I have been active my entire life. I swam competitively until the age of 17, holding several records in Ecuador, my home country, until just recently. Then I started lifting weights and playing racquetball. I entered a few local tournaments and really enjoyed it. Even at my height I played basketball with friends 1-2 times a week. Michael Jordan was my idol!
When I came to the States in 1999, I picked racquetball back up and joined a gym to continue lifting. One of the personal trainers at the gym told me that in order to get cut, I would need to add in more cardio. At first I was like, “Cardio??? No way!” One day I decided to go for a jog and realized I couldn’t keep running for more than 2 blocks. And I thought I was in shape! So it became a challenge; I’d go and run/walk on the weekends. Little by little I was doing more running than walking until eventually I just ran. A friend of mine asked me to run a 5K race with him; I did it and loved the race atmosphere. From then on I progressed from 5Ks, to 10Ks, to half marathons to full marathons. Later some of my friends talked me into doing the MS-150 bike ride in Columbia, MO. With my swimming background, the next natural challenge for me was clear: triathlons. The progression was the same; sprint distances, Olympic distances, half Ironman distances, then 3 full Ironman races (2.4 mile swim, 112mile bike & 26.2mile run).
In 2012, right before I started my last Ironman training I heard about CrossFit. I decided to see if it could help me with my Ironman, so I tried it and I was hooked. Since completing the Ironman, I have been doing CrossFit consistently, and it has become my passion. I absolutely love CrossFit; after all the years of doing sports this just makes sense to me. It’s 100% effective, fun, and of course, intense! I love CrossFit so much that I decided I wanted to help other people achieve their goals as well. I got my CrossFit Level 1 certification, and recently went on to get my Level 2 as well. At CrossFit Trenches we are dedicated to helping people create a better, fitter, happier version of themselves!