"I'm much more confident going in this year. Training is dialed, life stresses are taken care of, I'm 100 percent focused."
Jeremy Meredith placed second at the 2011 Canada West Regional. He went on to finish in a disappointing 45th place at the Games. He knew if he was going to finish where he wanted in 2012, something had to change.
Meredith was already working with Mike Kesthely of Dynamic Nutrition for his fueling needs, as well as Guy Greavette for strength. He added a third coach to work on his conditioning. "The big change I made this year was getting on board with Cam Birtwell (Podium Sports Conditioning),” he explains. “Cam is a competitive CrossFitter himself, which I feel is extremely important when choosing someone to program for you. He also has tons of experience training elite athletes as high as the Olympic level. Not having to program for myself reduces the workload and allows me to focus on just training. Knowing all you need to do is show up and give 100 percent makes a big difference."
With his new training foundation in place, Meredith felt like he was in a good spot heading to Richmond, B.C., for this year’s Canada West Regional. "I definitely have a different mindset heading into competition this year. It will be my second year competing at this level. I probably made every mistake I could have last year,” he says. “I'm much more confident going in this year. Training is dialed, life stresses are taken care of, I'm 100 percent focused."
At the end of the Regional, Meredith stood atop the podium, besting 2011 Canada West champion Lucas Parker by a single point. "Placing first at this year's Regional was definitely a mental victory,” he says. “I felt there was a lot of doubt and a bit of controversy over my qualification to the Games last year (where second through fifth at Regionals were separated by only four points). This year, I feel Lucas and I solidified ourselves as the uncontested top two in Canada West."
Meredith is getting ready for the trip to Carson, Calif. His focus is stronger than ever and the goal is to finish far higher than he did in 2011. "Finishing in 45th place last year was a massive disappointment,” he admits. “Everyone tells you that it's an amazing accomplishment just to qualify, but I think if you have the competitive spirit required to get there, anything less than first is considered a failure."
What does Meredith hope to see this year at the Games? "Obviously as a bigger guy, I'd like to see some heavy weights at high reps. I perform better with slightly longer time domains so I wouldn't mind seeing a few events stretch into 20-plus minutes."
Meredith’s refined training regimen will be put to the test come July. He is eager and ready to take on the competition.
