"I want to go into the Games psychologically ready to rumble and not burned out like last year."
Talayna Fortunato took third at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games, and followed that with fifth in 2013.
Few athletes make it back to the CrossFit Games, and even fewer make it back to the top tier. Given all the changes in 2014, from the removal of Sam Briggs to the changes Fortunato has made to her body, work schedule, and programming, there's a good chance she'll be at the top of the Leaderboard this July.
Let's remember she finished just 7 points outside of the podium last year while dealing with a bone spur in her ankle and burnout.
The bone spur in her ankle played a critical role in her ultimate placing at the Games when it slowed her down on the ZigZag Sprint. The former heptathlete was favored in her qualifying heat, but to the shock of many of those watching the event she crossed the finish line two-tenths of a second behind Nicole Tainatongo in fourth place. Since only the top three from each heat advanced, she was out. Her name plummeted to 33rd on the event, which delivered a fatal blow to her point total.
In the months since the Games, she has gone under the knife to get her ankle fixed. She will head into the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games without this Achilles heel.
On top of that, Fortunato was able to narrowly miss the podium last year while feeling thoroughly burned out, and she has adjusted her programming to make sure that she's fresh this time around.
"My programming last year was also a ‘more is better’ mentality, and the ‘volume for volume sake’ of it left me a bit flat by the end of July. I was wanting a break instead of wanting to compete,” she explained. “This year, I want to go into the Games psychologically ready to rumble and not burned out like last year."
Her new programmer and remote coach, CJ Martin of CrossFit Invictus, doesn't program more for the sake of more.
“It trains all of the energy systems intelligently,” she said. “I’m trying to put as much into my workouts as I can and am usually focusing on getting my squat stronger and keeping my strengths, strengths.”
If she could start it all over again, she explained, she would have spent more time searching for the right coach and she would have started with a structured strength program to help with her relatively weak posterior chain.
Although Fortunato and her new coach are separated by the bulk of the continental United States, the two make it work. Fortunato has traveled from her home in south Florida to San Diego, California, several times throughout the past year to work with Martin one-on one, including a three-week session in the lead up to the CrossFit Games.
In order to make time for training and the three-week stint in California, Fortunato has taken time off from her job as a physical therapist.
“I made the decision to take off working this year because coming in the top five the last two years while working was quite an accomplishment,” Fortunato said. “I might be able to come in the top five again if I continued to work, but I can't win that way.”
“With the physical demands of being a manual physical therapist, I just can't recover like I need to while working when the volume goes up,” she continued. “Especially not when the other girls who have a shot at the top 10 are resting and getting in another session while I'm on my feet working on patients. I guess I figured if I'm going to put this much into it, and I have the opportunity not to work, I might as well go all in and have no what-ifs.”
Her boss had no problem with letting her take the time off since the summer is a slow time in the physical therapy business; all the snowbirds have left south Florida for their summer homes up north, after all. Between her sponsors and her savings, she's able to bridge the gap financially as well.
It's an investment, and a gamble, but one that her coach supports.
“Increasing her quantity and quality of sleep is immensely helpful in preparing her for the Games, and she now has the benefit of more time to train and recover,” Martin said.
After the regional, Fortunato spent more time on endurance work including running, rollerblading, and since there are no hills in her part of Florida, climbing the stair mill. Like many other Games competitors, she has been preparing for the recently announced beach event by working with a swim coach.
In addition, she has been working with gymnastics coach Sean Lind with the goal of developing her strict strength in gymnastics movements.
“I figured I needed to focus more on this aspect of my training in case the trend continues,” she said, referring to the more challenging gymnastics movements programmed for the 2014 Regionals. “Gymnastics has usually been a strength for me in CrossFit so I want to keep it that way.”
Of course, she's also working on her lifts.
“Talayna is really long for a female CrossFit athlete, so we have to ensure that she can offset long levers by being really strong throughout all ranges of motion,” Martin said.
“Long levers make squat cleaning more than I power clean a challenge,” she added. “The sheer distance I have to move is further, so if there are 100 reps of something lighter then I just end up traveling farther.”
So far this year, she has noticed an increase in her strength while squatting and pressing, which she plans to make good use of at the Games.
Altogether, she's the complete package.
“Talayna is extremely athletic, and her gymnastics background has helped provide her with incredible control of her body,” Martin said. “But her greatest asset is that she’s extremely well rounded. She’s comfortable with gymnastics, she moves a barbell very well, and she’s not afraid of long endurance events. That makes her deadly at the Games where there are more events and data points.”
Fortunato perseveres through all the hours of training because she wants one thing, bad: to be the best version of herself.
"I want to be the best me I can be,” she said.
