At a very young age, training and competing became wired into my DNA. The moments where I'm going full speed and max effort are the moments when I feel most alive. As a result, I've been able to accomplish some pretty exciting things in my athletic endeavors, but a fair share of injuries have come with the territory.
My story with Amari began at the tail end of my Crossfit "career" when I reached my last straw. After dedicating a year of my life to strict physical therapy and incremental strength progressions to recover from a shoulder operation, I discovered that my "good" shoulder was also injured. It was that moment that I felt one door closing, but I was determined to break a new one down, no matter what it took. Becoming an IRONMAN had always been a vague goal in the back of my mind, and I felt like there was no better time to give it a shot. Anything sounded better than another surgery and spending two back to back years doing shoulder physical therapy. There was nothing to lose. Worse case scenario, I figured I could just get the surgery if swimming wasn't going to be bearable. So, I bought a cookie cutter program online, and it went well for a month or two, but after a while I began to experience concerning amounts of shoulder and foot pain, and I felt the goal slipping away from me. I needed help. I went down the street to Playtri and explained to Amari that I needed someone to effectively prevent me from self destructing via over-training. Well, that's what she did, and much more.
Amari took me on board, and after a few months of training with her we began to compete! I did 5-6 races last season, and felt 100% confident in my preparedness each time. From sprints to olympics to the actual IRONMAN, nothing ever really phased me mentally or physically. She developed a play-by-play game plan for each particular race. I did exactly what she said each time, and it allowed me to finish toward the maximum of my ability each time.
As fun as the races were, the real magic was built by properly executing the daily workouts, and those were the biggest challenges. Her program design and my adherence to the plan consistently built "layer after layer" of fitness, and I felt entirely equipped for success at IRONMAN Louisville. I truly enjoyed every 4-6 hour bike ride and every 4k Meter swim, because I trusted that the plan would pay off on race day. Some of my most special memories from this year were during the grueling workouts on peak weekends, where I leaned on my family, coach and friends for encourage and support. It was an incredible journey, and I'm excited to do it again next year :)Read more amazing Athlete Stories on the Athlete Blog
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