ESTEVAN — Tracy Grube's first trip to the CrossFit Games was such a positive experience she wants to return to the global fitness competition.
The Estevan woman competed at the event in Columbus, Ohio, from Aug. 21-24, finishing 26th out of 30 athletes in the women's 55-59-year-old age group.
"I can say I'm the 26th-fittest 55-59-year-old in the world, living in little old Estevan," Grube said with a laugh during an interview with SaskToday.
She emphasized the competition had a number of events that pushed athletes to their limit. The morning of the first day offered a seven-kilometre run and then what she called a "lifting" competition in the afternoon.
The second day put them through a clean-and-jerk weightlifting event, followed by a competition in which they had to complete glute hamstring developer (GHD) machine sit-ups, burpees over a sandbag and then a bag carry, all within nine minutes.
Then on the final day, she had to push a sled on turf; and perform ring muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, overhead squats and box jump-overs.
"I'm pretty lucky. I have a lot of everything here to train with in my garage, but there were a few things that were new to me,” she said.
Grube had never pushed a sled on turf before, she said. The straps for her rings in her garage are really shorter than those at the CrossFit Games, so she had to make adjustments.
She was most impressed with her performance in the ring exercises because she had to overcome some adversity. She will usually use a 12-inch riser to reach the rings, but just before the event, her group found out they had to use the men's rings, which are two inches higher than the women's. The next group’s coaches assisted them.
"It made it so much higher that the first time I jumped up to the rings, I missed them, because it was so high, and that height made it very difficult to get as many ring muscle-ups as I am capable of doing,” she said.
In the seven-kilometre run, she shaved three minutes from the time she posted in Estevan before heading to Ohio.
The top 15 athletes in her age group advanced to the final day of competition Aug. 24. Grube wasn’t one of them, but she didn't expect she would do so the first time at the international event.
"I wasn't super disappointed,” she said. “My goal … was to make the CrossFit Games, and I did, and then I just told myself that I want to go there and take it all in, take in the experience."
One friend of hers from Saskatoon has qualified 14 times, so Grube reached out to her for advice. Grube was told the event is very overwhelming the first time and her nerves would become a factor.
"You just want to go there and put your training to the test, and you'll figure out a lot of things along the way, which I did. I learned a lot about myself as an athlete and where I need to make some changes. I just wanted to enjoy the moment, be with all of those people that are like-minded and enjoy my time there."
She has made notes on what she did well and where she can improve for next time, and hopes she can make those adjustments.
After qualifying for the CrossFit Games earlier this year, she was training two hours a day, five days a week, and had to put a lot of things on hold so she could be ready.
"It's important to be able to make sure that you're working on all of the things that you need to be working on. And then just before leaving, a person goes on a deload week, so you don't do as much stuff,” she said. “So, my training would be an hour to an hour and a half, max, but you're not doing nearly as much stuff. You try to keep the intensity up, but the volume is less, just to give your body a chance to recover a bit."
Grube recognizes how tough it was to qualify for the Games and she knows it will be difficult to get back.
"There's a lot of great people there, and through social media, I have been in touch with a lot of people … but we don't get to see each other very often, so it's super nice to be able to be with them in person and get their advice, because they've been in this a lot longer than I have."
Grube trains alone, but when she came into a venue with 520 athletes who were there for the same reason, she found nobody judged anyone else based on age, even though they ranged from teenagers to more than 70 years old.
"It's just such a good feeling to be around all those like-minded people and getting to know them,” she said.
Grube thanked the community for their support during the competition. She received text messages from people, with some thanking her for providing the inspiration to exercise.
"That's the stuff that makes me happy to see that possibly when I share my journey, that I can inspire other people to go out and try new things too."
She is especially thankful to her family and friends for encouraging her during training and the competition.
Upon returning to Saskatchewan, Grube didn't have much of a break. She competed in the Regina's Queen City Marathon on Sept. 7. She didn't realize the two events were so close together when she signed up for the run with her daughter, but she was eager to going there and have fun.
