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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.
Hey, hey, still.
Let's go.
I was born a killer.
I was meant to win.
I am down and willing,
so I will find a way.
It took a minute,
now it didn't have to ride away.
When they get hot in the kitchen,
you decide to stay.
That's how it winners me.
Stick a fork in the hay.
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
where we're interviewing
the athletes of the 2024 CrossFit Games.
And we have with us none
other than the remarkable
Bethany Florian.
What's going on?
What's up?
I love the theme music.
There's rock and roll over there.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're getting...
The longer we go at this,
the better we get at every little thing.
That's called refinement.
Love it.
So we have a person in the comments,
Jeffrey Birchfield.
Bethany is the first person
to truly make me feel the
pain of CrossFit.
Good old streamlined CrossFit.
Yep.
Texas first gym I worked at.
Lots of pain on the weekends.
This has nothing to do with
my notes or anything I was
planning on talking about.
But when you were a coach back then,
like I know as an athlete,
you knew the pain cave and
you went to it often.
As a coach, did that bleed in at all?
Oh, yeah.
I was a stickler.
I was really mean.
I didn't know what I was doing.
I still don't know what I'm doing.
And I'm glad I'm not coaching right now.
Cause I don't feel like I'm
the best coach in the world,
but I was a stickler for form.
I would make them suffer.
And then I don't know,
they volunteered on the weekends.
I would do like long,
crazy hero wads or just
like made up Bethany wads
on the weekends.
And people would volunteer their,
their time and their suffering.
And they would, uh, you know,
sweat it out with me on the weekends.
It was a lot of fun.
Those were the good times.
Does it seem like,
like eons ago at this point?
It does.
It does.
I actually ended up coaching
a Randy and I coached a kid's class, uh,
like two weekends ago or two weeks ago.
And I was like, man,
I haven't coached a class
in like four years.
I was like, how, where did the time go?
Time, time really does fly.
They do.
They do say that.
And I was like, wow, am I getting old?
I'm always going to be older.
So, um, I'm here just to protect you.
Perfect.
Tell me how it is up there in the,
in the older ages.
So it's funny because before I did this,
I coached, um, and, and I don't,
it's almost like I don't need,
it's another life for me.
It's crazy that it like it's
gone that long ago and it's
only been five years.
Yeah.
Crazy.
Uh, Jeffrey does say,
even though you gave the pain,
it was the best.
If you say so.
I look back at the workouts
that I'd program, I'm like, man,
we're all just crazy.
Just crazy people doing crazy stuff.
Well,
as you've matured and you look back
at those times,
it's obvious from looking
at your Instagram,
you have changed your
philosophy on the workouts
you do yourself today.
Yes.
Multiple reasons for that, for sure.
I feel like a big one is Randy.
randy coming into my life
and being a part of my life
the last couple of years um
well we've been together
almost five but um he's all
about logic and having a
lot of wisdom and
discernment and doing
things for a reason instead
of just doing things to do
things and that's been
really helpful for just
like refining my training um
And then I've been forced
into it a little bit too, right,
with my back and my
injuries and stuff and
being pulled out for a full season.
And a lot of things have
been put in perspective.
And it's been a really tough journey,
but it's gotten me to this
point of advocating for myself more,
which hopefully will
involve longevity in the sport.
Yeah,
there's definitely a wisdom to what
you're doing now,
which is it's cool to see.
And it's not you.
It's there was this the
sport's not old enough to
like learn its lesson yet.
So you look like Rich
Froning and Dan Bailey and
and they talk now about how
they just beat themselves
up and they're paying for it today.
Mm hmm.
And now the newer athletes, you know,
there's much more of a plan
and what you're trying to attempt.
And hopefully it means more
for the next generation
that they've learned the lessons from,
from you guys.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's interesting too,
because not only is it like
a physical beat down,
but I think a lot of people
are getting mentally and
emotionally burnt out,
which I definitely
experienced in 2022 and,
Um, and so things have to change, right?
You have to be able to refine yourself, uh,
to be able to have longevity in the sport,
because if you're,
if you're constantly injured,
then I think that leads to burnout.
And that's kind of what
happened with me is being
in constant pain can lead,
lead to burnout, emotional burnout,
just not having fun anymore.
um and wanting to quit at
the end of the day so yeah
the sport has to evolve and
it has to change to be able
to keep up with the times
um and I think that it
comes from so many
different directions right
like the programming has to
change um the games have to
change the events have to
change to be able to allow
us to do this for a long
period of time I think most
importantly the season has to change yeah
I don't know.
I'm kind of tired of change.
It's changed every year for me since 2017.
That probably came off wrong.
I think the season needs to be shorter.
You guys need to have a very
dedicated off-season to
just reset and reflect and...
You know what I mean?
Or just like options, you know, like,
I think like keep the
season the way it is of
having the open
quarterfinals semifinals games,
but it should be,
there should be like this
point system that for the
games athletes that kind of
earned their way to the
games multiple years in a row,
like maybe it's an option
to do the open and quarterfinals,
you know,
but I don't know how that system
would be and like how fair.
I mean, it would have to,
it would not be me figuring that out.
Um,
but someone would have to figure it out
so that, you know,
we do have the option if some,
if I'm sick or hurt during that time,
it doesn't mean my season
is completely done just
because I can't do that
part because I've earned my
way the last seven years to
get to the games, you know?
Yeah, I completely agree.
With all these interviews
that Dave's doing,
none of this is in my notes,
just so you know.
It always happens when you jump on.
I'm sorry.
Favorite types of conversations.
So he did an interview with
Saxon Pancheck.
And in that, he said,
if we split the teams and
the individuals to two separate seasons,
would you do both?
And I think like at the
surface really quick, you're going, Oh,
that's cool.
All the best athletes you'd
have them year round,
but it's not good for the athletes to be,
be going that hard all year round.
Yeah.
I will say this though,
that some people can, can do it.
Like they're just, just healthy.
You know,
like I think of someone like
Carrie Pierce that rarely
did she have deloads and
rarely did she get injured and
You know,
but it's because she didn't abuse
her body when she was younger.
Um,
and she had a lot of good coaches
around her that kept her
from abusing her body so
that she could do that
stuff at a high level for
extended periods of time.
But someone like me,
like there's a lot of abuse
that I put my body through.
And so there,
there's only so much I can do
throughout the season.
Like I really have to
protect my time and what I do.
Yeah, it just.
the other part I hate is that all these,
these off season events
that have done a really good job,
you're kind of overlapping
them and you're taking away from them.
Yeah.
You know, the water paloozas,
all those people that have
been around a lot,
a long time and have kind
of earned the right to have those comps.
And, um,
Dryer Dagger made a comment here saying,
luckily there are no
beatdowns at the games like
the games this year,
like a thousand weighted
box step ups or anything like that.
Yeah, definitely not.
Maybe we'll do another
marathon row too on top of that.
Wow.
You were part of that, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was crazy.
I just can't believe we did that.
that was 18 18 yeah that's
2018 guys I mean that's the
beauty of crossfit though
is like you're doing things
in crossfit that you would
never think that you would
ever do or was ever
possible within you you
know like it's just
mind-blowing to be like
yeah I rode a marathon 49 195 meters
Yeah.
It's pretty insane.
Cause now I get on the rower and it's like,
you know, a two K and you're like, Oh,
I'm dead.
I'm tired.
But man, it's just, it's crazy.
Or like yesterday I swam
like a mile straight in the pool.
And I was like, I don't know.
I don't think that I would
do that just on my own, you know, just,
just get in the pool for like 20,
30 minutes and just swim for a mile.
Like it's just wild what your body can do.
You know,
my college swimming event was the mile.
Oh, gosh.
Wow.
That's a lot of mental
fortitude right there.
How do you even train for that?
Just a lot of swimming.
Just a lot of swimming.
A lot of long distances.
Wow.
I did not stay in college
swimming very long.
Yeah.
It just wasn't for me.
Yeah, that's wild.
That's wild.
Someone's got to do it.
But we were doing that in 16 minutes.
That's insane.
I literally swam a mile
yesterday in 27 minutes.
Yeah.
That's insane.
So fast.
Yeah, it's crazy.
And you're pushing the whole time.
Yeah, yeah.
yeah I got to go to the
swimming trials this year
for the olympics um and you
know they're even another
tier above that kind of
stuff watching a deck you
do that so impressive it's
insane it's crazy it's
crazy what the human body
can do yeah under certain
circumstances like it's insane
It is.
So that is the beauty of CrossFit.
Not that we're bashing
CrossFit whatsoever.
Everyone can be refined.
We love CrossFit or we
wouldn't be doing this, right?
But yeah, everybody can be refined.
So Dryer Dagger has the twist for Chad.
It's a marathon row buy-in.
With the ruck on during the row?
It's a buy-out marathon run.
Oh,
did you hear TSA that Shane made her
run a marathon when that
clue that was insane?
I don't know.
Cause like,
and that's without training too.
Like, I know that we're like, you know,
fit.
Right.
But like,
I remember doing,
and this was probably before CrossFit,
but I just did like a half
marathon without training.
And I just remember getting
to like the last couple of
miles and my hip flexors
just freezing up.
And then obviously being in
pain after that.
So I just like, that's insane.
Doing a whole marathon.
Like, that's crazy.
That is so much like, God.
Bethany, 2021, could you have done it?
If I had to, yes.
But I just feel like it's
not the cardiovascular part, right?
It's just like the joints and like,
can those keep up for all
the pounding for 26.2 miles?
Like that's, that's a lot of pounding,
you know, on hard, hard, uh, cement.
I just,
I just have this vivid memory of
you crushing that semifinal event, uh,
the rough run in the 117 degree heat.
Good times.
I wanted to quit the entire time.
Just so everyone knows.
Okay.
I was like, this is terrible.
I want to quit.
I literally said that in my head.
Cause you didn't look like
you wanted to quit one time.
Oh, that's good.
Yeah.
You had the, you had the game face on.
Yeah.
I mean, you have to, right?
Like,
I think that's how my mindset works
is like the moment I start
showing like the, uh,
it's kind of like over for me,
which is actually something
I need to work on because I
think you kind of need to
do that and then like
suffer through it to be
able to get to that next
level or threshold.
But yeah, I have to keep the game face on.
It helps me just like get
through whatever head space
I'm in with those workouts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's funny.
Last year before semis,
I think we even talked.
I did not get,
in my predictions,
I did not have you making the games.
And I learned that that
semifinal that you never
doubt this woman.
Don't doubt Bethany.
She's going to pull through somehow,
some way.
And I went to Pasadena and I,
and we watched you and you
looked awesome.
And we even,
we got a couple interviews
with you during that, that event.
And you said in those interviews,
like you,
if it was like two weeks earlier,
you may not have had that performance.
Definitely not.
Definitely not.
God's plan.
Perfect timing.
Literally God's perfect
timing on that because, and all of this,
like literally like the last two years,
I just feel like,
uh it's just I feel like I'm
a living breathing like
testimony because the
things that I experienced
last year and went through
and like were able to do on
the floor like does not add
up does not make sense to
the training that I did
last year and the amount of
pain that I was in like
like it was literally a
miracle everything that I
went through last year and
Uh, it was all just God, you know,
working through me and the
same can be said for this year too,
though.
I feel like I am in a better
spot than last year.
Like I'm still not,
I'm still not 2021 Bethany.
Um, and like,
there's just been so much
like perfectly placed
timing and this whole thing.
And it's hard to even explain.
And I hope that I can one day.
And that's why I'm like
writing everything down.
Like I've literally written
my story the last three
years because I'm like,
this needs to be told.
And I hope that I get to
like write a book about all this.
But it's literally mind blowing.
And even, yeah,
during quarterfinals or
before quarterfinals this year,
there was about a two week
span right before
quarterfinals where I was in,
a serious amount of pain to
where I couldn't even walk
I was in so much pain I
couldn't even lay on my
back because I was in so
much pain like it it's just
crazy like this testimony
that I'm just trying to say
yes to even though it
doesn't make sense as much as possible
So last time we talked,
we did dive into this a little bit.
Your journey with your faith
and your journey through
recovery and all of that at
the same time.
And it's all kind of
happening at the same time.
Yeah.
You talked about you're not
back to 21 Bethany.
How hard is it that 21
Bethany exists while you're
on this journey?
There's a lot of pros and a
lot of cons with it, right?
Because I think it's a gift.
to know that I can be that
fit and that it kind of
just showed me that I was, um,
I'm confirmed on where I'm
supposed to be right now in
life and like what I'm
doing and the career that I'm in.
Um, and it just also helped me.
Like it showed me that I
like belong on the floor
and belonged with all the games athletes,
because before that,
I really didn't feel like I
belonged even before that
event and semifinals 2021, I was like,
gosh, I hope I make it.
Literally, that was my headspace.
I hope I make it.
And so that's the blessing
part of it is like, OK,
and I and I think that
there is more to give to
like I think that there is
a whole nother level of
fitness that I didn't even
tap into quite yet.
But the the harder part is
like not comparing myself.
To that version of Bethany
right now in my journey.
and taking everything as a
huge win as it comes.
Like even yesterday,
I was finally able to squat
clean 185 pounds.
I haven't done that in a really long time.
I got to clean 195 at the games last year,
but that was a freaking
miracle and it was real
ugly and I was just like, oh my gosh,
I can't believe this is coming up.
Um, but I haven't hit that since,
and then before that had been, you know,
a year and a half.
So it's just like taking
everything in strides and
not comparing myself to myself, uh,
and not comparing myself to
others in their journey.
Um,
and I think God has allowed me to just
like really slow down and
really just see all the
ones that are happening on
a day-to-day basis right now.
Um, which I'm really grateful for.
I think that's what makes
you so relatable to people
who watch the sport and why
I'm such a big fan.
I talked last time,
like I've had 12 back surgeries.
Um, I,
I go through those back pains and
I'm not 2016 Scott anymore.
I lift the weights that 2016
Scott could lift.
I can't do a lot of the
things that he could do.
And I fight every single day against him.
And it's tough.
And we talked last time
about how faith comes in.
And I try to lean on that so much,
but it's hard.
It's a hard, hard journey and a hard life.
It's every day.
It's like a muscle, right?
It can be atrophied just as
easily if you don't work with it.
And so it's constantly, for me,
it's constantly doing my devotionals,
journaling, praying,
I have like my community of
advocates who also believe
in God that I can go to and
ask for prayer.
And it's like, it's an everyday thing.
And I can tell on the days
that I don't do that.
It just, it gets atrophied really quickly.
So just as much work that
goes into the gym,
it's just as much work
outside of the gym for me and my faith.
And like,
that doesn't stop just because
I'm in season, right?
Like that stuff is year
round and it's 365.
And I think some people can
look at that and be like, Oh my gosh,
it's such a heavy burden.
And like, that's,
that's too heavy and too hard to carry.
And it's like, yeah, it is on your own,
but I don't do this on my own.
It's not me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not me.
It's not me.
So like you have a YouTube
channel now and it's awesome.
Is there,
is there a plan to go more into
like this kind of stuff?
Like the drug that I think
that would be hard to do
like mid season to like
talk through these points.
Cause I know the emotional
toll that might even take
on you that you can't
afford to have a week or
three weeks before the games.
Yeah,
I have been a little bit like I
actually had.
So I have Louis Marshall.
He's helping film like this whole year.
And he was down yesterday
doing a full day.
It's like a day in the life.
And we kind of got into the
weeds of like the gut issue
stuff that I've dealt with
for all of my career and
even before that.
And just kind of getting
into the weeds of it's not
just a surface level thing, right?
Like it comes from trauma.
It comes from just not
dealing with yourself and
taking ownership.
And so we kind of got into
the weeds a little bit,
but I think that there's a
lot more to share.
And I think the more that I do that,
it's good reps because
I want to write a book, but I also want to,
I want to speak to, like,
I want to do something with speaking.
I don't know what it looks like,
but I need reps just like I
do in the gym.
And so it's a good way to like,
kind of start forming my
thoughts on my own YouTube
channel of like, okay,
I don't know where I'm
going with this pathway of talking,
but I'm just going to like talk.
And then the more that you talk about it,
the more a pathway is kind
of like formed.
So that's kind of my goal with YouTube.
Yeah, and I think you're perfect for that.
You're just so relatable.
You've been through so much.
Others have been through the same things.
And I think that's what
draws people to you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
So let's talk about semis a little bit,
get a little more lighthearted.
Come in.
And this year I did not,
I did not doubt you.
I picked you to make it to the games.
Thank you.
I will all you I'm picking
you from here until you retire.
Hey,
a hundred percent of the time I make
it guaranteed so far.
Right.
Seven out of seven.
Yeah.
And so,
but you start the event with an
event that I thought would
be really up your alley.
I did not know your,
your clean and jerk stuff
that you just talked about,
like just one 85 for the
first time in four years.
But the run,
you're always so good on the run.
I died.
Were you disappointed in
yourself on that one or was
it known with the clean and jerk aspect?
No, I was definitely disappointed.
Um, it was just, it wasn't, well,
it wasn't even disappointment.
It was just like confusion because, um,
I knew it was going to be a
hard workout because of the
clean and jerks for me and
just like my capacity for that.
And that just adds a whole
nother element of like the
cardiovascular side is, you know,
multiple reps of clean and jerks.
So I knew it was going to be hard, but.
my body just kind of like
shut down after like the
second or the third round
of the run and it was just
kind of like this weird
outer body experience and I
kind of felt like um the
best way to describe it is
annie thor's daughter 2016
murph where she like
stopped and was like
falling off the rail um
that's kind of how I felt I
almost stopped because my I
just I couldn't breathe I
felt like I was breathing
through a straw it was like
like every step.
And then my body was like
full of lactic acid.
Um,
and then like afterward I was like
blacking out and I was like,
I don't know why that happens.
Uh, I think it was multiple,
multiple things.
Like I think there is the
fitness capacity for sure,
but I think it was just
like this one off weird
thing that happened.
Um,
So, and I, we have,
we have an idea of where it
could have come from.
Uh,
we think it was some supplements I was
taking.
Um, it was, I was taking beetroot powder.
and um you know layard's
superfood it's like uh yeah
mushrooms yeah it's like
performance mushrooms for
like the it's like your
mental side um I was taking
those and I've been taking
them pretty consistently in
training and not having any
problems but one in one of
the training think tank
guys was like well
I take those two pretty regularly,
but every time I take them
during competitions,
it does the opposite for me.
So like almost, uh,
it gets like your vagus
nerve to start working,
which is your relaxation nerve.
Um,
so I think my body was actually like in
the battle with itself.
So I kind of like took those
out the rest of the weekend
and I started feeling better, but, um,
I don't think it's like one
thing to blame.
I don't think I felt I've
been filtering lactic acid as well.
Um, stuff like that.
So anyways,
it was a really crazy
experience and I hope to
never experience that ever
again because it was scary.
So I have a question for you.
You said earlier when we
talked about the 21 ruck
run at West coast classic, and then you,
that you wanted to quit then on,
on this one,
you wanted to stop competition.
Bethany ever stopped.
No, no.
I knew I wasn't going to, but yeah.
Yeah.
You've always been in.
Yeah.
This one was definitely the
one where I was like,
because it was more of a
physical thing that was going on.
It wasn't just mental.
It was physically like I
couldn't move my legs and I
couldn't breathe.
I was like contemplating
stopping because I was like, am I gonna,
is my body just going to
completely like blackout and shut down?
Like, um, but yeah.
Have I ever stopped?
No.
But it was crazy.
Once that's over,
you have to climb the
stairs to get out of the stadium, right?
Yeah, that was hard.
I was just like, keep it together.
Keep it together.
But just from pictures,
I thought you had to enter
and exit up and down the stairs.
Yeah.
So that was pretty rough.
I was like, I am not okay right now.
I'm not okay.
It got better.
We trended in the right
direction after that.
Yeah.
Then you surprised me again
on the second event because
an 11th with a pretty heavy front squat.
That was really heavy for me.
I was really happy with your
performance there.
Thank you.
And then you go into the
rope climb event and get a fourth.
Yeah, I was happy with that.
I was actually,
I wanted to go harder on that one.
but my body was still I
think coming out of like
whatever it was coming out
of from event one on day
one um but I was still
happy with that one because
that's the bike I love the
bike we love the bike not a
lot of people do so anytime
I see the bike I was like
great let's go and then and
then the the you go into
sunday in pretty good shape
uh because you open with a fourth
And then you have just the
two events left.
And I wanted to talk about
the snatch ladder.
And this is where in my mind
coming into this,
I was like the comparison
between 21 Bethany and today's Bethany.
That's where you did in 21.
Did you ever compare
yourself or did you know, like,
this is something that I am not anymore.
And,
and I have to approach it differently.
Um,
I knew in the back of my mind,
like I can hit all those weights.
It was just a matter of like
timing with everything.
Like literally just had to
like alignment had to happen.
Like the stars had to align
for that workout.
And like,
I knew when that workout got announced,
uh,
my head space was if I can finish this
workout, I'm going to the games.
If I don't finish the workout,
then I'm not going like
that was the deciding
factor basically of the weekend.
um but I didn't allow that
to be like the main thought
in my head I was just like
you just need to go out
there and do what you need
do what you know to do um
and that's where like the
perfect timing of like all
of my training kind of
aligned because I had just
hit 175 like the week
before and the last time I
had hit 175 was at semi-finals last year
And that was a miracle in itself.
But it was just like the
perfect timing that I think
I have to give credit to
Randy on that because he
really helped me with like
figuring out weights
through the last couple of
weeks before semi finals
leading up to that event.
And I was like lifting from
blocks and I don't know it
just it was it was just beautiful.
It was perfect.
It was just the way it was supposed to be.
And I was so grateful for that moment.
Yeah,
I saw you post on Instagram like it
was my week out that you
had run through it and hit
all the weights.
And that had to be such a
confidence boost going in.
Because I know before you
didn't have the success going in.
Yeah.
So speaking of Randy,
you guys have been married
now a couple years?
Almost two years.
It'll be,
I think our anniversary is August 27th.
So it'll be two.
So he has a very busy,
important job in the sports world.
Yes, very.
His team is always on ESPN
like every day because of
their name and who they are.
They say CrossFitters are selfish.
Is it good that he's as busy
as you are at the same times?
Yeah, I think so.
I think our seasons line up.
perfectly to where we both
have downtime in August, which is nice.
But yeah, I think it's I think it's good.
And he understands to like,
I understand him.
And he understands me.
So it's just really just a well oiled,
perfectly matched relationship.
Yeah.
I can't even imagine doing what he does.
I watch get up every now to,
to watch other sports other
than CrossFit just to kind
of reset my day.
And the Lakers are on there
every stinking day.
Yes.
They are under a microscope at all times.
Um, does he ever talk about like,
is his goal to stay in that
field for forever?
Um,
I think so.
Like he, I wouldn't, well,
I wouldn't say forever,
but it's definitely a goal
of his to become a head
strength and conditioning
coach in the NBA.
Um,
and so he definitely wants to fulfill
that.
And if he can get like a championship too,
with that, that would be, um, yeah,
like kind of like check the box for him.
I think he wants to stay in
like the strength and
conditioning world for the
rest of his life and career,
as long as he wants to.
Um,
we've talked about like what
it looks like once there's
a family and like kids and
the changes that could have
to happen with that because
you know right now he's
traveling every time they
travel for the games since
88 games that's 40 of them
are traveling and it's busy
um and so it could look
different with kids but we
haven't really we haven't
gotten there yet so we don't know how to
you know, manage that quite yet,
but it is definitely in
discussion of what that's
going to look like once there's kids.
Does he, does,
do the players still come
around in the off season?
Like they're in the off season right now.
So it's working every day.
It, the hours are just smaller.
Yes, exactly.
The,
I think the only difference is he's
just not traveling,
but he's just as busy on the off season.
Cause that's like the, the,
the time where the guys can make the most,
I guess,
changes to their bodies and get
the most consistent
training in is during the off season.
So a lot of his guys will
come in during this time and train,
you know,
three to four times a week and
hopefully make some gains
in the areas that they need
to and strengthen things up
and a lot of prevention from injury.
So busy, busy time for him as well.
As you're getting ready for the games,
does he have more time to
spend with you and getting
you ready for the games
because it is their off season?
Yes.
Like he definitely has the advantage of,
you know,
training the guys in the morning
and then coming with me to
the gym to either, you know,
watch me a little bit or train with me,
which is nice.
Uh, though it's a suffer fest for him.
He's like, Oh,
I hate doing all the CrossFit stuff.
He likes doing like one or two pieces.
Not like a full day of training,
but I appreciate it.
And he knows that.
So he does it for that.
But yeah,
I definitely get more eyes on me.
He can like see me lift and
just help me protect my own
body in the gym, which is nice.
Jeffrey, again, Randy is such a good dude.
Yeah.
He's amazing.
It's really cool because you
can tell that you guys have
a really good relationship
when I watch your YouTube
videos and stuff and that
he's always there and very supportive.
And I kept running into him
at the games last year as
he was like the goer for you.
Like he would be sprinting
from one field to another.
And it was really fun.
There's no off time for him.
He's like,
my only vacation is going to the
games and I have to work.
I'm like, sorry.
Speaking of vacation,
you're going back home, right?
Yeah.
Good old Texas.
I grew up in Austin, Texas,
or we both did.
Me and Randy did.
It's about a four-hour drive from Dallas.
A lot of family coming in?
Yeah, I hope so.
We are in the process of
trying to find tickets for them.
If we can all find tickets
for my whole bunch of family,
because it's like 10 tickets,
then they are all going to
go and support me.
That's great.
And they can all go to the
Friday night one.
Oh, is it free?
It is.
Oh, nice.
And it's double the size of the arena.
So it's like 20,000 people can get in.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Which would be, I think,
the biggest crowd ever at a
CrossFit event if it fills.
That'd be pretty sick.
Yeah.
I hope they do something
super cool because of that.
Yeah, me too.
Who is better at burpees, you or Randy?
randy he's so fast he is so
it's insane how fast like
longevity like you want to
talk about duration of
burpees me but like
sprinting randy's the man
he is so fast I'm like how
are you so fast he's so
tall too yeah I I'm not
even in the running on that one
Uh, so just to finish up semifinals,
the last event going in,
were you confident?
Cause there seemed to be
like a pretty big
separation between like the
last spot and the people
fighting for the last spot was,
did you feel confident going in?
Um, honestly,
I didn't know where my
placement was cause I
didn't really look this
year on the leaderboard.
Um, so I really was like,
I need to not mess this one up.
And then I felt like I
messed it up in the middle
of the workout.
So I actually wasn't very
confident when I was
standing there waiting for
my name to be called.
So it was actually kind of like, I mean,
there was tears after that
because it was like a sense
of relief of like, okay, I did enough.
But yeah,
I was not confident after that
workout because it wasn't a
great showing for me.
Yeah, from a spectator's point of view,
it was programmed really
beautifully because that
lunge either ate people up
or people thrived,
and there was a clear delineation,
and the leaderboard shook
up a lot on that event.
It shook up an 11th,
which isn't that horrible
compared to some other
breakdowns during that event.
Yeah, yeah.
I was thankful because I
really thought I was like, man,
that was probably like a
30th finish for me when I got done.
um just because like I fell
apart on the ring muscle
ups and and then the lunges
too like I knew I knew that
I wasn't going to hold on
to the lunges the entire
time because it's just a
heavy weight for me right
now um but I was just
hoping to make make it
through and luckily I did
but I almost dropped it on
that last step I had to I
had to like stand up so
slow because it was like it
was just fingertips at that
point and I knew if I stood
up fast it was just going
to be over for me and I'd
have to go back all the way
which happened to a lot of people um
But yeah, I was like,
once they called my name
because I wasn't so sure.
I think Boz programmed that one.
And the fact that so many
people dropped on the very last step.
Heartbreaking.
My goodness.
Yeah, that was a heartbreak.
so let's talk about going
into the games one I
thoroughly enjoyed your
interview with dave I love
the way he kept pushing
back on him um and he was
taking it like a champ I
think it's actually been
good for us to get to know
dave a little more I think
for the first time ever
he's kind of revealing some
things about himself yeah
I'm glad he's doing this
Yeah.
Proud father loves bragging
on his daughter's cross country times.
And I think that's really cool.
But we know two games events
at this point.
We know Chad and it's event
seven right before the cut.
And then we know the run swim.
We don't know exactly what
it's going to be,
but there's a lot of speculation that it,
that it's at a certain Lake.
There is a running path to a
dock that is 3.5 miles and
500 meters swim from that
dock to the finish.
Hmm.
If it all played out.
So that would be exactly four miles.
All right.
All right.
Interesting.
The latest news though is, um,
and this was from the barbell spin, uh, a,
a,
a listener went out and ran it and said,
encountered a lot of snakes.
And there are possible
alligators in the lake.
Oh, no.
I'll not do that.
Now,
supposedly they're just small alligators,
not the big ones.
Does that affect how you're
going to take the event?
I guess it'll help us swim faster.
I just feel like for me,
like there's always a lot
of people already out there, you know,
like the lifeguards and stuff.
So I feel like it'll scare
away any type of, um, you know,
creatures out there.
So personally for me,
I'm not too worried about that.
Uh,
I've swam in a lot of lakes over the
years and, uh, never, you know,
knock on wood encountered anything.
And they're like the triathlons I've done.
But I feel like if you're
just swimming by yourself
with nobody out there, then yeah,
there's probably like a
higher likelihood of
something like that happening.
But there's gonna be so many
people in the water that I
feel like it'll just scare
off all the creatures around.
And so I'm not too worried.
I used to live in Northern
Florida and there was a swimming hole,
lake, river,
whatever that had alligators and,
and the lifeguards would
literally take a piece of
plywood and smack it on the water.
When the alligators would
start swimming toward the swimming area,
it would make the
alligators turn around and go away.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
So I don't, I, I, there,
I don't know how scientific
that was or just, um,
Well, we're going to find out.
Yeah.
So, you know,
I just think that this year
is just going to be a huge
learning curve.
It is like,
that's just what happens when
you go to a different venue.
Like it's just a huge,
I think a lot of things
were learned the first year at Madison,
you know, of things to do, what not to do,
but also it's just like,
You can't predict mother nature too,
on top of everything.
Like the first year in Madison,
I remember it's freezing.
It was so cold that one day
it was so random.
So you just like,
can't predict everything
that's going to happen.
And then the lake too,
like ended up getting nasty
over the course of the years,
but it was fine some years.
So, you know, we signed up for this stuff.
So we just got to suck it up
and just do it and not
complain at the end of the day, you know,
we're getting paid.
I think we talked about it
on one of the other episodes.
The first time I ever saw you in person,
it was the first time I
volunteered for the games and it,
and that was the snow on
the obstacle course.
And you guys,
all of you guys were out
there without like you were no coats, no,
no, no one was around to stay warm.
Yeah.
We're all just all huddling
together like this.
It's like really pitiful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So random.
That was so random.
No one could have predicted that, you know,
it just kind of happened.
Yeah.
About the swim.
The last thing is I would,
I'm more comfortable with
the alligators than I am the snakes.
Yeah.
I don't like the snakes.
I'm deathly afraid of the snakes.
Yeah.
They're fast.
They're fast.
Now the snakes, not water snakes.
Yeah, that's true.
But you don't know.
There could be some in the water too.
But I think once again, even on the paths,
there's going to be a lot
of people out there and volunteers.
They'll kind of scare away the snakes.
Because at the end of the day,
the animals are more scared
of us than we are of them.
We're scared of them,
but they're scared of us.
I like that logic.
Yeah.
I think it'll be fine, whatever happens.
It's made me question
whether I'm going to go
watch the run switch.
Right.
Like if there's a lot of people there,
the animals will be in hiding.
Yeah.
Oh, cool.
So, um, so going into this year,
do you have an expectation for the games?
Is there a,
do you just want to make it the
whole way through the week?
Do you like, what is,
what is Bethany's goal for
the games this year?
There's a lot of levels to that.
A lot of levels.
Um,
I think my ultimate goal is
I want to be on the podium.
It's just going to be a
matter of like stars aligning,
body feeling good,
having consistent training,
the workouts in my favor.
You know, the list goes on.
The list goes on.
But at the end of the day, like for me,
it's just really important to, you know,
stay healthy throughout the
entire weekend and enjoy
the process of the games
because it goes quickly.
But also this is my seventh
year and I think a lot of
people can start to not
have as much fun as the years go on.
And so for me,
it's just really important
to enjoy it and
I love people,
and so it's important for me to
enjoy the experience with
the other athletes.
And just Yeah,
I think the biggest word is enjoyment.
But I might I have a word
every year that I choose.
And this year was fierce.
And I think fierce can go
into so many different avenues, right?
Like it can be fierce in the gym,
fierce and training fierce and competing.
But just like fearing less
of the pain that I can be in.
Because I think when that happens,
then the true full Bethany
comes out in competitions.
And I think the more
consistent training that I have,
the more I can be fierce on
the competition floor and like fear less.
And so that's my ultimate
goal is to fear less on the
competition floor and just
kind of go for things if
and when it's the right timing for me.
I, I, you've kind of made me take a,
like in a back because last
year's Bethany wouldn't have said podium.
Yeah.
And you, and so it's exciting that you,
your mind is to a place where, yeah,
it may take the stars to align and,
and a really good programming,
but that it is possible.
And that's,
that's exciting to hear from you.
Yeah,
I definitely think it's in the cards.
Like I have the potential to
be on the podium.
It's just a matter of,
is it going to happen?
You know,
I think anybody there's a lot of
us athletes that can say that, right.
I think there's like a pool
of us that can say like, yeah,
podium is definitely in the cards,
but is it going to happen?
Let's see, you know,
what the best women win.
Um,
but that is an ultimate goal of mine is
to be on the podium.
And no,
I wouldn't even have said that in 2021.
But I do believe it's in the
deck of cards.
And on the other side of that,
it's OK if it doesn't happen.
It's not going to change who
I am or my self-worth, my self-confidence,
and self-esteem.
It's just a goal that I feel
like is reachable.
And that's the thing.
People are going to achieve that.
And then they're going to
realize that they're like, Oh, that's it.
You know, like, Oh,
it's not as fulfilling as I
thought it was going to be.
So I think having that in
the back of my mindset of like, yes,
have goals.
It's okay to have goals of
what you want to happen in your life,
but you also need to
realize that like your
self-worth and your
self-confidence is not
found in that goal.
It's found in like how you
treat other people,
the journey in itself.
An acronym that I use is BEAST mode.
So it's BEAST, which is your body language,
your effort, your attitude,
your self-talk and being a team player.
Those are all things that you can control.
Right.
And so that's like my goal, um,
throughout the season and
throughout competitions is
like control that part and
then just allow the other
things to happen if it's meant to be.
Um, so yeah, go on the podium.
A hundred percent.
I like that.
We'll see.
A lot of people say,
I just want to be the best version of me.
I can be,
but you define it with that acronym.
It's actually,
there are measurable pieces
that you want to hit and
that's really cool.
Yeah.
Just so you know, in 21,
I did pick you for the podium.
Oh, thank you.
Because your performance at
West Coast Classic that year,
other than Tia and early
Annie Thorstotter,
was one of the single
greatest performances I've
ever watched in CrossFit.
Wow.
Thank you.
So I actually picked you.
I was so bummed when
everything happened the way it did.
And we don't need to rehash that.
We've done it a couple times.
Yeah.
It had to happen.
it really had to happen for me.
Like I needed to get to the
bottom of myself with a lot of things.
So, um, that happened.
I know that you're in, this wasn't planned,
but you and Carrie were really tight.
Are you guys, are you guys still friends?
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
We, um, I mean, we don't say as in contact,
you know, as maybe we didn't,
we lived in the same city, but like, yeah,
did we talk to each other?
And for sure,
she is amazing and always holds a very,
special place in my heart
like I love her so much so
yeah I love both her and
miss carrie yeah oh yeah
they're great that's such a
great couple they're
they're gonna make such
cute kids I can't I'm
excited yeah well bethany
as always it's always such
a joy having you on uh I'll
be in fort worth we'll be
there rooting you on and I
hope hope you go beast mode
Yeah.
Let's get fierce.
Let's get fierce.
Let's, uh, you know,
the biggest thing is the
next couple of weeks
continue to have consistent training,
which I'm very grateful.
The last couple of weeks has
been very consistent for me.
Um,
and that's going to be a very important
part of like being able to
do it on the floor is just
being consistent, um,
and staying healthy.
So we've got a couple more weeks.
We're going to pray, cross our fingers,
be confident in that.
And then, yeah,
see what happens on the floor.
Awesome.
Well,
thank you everybody in the chat for
being here.
Thank you, Bethany,
for taking the time out and
we'll see everybody next
time on Clydesdale Media Podcast.
Bye guys.
Thank you guys.