August 2017 Athlete of the Month – Ellen Thomas

Congratulations to Ellen Thomas on earning Athlete of the Month status for August!  As an athlete, Ellen has improved leaps and bounds over the past year.  This is a product of her hard work and consistency.   Ellen is not only getting stronger, she also seems to be improving her gymnastics skills on a weekly basis.  Ellen is very goal oriented, and instead of wishing that she could do this or that, she pushes herself to achieve these goals.  This is a great trait that we coaches love to see!  Congratulations again Ellen!

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1. In general, what is your background?

I’ve lived in the Midwest all my life.  I was born in Indiana, about an hour outside Chicago (hence, the Chicagoan accent!).  I moved to St. Louis with my family when I was 18 and received my bachelor’s degree at University of Missouri.  After undergrad, I moved to Indianapolis for graduate school and obtained my master’s degree as a genetic counselor.  I took a job with SIU here in Springfield about 10 years ago, met my husband Jeff (whom you all know!), and have lived here ever since.  I currently work for a  genetics lab called Natera, Inc. that allows me to work from home.  I think most of you probably recognize me at the gym because of the cute little 7-year-old red head (Mia) that comes with me to just about every CrossFit class.

2.Age, Occupation?

I’m 38 years old.  As mentioned above, I’m a genetic counselor that works at a lab that specializes in pre-conception and prenatal genetic screening.

I learned about CrossFit from my husband, Jeff.  He’s been a part of the gym for a long time.  When Mia was around 3, he kept bugging me to try a class with him.  He was absolutely addicted to it and wanted me to drink the Kool-Aid too I finally tried it, and while I hate to admit that Jeff was right about something (ha ha!), after one class, I was hooked!

To keep it simple, CrossFit has just made me a healthier person.  While I’ve always been athletic and worked out, I looked at working out as more of something that “I had to do” to stay healthy, rather than something “I loved to do.” With CrossFit, I enjoy my time at the gym and love getting to go each day.  I also feel like I’m in the best shape of my life, with more muscle tone and strength then I have ever had before.

I am pretty happy with what I have accomplished over the last year. I’ve learned to do unassisted pull-ups, toes-to-bar, and double unders all in the last year!  I also completed my first full Murph this year and was able to do it Rx (minus the weighted vest of course…. not ready for that yet!).  Goals I’m working toward now are trying to string together more than just one pull-up, toes-to-bar, or double under….I hear they go a lot quicker if you don’t do them one-at-a-time . I also really need to learn to do a handstand.  I seriously do not know why I can’t do one!!

My favorite CrossFit moment so far would have to be Murph this year on Memorial Day.  I think getting through a full Murph (as prescribed, minus the vest) was a very proud moment for me and really made me feel like I’ve come a long way over the last few years.

Definitely 17.5 from the Open this year….. thrusters and double-under for 10 rounds.….needs I say more…. it took me forever to complete!

My answer to this one is the same as everyone else…. the people!  I have made so many wonderful friendships through the gym, and it was so effortless.  I’ve always been a friendly person, but I’ve met people through the gym that I have immediately connected with, that I know I will be friends with for a long time, and being able to create those types of friendships is a rare thing.  I think it speaks to what an amazing group of people we have at our gym.

Call me crazy, but I’m actually really enjoying the dumbbell snatches lately . I also really enjoy working on deadlifts and cleans.

Any of you that have spent at least 10 minutes with me at the gym know that I really cannot do a proper squat if my life depended on it!!  While I can compensate for my inflexibility on some movements, my lack of mobility definitely makes doing snatches and overhead squats pretty difficult for me, so I would say those are movements that I don’t enjoy too much.  Also, along those same lines, while it’s not a “movement” per se, I would really love to never do another wall squat or have to hold a squat (at the bottom) during our initial stretching at the beginning of class.