EDITOR’S NOTE:
I am proud to introduce our brand new feature – The Athlete Journals. To start off we are featuring CrossFit athletes as they train and compete throughout the CrossFit Games season. Look for journals weekly from these amazing athletes as they share their training, nutrition, recovery, and mental preparation for these intense workouts and competitions. The CrossFit Games Open begins this week!
Journals will be posted at 3pm Pacific:
Mondays – Ingrid Kantola of CrossFit Central
Tuesdays – Peter Egyed of CrossFit Fury
Wednesdays – Michael Winchester of CrossFit Central
Peter Egyed – Athlete Journal 2/21/12
(Read Peter’s Bio here – he is a veteran of FOUR CrossFit Games!)
Year Six? – An Intro to My Games History
A lot has changed since that dusty weekend in Aromas, CA nearly six years ago, most of which has been with myself. At the time I was in college, studying physics with no idea what the future held. In 2006, I ran my first marathon and was disappointed with my level of fitness so I went to my Physiology professor for help. I asked him if he could suggest a broad fitness program and he immediately suggested CrossFit. Now, six years later and training for title of fittest in the world while running a thriving business, I am a new person.
In 2008, I decided to take CrossFit on full-time and train to be a top level athlete. I trained in the corner of a commercial gym, practicing pull ups and muscle ups on a squat rack. My Olympic lifting routine was centered around a pair of 25-pound bumper plates and I was repeatedly told not to let the bar drop. After my 23rd finish at the 2008 Games and the brutal 30 squat clean and jerk workout, I knew something had to change.
So in 2009 three friends and I opened CrossFit Fury with intentions of creating a training facility that would consistently produce Games level athletes and hopefully cover expenses at the same time. Over the past three years, we have far exceeded our originally goals and have developed programs to support our 300 plus membership base, doubled our facility size, and have kept individuals and a team representing Fury at the Games the past five years.
Each year my focus has been to refine our training and never feel comfortable with mediocrity. If we have a weakness, we should hone in on it and fine-tune it until we have mastered it. Focusing on our weaknesses has been the backbone of our programming and now, more than ever, anything is fair game at the Home Depot Center. Whatever you fear most is what should be the center of your training. Remember Coach Greg Glassman’s second model of fitness – The Hopper Model: what you would least like to see come up is what you should train the most. Something I may have lost track of training for the 2011 Games.
After my fifth place finish at the 2011 Southwest Regionals, I had a choice to make: continue on with my team who earned a ticket to the Games or sit back and watch from the stands. After much thought I decided to take the latter and let six new hardworking individuals have the experience of being on the big screen. It was the right choice.
Now, six months until the Games and with my body and mind healed, my training has resumed full force. This year I have surrounded myself with new top competitors to keep me on my toes and a physical therapist to keep me moving right. Refinement and mastering my weaknesses are my focus more than ever, so I am zoning in on my gymnastics skills and Olympic lifting specifically. Entering the 2012 Games season, in one of the most stacked regions in the world, there is no room for error and absolutely no room for weakness.
I look forward to the next six months and I promise, one way or another, Fury will be at the 2012 Games.
