If you don’t know Mayra F. you should. If you do know Mayra, you’ll have witnessed her incredible transformation. Mayra has dashed away all her excuses and committed herself to becoming a better athlete. In doing so she has become an inspiration to us all. Mayra now has not fear. She’ll try anything and has tried a lot. Nothing can stop this girl. She’s a coaches dream because she does what she is told and reaps the benefits. Coach Paul abuses her and she always achieves!

Todays post is written by Mayra, Spend the time to read it. She is a normal girl with a busy job and lifestyle.

Mayra is one of my CrossFit heroes.

Everyone who trains in a sport, like Crossfit, should and can compete. Whether it’s Crossfit, Strongman, running, or baton twirling there are so many benefits to competing. You should only enter a competition after considering safety, competition requirements and coach’s advice but the benefits are totally worth it.

Competing isn’t about winning. I’m not an elite athlete. I am, however, determined to constantly improve myself. I am someone who just wants to be the best me I can be. I want to push myself past my limits. For those of you who don’t know me, I started my training at Crossfit St. Charles around September 2013. I would go for a while, make excuses for stopping, then I’d go back. I did that for a while until I started training more seriously, in July/Aug 2014. I was so overweight, uncomfortable, eating terribly (I mean, I was training, right?) and had no idea where I was going with my training. I found my purpose through competitions!

In the past eight months I’ve competed in three Crossfit, one Strongman and one Olympic lifting competition. I haven’t won any of them. I’m was not the fastest, strongest or fittest. I didn’t even get a rep in the clean and press event at my Strongman competition! I struggled for an entire minute trying to just move the weight. So, why would I put myself through something like that? I compete for three main reason: to set goals, for accountability, and because it’s fun and it makes me feel good.

At my last competition coach Paul Cegon programmed all the WODs for the competition. The weights were heavy and when I practiced the WODs at Crossfit St. Charles, I didn’t finish them within the time caps. I didn’t want to fail my coach or myself. To top it all off, I was sick and I hadn’t been eating correctly for a while.

The first WOD at the competition (scaled female) was:

21 Overhead Squats (75 lbs)
50 Bar Hops
15 Thrusters (75 lbs)
50 Bar Hops
9 Ground to Overhead (75 lbs)
50 Bar Hops

There was a 9 min time cap. I had done this WOD about a week before the competition and I didn’t even finish my thrusters. I was freaking out when I stepped out onto the competitor floor. So many thoughts ran through my head. “What if I embarrass myself?” “What if I embarrass my coach?” “What if I get hurt?” Then it happened. Paul reminded me, “It’s just exercise” and I started thinking, “I’m going to do this!” “I can do it!” “Who cares what people think!”

I FINISHED that WOD in 8:52! A week before, I couldn’t finish half of it and here I am finishing it with a few seconds left! Hell yes! I took that mentality back, with me, to the gym. Now I knew I could push myself. The last competition I went to was the hardest competition I’ve been in and I finished somewhere in the middle of the pack!

So, I have set new goals. I NEED to practice my Wallballs. One of the events had 80 Wallballs. I suck at them. Give me burpees, lunges, squats, and I’m all over it. Wallballs…. Ugh! So, now I practice with a 20lb ball so that I can get better! I work on my pull ups so that I can enter more competitions. I work on my endurance so that I can go faster. I work on being more efficient. In spite of all this “work” I have to do, I have NEVER finished last. Even if I had finished last, I wouldn’t have cared. Why? Because I put myself out there. I did the work that day. That’s way more than the person who didn’t even compete. Competition lets you see the progress in your training. It always re-energizes me to go into the gym and dominate! To be continued…

Strength
Dead Lifts
5@40%
5@50%
5@60%
3@70%
3@80%
MR@90%

WOD
10min AMRAP
2 muscle ups
7 overhead squats (115/75)
20 double unders