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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.
In the kitchen
what is going on everybody
welcome to the Clydesdale
media's podcast featuring
the athletes of the 2024
CrossFit Games semifinals
and we are here with
CrossFit Games athlete
Caroline Stanley how's it
going Caroline good how are
you I'm good what's it
sound how does it sound
when someone calls you
CrossFit Games athlete
It's still kind of like different because,
I mean, I guess I've always,
ever since I started CrossFit,
I've always wanted to go to the Games.
So now actually making it
and then people saying
CrossFit Games athlete,
it just kind of like doesn't seem real.
Well, it's real.
You went last year.
You even made it past the
first round of cuts in your
rookie season.
What was the goal last year?
Was it to get...
further than that or
realistically did you think
that's where you would be
um I guess the I guess
going in I didn't really
have any expectations
considering it was my first
crossfit games um I wanted
to make it past the first
cut of course I mean
everyone does but I guess um
going in I didn't really
have any expectations so I
was just going out there
doing what I knew how to do
and whatever happened
happened what so I just I
listened to your interview
you did with kat two years
ago when you were getting
ready for granite games and
we're going to dive back to
that a little bit because
you had just graduated from
college you would you were
going to your second
semi-final at that point
You said on that interview
that you were not an endurance athlete.
And then I look at your games finishes,
and your three best games
finishes were the bike, the 5K,
and Helena.
I know.
Honestly, I guess, I mean,
I've been really...
honing in and trying to work
on endurance and this I
know there and I guess when
I talked with her that year
I didn't um I think that
was my senior year I think
I guess I just graduated
right before going to
Granite Games and I never
really had a coach never I
just kind of followed
programs did what I wanted
to do or like didn't want
to do I not really didn't
want to do but like
Kind of just in and out,
like not a specific,
like someone structuring me, I guess.
So after the Granite Games is that year,
that second year is
whenever I got in contact with Jarrett,
who's my coach now.
And so we,
we started working together like
a month or two or so after
that season or whatever.
So are you a different athlete?
Were you a different athlete
at the games last year than
you were two years ago
going into Granite Games?
Oh, 100%.
Yeah.
I found it fascinating.
I wasn't doing it to call you out.
I found it fascinating that
you had improved that much
in something you thought
was your whole in a year.
Right.
I mean,
it really makes a difference having
someone to really structure
you the way you're supposed
to be and following a plan
and talking with them about strengths,
weaknesses, what we want to do,
what we don't want to do and whatever,
instead of just kind of
going with the flow and everything.
I think one-on-one
individualized programming
is definitely beneficial.
Before we get into Jarrett,
because we're going to do that,
when you were at the games,
what was your favorite
event to compete in?
I would say the Helena was
probably my favorite event.
So I was going through your Instagram,
and your Helena picture is the coolest.
Yeah.
Like everybody wishes they
had a picture that cool.
Yeah, that was,
that was a really fun event.
Do you like,
do you ever frame any of these
pictures or are you in such
a digital age now that you
just leave them on your
phone or your laptop?
Oh, I don't have any.
I mean, I don't have any frame personally,
but like my mom,
she'll print them out and
put them all over and like
the fridge and this, that and the other.
Would you ever like frame
your jersey with like a picture?
Oh yeah, I would definitely do that.
Okay.
I just thought that was a
really cool picture.
And while we're here on Instagram,
I have a big question to ask you.
And one,
I know the guy who took this picture,
by the way,
and he is one of the coolest
cats in the CrossFit space.
B-A-W Media is just, he's one of the best.
So I like featuring his stuff anyway.
Oh, yeah.
He's a good person too.
He is so much.
I want to know what this is.
You're front squatting
someone doing a handstand.
Was that something, um,
Jarrett programmed?
No, he didn't program that.
The, um,
It was actually the girl
doing the handstands idea.
She was like,
let me see if you can do this to me.
And I was like, okay, I'll give it a shot.
Well, you gave it, you did it for reps.
Did you ever doubt yourself?
No.
I mean, it is like, I guess it's,
it's awkward, but I mean,
my front squat max and
is way more than what she
weighs it's just I guess
I'd more of a balanced
thing yeah and then does
her do her shoes stick to
the wall or not no she just
has regular shoes on no
sticky nothing so I just
thought that was funny when
I was looking um the the
weird stuff that
crossfitters do in a gym
when they're left alone
Yeah.
Jared,
Jared definitely wouldn't have heard
that for me.
Did he, did he,
what did he say when he saw it?
I'm not sure.
I think he would just say
I'm crazy because I do
crazy stuff all the time
and he just don't, you don't get.
Yeah.
Don't get hurt, but have fun.
Right.
Right.
Right.
So, um, so let's talk about Jarrett.
You, why,
why did you pick him as your coach?
Um,
Honestly, he kind of reached out to me.
Well, so at Granite Games, he was there.
But a guy who I was there
because the owner of College Hill,
she knew a guy that was there.
His name was Dan that went to Comp Train.
And he actually is the one
that told Jared about me.
And then Jared reached out to me.
And we got on a call and, you know,
went through that whole little spill.
But... And did you know
right away that he was the worst?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
When we got on the call and
just how invested he was in
this sport and, like, in, like, athletes,
even just, like, outside of the gym,
as far as, like, just...
what they do, their outlook,
like invested in not just
like what I'm doing in the gym,
but also like how I'm feeling about,
it could be anything like
just a random Tuesday or like just,
he's always,
he cares about you as a
person as well as an athlete.
Every time I have him on and I'm sorry,
I have a frog in my throat
these last couple of days
from talking so much.
Um, you're fine.
every time I talk to him,
he is so not consumed with
the leaderboard that if I
ask him questions about it,
he always tells me his
philosophy about why I
shouldn't care about that.
Yeah.
He's, he's a good, he's a good guy.
I got a, I got the best one out there.
Yeah, he, like,
he's the one that taught me the phrase,
comparison is the thief of joy.
And that, like,
you shouldn't compare
yourself on the leaderboard.
You should compare yourself to yourself.
Is that what you're looking
for in a coach?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, he, it doesn't, like...
I obviously care about – I mean,
I care about the leaderboard.
I care about this, that, and the other.
Like, I'm very competitive.
But, like, he keeps me,
like – even if I do not
have a good workout, not have a good day,
not this, that, and the other,
he still keeps me, like,
I guess still in a good
mental spot and everything because –
CrossFit is just as much
mental as it is physical.
I feel like once you get out
on the floor and everything.
So let me ask you this.
When you started with him,
he was a comp train.
So you become a comp train athlete.
He moves to Proven.
You move to Proven.
Other than the name on the building,
has anything changed for
you because you stayed with Jarrett?
Not really.
So it's, it's the same for you, just a,
a different home location for your coach.
Yeah.
I mean, like I get the, I mean,
I have the privilege,
like as far as me and
Jared's like connection and
like the way like we communicate and this,
that, no, they're like, nothing's changed,
but like, I guess I just,
I have the privilege of
also being with a different
community and they're, um,
the other coaches, um,
and the athletes that are already in that,
like going from comp train
to proven or whatever,
the coaches and the
athletes that are already
with proven have been very like,
like a family or whatever.
So it's,
it's nice to have that community
and everything to be able
to go up there and,
train with them.
And even though Jared is my coach,
all the other coaches still
like have eyes on me and
are able to tell me, help me with this,
that,
and the other that I might need help
with like a movement or a
workout or anything.
And then I guess we're all
just one little family, which is nice.
Well, and he, um,
He brought Sydney and Lucy with him too.
So you,
the three of you were all at comp train.
Now you're all at proven.
So you still have those,
but then you add people
like Sydney Wells and Tia and,
and are the,
is that the privilege you have?
Like the six time champion
is someone you get to work
out with occasionally.
Oh yeah.
A hundred percent.
She's helped me with a lot
of things and it's very
useful and helpful.
Was there any intimidation
when you first set foot in her house?
Not intimidation, no.
I mean,
they are all so welcoming and like...
just bring you in like arms
open wide it wasn't no
intimidation or fear or
like stepping on anything
anybody's toes like they're
all so nice and friendly
and just like we're all
part of the same team at
the end of the day so it
wasn't anything to be like
any kind of worry or
nothing in the back of my
head wow because
just a quick story.
I was,
I was doing media at the syndicate crown.
I believe it was.
I'm,
I'm kind of leaning against the wall
in the media pit.
And this person's asking me questions.
And I,
I looked down and it was Tia and I
got freaked out.
Like, like, Oh my gosh,
I'm sitting here chatting with Tia.
So that's why I asked the question.
Cause even I was like starstruck.
in that moment but she
couldn't have been nicer
like if she wasn't trying
to intimidate me I just was
like starstruck more than
anything yeah she's super
super super nice yeah um
and so I've always had
great experiences with her
but like in this sport and
in this space she she casts a big shadow
Yeah,
my first time meeting her was we met
or whatever and introduced each other.
And then we just started
going about training or I
was talking to Sydney about something.
And then she turned around
and was talking about my accent.
And so it was kind of like ever since that,
just our first time
interacting together was
just like we were joking and having fun.
We had known each other.
for a while and we have
literally just met so it's
funny because I told you
before we were on the air a
lot of my wife's family is
in Charlotte and you talk
just like my wife's cousin
if I close my eyes that is
who I would be I would
picture it's funny because
your accent is thick yeah
they're like you talk so country yeah
That's fine.
That's fine.
And North Carolina has a
different version of it
than the rest of the South.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you and Jared go to Proven.
What elements of your season
have you done at Proven headquarters?
And what have you done back
in North Carolina?
I guess the first...
When they first opened,
I went up there right after
and just kind of like to
see the facility and this, that,
and the other.
And then I did the first two
open workouts at my hometown.
And then I did the third
open workout at Proven.
They had the live announcements.
And then we kind of did it
all the next day.
And then I did quarterfinals at Proven.
Is it good for you to have
that push or support or
both by doing it there?
Oh, yeah.
I think so.
It was very helpful.
Do they team you up with
someone that is good for
you to give you a push?
Or do you guys pick who you
want to go up against during workouts?
Or how does that all work out?
Um,
I guess the coaches kind of just like
put like little heats
together depending on like
the workout and like the space,
what kind of space we
needed and how many could
kind of go at the same time.
But you leave that up to the coaches.
Yeah.
I mean, we could pick,
I guess if we wanted to.
internet um my wife just got
home from work and she
probably logged in to
something uh so it's
starting to come back
hopefully yeah yeah there
we go uh sorry about that
um so last time you talked
to kat you're just
graduating from college are
do you work full-time or
part-time doing anything or
are you a full-time athlete
I work part time and a small
animal hospital.
Okay.
And you, you like that?
Yeah, I like it a lot.
At first I wanted to, um,
like when I graduated,
I graduated with a biology degree and, um,
I wanted to go to vet school,
but I'm not really sure.
I like doing it,
but I'm not sure because I
like CrossFit too,
and you can't really do both.
I'm not sure if I want to go
to school for four more years.
Jeffrey Birchfield asks,
vet tech or just informally help out?
Um, it's, I'm like a vet assistant.
I don't have the actual, like,
I guess the res,
like the license for vet tech yet, but,
um, kind of the same thing.
Okay, cool.
Um, and you, you love animals.
Yeah, I love animals.
We have, um, like horses,
like horses and cows and
everything like that.
And then I have a German
short haired pointer.
dog.
Okay.
And do you have a lot of
property for the animals to run?
Yeah, so my brother, my middle brother,
he ropes,
like he does the head and
another guy does the heels,
like two men team roping.
And so he has a Palomino
that he ropes with and then
he just recently drove to Ohio and got
or in Oklahoma and got a red
room that he is training to rope as well.
And then I just like have
like trail road and stuff like that.
And then we have like a
hundred acres that we have some cows on.
And then we have like some
land that we lease and this,
that and other to keep other cows on.
Cause we probably have about,
60 to 70 head, but we just kind of like,
we have like black Angus and red Harford.
And we just kind of like grade them.
And so we don't like
slaughter them ourselves.
Okay.
Do you ever, so my,
my father-in-law used to
raise cows and he would
take them to like a butcher,
have them do all the work
and then he'd get the meat
and bring it home.
So we did that if, like, one is, like,
had a prolapse or, like,
something like that.
But as far as, like, normally, like,
we just, like, sell them at, like,
certain ages, like 600, 800 pounds,
like kind of calves,
just depending on what we have.
But we will, like,
slaughter or take them somewhere if, like,
something happens to them.
okay because it's there's no
better meat than the stuff
you raise yourself right
like you know eaten it's
not all the nasty stuff you
get at the store so I love
when my father-in-law does
that because we get a lot
of the the meat that comes
off of that oh yeah a lot
can come a lot comes off we
just we have one that um
we did this past year and we
just did it all in ground beef.
I think we got a couple of states, this,
that, and the other, but like, it's a lot,
like our freezer is still like stacked.
And like, I have two brothers and then, um,
I still live with my parents right now.
And like between all of us,
like it's still like so
much still in the freezer.
Yeah.
I, those, I love that.
Um,
I love when we get a ton of ground beef,
uh, and that's when,
that's all we use when we get that.
So Jeffrey Birchfield, again,
with a question, asks,
did you show FFA or 4-H at any in school?
No,
I played softball whenever I was in
college.
So do you know what the FFA or 4-H is?
I think he's talking about like horses.
Or though he's talking about.
Farmers of America.
Yeah.
Which is like an
agricultural organization too.
Yeah, no,
I didn't really do any of that
because I played softball
and that's probably about it.
I was just playing softball,
doing school and working
out literally my whole four years.
So Carolyn Prevost is one of
my co-hosts on one of my other shows.
And she always talks about
athleticism and that it's
rare to find in CrossFit
because most athletes are,
when they're working on fitness,
it's straight ahead stuff.
And she played hockey in college.
And so a lot of side to side,
a lot of athleticism that
you don't always see on the floor.
You were a shortstop.
probably the most athletic
position on the softball field.
Do you wish the CrossFit
Games or CrossFit season
would test athleticism a little bit more?
Yeah, I feel like they should considering,
I mean, CrossFit is a sport,
and I think people think
when you play a sport, you're athletic,
right?
I guess athlete, athletic, athlete,
athletic kind of comes with
any type of sport.
And so I feel like, yeah.
Yeah.
She is, she's a big proponent of that.
And an example is rogue
always seems to throw in
like an athletic event every year.
Like this year it was the
over under the logs where
that takes athleticism to like jump and,
throw your body over the log,
under the log,
over the log kind of thing.
Um, and she loves that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I did too.
I mean, I think the bike,
the bike was kind of athletic ish.
I mean, um, I thought it was fun.
I mean, I'd never really like, I guess,
I guess people can like,
I guess train that,
but I had never really, like I was on a,
I'd,
like, rode a bike as a kid, so I kind of,
I mean, I had rode the bike around, like,
just, like, a couple miles, like, for,
like, an hour or so, like,
on the road and this, that, and other,
like, in my hometown, but as far as,
like,
on grass like I didn't have
that I just had like a road
bike so as far as like on
grass gravel getting off
running or whatever I had I
didn't do any of that and
no paticing for that going
on to the games I was just
kind of like in like little
I was just kind of being
athletic and going back to
like just I guess when I
was a kid and like just I
just felt like a kid out
there honestly it was fun
just riding I would just
feel like riding a bike
like it back in the good
old days and just I don't know
Yeah,
I think that's what an athlete would do,
right?
But the athletic part of it
was the getting off, lifting it up,
jumping over the barrier,
getting back on.
I think that's where the
athleticism came in.
Like anybody can ride a bike
straight ahead.
But getting off, getting on, lifting it up,
carrying it,
like that takes a lot of athleticism.
I agree.
Yeah.
so um so is how is life
different now than it was
when you talked to cat two
years ago you were just
getting out of college
didn't probably really know
what your future looked
like now it's kind of
coming into formation a
little bit yeah so I guess
when I talked to her
I mean, I didn't have a coach, obviously.
I was just like,
I would like wake up at like 5 a.m.
or earlier.
I would go to CrossFit.
Then I would go to classes.
Then I would go to squeeze
another CrossFit workout in.
And then I would go to
softball practice until like
six, six 30, then I do homework, go to bed,
basically do it all over again.
And then like, depending on games, this,
that, and other, like the quarterfinals,
those two years, um,
I did some of those workouts.
We had get away games or we
had like that weekend.
And so I did some of like,
I was squeezing in all those workouts,
did some of those workouts at like four,
not four,
like five or six in the morning
before I had to get on a
bus and go do like a softball game.
And so like now I guess I am
working part time,
but I feel like I have a little more like
time and commitment and
energy and everything to
put into just CrossFit
instead of kind of running
around rushing and everything like that.
This also happened.
You found a, in the field and on it,
it said, will you marry me?
So are you now?
Yeah.
So we got together in the junior,
senior year, kind of in there.
And so we've been together for,
it'll be four years in
November of this year.
Does he CrossFit?
He works out with me.
He's a state trooper,
so he works out with me
just to stay in shape for
the job and stay healthy
and fit and everything like that.
Nothing competitive,
but just like your everyday CrossFitter.
They just started the
service competition and the
everyday heroes at Mayhem.
I don't know if you heard about that.
I hadn't really heard about that.
Yeah, Everyday Heroes is really fun.
Mayhem is doing it.
It's a program thing,
and if you're in a military
service or a frontline
nurse medical field, a teacher,
or law enforcement, or fire,
you can enter.
The top male and the top
female from each bracket,
they're bringing to Cookville...
putting them on a team like the fire team,
the law enforcement team,
the teacher team,
and then they're going to
compete against each other.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah.
Great concept by Mayhem,
and they should be applauded for that.
Oh, yeah.
My middle brother is also a state trooper.
Wow.
You're all around the law enforcement.
Yeah.
You can't get away with anything.
No, which he, my middle brother,
he became one my junior
year of high school.
So he's been on a little bit longer,
but he's older than Trace.
But I was with Trace
whenever he went through
trooper school and everything like that.
So Kenneth,
the lab says cool and unique proposal.
Yeah, we were just like going on.
a walk because we walk with
like our dogs or just to
look for sheds or just you
know outdoor being outdoor
a lot so it wasn't anything
like either normal and um
he had recently um bought
some land that's kind of
backed up to like his
parents house now and
So we were just on a walk,
walking from like his house around.
There's like a trail or
whatever to his land.
And then like once you get on his land,
the hill kind of rolls.
And so we were walking and
there was something like
shiny in the field, which was the antler.
And like I went up and got
it and then turned around
and he was on one knee.
But then like but our
families were like over the
hill so they could kind of see.
But it happened so quick and everything.
So but they were all there as well.
That's really cool.
And congratulations.
So is there a date set or
are you guys just waiting
till after the season to
kind of sit down and talk about it?
It'll be next year in September of 2025.
Okay.
So I have a lot of time to plan.
So I want to finish up with
just a couple of questions
going into semis.
So you'll be in the East, right?
Um, you got a lot at 11 spots,
I think it was.
Yeah, we did.
Last year you took 10th.
Is there,
is there any trepidation about
like where you were on that
line or are you more
confident this year going
in than last year?
Uh,
I'm definitely more confident this year
than last year.
I mean, last year I had never made it.
So, I mean, I was confident in myself,
but I hadn't did it yet.
But this year I feel like
I'm more fit than last year.
Yeah.
It's such a stacked field.
And for you to come out of that last year,
so impressive.
Thank you.
The workouts have been announced.
I'm sure you know them by heart now.
Is there anything in there
that you really like?
I mean...
I like them all.
There's nothing really... I don't know.
I mean, I like them all.
Yeah.
What I like about them is they all have,
like,
an element of one facet of CrossFit
with another facet.
Like,
you have to be balanced in your
abilities to be good because...
cleaning jerks are matched
with a run and row is
matched with a handstand walk.
And like everything has, it's like,
I keep calling it the yin and the yang.
Yeah, I think it's very good.
Like you can't just be good at one thing.
Like there, like you just said,
it's paired with like a
strength is paired with a
cardio or like a gymnastics
is paired with this.
Like you have to,
it's going to show the all around.
fit for better athlete at the end.
You had your games experience last year.
When you make it this year,
we're going to say when you
make it this year,
it's going to be in Texas in a big,
huge arena and mostly indoors.
Are you excited about that?
Oh, yeah, I'm excited to go to Texas.
But as far as the indoor, outdoor, I mean,
I only had one experience in Wisconsin,
so I'm not really too opposed or have,
I guess, a lot of opinions on it.
Yeah, it's going to be different,
and nobody really knows what that means.
It's a much bigger arena than the Coliseum,
so they'll probably be able
to do more indoor than they could.
And there's still going to
be a little bit out there.
There has to be.
You have to test athleticism outside,
right?
Right.
So...
you can't do a bike race
inside the arena you can't
do a 5k inside the arena so
right right yeah one or two
events have to be outside
right I hope yeah I hope so
too well caroline I want to
thank you so much for
jumping on with us this has
been really fun talking to
you thank you for having me
Yeah, and congratulations on the proposal.
And hopefully you can
celebrate that with a bid
to the CrossFit Games in
just a couple weeks.
That's the plan.
Well, thank you, everybody,
to the chat for being here.
You guys are awesome as always.
And we'll see everybody next
time on the Clydesdale
Media Podcast presents the
Athletes of the 2024
CrossFit Games Semifinals.
Bye, guys.