An Xplore Story - Meet Taylor Streid

A hard earned photograph after a long weekend in Minnesota at the Granite Games.

From Dominating the Pool to Eyeing the Games

From a broken rib that took her out of regionals to narrowly missing a chance to compete in the CrossFit Games, Taylor Streid can always find the silver lining.

The four-time Central Regional athlete spent the weekend competing in the Kill Cliff Granite Games — recently named the second CrossFit-sanctioned event for entrance into next year’s CrossFit Games — in St. Cloud, Minn., with a newfound passion and drive.

“This year at Regionals, I made some mistakes — not running to the finish line on every event — I finished seventh, 18 points from qualifying for the games,” Taylor said. “That really puts a fire in your belly.”

Her seventh place finish was a step up from the 2017 Regionals, when she entered the competition with a painful stress fracture in her ribs. It broke on the second day.“

Breaking a rib was actually a good thing for me,” she said. “It taught me a lesson. You have to listen to your body. I think it made me a better therapist and a smarter athlete.

”The St. Louis physical therapist finished fifth in the women’s pro division at this year’s Granite Games, her first competition since the 2018 Regionals.

Taylor’s leaderboard placing for the 2018 Granite Games, a future CrossFit Games qualifying event.

Instantly hooked

Taylor was drawn to CrossFit because it posed a continual challenge. The collegiate swimmer-turned-runner was bored with her exercise regimen and decided to give it a shot.She attended her first class while still in physical therapy school and was instantly hooked. Five years later, she has ascended to a level most CrossFit box members can only see as fantasy.“I don’t have much of a life outside CrossFit,” she joked.Most of Taylor’s days are split between Heavy Metal CrossFit or its partner gym The Lab and her full-time job.“I’ll wake up, squat and get one or two CrossFit workouts in before going to work,” she said. “On days I work earlier, I’ll get off at 2:30 and workout from 3 to 5:30 or so.”

Gunning for the Games

A childhood injury, and the subsequent physical therapy it required, propelled her into the field. Taylor graduated from SLU’s physical therapy program in 2015.

“I think it makes me a little smarter in CrossFit, in that I know what I need to do prehab-wise,” she said. “I have a good understanding of how to train and how the body works.

After a long weekend of competing at the 2018 CrossFit Regionals where she would place 7th, her highest placement yet, Taylor was finally able to head home. Pictured here is Taylor with friend and training partner Danielle Bowmen.

”Having competed at Regionals once on a team and three times as an individual, Taylor knows what it takes physically to rise to the top. For many years, her nutrition was a shortcoming though.

“I always thought I ate healthy, but I didn’t feel like I was recovering well,” she said.At the 2017 CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisc., Taylor was working at an Eggology booth when she met Xplore Nutrition founder Sam Karoll.“

Xplore seemed more personal to me. It’s affordable, and it’s a local, full-time coach,” she said, “but I told Sam right away that I was opposed to counting my macros.”

She and Sam talked more about the Xplore program, and she relented. After tracking her macronutrients for a short time, she realized her protein consumption was too low.“

It turns out I was eating maybe 100 grams of protein per day,” she said.Since she began working with Xplore Nutrition, Taylor’s PRs for all lifts, but particularly her squats and cleans, have risen. Her clean-and-jerk has increased by 11 pounds over the last year.“

I have a better understanding of my body now and what I need to put into it,” she said.The value of her nutrition program was put to the test at last year’s Regionals, after she completed a three-mile run on a treadmill and had very little time before her next event.“

Being able to recover after that one was huge,” she said. “Knowing what to eat at competition time is a big deal.”

This blog was written by Xplore Nutrition member and contributing author, Matt Dutton.