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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.
I was born to kill it.
I was meant to win.
I am down and willing so I
will find a way.
It took a minute and I
didn't have to ride away.
When it get hot in the kitchen,
you decide to stay.
That's how a winner's made.
Stick a fork in
What is going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
My name is Scott Switzer.
I'm the Clydesdale.
We are here featuring the
athletes of the 2024
Legends Masters CrossFit Games.
And I'm so pumped to have
with me Laura Redman.
So happy to be here.
Yeah,
so I've been doing some research on you.
And you were a runner for a
very long time.
Yeah, I ran in college.
I ran for Purdue.
I ran track and field and
cross country and decided
that wasn't enough.
And after college, I ran,
you could call it
semi-professionally for Brooks.
I ran the mile a little bit
post-collegiately and then
also ran the marathon.
And I ran at the Olympic trials in 2012.
wow so it's it's what's wild
to me is I'm I'm just
starting the profiles of
all the athletes that are
that are competing at the
crossfit games so many of
you guys have had like
really cool life
experiences like last night
I talked to lacy trulove
who competed at the olympic
trials and diving
Oh, that's awesome.
I've been listening to a lot
of the interviews, too,
and love learning about the athletes.
But yeah,
it's so cool that we can have
such varied backgrounds.
So awesome.
So have you always been an Indiana girl?
Yeah.
Yes.
And you just stay close to
home for college?
Mm hmm.
Yeah, not too far at Purdue,
and then moved back home.
I mean, back home meaning Indy area,
and I'm still in Indy today,
so must not be too bad.
So what's funny is my
background is swimming,
and I was just over in
Indianapolis for the
swimming Olympic trials.
Yeah.
Which was such a cool event.
I wish I could have made it down there.
I heard it was amazing.
To build three pools in
Lucas Oil Stadium on a football field.
Right.
Did you see the time lapse
of it that they had?
That was really cool, too.
What was wild to me is that
you're walking into a football stadium,
but it smells like a swimming.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Which was very bizarre, but so cool.
And such a cool experience
to get to watch that.
How long were you in Indy for the trials?
We did the first weekend.
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah.
So I got to see Katie
Ledecky completely
dominated the 1500 yesterday and
which was one of my events in college.
Awesome.
Where did you swim?
I swam at Ohio State.
Oh, the Ohio State.
Yeah, as a walk-on.
Nice.
It wasn't my dream.
My dream was actually to go Division II,
but I wasn't good enough to
get on the Division II team
I wanted to be on.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So I walked on at Ohio State,
which is bizarre just to... Right.
Right.
You wouldn't normally be
saying that for most sports
or situations.
I grew up in such a small
town that Ohio State was so
overwhelming to me.
Well, yeah.
Yeah, it is.
It's huge.
Yeah.
like 62,000 students or something.
My hometown only had 10,000 people.
Oh yeah.
Then that's a huge change.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
But, um, but not enough about me.
So, so you,
did you run in high school or
before that?
Um,
I would say like my success in running
came later in high school.
Um,
I tried to play volleyball
and got cut and then got into running.
And then I got more serious
about it my senior year and
really fell in love with it.
And then in college,
we had a lot of coaching changes.
I had injuries.
So I never...
I think a lot of athletes
leave from running,
leave burnt out from college.
And I was, like, just getting started.
Like, I didn't want to stop.
I wanted to get more mileage.
I wanted to compete at a bigger stage.
And I had just an awesome
opportunity with Brooks.
It's also how I met my
husband and how we
connected because he was on the team.
So we trained together and
it's weird to think that I
ran post-collegiately from 2007 to 2012,
which is only, you know, five years.
And I've been doing CrossFit
twice that amount of time.
It's just really an odd
thing to think about back
on because running seems
like another lifetime.
So you cut out just briefly
when you talked about your
husband and what he does.
Yeah.
Did and how you kind of connected.
What was that again?
So Brooks, like the running shoe,
they created a team.
We were semi-professionals
out of Bloomington and they had all these,
like they had guys on the team,
but they also wanted
females for us to get sponsorship.
So they built the team with
a handful of ladies, a handful of guys,
and he was on the team as well.
And, and he, we had the same coach,
we kind of knew each other
through running and we
trained together here in Indy and,
you know, started dating and we were,
you know, married a few years after that.
So most people think of
running as this like bit of
solitude where you kind of
get to get out there on your own.
And here you start dating
one of the other runners.
Yeah.
Was it less solitude or did
you still have your like alone moments?
Well, I mean, we had so in running world,
like the Sunday long run is
like a big part of our
training where we spend, you know,
two to three hours doing this long run.
And the group was primarily guys.
So I feel like my strides in
running were made through practice.
with him because it was
super uncomfortable for me
and doing these long runs
because you want to connect and talk.
I would say like the solitude in running.
I came later when I was
training for the marathon.
I was putting a lot more
miles in by myself at that time,
which I think is truly important too,
because I,
When in any sport,
you have to be able to push
through that point of pain
and know how to handle those thoughts.
You can only do that if you're,
you've gone through it alone, you know?
So how do you get from cross
country and track and
college to the Olympic trials?
Like what is the,
what was it a goal you had?
And then you start to strive for it.
And do you have to go to
certain meets to qualify?
So there's a standard that
you have to hit to run in
the Olympic trials.
I knew what the standard was.
And I was like, I think I can do that.
I had to callous my body
over years to get to
running 100 miles a week,
which is what I was averaging.
um when I went to the trials
um so I knew I needed to
run about like 613 pace
which is a two I think it's
like a 246 marathon and I
knew if I could just if you
can get through the
training you can pretty
much physically take your
body there you just know
and then know the day of like you
the haze in the barn, like I got this.
So it wasn't always a dream of mine.
It kind of just became an opportunity.
And like, once I set my mind to it,
there's no way it wasn't going to happen.
That's a novel concept to me
because as a swimmer,
the only end result to be
the best is the Olympics.
Like from the age of five,
you want to be the best.
It ends with the Olympics.
Right.
So for you to like late in life, just go,
you know what the heck,
we'll give this a try.
It's just a very bizarre concept to me.
It kind of is.
Especially because like you
think of the marathon of like, I mean,
There's not too many you can do.
It's not like you can go to
race after race.
I was a miler and tried to
qualify for the trials and
US championships multiple
times and failing.
So that was always my goal,
meaning after college.
But I think that I saw that
the trials standard was very attainable.
And I was like,
I'm going to do it.
So I saw your time.
I think you posted on your
CrossFit profile that you hit was 241.05.
I ran 241 at the trials.
Yes.
Is that your best marathon
or did you run faster?
Yeah, I mean,
I pretty that was my last
marathon that I ever ran.
And I was super proud of it.
I wanted to go sub 240.
And the plan was to run the
trial or I'm sorry,
the plan was to run another
marathon in Chicago that year.
But when it came down to time to train,
I my heart wasn't in it.
I knew.
I knew.
I couldn't put my body
through it if my mind and
my heart wasn't in it.
So I was like,
I'm going to go check out CrossFit.
So that's when you found
CrossFit was you were just done.
It sounds like Forrest Gump.
Right.
And he kept running.
And one day he goes, you know what?
I was done.
Well, I mean,
the truth is my husband had
already started CrossFit.
for about a year and he
absolutely loved it.
And I did not understand it at all.
Like,
I remember going to watch and being like,
why are you guys like
stopping in the middle of a workout?
That makes no sense to me
because like a runner,
we don't stop in the middle of our race.
But he's like, you know,
you should try out a class.
And I was like, sure,
I can't do an air squat, but let's try.
So
So many questions.
So your running career
starts late in your high school.
Your marathon career starts
late after college.
Now you go into CrossFit and
you're humbled again, right?
To start from scratch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean,
I think I was 28 or 29 when I
started CrossFit.
So, so what is that?
Are,
are you just used to starting from
scratch on things or was it,
was it humbling to you?
Oh, it's, yeah, it's always humbling.
But I think that's, I,
I love the challenge of
that and sort of being like
not having that expectation
and being an underdog.
And I think that kind of motivates me.
Do you think that CrossFit
gave you something for the
first time that you couldn't master?
Because there are so many elements,
you're always working on something.
I think that's why myself
and masters continue to do it.
Sometimes people in the gym ask me that,
and it's like, well,
I'm not going to stop.
There's always something to work on.
There's always something to get better at.
And as you get older,
I'm sure like the other
masters will agree with this.
It's kind of like, well, I mean,
I might not see these PRs, you know,
like I was before,
but there's something else that might,
that you might notice that
feels better or that like
you've improved on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I started in 2011.
PRs are like,
Right.
Non-existent at this point.
Right.
But, but you're like,
I think we look at PRs as
an individual movement,
but you can get overall
fitness better and do
better in a workout than
you would have a year ago.
Right.
Right.
Absolutely.
Like the movement might feel better.
You might feel more confident.
You're able to do, you know,
this weight in a workout comfortably or,
or, you know, uh,
handstand pushups or ring
muscles or whatever it may be.
Just gaining efficiency.
So you're not as tired through workout.
Yeah.
Um,
Yeah.
It's such a cool thing.
I wish it existed when I
retired from swimming
because I think I'd be in a
different place in life today if it was.
But you're kind of OG.
You've been doing this since 2013.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Back when our team went to
regionals in Columbus.
Yeah.
And we used to say that the
athletes were in the back
smoking cigs and like eating snacks.
Like it was just so different.
Like they used to have like
strawberries and like snacks out for us.
It was just a different time.
It was fun.
Yeah.
I was volunteering during those times.
And if you went back into
the volunteer area,
there were like bowls of M
and M's dried mangoes and some nuts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Crazy.
Yeah.
I love it.
I'm so thankful for those experiences.
And it's, you know,
I talked to some of the
younger and newer athletes
in our gym and it's weird that like,
they don't,
they don't have any idea
what it was like before
everything changed and went
to semifinals and, and all of that.
Regionals were the best.
Yeah.
I, you and I were in the same region.
So like I was a volunteer.
I was very familiar with three Kings.
Yeah.
We're,
we're always top 10 teams during
regionals in a very stacked,
stacked central region.
Yeah, been around for a long time.
Lots of teams, lots of individuals.
And it's a great, it's a great gym.
Yeah.
And you've done it through semifinals,
even the last three years?
No.
You're an alternate.
Yeah, we were.
So 2019 was weird, right?
And in 2020, I had a kid that year.
And then 21,
we were supposed to have a team.
It didn't work out.
And then,
so I'd just been focusing on
masters the last couple of years.
And then last year I was
like the oldest in the age group.
So I did my best.
And then this year I had the
opportunity to go on a team,
which I said I would never do again.
But it was, I'm so thankful I did.
It was so fun.
And I kind of just had the motto of like,
I might not get this opportunity again.
And it was the right people.
And it was really fun.
So did you compete at the Syndicate Crown?
I did.
Yeah.
Being 40 and competing against the elites.
Yeah.
Was it just a soak it in moment?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It definitely was,
especially since it had been a while.
It had been since 2018,
since I'd been to a regional or semifinal,
and I thought that that
would be my last time, and
We really wanted to make the
games that year.
There was a lot of pressure.
I think we finished seventh
in a super tough regional.
But this year,
it was so much more enjoyable.
There was no pressure.
We still finished, I mean, 17th.
And we were just right in
the middle of the pack.
But it was also like looking around like,
oh, my gosh,
these people are half my age.
Yeah.
But also Deanna Posey was on
one of the Mayhem teams and
she's in the older age group than me.
So I was like, if this badass is doing it,
so can I. But also if like
any of those youngins were complaining,
I was kind of like,
you have no idea like how
bad I'm hurting.
How much help do you think that was,
though,
to go through a competition weekend with,
what, five events?
Yeah.
In a certain amount of time.
Yeah.
And now you're going to have
to do it again as an individual.
It'll be like four days with
maybe a few more events.
Just the recovery, the pace,
does that help you out?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think just because it'd
been so long since I'd been
on a stage like that,
I wanted to have that experience.
It gives me confidence.
Physically, I know I can recover,
but also just being out on
the floor in front of a judge and like,
how do you respond in that
in that situation?
So I didn't look at it as like, oh,
I'm not focusing on myself.
meaning for the games or my training,
because honestly,
when I got back from semifinals,
I felt so motivated to,
to train for the games for masters.
So I'm in awe of all of you.
I had Haley Queller on this morning.
She's a doctor and mother of four.
You're a traveling nurse and
a mother of two.
Like you,
I can't even imagine the
stresses and the time
constraints behind that and
still have time to train.
Yeah.
And I'm going to correct you
just because this past year
I transitioned into a new role.
So I'm not in nursing anymore.
I'm in medical device.
So I'm still in the
operating room and I'm
still in the medical field.
But I think transitioning
out of nursing has
contributed to my success
exponentially because I'm
not on my feet all day long.
I'm able to recover.
My stress level is lower.
But it's a lot of work and
managing the schedule of
work and working out and my
family and trying to keep
them as number one.
I mean,
I don't know if I'm doing a good
job at all because every
day is kind of chaos,
but I'm trying my best.
Yeah,
I talked to Lacey last night was
saying that when you're
trying to balance everything,
you always feel like you're
mediocre at all of it.
I agree with that.
I think we're all like our worst critics.
We're so hard on ourselves.
You know,
there's a little element of guilt,
but we are also able to multitask.
And, you know,
it's okay to put a goal in
front of you and do what
you need to do to achieve it.
Because, you know, life is short.
And if you have an opportunity,
you got to take advantage of it.
the other thing I framed to
them is that there's a bit
of selfishness that has to
happen for you to train for
an event like this.
And, and it was said that, that,
that there's a guilty
feeling that comes along
with that and you have to
forgive yourself.
It's a season.
Yeah.
Just trying to accomplish
this one thing and you can
make up for it when this season's over.
Yeah.
Yes, you're right.
I mean, it is,
it is a season and you're like, um,
you tell yourself I'm going
to be more available, but.
Isn't it also equally
important to set the
example to your kids?
Like you should have goals
and do what you need to do
to accomplish them.
And I'm super careful with my schedule,
making sure that I'm not
disrupting my kids or, you know,
I'm able to get them from
school and take them to
where they need to be.
But I think it's,
You know,
you got to set a good example for
them too.
Well, how old are your kids?
Seven and five next week.
Are they in activities of
their own at this point?
Yeah.
One's swimming and the other is soccer.
Nice.
Yeah.
Swimming is,
I don't know how my parents did it.
We're like just starting.
So I'm sure it's going to be.
Yeah.
And I played a sport every season.
So like, I still don't know how my,
like my dad worked insane
hours and still made it to every event.
That's awesome.
I mean, it's hard.
It is.
So when you stopped being a nurse,
was it this decision wasn't
solely based on your athletic career,
right?
It was more on life itself?
No, correct.
I think I've been a nurse,
an OR nurse for 16 years.
I did do,
I was a travel nurse for a while too.
I felt like I was trying to
manipulate my schedule to
like be able to be with my
kids more and working out was at the very,
very bottom of the list.
It was...
Just if you have time and
the opportunity to take
this position came about and I was like,
this is going to provide
the most flexibility for my
family going forward.
And the byproduct of that is
that you are a better athlete today.
Yes.
Yes.
Um,
and is that why you think you saw the
dramatic and the dramatic
improvement like to make
games or was it just turning 40?
Both.
Okay.
Yeah, for sure.
Perfect storm.
Yeah.
So who are you,
who are you taking to
Birmingham with you?
I guess we'll take my husband.
He's coming with me.
I said he has to carry my bag.
There you go.
So he's your coach.
Um, so no, he's not my coach.
Um, during the year and all years past,
I've always just done like a hodgepodge.
I've always done, um, Invictus, uh,
weightlifting.
And then I'll just, for workouts,
I'll just jump in with
whoever's at our gym.
We have like so many good people.
Our classwork workouts are really good.
I mean, um,
And after semifinals for team this year,
I was like,
I want to get a coach to give
me some structure instead
of like just pulling some
random stuff together.
So Holden Rethwell is my
coach from Invictus.
Nice.
He unfortunately will be at the teams.
So I know what you want to say.
Well, I actually,
I did a show with a mother
and daughter who both qualified.
Oh, really?
And that they can't be at
each other's event.
Oh, I mean, come on.
I think I said enough in
that episode that I don't
need to say it again here.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
One, why are we splitting up viewers?
Why are we splitting up spectators?
Right.
Different locations.
Right.
Why not hold them together
and only pay for one venue?
And then,
and have all the stream and
everything at one place.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
That, that makes sense.
I'm sure there was a lot
more that went into it that I know about,
you know?
Yeah.
I speak my mind too often.
And then I X from like,
so I had that episode and
Joe reached out to me and like,
do you need me to explain
to you why they're in two
different locations?
And I'm like,
I know you can't change it now.
Right.
But I do see the frustration.
Right.
With a lot of families.
Yeah.
So.
So you're going to the games,
your husband's going with you.
And when I said coach,
like if you get a coach to
be able to go backstage with you,
he'll be that guy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Basically your caddy for the weekend.
No, that's mean.
I shouldn't say that.
He's much more supportive than that.
He's, he's got my bag.
He knows all about my training.
So I say caddy because
that's what Matt O'Keefe
always called himself.
We would go back with Matt Fraser.
Okay.
Yeah.
Caddy.
Yeah.
That, you know, you give advice,
but you're really just
holding the bag and you know, so, uh,
realistic expectations this year.
Um, my goal is to be top 10.
Yep.
Throwing it out there.
Nice.
I love it.
Um, I'm trying to look at you.
So you finished 10th at semis.
I did.
That's,
that is a very realistic expectation.
Very realistic.
Um,
and it doesn't hurt that you got some
race experience already this year.
Yeah.
So it's,
it's not going to be your first
time at a live comp going
against head to head with other people.
Right.
Right.
I think that, yeah,
that will definitely help
gives me the confidence.
I'll feel, I'll feel ready.
How excited are you?
This is your first trip to the games.
Yeah.
Are you,
are you excited that it's by
itself or were,
did you have your heart set
on the big festival with
the elites and everybody else?
I mean, I,
I kind of have mixed emotions about that,
especially since I finished 10,
since it used to be 10.
I truly feel like I just
want to go compete against
the best in the world.
I don't care where it is or who it's with.
The goal is the same to go
be with the best.
I think that if enough
people show up and enough people watch,
this can be something super cool.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I know there's very mixed
reviews from the athletes and thinking,
are we an afterthought or whatever?
But I think at the end of the day,
if competing is what's important to you,
we're not doing it to be stars.
At least I'm not.
We want to go compete and
see who's the best.
it's totally fine to give us our own venue,
our own weekend.
Our fans and friends and
family are going to be the
ones that go to watch us.
So if it means taking 40 and
growing it and have an awesome first year,
then let's do it.
So this is a little bit of
just a riff on my part.
And that is that
We did some research and the
athletes from 35 to 49
collectively have almost 3
million followers on Instagram.
That is a lot.
That's a lot of eyes.
And if we get away from old
school thinking and promote,
there are fans of these
athletes that want to see them.
And maybe having your own
show is going to be the best result.
Yeah.
And that's why like before
the season ever started, I was,
my focus was you guys.
I wanted this to be a great
year for you guys.
And I wanted to put our
whole heart and soul into
this and highlight
everything you guys have done.
Well, I think that's totally awesome.
You're growing the sport.
You're helping us out,
just showing your love for
all of us and giving us the
exposure that people want
to see and learn about.
The fact that this is a
collective of men and women
who work full-time jobs,
this is a part-time thing for them,
and they're doing amazing feats.
Yeah.
amazing feats and they have
families they need to be with.
Yeah.
Balance all of that.
They'll pull off the amazing things.
Absolutely incredible.
I mean,
I think we deserve more respect
than we get.
I agree.
And with that,
I want to thank you so much
for being on here.
Thank you.
Before we went on air,
we'll be there in Birmingham,
behind the scenes,
chatting with you all and
trying to collect all that
into a documentary.
Can't wait.
So excited.
So I cannot wait to meet you in person.
Thank you for being on.
Thank you for joining us today.
And we will see everybody
next time on the Clydesdale
Media Podcast.
And I've lost my mouth.
There it is.
Thank you everybody for being here.
Bye guys.