Laura Koller – CrossFit Level 1, CrossFit Endurance, and Olympic Lifting Certified
I turned 40 in 2009, and fitness and health-wise it was my best year yet. I had never been athletic, and was chubby as a teenager and young adult.
I began working out and running when I was about 28 years old, and ran my first Marathon in 2003. I was hooked and have since run 7 more.
Unfortunately, in the process of running Marathons I let any additional training (strength or otherwise) fall by the wayside because I wanted to “focus” on my running. However, I was mystified when my pace kept getting slower and slower even as I ran more and more miles. I thought I should have been getting better and faster. I tried speed work and hill sprints, yet all they did was make me even more tired.
Everything was feeling awful and my knees began hurting to the point that I was starting to hate running and even contemplated stopping, except I had just started a running group (USA FIT Gwinnett), and acquired a dog with boundless energy that needed to be burned off with activity. With starting the running group, and taking on this highly active dog, I couldn’t very well quit running! I had to find a way to get back my fitness, and it was obvious that running (and only running) wasn’t going to cut it.
In the summer of 2008, I decided to join a gym and get a Trainer. I thought I would be lifting weights and doing the “traditional” stuff that you see in your average gym (and that I had done in the past). However, instead I was slowly introduced to CrossFit by my Trainer, Jerome. We couldn’t do full CrossFit workouts all the time because we were at a “traditional” (globo) gym that didn’t have all the equipment we needed. But, he started teaching me concepts and exercises, and I started seeing results and was getting hooked.
In December 2008, I found a CrossFit gym and after one workout I was completely hooked. Not only were the workouts intense, fun and challenging, but I loved the atmosphere that there.
After three months of CrossFit just 3-4 days per week (and cutting back on my running distance), my average run pace has dropped close to 2 minutes per mile and I’m once again enjoying my runs to the fullest. Not to mention I’ve lost body fat, and have had incredible overall fitness gains as well. (Like being able to FINALLY do pull-ups with no assistance!)
I now have my Level 1 CrossFit Certification, Olympic Lifting Certification, and CrossFit Endurance Certifications. I have also learned so much about my diet and nutrition, and have finally started eating healthier and am able to keep my body fat down to under 20% regularly. This is the first time in my life that I’ve pulled together all aspects of my health and fitness by eating right, exercising well, and taking the rest and recovery that my body needs. It is also the first time in my life that I’ve ever seen six-pack abs, and that I’ve looked or felt this good.
Fitness doesn’t come in a pill or a bottle….it takes hard work….eating right, exercising, and staying active. But, it is all worth it, because as a woman I now feel stronger, more confident, and more capable than ever.
Email Laura: laura@crossfitnea.com
Check out No Excuses CrossFit website.
