite right. That’s the beauty of being on a team. I love it. So we’ve talked nutrition. We’ve talked mental preparation. We talked a little bit about preparing ourselves for the competition in terms of thinking about what what you’re you know, what our individual goals might be for the competition and figuring out what our weaknesses might be. Do you think going into an actual competition and I’m just interested to hear your thoughts on this Mags and Keir but I know, Mags, you said that for you. You were just this just really helped you to stay consistent with your training. But for some people out there, do you think that going into a competition it might be worthwhile that they start looking into doing some more volume or potentially looking at a little more closely at their nutrition? And I’m not talking about four weeks out. I’m talking about at least two months out. You know, two, three months out even would be ideal. What do you think about that, Mags?

Mags:
Well, I think that when you sign up, first thing is that when you sign up, you should be ready for those standards. So regardless of whether or not you’re going to be adding in some more training or you’re going to be dialing in your nutrition, I would say make sure that that particular, you know, whether it be scaled, intermediate or Rx, that particular. You know, excuse me, a group or that you’re gonna go to try and.

Roz:
Yeah, that division is. Yeah, I think I know what you’re saying. So you’re basically saying make sure that the division you’re signing up for is not like a stretch for you.

Mags:
Right. Or like, oh, I can’t really hit ninety five pounds snatches now, but in two months I will. Right. Go in that day when you sign up for it being like I can hit all these standards and then dial it in a little bit more and then your volume I would say doesn’t really have to increase. I would say just stick to it because you’re consistently getting stronger anyways. But if you want to work on some little extra pieces like say you want to work on, if you have ring muscle ups, you want to work a little bit more on your technique and things like that. So working on the kip swing or whatever that be or dips, then adding a little bit in and then maybe closer up leading to the competition, maybe adding a couple days where you’re hitting some more volume because you will feel differently when you’re hitting three workouts in a day versus one. So knowing how your body’s going to react, how your nutrition is going to be on that day might be a good idea to kind of feel it out a little bit.

Roz:
Yeah, I think that’s all really good advice and I haven’t even thought about that, you know, making sure that you’re signing up for a division that you feel. You know, pretty confident going into that you are capable of hitting those standards versus like oh I’ll rise to the occasion. And I’m just going to go beast mode for the next three months and, you know, PR my squat snatch by like 20 pounds might be a little bit too much pressure on yourself. Yeah. No, I think that that’s really cool. And. I would say, do you have anything to add to that Keir? What? What do you think?

Keir:
I kind of agree with that, she said. For me, it was a little bit differently. I paid attention more in classes like I knew we all knew what we were getting in to, what we signed up for and what the standards were. We had like, I was doing fine. Like there was something in the class workouts that were going to be in our workout for the competition. Then I paid a little bit more attention to what was gonna be in my competition, in my workouts and focused a little bit more on my strength. But I think most importantly, what is most effective is the volume like Mags saying. So I think leading up to it, just getting used to the volume training, because I think honestly that is what takes a toll on your body the most because you’re not used to doing three workouts in five hours. And it’s all different kinds of intensity, whereas your strength you have to know your strength is either there for. The division that you’re signing up for or it’s not. So I think the volume is definitely the most important and then obviously your nutrition as well and dialing into that leading up to it.

Roz:
Yeah. I like it a lot. And. I think in retrospect, one thing I never did, even though I ran through pretty much all of the workouts and I ran through a lot of them because unfortunately both Keir and I were traveling a couple of weeks leading up to the competition and we hit a couple of workouts together, partner style. But I did a lot of the workouts as prescribed for the individual division and. You know, that was beneficial, but in retrospect, you know, now that I, you know, event two didn’t quite go my way and it makes me wonder, well, how much of an affect event one have on on my ability to be able to squat snatch going into event two. I think in retrospect, it might have been really helpful to have at least done a run through of a couple of those events on the same day, just so I knew what to expect of my body and how it would be able to recover from, you know, doing those events back to back like that. But then the other thing that both you guys said is dialing in your nutrition for sure is gonna be helpful because we know that food is fuel. And so if your nutrition is crappy, then you can spend a lot of time in the two to three months leading up to a competition focusing on the gym and trying to improve your strength. But if you’re not focusing on your nutrition at all, then your you know, your performance is not going to be where you want it to be that weekend. And, you know, it’s important, especially because you are required to do so many more events in one day than you’re accustomed to, that you really are fueling your body. Right. And that you’re accustomed to eating within the windows around your workout so that your body just feels good on the day. Cool. All right. Well, I think we’re going to start to wrap things up. I have a couple more questions. Mags, what would you say was your favorite part of the weekend?

Mags:
Oh. I think my favorite. I mean, it always is. But my favorite part of the weekend is always be being able to. Not only watch other athletes in our gym compete and things like that, but see how much our community pulls together and how much support that we that I feel. I think that’s like the coolest part about the entire weekend. So my favorite part was like the very end our very last workout Roz was carrying the ball. And I mean, first of all, this ball weighs like twice as much as Roz. And we’re like, don’t let go. Roz! Don’t let go. I’m seeing her fight to hold on with every last ounce of whatever she has left because it’s the last workout. We’ve already done six workouts where our bodies are exhausted. She doesn’t let go. And then as soon as the time is called, she drops the ball. And then Keir and I run out and everybody’s cheering. And it’s just like such a great feeling of being complete, but then also feeling so much love and support. I think that’s probably was my favorite moment.

Roz:
Yeah, I definitely ditto that comment and spoken like a true coach, Mags. So you’re all about the community you love. I love it. Before you gave that answer, before you gave the answer, I was like, my favorite part of the weekend was the sleep I got on Sunday night. It was like one of the best sleeps of my life.

Mags:
I bet.

Roz:
How about you Keir? What would you say was one of your favorite moments of the weekend?

Keir:
I don’t know listening to what Mag said, gave me goose bumps. I like. I completely agree with exactly what Mags was saying and I think, I don’t know, just the coolest part is. I love watching everybody compete, whether it’s our team or or the other athletes that were there from our gym. But I think what’s really exciting is when somebody is under that pressure and and you’re having to watch them just show the hell up and just go out there and destroy it. And it is like the feeling that you get out of that is so motivating. And so I don’t know, it just gives me goose bumps. So just the support and everybody being for each other and supporting everybody. My favorite little moments was just watching you guys go out there individually as yourselves and showing up when you needed to show up and just surprising yourself with what you were doing under pressure. And that was just really cool, too, to feel and go through together. I love that.

Roz:
Yeah, I think that is one cool part of being on a team, although I do think you get it to a certain extent when even as an individual athlete, if you take the time to be a spectator and be involved in and support your community of CrossFitters as well. But being on a team, there are those moments during a workout where it’s like, OK, I’m resting, I’m watching these two girls and I’m waiting for the cue to know for me to step in. But there were definitely some moments where I was just like watching you and Mags, like freakin, give it your all out there on the floor in particular. That was it. Furiosa, the rowing with the with the barbell lunges and the handstand push ups and see you guys just demolish that workout.

Keir:
That Workout destroyed my soul.

Roz:
It was Mag’s favorite workout. Of course. Favorite, favorite one. Yeah.

Roz:
Those moments where I was like able to kind of really be in the moment and almost have that like spectator kind of vantage point even though I was in the workout with you guys. It was really cool. And then like you say as well, like watching the unexpected unfold before your eyes, like I think we saw Kelsey and her event carry the D-ball for the entire time. She didn’t drop the ball once. Which was amazing. And then we saw the Rx guys. There was one guy, just total beast who didn’t drop the ball the entire time. I don’t know. What he was carrying was like 200 pounds or something ridiculous. It was just it was phenomenal to see the guts and the glory of people just giving it their all. So, yeah, I’m so, so grateful that you girls said yes to doing that event with me. And, you know, it was it was a privilege, an honor to be by your side and have you kick butt and do all the barbell workout portions for me. So I didn’t get crushed by ninety five pound barbell and hopefully we’ll do it again maybe in a year’s time when I’ve forgotten all about it.

Mags:
So, yes, we always want to forget about this one and then sign up for the next one. It’s like I’m never doing it again.

Roz:
Right, Cool. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed listening to this podcast. And if there are any more questions that you guys have about preparing for a CrossFit competition, then feel free to hit us up. I know we try to cover as much as we can, but we only have an hour here with you guys. So feel free to hit us up. You can e-mail us on contact@OwnYourEating.com or just reach out to us on any of our social channels. Let us know what else you’d like to hear about in respect to competing. And we’ll be happy to help. All right. Thank you, girls, for your time and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Keir:
Thank you.

Mags:
You, too. Have a great night.

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