I want to tell you about a woman I’ll call Sarah. Not because her story is unusual — but because it’s so common that when I share it in a room full of active women, at least half of them go quiet.
Sarah is 34. She’s been training seriously for six years. CrossFit four days a week, an Olympic lifting session on Saturdays. She can clean 185 pounds. She’s proud of that number.
But about two years ago, something shifted.
It wasn’t pain. It wasn’t an injury. It was a moment during a conditioning piece — doubleunders, box jumps, and a 400-metre run — when she felt something she’d never felt before. A small loss of control. Brief. But unmistakable.
She didn’t tell anyone. She finished the workout, went home, showered, and told herself it was a one-off.
It wasn’t.
Over the next few months, Sarah started making quiet adjustments. She swapped box jumps for step-ups. She chose the bike on conditioning days instead of the run. She timed her water intake around her sessions. She started wearing only black leggings — and told herself it was an aesthetic choice.
When her coach asked why she’d been scaling the jumps, she said her knees were bothering her.
