Dana Paran | The Clydesdale Media Semifinalist Series

We sit down with Dana Paran to discuss what the goals are this season after qualifying for another year of Semifinals.

What is Clydesdale Media Podcast?

We cover the sport of CrossFit from all angles. We talk with athletes, coaches and celebrities that compete and surround in the sport of CrossFit at all levels. We also bring you Breaking News, Human Interest Stories and report on the Methodology of CrossFit. We also use the methodology to make ourselves the fittest we can be.

We'll see you next time.

What is going on, everybody?

Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,

where we're featuring the

athletes of the 2024

CrossFit Games semifinals.

I'm so excited to have with

me Dana Perron.

Dana, what's going on?

Good.

Thank you, Scott.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, I think we timed this perfectly.

The women just finished

event two at West Coast.

We have the first team to

teams that are going up,

but we have some time

before the individuals hit

the floor again and the top tier teams.

So perfect timing.

Perfect timing.

So I'm excited to talk to you.

I scoured your Instagram in

researching you.

And you talk about an

incident you had in 2017

that because of every time

you take the floor,

you could damage your left leg.

Yeah.

So can you for people who don't know,

can you walk us through

what happened then?

Yeah.

So long story short in 2017, I was, um,

I was a weightlifter and I

was a big weightlifter at that time.

And I was, I was in a CrossFit gym though.

I was messing around and I

fell off a peg board,

like one of the climbing peg boards, um,

fell straight off the top.

So it was like 15, 16 feet,

broke my ankle in a very specific way.

Um, I like dislocated my heel.

I shattered my ankle bone.

Like the basically allows

you to like rotate any way direction.

And they were like,

you can't walk anymore.

You will not be able to lift anymore.

Like very basic, like daily, you know,

daily living.

And I was like, okay.

I mean, I was only 21 at that point.

So I thought I was like,

I feel like I could heal.

And I didn't like,

I got like,

obviously from being like an

athlete at that point,

cause I was on team USA for

the Olympic training site,

being such like a high

level athlete to go from

that to just straight up.

I can't even take care of myself.

Major depression straight

into major depression.

They like gain a ton of weight,

super unhealthy.

And then like, you know,

like I think it was like 12 weeks later,

14 weeks, someone, something ridiculous.

Like I was still non-weight bearing.

And I couldn't afford to do

physical therapy.

So I had to do it myself.

And I like went back in the

CrossFit gym and I was like,

let me just like, just try to like move.

Like I couldn't, I mean,

at first I was doing like

everything on my knees.

Like I could only do snatches,

a dumbbell snatch for my knees.

And I was only doing

CrossFit just to like

mentally get better and

like literally just like

move more than what I

couldn't around the house.

Had you been an athlete your whole life?

Like, pretty much.

Like, you know, from, like, sports to,

like, track.

Like, yeah.

And then I fell into weightlifting.

So, like, not being able to move, like,

killed me.

I hated it.

I'm, like, crazy.

And then, but, yeah, it's, like,

I think that Open came around.

I think it was, like, 2018.

I think it was 2018.

And I wasn't going to do it.

Like, I was, like, I don't know.

like I still could barely

walk I was just starting to

walk again and they're like

yeah just do it and I like

remember that first workout

I did like all the I could

barely I couldn't kit

because it hurt to lift my

foot and like I did all the

toes towards singles I

think I still got like an

okay score but then I was

like maybe you know like

maybe I could just like

hang around crossfit you

know like just do the

things and then like

progressed on into like 2019 I'm like

on the floor at I qualified

for like a sanctional I

think back then it was like

sanctionals when it got

really weird and I went to

the 2019 asia crossfit

sanctional and I remember

like the that was a weird

year though because you

could qualify through the

open and qualify through

sanctional and like I came in

I think I was four spots

away from a game spot that year.

And I was like, holy shit.

Like, I was like, maybe I could do this.

So like,

then it just took off from there 2019.

It was like,

well then I took 2020 and 21 off.

Cause I was, that was just a weird COVID,

uh, like competing here.

I didn't really know what's going on.

And then from then on, I was like, okay,

I'll try 2022, 2023, 2034.

So I've just been competing

for real ever since now.

So when you're on Team USA,

were your chances of being

an Olympian really good?

Gosh, that was so long ago.

Their qualification process

for weightlifting is

complicated because

different weight classes

are more competitive than others.

So like I was in like one of

the most competitive weight classes.

I think it was like 64 or something that,

it's changed now.

But like that middle weight

class where like women tend

to be right on,

like that 155 weight class,

like it's so competitive.

Like back then it was like

Maddie Rogers and like now it's, you know,

so they,

what they want to do is like

put to get a spot for like

the Olympics is how they'll

do in the world.

So usually tend to be like,

we'll be more competitive

in the really higher weight classes.

Cause like there are less women there.

Yeah.

So like, it's really hard.

Like I would have had to

gone to like the 90 kilo class.

No.

So like,

I wouldn't say that year was a good,

like a good,

good quad year for me to qualify even.

Yeah.

I talked to Alex Lachance a

long time ago and she like

won the nationals,

but her weight class isn't

even Olympic weight class.

Like, and so I was really like,

she was trying to explain

to me how complicated it is.

It's so complicated.

Yeah.

Like you can be like, and they, it,

it keeps moving.

Like I stopped keeping track

once I retired from that.

But like, yeah, like I was a 64,

I was a 69.

There's no 69 anymore.

Now it's like 72.

And then I think now it's like 73.

Yeah.

And so like your weight and

it's hard like to jump up and down,

like the eating or the losing weight.

Like it's, it,

which is why another reason

I'm really glad I'm in

CrossFit because it's like,

there's no weight class.

I'm like, I don't care what I weigh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You,

you just want to be as comfortable as

you can be.

Yeah.

Do everything right.

Right.

Like you can run,

you can do your gymnastics, can lift.

Yeah.

So when you have this injury,

it definitely took you out

of the weightlifting world.

Right.

Um, but now you're in CrossFit,

does it affect your weightlifting today?

Or is that still one of your strengths?

Uh, it's, it's definitely still one.

I'm like,

glad that I have that background.

It's definitely one of my strengths.

Like I know, I don't want to like,

but like,

I know like if a weightlifting

event comes up, I'm like, I could get top,

you know,

10 in the world etc um

especially if it's a snatch

one because it's like I

love the technique behind

that um obviously there are

girls that are way stronger

than me but like I think

when fatigue hits me like

hits all of us in crossfit

my technique is takes over

and I think that definitely

helps a lot um play out in

a snatch ladder

I hope it'll play out really

good this year.

I mean, I hope so.

I mean, it's, it's different though.

Like,

cause I think weightlift from

transitioning from

weightlifting to CrossFit

was one of the hardest

things was not going to

I want to call it like when,

when you do one lift and weightlifting,

you kind of use like all your muscles,

you use it all at once,

like one time and you're done.

If you do that in CrossFit,

you you'll burn out.

So you kind of have to like, it's,

it was a really weird thing.

Like I didn't understand

like how girls that weren't,

when I first started, I was like,

I don't get it.

Like, how are they not tired?

And it's like,

they weren't using all of

their strength at one time.

They would like, yeah.

So like,

I mean, I'm glad for the background,

but I think just adding the

running and like the

gymnastics was definitely a challenge.

So like when you watch

Europe do the snatch letter

and Elisa Fuliano, who is five, one,

120 pounds crushes that

workout just because she's smooth.

Does that give you hope with

your technique?

Yeah, I think so.

I did watch her, and that was awesome.

She didn't even look tired, to be honest.

I was watching the whole time.

She just looked calm and collected.

And it is one of those workouts where,

yeah, smooth is slow and smooth,

and smooth is fast.

You don't want to miss.

And I think going touch and

go is just kind of like,

that's not that smart in a

workout like that.

So I think...

Also just like the weight changes,

being smart in how you change the weight,

prevent like your low back

blowing up and stuff like that.

Yeah,

I did get here a lot of feedback

about the back just wanting

to seize up when you're

changing the weights.

Yeah.

I think it's like you,

I think when we're

practicing these workouts, I have,

I have practiced it like once or twice,

like the weight changing is a skill.

Like most people don't realize.

Cause like most of the times

when we do work out like that, or like,

you don't, you don't change your weights,

you know, a bar,

a new bar rolls out and

that's given to us.

And like,

we don't have to worry about

blowing our backs up,

but for sure it'll matter.

Cause we have to change it

at least three times.

So.

yeah I saw a guy sitting on

the weights yeah wait I did

not see the guys but that

is that is funny yeah they

they literally sitting

there you know like when

you're done with the lift

and you sit on the end of

the weights they were doing

that to change I did think

because like in the way

that some of the I did see

the weights versus the

women versus the men like the

weight I think the weight

distribution is a little

off though like the way

they the way they lift some

of the last bars versus us

you know I think maybe we

could have probably gone up

to like 185 or something

but yeah I almost think

with that workout it's it's

what is the easiest change

plate to put on right like

just to make it to make it

more of a spectator

friendly event yeah um

Which, like,

they'll do that for that event,

but then they take out the

berm run at West Coast,

which is this iconic thing

that every spectator wants to see,

and they remove it.

Like, I just don't get it.

but yeah, it is what it is.

So, so you come off that, that injury,

do you still, like,

I know that you're

sponsored by like a PT group,

like how important for you

is PT to this day because

of what happened?

So it, I don't, I,

I know I need to post more, but like,

If you watch like some of my

videos or watch like my,

if I like put out my

quarterfinals videos and stuff,

and if you look really closely,

I've actually done a pretty

good job I think of hiding it.

I've had to do CrossFit a

little bit different than

some other elite athletes.

Like sometimes I can't use

my left side or it's harder

to use my left side.

Double unders is like one of

the things that was one of

the hardest things to do

because I can't jump

entirely on my left foot still.

So like this, for example,

this five round workout is

going to be kind of a

challenge for me because

that's 500 double unders, you know?

Um, but like my PT, a lot of it is like,

uh, cause I have a lot of imbalances,

like probably more than is recommended.

Like, I think if I,

I think I did like a DEXA

scan or something like that,

you're not supposed to have

more than like 1% or 2% of

like deviation from like

your left to right side.

And I think my right side is

like way bigger than my left leg,

just because of like, you know,

not being able to

completely use my left side.

And so you can actually see

it in like a lot of my lifts,

like my left foot will not,

I am not able to like touch the ground,

touch my heel to the ground

on some squats and stuff like that.

Um,

and so like a lot of it is honestly

just like making up for the

fact that right side is bigger.

So I'll do like left leg

Bulgarian split squats only

on my left leg or like left, uh, ankle,

like just weighted calf

raises only on my left leg.

And so like a lot of that is

really important to not get, um, you know,

hip or knee injuries, which I ha I did.

get one,

I was supposed to go to Dubai last

December and I got one just before,

and that was really frustrating.

So like,

I have to be careful with volume

of squatting.

Cause that, um, you know,

more imbalances than on my right leg.

I'm using a lot more right

leg and stuff like that.

So yeah, just to,

it's always just about

rebalancing over and over

and over again throughout

the week and volume.

So your injury was to your ankle,

your knee and your hip as well.

Yeah.

Cause like I had to,

when I went non weight bearing,

I had to go.

Um, I used,

I don't know if you've seen one

of those things,

but where you put your knee on a,

it looks like a pirate peg leg.

That's what it looks like.

And it changed the, I did it.

I did it.

I was on that thing for so

long that it changed my gate.

So I was like swinging my

hip and that's not how

you're supposed to walk.

And so like the big issue

was when I started to walk and run again,

I kept swinging that hip

over and over again,

instead of picking my knee up,

like you're supposed to when you walk.

And so.

yeah like that like running

running is a big issue too

so yeah like just foot

strike gate all that like

fancy biomechanics stuff so

how do you mentally look at

a semi-finals where you're

gonna get a long run

you're going to get 500 double unders.

Like, do you,

do you mentally prepare

yourself ahead of time?

Like, okay, this is where I just,

I just have to do damage control.

Um, yes and no.

And not for that reason though.

Um,

only because like when I mean like

cardio wise coming from a weightlifter,

like running has always been odd.

hard spot for me just

aerobically and so for that

reason yes but not because

of my ankle like I think I

haven't gotten injured in a

while that my brain I don't

really care about that side

of it that it does come

into more play on the five

round one the hundred

double unders but um

no not really I think I've

I've like this is my third

qualify for semis that I'm

kind of like it's kind of

in the background now it's

not really it's not really

there did I read your

anaerobic capacity coach

yeah I am just just

pointing out the ironic

obvious thing there hey I

took the courses I'm still bad at running

You can teach it.

Yeah.

And then, I mean,

I also graduated with an

extra science degree.

So like, that's why I was,

I'm always so interested in

all these extra courses too.

Yeah.

I, um,

I'm sure you watched some of the

stuff from West coast.

You didn't get to see the

run until this morning.

Um, but Chris Hinshaw,

the inventor of aerobic

capacity was espousing his wisdom.

Does any of that help you

going into next week?

When I took his course,

it was actually recently like,

like 10 months ago or

something like that.

Um,

A lot of the stuff in his

course I was doing naturally already.

I just didn't have like his

background in science to

like put behind it.

Yeah.

Like he does teach a lot about breathing,

which I think is really,

I think if you haven't

taken aerobic capacity course, you should,

he's just such a cool guy.

He's so chill.

Like he's like, he's like,

I'll give you my number.

He's like,

he's honestly one of the most

humble coaches ever.

Um,

And I think that also helped

me realize I was a shallow lung breather.

A lot of people tend to hold

their breath in running,

which is why it's so hard for them.

And I realized I needed to

take a breath every four steps,

which is pretty quick when

you're running at a high cadence,

versus holding my breath for 12 steps.

So yeah, I think it does.

And I think every athlete

should honestly take this course.

Yeah.

I'm probably breathing so

heavy that I'm breathing every step.

Yeah.

I mean, when you, yeah.

So he,

he mentioned that part and he was like,

if you breathe every step,

you're hyperventilating.

Yeah.

And I was like, Oh, I do that a lot.

Yeah.

That's this guy.

Yeah.

We get to a point in a mech

on where you're going to do that.

Like, you know, so.

Yeah.

Um,

So anyway,

so I actually had the privilege

of standing on the, in the media pit.

Chris was on one side of me

and Nicole Carol was on the

other side of me and they

were talking and I just got to like,

listen to them for like a whole event.

And it was one of the most

fun things that's ever happened to me.

Yeah.

I mean, two great lines.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I want to talk about some

of some of your things you

do outside the CrossFit

world that I read about

that I wanted to learn more about.

And one is that you play piano and sing.

Yeah, I grew up, my parents,

and this is like for any

Asian listeners out there,

this is like an Asian thing.

Like we get thrown into all sorts of,

they try to get us like musical gifts.

I was thrown into like violin, guitar,

piano.

Piano was one of the first ones.

And I took lessons through

classical piano all through

until I graduated high school.

I don't have a piano now

because my apartment's so tiny,

but it is one of those

things where I could just

like sit down and just like

play again or like, and you know,

read notes or hear a piece

and I can play it on the piano.

But yeah, so yeah,

I am really glad I learned music.

I was not glad learning music,

but I am glad to have that skill.

I've heard a lot of people,

because Fisa Goff is a good friend,

and she, same thing,

was brought up through, I think, violin,

like almost concert-level violin.

And I've heard a comparison

that the drive to be a

musician and the drive to

be an athlete are very similar.

They're very similar.

you practice,

like I just remember

practicing and practicing

and practicing and like,

you don't get a piece, you go back, you,

you practice it again, like,

and then you put it all together.

And so like, I mean, it's, it,

she's right.

They are pretty, they are pretty similar.

So if you want to get like really, really,

really good.

Yeah.

You just put in more hours,

you put in more practice.

And so it developed,

it developed a mindset for

her when she went into CrossFit.

Yeah, I agree.

I totally agree.

so you sing as well do you

sing classically do you

sing like pop songs do you

hit the karaoke bar what's

the like it's one of those

things where I'm like I

just like a lot of people

don't know that at all so

just like like oh you sing

you know like I can sing so

like I it's like a party

trick it's my party trick but I guess

Yeah, it's other than CrossFit,

my other passion is music.

And I'm not awesome at it.

Like I took guitar lessons.

I try to play guitar.

I do sing and I was actually

covering a master's athlete

and we went to a karaoke

night by accident and I

pulled it out and like

everybody was stunned that

I could actually do it.

So it's not a good party trick.

It is.

Um,

I only pull it out like every couple of

years and, but when I'm in the car,

of course I'm doing it every day.

Right.

Nice.

Um,

so you also were recently named the

president of out Chicago.

Yeah.

Last year.

What, what an honor that is.

I know it was, uh,

cause I also recently only

recently moved to Chicago in 2021.

So like,

it was dead for a bit

because of COVID like COVID

just kind of put all stop

to like the events and stuff like that.

And then I, I, I got asked and I was like,

I was like, absolutely not.

That's exactly what it says.

And then it,

it kind of came back and asked,

he asked me again and,

and I was just kind of like,

maybe I'll just like ease into the role.

I'll step into it somehow.

I don't know.

Um, but yeah,

so like I threw on like a one,

the first major event,

which was like a burpee a thon, uh,

10 minutes of straight burpees.

And it was a, it was not, not my idea.

I would not have chosen that,

but it was a good, like turnout and, um,

good, like almost like first,

like reawakening of the ouch or the.

the program here in Chicago.

Um, and yeah, so like, that's, it's,

I get a lot of help though.

So it's like,

I feel like I'm more of like

a figurehead right now,

if that makes sense.

And it doesn't take away

from training or anything like that.

No, it's been, we've been,

it's been pretty quiet lately.

Um,

but like may mostly just like trying to

maybe like help, uh,

like out Chicago athletes, um,

around Chicago and stuff like that.

That's awesome.

Um, any,

any big goals for that going forward?

Um,

mainly it's just to like raise money

for like these athletes.

Cause like a big, one of my,

the thing that,

one of the things that

really caught my eye

without Chicago is that we

have like a scholarship program.

So like there are people who like,

you know,

And people who don't know

how much gym memberships cost,

especially in major cities,

they can cost up to $225, close to $300.

And so just being able to

raise money for a few

athletes who can't afford

that or just given that

opportunity to be in a

CrossFit gym or wherever

gym they want to be,

that's a huge financial

burden that's taken away from them.

And so like, you know, they,

they get like gear,

they get shoes and just like,

it's a way to just kind of

like give back to people

who like deserve it.

So I was going to ask,

like if Chicago is a new thing,

because you were in the

west right last year.

No.

So I was, I've been in Chicago since 20,

like the, like 2021.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't even know.

See, COVID messed my years up.

Like something around 2021.

I was in Kansas before that.

So I think that would have been West.

You know what it is?

I saw a picture of you at semis.

And the video screen behind

was so similar at both.

Yeah.

I think it just mixed it up.

Yeah.

No, I saw it in East last year.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Wow.

We better be in the West.

Like the East is back.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I mean,

it's great that we have 11 spots too,

but like, it's also like,

look at who's in our region.

Yeah.

Well, you know, Haley's back.

Tia's back.

They should have given you

16 spots with all that.

I know.

Oh.

What is interesting to me is

it's this stacked thing, right?

But you're coming in twice

as good as you were last year.

You came in,

I think it was 50th last year.

This year, you're 24th, 25th.

So huge leap forward into

this year's semis.

Do you have more confidence this year?

So...

something that changed this year.

Well, not this year, last year,

just before I went to Dubai,

or I think it was shortly

after the road qualifiers last year,

I was like, so I don't, I've been,

I was by myself since starting 2019.

Like I wrote some, my own programming,

I would do random programming.

And like up until last year, I was,

I was like kind of doing HWPO.

And I was like,

I think I need a one-to-one coach.

And so that was,

so this is the first year

that I have a one-to-one coach, thanks to,

uh, uh,

Crider training with Kristen Holta.

Yeah.

And yeah, so I made a huge, um, change.

So my coach is Anders, um,

and their coaching group.

And obviously we know about, you know,

they have,

they have four out of eight

teams in Europe that qualified, um,

great athletes like Sahir

and Andrea Solberg.

And so they honestly welcomed,

when I reached out to them,

they really welcomed me.

I approached them like they

didn't know who I was,

and apparently they did.

And I was like, oh.

But one of the first things they were like,

we need to work on your endurance.

And that weightlifting background,

I was like, I know, I know, I know.

And it's just different when

like you're not writing it

because you're not going to

write things that suck for yourself.

You're going to hold back a

little bit and just having, you know,

coaches need coaches, that type of deal.

So like having them watch me

even from afar,

because obviously they're in Norway,

has been a really big game

changer for me.

And you said they didn't

know who you were?

They did.

They did.

I think because from Dubai,

because you've competed in

Dubai a few times, right?

Or?

Yeah, I qualified twice.

Yeah,

that's where I first knew who you

were is when you competed in Dubai.

Yeah.

Because you were one of the

few Americans that were

competing that year.

I was the only American.

Yeah.

I was really nervous because I was like,

oh my God.

I was like, I'm the only American.

I think a guy who was gonna,

he failed to qualify.

And I was like, I was like, damn.

I was like, oh my gosh,

this is a lot of pressure.

Honestly, I went to just have fun.

I didn't know what I could do.

I didn't know if I belonged.

I was like,

I'm just going to have fun and

make some damage.

If I could just do some

damage and get some money along the way,

I guess I'll try doing it.

Yeah,

and I watched you that whole weekend

because, you know, country pride.

I want the U.S.

to do well, right?

Yeah.

So I was watching you there,

but one of my favorite

Canadians has jumped in the chat.

Yeah.

Oh, Carolyn.

Yeah.

And so...

Yeah.

So I watched you the whole weekend,

and that's how I knew about

your background in weightlifting.

And, you know,

the announcers were touting

that that was somewhere

where you were going to

make up some ground, things like that.

What's it like competing in Dubai?

Because it's a completely different world,

right?

Yeah.

I mean, other than, like,

I could feel there was still, like, a...

like female to male,

like the males were

definitely getting a lot

more of attention.

I think it's just like the way it is,

a little bit of that.

But I honestly, I think it's great.

Like I love Dubai.

They just,

it feels a lot more intimate

because it was, well,

that year it was only 20 women, 20 men.

And so it feels like all the

attention's on you.

Like you, you've really got to, so like,

I think that's what I love about Dubai.

And of course, like the, the prize,

the prizes are crazy.

They pay you also per event.

So I think that also forces

like much better competition.

Like we're trying to get first, second,

third, you know, get an extra 3000,

$5,000, whatever.

Um, but yeah, no, I love Dubai.

Like I would love to go back every year.

Yeah,

and then you had a setback this year.

You qualified but couldn't

make the trip because of a

patella injury?

Yeah, so that was my knee.

That was my right knee.

Again, just from being too unbalanced,

yeah.

Is that good now, going into semis?

Yeah.

Like, as soon as that injury happened,

I was like, I was relying a lot,

and I'm sure a lot of athletes do this,

but we rely a lot on, like,

um knee sleeves you know

like too many knee sleeves

too much we and I was like

I want to get off on all I

want to get off all this

extra stuff like I want to

strengthen my joints and so

like I've been last quarter

like this is the probably

the healthiest season I've

been like I didn't I wore

almost not no gear for at

all for um quarterfinals at

all so it was just awesome

It's funny,

when I had back surgery and

when I came back from that,

I stopped wearing everything.

I'm not trying to be competitive.

I'm trying to be healthy.

And do I need all this

equipment that allows me to

push beyond my body's limits?

No, I'm just trying to be healthy.

So I got rid of the knee sleeves.

The only thing I do wear

occasionally is a belt,

but everything else I

pretty much got rid of.

Yeah, for sure.

Like, if you're going for, like,

a max deadlift, yeah, for sure,

throw that belt on.

You'll probably be able to

keep the pressure in,

get a couple extra pounds.

But, like, I'll tell people, like,

who have backs or injuries all the time,

like, you need to strengthen your back.

Like, stop wearing the belt on 50%, 60%,

70%.

Like, strengthen your back.

yeah yeah I only wear it on

the heavy stuff or or a

deadlift um I but and I've

never I've never liked all

that stuff I just got like

reeled into the CrossFit

way right and yeah gotta

have all the toys you gotta

get the velcro but yeah

yeah so after looking at

the events um anything that

you're look really looking

forward to um honestly day three

because the way they laid it out,

I think this year was really interesting.

Day one has one event,

day two has two events,

day three has three events.

And like, I think a lot of people don't,

they're like, oh,

they count people out by day two.

And I'm like,

it's only been half the events.

Like, it'd really shake up by day three.

And things so like, just, you know, don't,

if you think the person

that you want to make it to

the games won't make it, just wait.

Like,

They might shake it up really bad.

And I think day three is

also the shortest events,

and so seconds will count so badly.

Yeah,

I think if you just watch this

weekend with the men, right?

Tudor finished down in the 30s on the run.

Second event, he finished his seventh,

and now he's just outside a

qualifying spot.

Yeah.

four events to go it right

you just can't lose it in

the first couple events

yeah like mentally I think

for the athletes you can't

you got if your bad event

was on day one or day two

let it go you literally

have 400 300 points left up

for grabs like um for the

spectators that's like I

said great it's a great

spectating um event

yeah I i actually love this

format because it adds that

one I love semi-finals more

than I love the games oh

wow because it's a more

intimate setting the

athletes are more

accessible especially from

a media perspective and the

pressure is higher because

everybody everybody's goal

is to make the games yeah

once you get to the games

there's people that just

are glad they're there right

right so the tension on

Sunday and now you're

adding a third event to

that last day yeah oh my

goodness like that is if if

you're not going to

semifinals you are missing

out yeah because it is that

last day is going to be

tense yeah that last day

last event like I saw I was

watching leaderboard in

Europe and like seeing

people that were like 22nd

dropped to six like I think

ikai dropped to like sixth

place I was like

That was wild.

Yeah.

I'm telling people like,

like the seconds on like

the difference between the

seconds on that last event.

Cause it, for the elites,

it's a three minute workout.

It's a three, four minute workout.

It's not a six minute workout,

whatever that cap was.

So it's like, you can,

you have the capacity to,

if you're in that bubble

outside of the bubble to

make it to the games in that last event.

So Carolyn's got a lot to say here.

So she's going to smash the snack ladder.

And then I think this has

been talked about a lot.

I just don't like the

seeding during semis.

I don't think the first

event should seed for day two,

and they should definitely

reseed the final event.

And I completely agree with that.

I agree.

By not receiving the final event,

you are cheating the fans.

Yeah.

And you're cheating the

athletes' chances of making the games.

Yeah.

Because if you can see who

you need to beat,

you're going to go that

extra 3% you need to.

Right.

Right.

I agree.

Yeah.

yeah like it was crazy today

because of a running event

very monostructural

especially in california

that was a running event

yeah not a clean and jerk

event and um and the way it

seeded up this morning for

tit for events two and

three now because you're

stuck in that seed there's

people down in heats three

that have no business being

down there no no so yeah

Um, but yeah,

so like you would hope that

the athletes would do their best,

but it's like on like that,

seeing who you have to beat

or what you have to do can push you.

Yeah.

that's just natural.

Yeah.

I do a workout in my garage

and I can push with everything I have.

Right.

If I go to the gym and do it, I, I'll,

I'll be 10 seconds faster.

Right.

Yeah.

I agree.

Put your, put your favorite song on.

There's another 5%.

Right.

Like, yeah, it is.

Um, so it's well established.

Now you're going to smash

the snatch ladder,

but you also like legless rope climbs,

right?

I do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you have a legless

intense workout as workout three.

How does that play out for you?

Because it does have box jumps.

Well, if I'm not wrong,

I think they have to step down, right?

Correct.

So that is another thing

that gives me hope because

I think I can't rebound.

I wouldn't rebound anyways.

Like I got one ankle.

I'm not going to do that

ever in my life again.

But like, that keeps me in, I guess,

in the running.

Like it gives me hope.

Because if we had to rebound, I'd be like,

oh, well, I'm screwed.

Because there'd be like

bunnies jumping around.

So that kind of levels the

playing field for me.

And then I love the echo bikes, so.

So, so with that,

there's two events we've

talked about that, you know, if,

if you're, if executed properly,

you could do very well.

Yeah.

Um, what,

what are your realistic goals for

the weekend?

If I'm being honest, um,

stop that non nonsense.

Um, I love the echo, Carolyn.

I love it.

Um,

Obviously, I want to qualify for the games,

whether it's podiuming or 11th,

barely making it the last spot.

That's the goal.

And I'm sure a lot of people

feel this way who also are in semis.

We don't train this.

I mean,

I hope you wouldn't train this hard

to not try and make it.

So I always do my best.

I'll try to do my best.

um and I think just doing

that knowing that I'm

giving my best I'll

hopefully also be happy

with whatever placement

that I get too so so I'm

going to make a little

correlation and you and you

can tell me if I'm

completely wrong with this

I'm watching colton mertens

this year who trained on

his own finally got a coach

in the proven camp

And he has completely reset

what we think of him as an

athlete in the first two

events already by taking

fifth in a run event and

winning the second event.

And he said afterwards that I never bluff,

but I sure as hell never

fold and just watch the

other tricks I have up my sleeve.

Yeah.

You similarly have gone from

training yourself to having a coach.

Are you optimistic that some

of your weaknesses have

gotten a lot better since then as well?

Oh, a hundred percent.

Yeah.

Like running alone, I will say, um,

I do not think eight hundreds are

scary anymore yeah like I

just coming from track like

where I ran 100s and 250s

100s and 200s like 800

meters is not a joke if you

had to make that transition

and for sure like I am way

more confident in running

now so like just from my

injury but also in training

and just like my overall

capacity aerobically like

A lot of the workouts in

quarterfinals was not,

they were not weightlifting.

Like there was one event and

I wouldn't even really call

that weightlifting because it was like,

you had to do all that to

get to a 165 pound bar,

which isn't that crazy.

There's no like heavy lift.

There's nothing.

And I knew that no

weightlifting event could save me.

And so like to get some,

to get like a really good score on that,

like fight gone bad type workout.

Um,

and hold my own in a very aerobic piece,

I'm very confident that

I've gotten better.

I wouldn't say I'm like, woo, the best,

but I know for sure I've gotten better.

Oh, that's exciting.

And I can't wait to see you there.

I try to keep these to 30 minutes.

We have blown way past that.

But it was fun talking to

you and getting to know you

a little bit better.

Thank you, you too.

I think I'm going to be in Knoxville.

I just got to make sure I

can get a car for my wife when I'm gone.

I can get that to set up this weekend.

We're going to Knoxville and

I'm hoping to do some

behind the scenes stuff.

So catch up with you there

as you're going through the weekend.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Oh, good luck next week.

And everybody in the chat,

thank you for being here.

We'll see everybody next

time on the Clydesdale Media Podcast.

Bye, guys.