KAILUA KONA — Cheryl Brost is no stranger to the Reebok CrossFit Games.
Brost — a seven year vet of CrossFit competition — has reached the finals in the predominant event of the sport three times.
This could be why at the most recent CrossFit Games held July 19-24 in Carson, California, Brost picked up a first place finish in her age group having entered the competition with a sense of calm that can only be brought on by years of hard work and experience.
“I felt more lucid and present, and just more relaxed and focused in this year’s games,” Brost said. “It is easy to get anxious and nervous to the point where you are sick to your stomach at the CrossFit Games, and you start questioning why you are there and why you are putting your body through this. But I did not have that this year and that all goes back to training and knowing you put in your daily workouts. I was able to go out there and have fun.”
As one of the youngest competitors in the 45-49 year-old age group, Brost entered the 2016 CrossFit Games as the favorite in her Masters division. She did not disappoint, exiting the games with a gold medal after placing in first or second in all seven events she competed in.
“It was nice having the confidence of knowing I was one of the younger ones in the age group,” Brost said. “My body is able to recover and adapt faster than someone four years older than me.”
Recover and adapt she did.
Brost, who trains out of CrossFit AllStar in Waimea, jumped out to first on the leaderboard early in the CrossFit Games, picking up a first place finish in the California Club event, which included eight different workouts and had to be finished in a 20 minute time limit.
Competing in the second event of the day, Adios Amigos, Brost came face-to-face with her arch enemy, the ring muscle-ups, where competitors hang from suspended rings and pull themselves up to an upright, locked-out position.
“It was kind of a glad-bad situation,” Brost said. “The ring muscle-ups is one of my weakest routines and I am glad they came earlier in the week when I was fresher, but at the same time I still had to do them.”
Despite struggling, Brost managed to tie for second place in the event after finding motivation in an unusual place.
“At some point during the workout I could hear the announcers speaking and I remember them saying I was in fifth place toward the end of the event,” Brost said. “There were several of us really close to one another in reps and when I heard that, it lit a fire in me and I was like ‘I got to go.’”
The second day of competition started just like the first, with Brost pulling out another first place finish, this time in Feel the Berm. Feel the Berm involved running up the soccer stadium steps to touch the berm, followed by burpee box jumps. Athletes had to do four rounds, all within 20 minutes.
The fourth and fifth events of The Games ran back-to-back. Brost managed first in Deuce-Deuce and then tied for first in Squat Clean.
“These were short and fast events, like sprints, and I like those,” Brost said. “We had four minutes to finish Deuce-Deuce and the Squat Clean started at the fifth minute so the sooner you are able to finish the first event, the more rest time you have. I was able to finish the first event in 2 minutes and 8 seconds so I had nearly three minutes of rest time.”
While the extra rest time was nice, Brost did make a mistake before the events started that she was just now realizing.
“I had the full intention of bringing my lifting shoes, which have their advantages when working with heavy weights,” Brost said. “I warmed up with them and then changed into my running shoes for Deuce-Deuce. I grabbed everything I thought I needed but left my lifting shoes in the warm-up area.”
Despite having to do the Squat Clean in her running shoes, Brost managed to beat her personal best lift by one pound with a 206-Squat Clean.
On the third day of competition, Brost finished second in the D-Ball Triplet. She retained her first place position and, as the front-runner, easily made the top 10 to qualify for the the finals.
About one to two hours before the finals, the athlete found out they would be competing in a modified, heavier lift version of the DT, which includes the deadlift, hang power clean and push jerk. To throw in an extra twist, an axle bar, which is much thicker and heavier than a regular bar, was used.
“Not a lot of people have axle bars in their gym so it was something new,” Brost said. “The event was all about responding and adjusting on the fly.”
Brost adjusted quickly to the new challenge, placing second in the finals, but it did not come easily.
“There was another gal kicking, scratching and clawing to try to get on the podium. We were going head-to-head all day,” Brost said. “I think in the end I was able to catch her when she had some no reps that hurt her. It was a fun event.”
For Brost, winning a gold medal in her division wasn’t the ending of a hard, long journey to the top of the CrossFit world. It was just another step along the way to personal growth.
“It was an awesome feeling to stand on the podium, but it was not my end goal,” Brost said. “It was the byproduct of my goal, which is to make myself better than I was yesterday. Standing on the podium makes you realized that all the hard work you put in was worth it, but it is just temporary. It is more about the journey and the process.”
Albert Police, also out of CrossFit AllStar, was forced to pull out of the competition after the first event due to an injury. He entered the CrossFit Games 20th in the men’s 45-49 year-old Masters division.