“I’m really competitive, but there’s something about having a child ... that wipes away all the competitiveness. I can enjoy it this year, even though I’m not at the top of the pack. I have my daughters, and that’s what really matters.”
Photos courtesy of Ryan McDuffie.
Last year, in one of the most demanding regions, Lindsey McDuffie finished in fifth overall behind Michelle Kinney and Heather Welsh.
After three Open Workouts, she’s toward the end of the qualifying pack in 35th place, but she doesn’t mind.
Two months ago McDuffie gave birth to her second daughter. Since then, she says her priorities have adjusted.
“I’m really competitive, but there’s something about having a child and that experience that wipes away all the competitiveness,” she says. “I can enjoy it this year, even though I’m not at the top of the pack. I have my daughters, and that’s what really matters.”
The 27-year-old owner of CrossFit Hendersonville, scored 180 reps on 13.1, and 318 reps on 13.2. She’s hoping to keep this pace up for two more weeks.
“My main goal is to make it through the Open in the middle of the pack and qualify for Regionals,” she says.
Giving birth just two months before the Open doesn’t make that an easy task, however, and the pregnancy prevented her from working on the heavy snatches that crushed her in the Snatch Ladder during last year’s Regional.
“There’s only so much heavy load you can do (while pregnant),” she says. “I haven’t been able to get stronger, but I’ve maintained my fitness, which was my goal.”
That was certainly made evident after she bested her 12.4 score by one rep, completing 258 reps in 13.3. Breaking the wall balls into sets of 80, 30, 20 and 20, and dividing the double-unders in half, her strategy was the same as the first time around.
“Since I did well last year, I thought, ‘Hey, let’s stick to what works,’” she says. “It left me five minutes to do the muscle-ups, which were the weakest part.”
Though getting to the Games is no longer No. 1 on her priority list, by no means does she count herself out. As much as her recovering body is able, she’s training.
“I still really enjoy competing and working out, just not to the level that it used to be,” she says. “My priorities are just different now. It’s a new stage for me, so I’m learning as I go.”
Right now, she says her body responds best to four or five days of workouts per week. She will usually complete either a strength session of various barbell movements, or a 10- to 12-minute couplet or triplet. But the most important thing, she says, is rest.
“(Otherwise) my body will just shut down and I will not be able to put in 100 percent,” she says. “I’ll get achy and run down. It’s not worth it at that point.”
Even though things have changed significantly for McDuffie, she’s still a competitor at heart. She says if she makes it to the Games this year, she’ll be the first on the plane to California.
“As competitive as I was, I could strive to do the very best and not succeed, and that would drive me crazy,” she says. “Now, I’m able to sit back and say, ‘Hey, in the scheme of things, this is what really matters.’ My family is definitely the most important thing.”
