Full Steam Ahead

July 18, 2014

Christina Roth

“I would love to make the podium and definitely improve on where I was last year.”

Anna Tunnicliffe harnesses a “full steam ahead” approach in her preparation for the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games.

After spending last season in the South East Region, she was excited to compete at the 2014 Mid Atlantic Regional and showcase her skills on a new stage. Tunnicliffe ultimately believes CrossFit is universal across all regions.

“It’s just different competition,” she said. “So for me, it’s just like any other CrossFit competition, just at a new location with new competition.”

Regional Mindset

Tunnicliffe took her training to a new level to prepare for this year’s regional. She spent an immense amount of time looking over the events and knew that strategy would play a big part in capturing a place on the podium.

“There were some workouts that were not going to go as well as others for me … I really had to nail and just do the best with the more difficult ones,” she said.

Remaining consistent throughout the entire weekend, Tunnicliffe paid little attention to the Leaderboard. She chose instead to focus all of her energy on the original training plan and made adjustments as needed.

“I really tried not to focus on anybody else. I didn’t look at the scores all weekend,” Tunnicliffe said. “I just focused on my workouts and my rep schemes and did the best that I could.”

Realizing the events for the 2014 regionals were different than what athletes have seen in the past, Tunnicliffe wondered if her strategy and overall plan were going to be enough.

“With it being a very gymnastic-y type of regional, I had no idea what other gymnasts were going to come out during the regional weekend and possibly out-perform all of us,” she said. “I knew it was going to come down to four or five of us possibly going to the Games and it really did come down to the last couple of reps.”

Her preparation for regionals paid off and Tunnicliffe finished the weekend in third place. She credits much of her success to the community that came to support her throughout the weekend.

“My CrossFit box is amazing. We have such a great community and a lot of our members came down to cheer me on,” she said. “It definitely helped a lot, especially when you’re tired and you hear them cheering your name to pick up the bar and keep going. It really gave me that extra bit of energy.”

After securing her position on the podium, Tunnicliffe celebrated in humble fashion.

“I got two days off from working out, so that was nice,” she said.

Games Preparation

Nothing has changed now that Tunnicliffe is en route to the Games at the end of the month. She has maintained a steady week of double days and consistent strength training on alternate days.

“I just keep working as hard as I can,” she said. “Last year I was in Denmark before the Games, so this year it has been nice because I have been able to be home the entire time to prepare for the competition.”

Her coach and training partner, Brad Tobias, co-owner of CrossFit Mt. Lebanon in Pennsylvania, has been by her side since Tunnicliffe began CrossFit three years ago.

“Brad is really the mastermind behind the training. He’s very good at keeping things constantly varied,” Tunnicliffe said. “The workouts he comes up with are not the most pleasant WODs when you’re doing them, but that’s a good thing.”

Tobias likes to keep the workouts a mystery even during training season. He feels this helps Tunnicliffe’s mental mindset.

“I really try to help her on the mental aspect of things,” Tobias said. “The more that I can recreate that need for a mental push, the easier it will be for her to go into the Games ready to perform.”

Tunnicliffe agreed.

“I feel like the preparation that he gives me is tough both mentally and physically for the Games,” Tunnicliffe said. “We don’t know what the workouts are going to be yet so it’s just about going out there and pushing as hard as I can to become an all around better athlete.”

During the regular season, Tobias takes a back-to-basics approach in helping Tunnicliffe prepare for the Open and the regional weekend. However, now that the Games are just around the corner, he has been throwing in a few surprises.

“I always go back to the basic strength movements, nothing too crazy or off the wall,” Tobias said. “This season I tried to keep the training as varied as possible, keeping those basic movements in mind. Sometimes it’s something simple like an insane amount of tire flips and other times it’s stuff that she may or may not have done before.”

Tobias believes embracing the unknown can be a powerful aspect of athletic training and preparation, especially for an intense competition like the CrossFit Games.

“It’s important for me to help Anna get out of her comfort zone,” he said. “It really comes down to making her comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. It’s really a matter of being ready for anything.”

Tobias has no doubt Tunnicliffe will do well at the Games this year and would love to see her on the podium. He hopes for solid rep schemes and believes she is ready for anything.

“She’s always been an athletic woman,” he said. “But I have seen a huge improvement in her over the past year and being able to train with other elite athletes has really pushed her to that next level.”

Tunnicliffe looks forward to her second appearance at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

“I would love to make the podium and definitely improve on where I was last year,” she said. “I won’t likely look at the scores throughout the weekend, but make adjustments as needed. It will all come down to Sunday to see how things stand and where I end up placing.”

Tunnicliffe favors longer workouts and looks forward to more events like the Burden Run from last year’s Games.

“That was one of my favorite workouts. I like longer events. I really like long workouts with running,” she said. “But at the same time, I like events where you have to move a fair amount of weight pretty quickly.”

She intends to set up a solid recovery plan ahead of time.

“Recovery really begins in the days before the event,” she said. “I plan to eat right and drink plenty of water. I cannot wait to get out there and see how things turn out.”