What was the 1st moment in training that made you think you could compete at the top level?

Question

Patrick Vellner · Answer

So my first major competition was the regional back in 2014. I didn't really know much about competing in CrossFit. I had some friends who pushed me to do the Open the year before. I used that to figure out what I needed to be better at. As somebody revealed to me the structure of the season and there's this natural progression, it's easy to set goals, so my next obvious goal was to just make it to the next stage. I did the following year in 2014, had zero expectation, had never watched a CrossFit competition, didn't know anything about it really, so stepped out on the regional floor, very green. I got buried in a couple events that had heavy barbells, but I actually won two events outright and I think had the rest in the top ten, I think. So I performed really well and it was kind of fun. I saw the rest of the guys advance and from there you know a few people, you watch the games and you see how they do. It was very reassuring to me to see, yeah, they're crushing me at some things, but I'm crushing them and I'm holding my own in a lot of areas. I think this is something that with a little more work I can actually be quite good at. I think my timing was good. I hit it at the right time where I was able to step in and fill pretty big shoes on a competition floor. But yeah, that was the first time I was like, yeah, I can probably do this. I can see what this is all about and I'm not half bad.

Swimming

Strength

Triathlon

Photography

Track & Field

Nutrition

Physical Therapy

Running

Pets

Cycling

Podcasting

HealthCare

Musculoskeletal

Hockey

First Responders

Integrative Medicine

Chiropractic

Cross Country Skiing

Adaptive Sports

Mental Health

Surfing

Climbing

Tennis

Military

Mind Body

Scholars

Criminal Justice

Liquor

Golf

CrossFit

Soccer

Pickleball

Hunting

Public Speaking

Venture Capital

"What was the 1st moment in training that made you think you could compete at the top level?"