Perry Hanlon: A Healthy Balance

March 23, 2013

Kate Rose

“I’m very happy about being in seventh, but there are also three more workouts ... I’m going to just continue to try my best and work as hard as I can to stay up there. It feels good to be up there with all of the girls I look up to.”

“I can’t control anything else. I can only control how focused I am and how hard I push myself,” Perry Hanlon, of CrossFit Altitude, says.

Finishing 158th in the Open in Canada East last year, Hanlon attended Regionals with the Altitude team. This year, after 13.2, Hanlon sits in seventh place in Canada East.

What a difference a year can make.

Hanlon came to CrossFit on a recommendation by her chiropractor to help recover from an injury. She hasn’t stopped. On her first day, she had the opportunity to train with future teammate, Britney Holmberg.

“At my very first workout, Brit was doing it at the same time and I remember thinking how good she was and how I would like to be like that one day,” she recalls. “I’ve been extremely lucky because I had the chance to train with and chase such good athletes such as Brit, Jen (Morris) and Lacey (Van Der Marel).”

Over the past year, Hanlon has been balancing the demands and stress as a first-year university student.

“This year has been about finding a healthy balance juggling school, my job and also training. I train whenever I'm not in class or when I need a break from writing essays,” she says. “I always enjoy when Brit is coaching because we goof around, eat ice cream and make up different movements.”

Hanlon attributes her improvement since 2012 to continual self-examination.

“I worked on a lot of gymnastics and continue to,” she explains. “I enjoy having weaknesses to work on. Trying to strengthen weaknesses is both fun and frustrating. It’s one of the many things I love and find so interesting about CrossFit.”

While she has enjoyed competing with her Altitude team, she is looking forward to the possibility of competing as an Individual.

“It has been a goal of mine for a while now to compete at the Individual level. In the past, I have really enjoyed the team aspect of competing and I love working out with other people,” she says.

To complete 13.1, Hanlon had to find a way to leave work to complete the event.

“I was at work and desperately wanted to go do it, so I convinced my boss to let me go for a bit,” she says. “It turned out well. I thought of a realistic score and got it.”

She managed 190 reps, and the 15th-place spot in Canada East.

“13.2 didn’t go as planned, and I wasn’t happy with my performance, knowing I could do much better.”

On her second attempt, she hit 351 reps, for 10th in Canada East.

“I'm proud of my results. I'm not sure about whether I expected them or not. It is difficult to expect things in CrossFit, but I have achieved what I wanted. It will be interesting to see what comes up next,” Hanlon says.

Right now, she’s right behind Michele Letendre, last year’s top female athlete from Canada East. It’s a bit of a change from her ranking last year.

“I’m very happy about being in seventh, but there are also three more workouts. A lot can change. I’m going to just continue to try my best and work as hard as I can to stay up there. It feels good to be up there with all of the girls I look up to.”