"I keep checking the Leaderboard. I'm dumbfounded that I'm at the top."
Lindsey Cascarina can’t believe she’s No. 1 in the South West.
“I keep checking the Leaderboard,” she says, laughing. “I’m dumbfounded that I’m at the top.”
After the first two workouts in the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, Cascarina, of CrossFit North Fort Collins in Fort Collins, Colo., holds a 31-point lead among female athletes.
“The first workout was really challenging,” she says. “I’m not a huge burpee fan. I got a decent score, but I didn’t get any of the 120-lb. snatches, so I redid it and got the top score.”
Although Cascarina first tried CrossFit years ago, she says she only became serious about the program in January 2012 after she competed in Regional competition with CrossFit Redding based in Redding, Calif.
“They threw me in at the last minute for Regionals,” she explains. “Everyone was so enthusiastic, that enthusiasm was what hooked me.”
A native Californian, Cascarina spent her high school days running cross-country and track and field, specializing in the 800-meter and one-mile races. As a freshman and sophomore, she ranked among top athletes at state competitions.
“When I was a sophomore in high school I was poised to win state,” she says. “I should have easily won, but I collapsed on the course. It was the first and only time I didn’t finish a race."
“With distance training, you have to feel fast, light and fluid. But I got to a point where my body couldn’t sustain itself.”
Cascarina says she struggled with her eating habits, bordering on an eating disorder.
“I was never diagnosed as being anorexic, but I was definitely flirting with it,” she admits. “I was very sick and it got to the point where there was nothing left for my body to give.”
For the next seven years, Cascarina struggled with her weight and her performance on the track.
“I gained 50 pounds,” she said. “First, I was not eating to control my weight, then I was binge eating. I gained muscle, but I was a very unhappy individual for a while.”
Cascarina continued competing in high school and for her track and field team at the University of Washington, but struggled to gain back her No. 1 position.
“I hit rock bottom,” she said. “Something was wrong in my brain and it was sucking all of the fun.”
During her junior year of college, she visited the CrossFit gym for the first time.
“It was just something fun and new to try,” she said. “I was so sore after one day. I couldn’t believe people went five or six days.”
Still struggling with her weight and body image, Cascarina incorporated CrossFit workouts into her training routines
“When I gained the weight, I was 40 to 50 pounds heavier than the other athletes,” she says. “I was a lot stronger than them, but I didn’t have the advantage. … It took me a long time for my body to function at the new shape and size.”
While the CrossFit workouts were not a magic cure, she gained confidence.
“I started training more powerfully,” she says. “It worked really well for me. I ran faster my senior year of college than my sophomore year of high school.”
After college, Cascarina (formerly Kirschman) and her husband moved to Fort Collins so he could attend school. She joined CrossFit North Fort Collins, training regularly.
“When I joined, I saw all these awesome women training their butts off. These strong, female athletes,” she says. “I feel like I fit in here. These women are healthy in their brains and in their bodies.”
Cascarina says her gym community has been supportive of her, but also pushes her to improve. Her training partner, Erika Baker, became her best friend.
“When I first moved here, I didn’t know anybody. I kept seeing this name, Erika Baker, on the board and she was always beating me,” Cascarina says. “We met and she invited me to do a (10K run). We started training together after that.”
“She’s phenomenal,” Baker says. “She’s a teammate first and a competitor second. She cares deeply about people and is very excited when other people in the gym make their goals.”
Baker, who is also competing in the Open, says she’s “way back” on the Leaderboard, but she’s proud of her friend.
“Lindsey is an amazing athlete,” Baker adds. “She doesn’t intimidate and she’s very genuine and down-to-earth.”
Heading into Open Workout 13.3, Cascarina is confident in her training and mentally prepared.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I’m excited for this one.”
