Member Journey Series

Every member that walks through the doors of Fog City CF has a story as to why they are there. They are looking to get fitter, stronger, or just maintain. They maybe there to challenge themselves and train for their next big fitness event. There are members who are powering through some life moments and leaning hard on our community to get them through the micro-moments. We wanted to share a story about a member, Nevada Lane. Nevada has been a long time member of our community. Last year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and at the same time going through menopause. We wanted to share Nevada’s story about how she’s approaching CrossFit differently these days. Thank you to Nevada for sharing her story with us.

Nevada’s Fitness Journey

I was introduced to CrossFit 8 years ago by coach Alyssa, who’d been a triathlon training buddy of mine a long time ago. I had no idea what I was getting into! I’d barely touched a barbell, had no idea what a jerk was, let alone a snatch, and was terrified of doing anything upside down for a long time.

About 3 months in, I realized I was having fun. Like really having fun in a way I hadn’t since my triathlon days a decade before. The combination of community, physical challenge, and feeling like I was always learning something new was addictive. I was hooked, and slowly went from coming to workouts twice a week to coming 6 days a week. It was the era of lots of PRs and Rx WODs!

There were injuries on the way - bicep tendonitis, tennis elbow, pulled adductor, foot stuff, neck stuff, but it would generally resolve itself with rest. My focus for the first 5 years or so was performance and being lean (I got a little obsessed with counting macros and ate a lot of weird stuff to get down to 15% body fat. Do not recommend).

When Covid hit, I started working out on my driveway with the few dumbbells we had at home. Coach Alex’s Zoom workouts were a lifeline to mental health … and maintaining some semblance of fitness. When the masked workouts started up at McLaren Park I was so happy to see everyone and so grateful to Hill, Liz, Gordon, Lindsay and the rest of the team for keeping the community going.

In 2021 I was diagnosed with super early stage breast cancer and went through multiple biopsies, two surgeries, and a month of radiation (no chemo, thank heavens). Coach Amy was my radiation technician at UCSF, and it was a total blessing to have a friendly face at the hospital every day when my spirits were pretty low.

Many days during treatment I came to the gym and got on the bike because I couldn’t use my upper body, or skipped it and walked instead because I was tired or it felt depressing to not be able to do the workout. A couple times I came in, felt emotionally overwhelmed, left without working out and had a good cry. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was also in the midst of menopause, so let’s just say it was an emotional year ;)

After 8 years of CrossFit, cancer and menopause, my focus now is much less on PRs and how I look in a tank top, and much more about staying strong and healthy. I still love the community and still love trying to get better at movements … and I still can’t do fuc*ing double-unders!!

What to Expect with Upcoming Programming

We’re starting a new cycle of programming this week! Here’s some of the things you will see over the next couple of months:

Strength focus: working through back squat variations with pause, tempo, and then regular back squats. The squat day will always be paired with complementary accessory work.
Benchmark day, with classic CrossFit workouts programmed.
A “Build the Base” workout, which are longer workouts using mixed modalities, to help you work on conditioning and pacing.
Other accessory work, including gymnastics skill work (handstands) and our usual shoulder health day.

Don’t forget, if you’re interested in working on your Olympic lifting, Barbell Class is Tuesday & Thursday at 5:30pm and Sundays at 10am. Feel free to drop in for some focused work on your lifting.Get excited! It’s going to be a fun few months. We’re looking forward to see you all in the gym.

WOD of the Week

WOD 10/17 - 10/22: Member's Journey - Nevada Lane