“My expectation is to make top 20 or hurt real bad trying.”
Photos by Tim Addison
The last workout of the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games Open was no less a crucible for Mississippi native Courtney Drake than for the thousands of other athletes around the globe battling through burpees and thrusters.
One circumstance, however, made her situation unique: a strong showing on 14.5 would get her to the next stage of the Games. The 43-year-old athlete was hanging on to a spot in the top 200 in her age division (40-44) with one workout to go.
Make the top 200 and extend your CrossFit season. Miss the cut and start prepping for 2015.
This year marks the debut of a new Masters Qualifier. In previous years, the top 20 in the Open automatically qualified for the Games. In 2014, the top 200 in each age division will battle for those 20 coveted spots over the course of a long weekend.
Once the four additional workouts are announced on April 17, athletes will have until April 21 to perform, film and submit the workouts to CrossFit HQ for evaluation. Think of it as the masters version of regionals. The top 20 punch their ticket to Carson.
On 14.5, Drake finished in just under 14 minutes. Her performance was good enough for 189th place overall, which meant qualification. But it also meant her work wasn’t over yet.
As an affiliate owner and trainer, Drake was familiar with CJ Martin’s programming at CrossFit Invictus. She often borrowed their programming to use at her own gym: CrossFit Hattiesburg in Hattiesburg, Miss. Aware of his success preparing elite Games athletes, she turned to Martin with the next stage of masters competition in mind.
“My physical training for this two-week period between the Open and the release of the masters’ workouts will be different from my regular training in that I’m following Invictus CrossFit’s Masters Programming,” she said.
“One big difference (from my normal routine) is that I will rest more during these two weeks than my normal training schedule allows,” she continued. “Mentally, most of my preparation is accomplished by planning. If I plan my programming, rest, meals, etc. … then I feel mentally prepared when it comes time to do my workouts. I know I’ve done all I can do to prepare so that helps me deal with the part that I can’t control, which is the (workout) itself.”
Drake’s nutrition will remain the same. She eats virtually no processed foods with an equal balance between carbohydrates, protein and fat.
Like any competitive CrossFit athlete, she has learned to live with the unknown. What will the workouts look like? Will they play to her strengths or her weaknesses? Drake wryly said her approach to the unknown owes more to wishful thinking than a crystal ball. But she does expect this set of workouts to be radically different than those in the Open.
“I’ve given up anticipating and turned more to hoping,” she said. “It seems that the programming has less limitations as the competition progresses and the pool of athletes is smaller, and it seems the masters programming would be no different.”
“I do think we will see workouts that are very different from the Open,” she added. “Longer, heavier and higher skill would be what I’d hope for. The opportunity to include a broader variety of skills seems to increase as the pool becomes smaller, but the fact that we will be doing video submissions will probably still prevent some movements, like running, from being included.”
According to Drake, what also separates this stage from the Open is the shortened timeframe. During the Open, an athlete had a number of days to focus strictly on one workout. He or she could do the workout, rest a day or two, and then attempt the workout again. Masters athletes won’t have this luxury.
“One thing the Open does not seem to test for is one’s ability to (work out), rest, recover, repeat,” she said. “Recovery is the 12th skill of CrossFit for me. Being able to do four workouts in five days should test this skill more like regionals and like the Games. I expect that more of our skills will be put to the test during this phase of competition. If you have a weakness, this is where they are going to find it.”
Drake’s longtime training partner Ashley Burdine will be one of many cheering her on. The two started training together in June 2010 when Burdine moved to Mississippi from Texas. A high school math teacher, Burdine was excited to have a female trainer who would push her as an athlete. Their shared dedication helped CrossFit Hattiesburg qualify a team to regionals in 2011.
In the last year, as their training intensified, their bond has only grown stronger.
“Training with Courtney has been great for both of us,” Burdine said. “We complement each other in that we both want to be better every day. We have the same goals and dedicate a lot of time to improving at the sport. When we (work out) together, we have different areas of strength, which keeps us pushing. While she may be faster on a lift, I can catch her on a gymnastics element, which pushes us both harder at our weaknesses. When we are on a team, neither of us wants to slow the other down so we often go faster and harder than we ever thought we could.
Burdine said she is impressed with Drake’s ability to juggle responsibilities. Apart from being a gym owner, coach and competitive athlete, Drake is also a committed mother to three children.
“My kids have done CrossFit, my boyfriend is a CrossFit athlete, our best friends are CrossFit athletes, and just about everyone I spend time with is a CrossFitter so it has been a balancing act to be that coach while also competing with the same people I coach,” Drake said.
“As far as owning a CrossFit affiliate, I just can’t put it into words,” she continued. “It won’t make you rich but you’ll feel like the luckiest person on Earth every day of your life.”
Looking ahead, Drake sees among her fellow competitors many masters athletes whose Open scores put them in contention for regionals, never mind the next phase of masters competition. To be sure, it will be a dogfight qualifying for the Games.
Even so, Drake doesn’t let the strength of competition affect her training and approach. She’s not quite sure what to expect, but she’ll be bringing her “A” game to the table regardless.
“My expectation is to make top 20 or hurt real bad trying. Other than that, because this part of the CrossFit Games is so new, I really have no idea what to expect. Maybe that’s good … it’s just go.”
