Maz Glover: Enjoying the Challenge

March 26, 2013

Chet Morjaria

“I enjoy being challenged. If someone says, ‘You can't do that,’ I will spend every moment in a day, week or year, to show that I can and that I will.”


 

Her name is Marianne Glover, but you should call her Maz.

The 46-year-old athlete from CrossFit Plymouth in Cattedown, United Kingdom has been taking part in the CrossFit Games season for the last three years. This year, she’s aiming for the Masters Women 45-49 Division at the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games.

So far, it hasn’t been easy.

After two weeks of competition, Glover sits in 43rd place overall in her division. To make it to the Games, she must climb the standings over the next three workouts. She has the top 20 in her sights, and she welcomes the challenge.

“I enjoy being challenged,” Glover says. “If someone says, ‘You can't do that,’ I will spend every moment in a day, week or year, to show that I can and that I will.”

She holds 43rd thanks to a score of 158 reps on 13.1 (47th) and 289 reps on 13.2 (75th).

Sometimes, the small things are the biggest challenge, she says.

“We have two different bars at CrossFit Plymouth, 17 kg and 20 kg. I picked up a bar and warmed up by adding weights. I then went for a warm-up run, came back set myself and went straight in,” she says. “After 10 minutes of hell, gasping for air and laying on the floor, the coach came over and told me I had got the wrong weight on the bar.”

As a competitor and a coach, she couldn’t believe she had messed up her equipment. Suspecting that the three kilograms probably affected her score, she resolved to give the workout another go. But it wasn’t easy.

“It was mentally tough, with the thought of how hard it was still fresh in my mind, and knowing I was doing it with a heavier weight, combined with still trying to get the same score,” she says. “I kept telling myself that I had done it at the right weight and I was doing it again for more reps.”

Yet, midway through the workout, she lost track of her rounds. She pushed on, attempting to squeeze out as many reps as possible in the remaining time.

“Coming up to the last 90 seconds, I had no idea where I was compared to last time,” she remembers. “All I know was that I couldn't breathe, and I felt every rep as it went by.”

In the end, she came out two reps ahead.

While those two reps may sound small, they make a big difference on the Leaderboard, and Glover was proud of the achievement.

“Amazing what the body will do if you ask it,” she says.

Over the last three years, Glover has experimented with different schedules and approaches to training. Originally, she went to class six days per week. Now, she does two double days and three single days. This way, she gets in more workouts and more rest.

Her training includes a daily dose of Olympic lifting. Consequently, she says her strength is strength. She likes short, fast strength-biased workouts.

“Another strength I have is that I am willing to take advice and I will push myself to the very end,” she says.