"She was embarrassed people would know she was a masters competitor, but I encouraged her to own it," Talayna Fortunato said.
After finishing the Open and Masters Qualifier in 13th place worldwide, Christi Warren is looking forward to her second CrossFit Games appearance this summer.
The 56-year-old manages to balance life as a competitive athlete with her full-time job as a veterinarian. She is the owner of Animal Eye Doctors in Estero, Florida, where 50-hour work weeks are the norm.
“I’m in the office at around 7:30, and I generally don’t leave until the late afternoon,” Warren said. “Following work, I head over to the gym to train for a few hours. Being a doctor is mentally very tough and going to the gym in the evening is physically tough.”
Warren said she was not interested in competitive sports growing up.
“I was athletic but didn’t do a lot of sports,” she said. “I was more involved with my academic goals.”
She earned her veterinary degree from Texas A&M University and eventually became a resident in the Veterinary Ophthalmology program at the University of Florida. While there, she became interested in competitive cycling and won the Florida State Cycling Championships.
“I enjoyed cycling because of the fresh air,” she said. “I loved the competitiveness.”
But once she started her own veterinarian practice, Warren stayed away from any form of athletic competition for nearly two decades. Three years ago, she finally decided to make a change after hearing about CrossFit.
“I wanted to be challenged,” Warren said. “After seeing people do CrossFit it just seemed like the perfect sport to challenge myself both physically and mentally.”
Warren began training at CrossFit Real Fitness in Naples, Florida, home gym of veteran CrossFit Games competitor Talayna Fortunato. At first Warren was a little nervous and hesitant, but eventually started to catch on. In a short period of time, she began to make great gains.
“I remember Christi first starting CrossFit about three years ago, maybe a year or so after me,” Fortunato said. “I had no idea she was in the masters category. She does not look her age. She came in with great stamina and got stronger and more competitive on the gym's programming.”
Warren felt a great sense of achievement during CrossFit workouts because of the amount of work performed during each session.
“I was beating and keeping up with a lot of my 20- and 30-year-old CrossFit friends during the workouts,” Warren recalled. “The workouts were very good, and I loved the community feeling at the gym.”
As the 2013 Open grew near, Fortunato encouraged Warren to sign up for it. At first, Warren said she was nervous as she didn’t know what to expect and had very little competition experience.
“Talayna really encouraged me to compete,” Warren said. “I was hoping to do well, and I wanted to know what it would be like competing against people my age.”
“She was embarrassed people would know she was a masters competitor,” Fortunato said, “but I encouraged her to own it.”
Due to consistent performances on all of the Open workouts, Warren finished 10th in the world and earned her first trip to the CrossFit Games in 2013. She also continued her long 50-hour workweeks the entire time.
“It was a nice surprise seeing that I ended up 10th in the world,” Warren said.
Warren said she never saw herself as an elite-level athlete and knew she would have to step up her training for the CrossFit Games. She said she knew the Games were going to bring more intensity and volume, so she decided to make some changes in her training.
“She was incredibly nervous about competing on the big stage,” Fortunato said. “She knew she needed more tailored programming and only had a few months before the Games.”
Fortunato introduced her to Coach Doug Katona. Katona came up with a game plan to help Warren peak just in time for the Games.
"Christi is a very cerebral athlete and is a stickler for being technically sound,” Katona explained. "We've worked hard to balance her training load and work demands. She is one of those athletes who never complains or makes excuses. She gets it done."
Warren finished an impressive ninth place in the Masters 55-59 Division at the Games. All of the intense preparation paid off.
“The Games brought a great sense of accomplishment, and I will never forget it,” she said.
Warren felt honored to be known as one of the fittest masters competitors in the world and was excited about her future in the sport.
Following the Games, Warren went right back to work in preparation for the 2014 season. She continues to work under the direction of Katona and has seen great improvement on her strength numbers, going up 20 to 30 lb. on her lifts across the board. She now boasts a 100-lb. snatch, 135-lb. clean and jerk, 240-lb. deadlift and 165-lb. back squat.
Warren said she doesn’t perform many benchmark CrossFit workouts but focuses on her weaknesses and continues to perform new movements to improve in the sport of fitness.
“She has vastly improved her overall athleticism and stamina,” Katona said. “We have worked hard on mechanics of snatch, clean and jerk with an emphasis on speed and power development. She can string together 20-plus pull-ups at a time and bang out 40 burpees in 90 seconds.”
At the start of the 2014 Open, Warren continued where she left off with another consistent Open performance. She landed 16th place in in her worldwide division, with three of her five workouts in the top 30.
“I do not know another harder working woman,” Fortunato said. “She manages to run an entire business with all of the stress that entails and train at 56 years old. I'm not sure how she does it all. I admire her drive and persistence.”
Fortunato added: “She is also incredibly humble.”
Following the Open, Warren only had three weeks to prepare for the first-ever Masters Qualifier, which consisted of four events spanning over four days. Due to Warren’s busy work schedule, she had to perform all the workouts in roughly 48 hours.
“We had only a few days to complete the additional four workouts,” Warren said. “So for me with my work, scheduling was tight. I had to do the workouts on Saturday and Sunday, as Friday and Monday were workdays. Luckily, I had some time after work on Friday night to do the clean (workout).”
Katona had already prepared Warren for a high amount of training volume before the Masters Qualifier since they were already preparing for the Games in July.
"We've worked hard to balance her training load and work demands,” he said. "It’s a frequent dance we do, but she is one of those athletes who never complains or makes excuses. She gets it done."
Despite a tiring weekend, Warren finished the Qualifier in strong fashion with a 13th-place finish, punching her ticket to her second consecutive CrossFit Games.
“I had a lot of support from the coaches,” she said. “They stayed late for us and opened the gym on Easter Sunday. Talayna and Emily Friedman were there for me during each (workout).”
After submitting her Qualifier scores, Warren, exhausted from two grueling days, was pleased with her effort but still unsure if she had done well enough to advance to the Games.
“After it was over on Sunday, I texted Doug, ‘Goodnight, turning my phone off,’” she recounted. “I did not check the results.”
“Doug left a message saying, ‘Good work, athlete. Get some sleep. You get tomorrow off.’ And I knew from that text that I made it,” she added.
With 115 points accumulated over four Masters Events, Warren came in 13th overall and earned a spot in the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games.
Her goal is to be a better athlete than last year, and not reveal the same weaknesses at the Games.
“I hope this year I don’t get caught in the rope again,” Warren said. “Last year’s rope climb really hurt me, but a good friend of mine told me after the Games that even the great Rich Froning had problems climbing the rope in his first CrossFit Games appearance.”
Warren continues to stay positive with the same determined drive that has helped her succeed as a veterinarian and CrossFitter.
“I just hope to perform well and make the community proud,” she said.
“I couldn't be more proud of her,” Fortunato said, “and she has been a constant source of support to me over the past three years. She’s always there to listen, and I know when we're no longer competing, we'll still be friends.”
