KMac the Competitor
By
June 21, 2022
Many of you know that KMac trains harder than just about anyone at Catacombs. Recently, she competed in the Masters of the Community competition in Colorado Springs and WON against a very accomplished field. There is much to be learned from KMac about consistency, discipline, and putting in the work. While most of us work out at Catacombs to be better at life outside of the gym, I thought it would be great to get some insight from KMac into why she competes. And, if you are interested in competing, consider joining our Competitors Program—led by none other than KMac.
Competitive athletics were my life for 18 years. I had the passion and the drive to be a successful athlete, and I was willing to put in the work to make my dreams come true. This hard work earned me the title of a three sport, four year high school varsity athlete; which led me to a four year, two sport athletic career at Plymouth State University. Upon graduating, I entered a coaching career thinking it would satisfy my competitive drive. I served as a collegiate lacrosse coach and then leveled up and coached the Israeli National Team. However, I was never able to recreate the feeling of leaving everything you could on the floor and being truly proud of yourself, your performance, and your appreciation of all the hard work and training you have put in. I played in several adult recreational sports leagues, but this still did not fill the hole where competitive athletics once stood. Then in May 2016, I joined the Catacombs community. Every workout became an opportunity to improve my conditioning, gymnastics skills, and strength. I had finally found something that allowed me to test my grit, skills, and mental fortitude. I was an athlete again, and I had found something that reignited the drive and passion that I was missing since graduating from college in 2007.
In January of 2017, the Catacombs coaches started promoting the CrossFit Open. The CrossFit Open is an online competition that is inclusive to everyone. The workouts, which are released by CrossFit HeadQuarters, allows the opportunity for athletes to do scaled, adaptive, masters or Rx variations. I was pumped about having an opportunity to compete. Did I have all of the RX movements? No, but I saw this as an opportunity to challenge myself, step outside my comfort zone, and to test my fitness. During the Open, I was able to push myself to do my absolute best. Each workout left me sprawled out on the floor knowing that I had given it my all. Sure, there were workouts where I met a brick wall: bar muscle ups, heavy snatches, and handstand push ups. But this was the drive I needed to work on my weaknesses and to improve for next year’s test. My goal was to best myself the next year. I have accomplished this in every Open since 2017.
The training process is by far the most grueling, yet satisfying, part of competition. After every competition, your strengths are confirmed and your weaknesses are revealed. In the most recent competition “Masters of the Community”, I went in knowing my barbell strength and overhead capacity had been my weaknesses. Events 3 and 4 tested these two modalities. I knew that the woman who I was competing against was an absolute beast when it came to heavy barbells, barbell cycling, and handstand push ups. Events 3 and 4 ended up being my favorite, not because I won them, quite the opposite. I came in 2nd in both of these events, but boy did I make it interesting. Event 3, we tied with the tie breaker going to my opponent by 7 seconds. Event 4 had two parts; she got me on the first part, but I held on, came from behind and got her on the second part. She took the overall win in that event by less than 10 seconds. Even though I didn’t take those events, those 2nd place finishes were the events I was the most proud of. All the heavy squats and high volume overhead work had finally paid off. I was hanging in there with the “big girls.”
After the weekend’s competition was finished, I sat chatting with two other amazing women about our experiences. We discussed our struggles to balance life, family, work, and training. We shared our love for competing and our love/hate relationship with long hours of training in the gym. We exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up and train together. We also recapped the close finishes we had and how the workouts made us feel. Yes, these women were my competitors, and yes, in the heat of the workouts, I wanted to crush them. At the end of it all however, we had a shared experience and connection that had drawn us closer together. This camaraderie occurs in almost every CrossFit competition I have been a part of and the shared suffering draws us together like nothing else.
Leading up to the “Masters of the Community”, I was extremely nervous and excited. However, after the first “3,2,1, GO” that all faded into the background. The adrenaline kicked in and the excitement and cheering from the crowd drowned out the pain. Sliding off of the seat of the Echo Bike, or melting into the ground after selling your soul on one of the hardest workouts you have come up against, makes you proud of what you have accomplished. Fellow competitors congratulating you for leaving it all on the floor, makes all the grueling hours of hard work and sacrifices worth it. The sense of accomplishment at the end of the weekend leaves you with an ear to ear smile and experience that you will never forget.
Being a competitive athlete is who I am and what fills my cup. I do it because I love the training process, the camaraderie amongst the competitors, and the sense of accomplishment you are left with after the event. There are CrossFit competitions for everyone at any skill level and any age. I started the Catacombs Comp Team to help others scratch the same competitive itch. This team fills my heart with so much gratitude. Twice a month we meet on Friday nights for our “Throwdowns”. We laugh, we work hard, and we give it our all in the workouts. Afterwards, we pick each other up, we high five and hug it out. We work on our weaknesses and encourage each other to be better. We celebrate improvements and accomplishments, and we encourage each other to push to our limits. We are a team.
On October 1st, 2022, Catacombs will host its first ever open competition, The Catacombs Throwdown. If you are interested in challenging yourself, stepping outside your comfort zone, experiencing the camaraderie of competition, and testing your fitness, I encourage you to sign up. If you are interested in joining the Comp Team, reach out and let’s talk about it. You don’t have to be an RX athlete, lift the heaviest weights, or perform all the movements. All you need is the desire to compete and the willingness to commit to the training. Catch me at the gym or email Kmac@catacombsfitness. com.
