Physical fitness was always going to be part of the life of Tara Thall. CrossFit and Atlas Games – well, that happened a little more by accident.
“I was jogging down Regent Street one day and saw the old gym in the old garage,” said the 47-year-old longtime competitive swimmer and Sudbury native. “I just walked in and asked what was going on here – and I was hooked.”
Her competitive swimming days coming to an end by the time she graduated from Laurentian University, Thall crossed over to coaching before picking up running, even tackling a half-marathon along the way.
“Then I found CrossFit, maybe nine years ago,” she said “I needed a break from swimming. I needed to do something different and CrossFit fulfilled my competitive drive.
“When I first started, I was very competitive with myself. There is always something that you can improve on, there’s always more skills to learn. But now, I find myself wanting to be more competitive with other women in my age group (women 45-49 division).”
Since joining forces with coach Patrick Colomb from Ajax and becoming a member of CrossFit Sudbury, Thall jumped into — far more fervently — the CrossFit Open, making it through to the quarter-finals along with a solid handful of other local folks.
She was, however, the only Sudbury rep at the recent Atlas Games in Montreal.
“I had done quite a few team competitions to kind of get my feet wet,” Thall said. “This was my first step into an individual competition. In order to grow as an athlete, you’ve got to put yourself out there. You’ve got to go out there and rub shoulders with these girls and learn from them – and you will come home a different athlete.”
This philosophy of competition, she said, comes from Colomb, her coach, she said.
“He was right,” Thall added. “It was the best thing I ever did, extremely frightening, but good.”
With her overall base of strength and agility (and all things CrossFit) now comfortably in place, this was the next logical step for Thall. At least, in her opinion – and that of her coach – it was.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind, but there was a lack of confidence with starting a new sport,” she said. “I was very comfortable taking on those challenges in a swimming pool, but it took some time for me to develop the confidence to kind of throw myself out there with CrossFit.”
With a decade of sport-specific training now behind her, Thall enjoys a very solid understanding of her own strengths and weaknesses, and where to focus her efforts these days.
“All of those years of swimming helped me with my shoulder endurance, the workouts with my upper body, but I am trying to build my capacity in areas like gymnastics,” she said. “And I’m spending some time with the Sudbury Weightlifting Club, building my strength. It’s a journey, a process, and it’s slowly coming together. I just have to keep at it.”
That might be the least of her worries.
Finding a way to squeeze in daily workouts — she does her training between 5 and 7 a.m. to give her time to focus on work and the lives of her very active children, Pyper, age seven, and Jeremy, 14 — is just part of the testament to a certain inner fortitude that Thall possesses.
“Swimming is awesome for upper body strength – but also mental ability,” she opined. “I have some serious grit.”
This driven athlete certainly doesn’t lack motivation. And if there is need for a re-energizing of any kind, there is the local CrossFit community, one in which adversaries often will tackle their competitive workouts together.
For master athletes like Thall (under CrossFit designations any athlete over age 35 is considered a ‘master’), it was a privilege to compete alongside the sport’s best.
“They (CrossFit) try and give the masters athletes an opportunity to compete on the same floor as the top individuals in the world,” said Thall. “I thought it was a privilege just to compete against the women in my age group.”
And now she’ll move on, because she enjoys the challenge, and because her support system allows her to be aware of the next logical step.
“My coach really stays on top of things and pushes me to competitions where he thinks I can grow as an athlete.”
That might be a Canada East event in the fall in Hamilton. In the long run, Thall would love to move on to compete at a semi-final event, with a CrossFit Games appearance the ultimate dream.
Ironic to think it all started with a jog along Regent Street and folks sweating it out in an old garage.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
