Excellence Athlete Profile: Marissa “Roo” Luchau
Roo looks like a machine. She’s about as friendly and good-natured as they come but you wouldn’t guess that by looking at her on game day.
Roo’s training demands rival that of any professional athlete. Her coach lays out a meticulous program designed to peak several times per year for competition. Her current incarnation as a kettlebell Master of Sport and a two-time Crossfit Individual Regional Qualifier is not her first run as a competitor. The product of a rural Washington upbringing, she cut her teeth as a barrel racer in rodeo and LumberJill games before being recruited by the UW as a javelin thrower. At college, a nasty rugby tackle left Roo with several fractured ribs, a build-up of scar tissue and an episode of acute Frozen Shoulder. That injury put an end to her track and field career but it does not keep her from training at the highest level today.
Most people who compete like this are called professional athletes. They rely on a locker room full of physical therapists, trainers and equipment to help them recover after each rough training session. Roo has Sports Medicine Northwest. It is our duty and privilege to help her recover from one week’s training demands in time to greet the next week’s with renewed mobility, stability, power and focus.
Marissa had a big weekend. If you’ve been on Facebook anytime over the past 48 hours you probably already know that she shattered a world record on Saturday.
World Record for continuous #35 kettlebell jerks in one hour on Saturday morning 11:59am PST= 545 reps
World Record for continuous #35 kettlebell jerks in one hour one minute later at noon PST= 712 REPS!
That may not have been the only world record set that day. Hordes of friends, family and supporters showed up at Sports Medicine Northwest Health and Fitness to participate in the One Hour Long Cycle right along with her. It was a hugely successful fundraiser for The Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance and it may have been the largest such event in history.