Death by Burpees

Ryan has been in Atlanta since Saturday and we had a great time celebrating Bonus Christmas with his family on Sunday. Sunday evening he told me he'd like to go to CrossFit with me on Monday as long as there weren't wallballs. I was all, oooh, lemme check the website and then I just started to laugh. The metcon was called Little Ham Sandwich and it was 50 wallballs, 25 deadlifts (225/155), 50 wallballs PLUS 5 burpees every minute on the minute.

I thought Ryan was going to bail out but he wanted to go. The strength portion was work up to a heavy single deadlift. Ryan lifted 500# last Friday and did it again Monday night. He's super strong, nbd. I got my deadlift up to 245#, a PR of 20#. My 225# deadlift was a one time thing that looked extremely ugly last February during the blizzard. I was hungover, stuffed with sushi, and had only gone to work because I woke up somewhere in midtown and realized I had left my snowboots under my desk. Obviously the clear next step was to hit up CrossFit. Since then, my max has been 205# so I am super proud of myself.

Little Ham Sandwich was a mind fuck. Anna Marie recommended getting six wallballs each round. Sometimes I barely got four. I finished in16:46 Rx.

The Fitbit Challenge

I'm in this Workweek Hustle Fitbit Challenge with some coworkers in offices across the country that starts on Mondays and ends on Fridays. Now we already know that Fitbit hates on CrossFit and I hate to lose. All the other people in this challenge must be running fiends because their numbers are over 10,000 on a daily basis. So in order to compete, poor Frank has been going on a lot of walks.

This morning we went on a run in matching outfits. This is the only picture I got with him looking into the mirror so pardon its blurriness. Frank kind of sucks walking on a leash, but he's turned into a pretty spectacular running partner.

Want to start your own challenge? Check out the instructions from Help at Fitbit.com

• Tap the Challenges tab.
• Tap the challenge you would like to start.
• Tap Start Your Own.
• Tap the friends whom you would like to invite to the challenge, then tap Start in the top right corner. You're not required to invite friends, meaning you can run a challenge with yourself as the only participant.

Friendship and the CrossFit Community

Brian and me representing CFHK at CFID.

Years of therapy resulted in a profound and extremely overpriced revelation - I have trouble making friends. For various reasons, I just never learned how to make actual friends and I didn't have a clue how to meet new ones once I stopped going to school. And then I found CrossFit.

The CrossFit Community is my favorite thing about CrossFit. There are thousands (millions?) of CrossFitters around the globe and I love the feeling that I get from being a part of a community that is positive, welcoming, and up for a good time. I don't think I would have had the guts to get into my car and move to Atlanta without CrossFit. I knew I would find friends and a family at my new box and I am so thankful to call CrossFit Identity home.

My friend Brian from CrossFit Hell's Kitchen is back down south. He's been working in Mississippi and his wife lives and works here in Atlanta. Now that they're about to become parents (!!), Brian is going to be working remotely from Atlanta. Hopefully we can WOD together often.

Tire Flipping

I think many people associate with CrossFit with huge ass tires. I know I thought that everyone flipped tires at CrossFit before I started CrossFit. And I regularly saw big tires at CrossFits around the country. But after more than a year at CrossFit, I had never gotten to flip a tire. I somehow always missed the days they were programmed.

But then Saturday happened.

Teams of 4
3k row
50 tire flips
200 burpees
50 tire flips
3k row

Sweatin' to the Oldies

Today's post is in honor of my bestest friend Kristen because today is her birthday. Yesterday I made a photo collage out of pictures I took at a recent work conference during a morning session called Sweatin' to the Oldies. I swear I can't make this shit up. Since I was told I couldn't go to CrossFit because I needed to be available at 7 AM, my options were going to this or sitting in a meeting. The Richard Simmons video was not easy, especially if you were a bit hungover like I was.

As I was employing my awesome picmonkey skills, I remembered that many years ago, as in 2011, Kristen went to a Richard Simmons class. Read this epic interview that I've somehow let linger in my inbox for more than three years.

200# Back Squat

It hasn't hurt to shower this much since the 14.4 Open Workout. Last night's METCON fucked my hands. Damn toes to bar. But before I completed 18-15-12 65# back squats and TTB bookended by 400m runs, I got my 200# back squat.

Yum, Crickets

The guys from Exo Protein came to CFHK last March to share samples and sell their protein bars made of cricket flour. I tried one and got entirely freaked out that I was chewing through a bug skeleton. But I was freaking out for no reason; the exoskeletons are ground into flour. Turns out those bits I was chewing on were just nuts...

I bought a case of assorted flavors back when they only made three flavors: Cashew Ginger, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Cacao Nut. The Cashew Ginger and Cacao Nut are paleo. They've since dropped the Cashew Ginger and introduced Blueberry Vanilla and Apple Cinnamon. This sucks because Cashew Ginger was my favorite.

Casein Protein Powder

I bought a 2 lbs container of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Casein protein powder a few months ago. Casein protein is slow digesting and can provide your body with a steady flow of amino acids for hours, whereas the more popular whey protein is digested more quickly. This makes it ideal for nighttime consumption. I told myself that I'd drink a big casein shake each night before bed and reap the benefits. Slight problem. Turns out that I don't like to drink shakes before bed. I end up feeling more hungry, have trouble falling asleep, and then have to pee like 45 minutes after I fall asleep. No bueno.

120 calories, 1g fat, 3g carbs, 1g sugar, 24g protein per scoop

The casein powder is also pretty gritty and doesn't mix as easily as the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey. I found that mixing one scoop of casein and one scoop of whey makes a less clumpy shake and tastes better too. I really like this shake when I train in the morning. I start sipping it on the way to the box, drink most of it during the strength portion of the workout, and finish it on the way home. The mix of fast and slow digesting protein made me feel fuller longer. This might be entirely psychological but I have a tendency to attack food all morning long if I workout in the AM and this shake kept me satiated until lunchtime. And I mean real lunchtime, not the oh wow, it's 11:07, totally time for lunch lunchtime.

Frank

If you follow me on Instagram (ech_e_sketch) then you probably know that I recently adopted a dog. Frank is my dachshund mix and he's absolutely perfect. Frank was rescued and fostered by the wonderful people at GetALong Dachshund Rescue.

Frank loves sleeping in the big bed. Not sure how he's going to react to Ryan coming to visit.

Facing Your Fears

I didn't think I was afraid of heights until I started doing obstacle races. Sure, I would sometimes get a little queasy on the escalator at the 59th Street subway station but I honestly thought that had more to do with my perpetual state of hungoverness in 2012 than it did with the 70 degree angle of the rickety moving staircase. Then I experienced the cargo nets at my first Spartan Race and I was like eff this ish. It was terrifying.

I keep doing obstacle races because I am scared of them. I don't like falling, especially since I got my nose fixed. I NEVER want to wake up with a face filled with dried blood ever again.

So what gets me to face my fears? Narcissism, pure and simple. Allow me to walk you through my thoughts from the photos below from the Civilian Military Combine - New York City 2014 last month.

Oh fuck. I really do not like cargo nets.

Sweet Jesus. Why is this stupid thing the last obstacle between me and the finish line?

Oh, I'm gonna throw up.

Hero WOD Riley

CrossFit HQ posted the hero WOD Riley for September 27 and it caught my eye. CrossFit Identity programmed it for September 30 and I am honored to have had the opportunity to perform the workout.

It is important to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. We are damn lucky to live in a country where women are able to lift barbells while wearing very tiny shorts in gyms where men respect us as equals and don't see us as property.

CrossFit HQ

Army Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens, 39, of Tolar, Texas, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), died Sept. 28, 2012, in Wardak, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by enemy small-arms fire. Stephens is survived by his wife, Tiffany; three children, Austin, Morgan and Rylee Ann; parents, Michael and Joann; brother Ken; and a number of family members.


Riley

For time:
Run 1.5 miles
150 burpees
Run 1.5 miles

Civilian Military Combine - New York City 2014

This past Saturday Team CrossFit Hell's Kitchen took on the Civilian Military Combine (CMC) - New York City 2014, and as Social Director, I felt that it was my duty to be there. That, and I just really like my CFHK friends and signed up months ago because I knew I'd be in New York for weddings in September.

True Love is Clipping Each Other's Body Fat

Ryan and I had a fun and exciting Tuesday night watching Yukon Men Revealed and clipping each other's body fat with calipers. Nothing says, I love you like stripping down and pinching what jiggles.

That is my tubby flab being calipered by my boyfriend.

I downloaded the app Body Tracker and used the Jackson/Pollock 7 site skinfold equation. My body fat came to 23.56%, which falls under the fitness category but is pushing into the unacceptable acceptable category.

Brooklyn Boulders

I'm back in New York this week because I flew up for my friend Tai's wedding, which was beautiful. On Saturday, before the wedding, I went climbing at Brooklyn Boulders with Ryan and our friend Adam.

I've been climbing at The Cliffs and Island Rock, but never Brooklyn Boulders. I like The Cliffs better because it smells less like feet and lets in more natural light, but I don't have anything negative to say about Brooklyn Boulders.

Bouldering scares me because you're not hooked into anything. Going up isn't so bad but coming down makes me squeal in terror. I made it up to the top of the first V0 problem I tried but kept getting stuck on the second one. During my last attempt of the day, I finally made it up there as you can see in the photo collage above.

We went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que for Shiner Bock and ribs afterwards, which is really the whole reason that I went to climb at all.

Thank you Adam and Ryan for including me in your Saturday ritual.

Fitbit, CrossFit, and Two Tiny People on TV

You know what sucks? Finding out that your Fitbit is dead on the day that you walk 36 blocks in Manhattan and that day becomes your WEEK'S LEAST ACTIVE DAY. Eff that shit.

Ryan found this from the 2014 CrossFit Games and sent it to me with the caption, WE'RE FAMOUS.

I made it to CrossFit one time so far this week. Sheesh it was a killer.

Tuesday’s WOD…

The warm up:

Row 5 minutes

1 minute easy

then alternate 30 seconds hard and 30 seconds easy for four rounds

EMOM 10

Clean + 2 Jerks (climbing)

I made it 55#, 65#, 65#, 75#, 75#, 75#, 75#, 85#, 85#, 95#

For time:

Row 750m

21-15-9

Shoulder to OH

50 Double Unders after every round

then, Row 750

Rx was 75# and I used 55# and I DIED.

Another Hotel WOD

My best friend got married over the weekend. I hadn't worked out since Sunday at Flywheel and I was beginning to feel gross with myself. We were staying at the Hilton in Westchester and Hiltons tend to have good hotel gyms. My room was conveniently located across the hall. I grab some 20# dumbbells, took them outside of the sliding door, and hunkered down for a very hungover road WOD.

Not Even Flywheel Could Help Me

Sunday morning I awoke with the distinct searing pain in and between my eyes that can only mean one thing - I stayed out way too late showing off my impressive endearing straight up terrifying ability to chug Fireball interspersed with the occasional tequila shot. Guess what Atlanta? I found my people. So help me God.

The reason I woke up was the screaming alarm on my phone announcing that it was time to go to Flywheel. During my drunken bedtime routine, I laid out my spin clothes and my shoes, so clearly I really wanted to go. This is like that one time when I woke up wearing my gym clothes because I was afraid I'd oversleep for the Holley Mangold seminar. What can I say? I'm special.

So I'm dressed, I get in the car, and I consult the park instructions that I saved in my calendar invite. Midtown one-way streets and random ass parking entrances confuse the beejezus out of me so I reached out to the Flywheel Midtown team and received a detailed email back. I realized that the street I thought went right actually only went left (not while I was on it, I realized this as I drove down 10th Street, thank God), completely throwing off my understanding of the directions. I turned around 4 times, and then finally said fuck it when I got concerned that I'd be late and told I couldn't go to class. I parked in a residential building parking structure in the visitor spot and I am in no way sorry. Who is visiting at 10:30 in the morning on a Sunday who isn't there from the night before?

Airdyne Assault

See what I did there?

(The Schwinn Airdyne and the Assault AirBike are both fan wheel bikes in case you didn't get my clever humor. They are both pure torture.)

So Dr. Dan cleared me for light lifting and a body weight metcon when I saw him on Tuesday. It wasn't the, GET YOUR ASS BACK TO CROSSFIT! I was looking for, but it was better than nothing. 

Food Diaries

I took about three weeks off from tracking my food and it was one of the smartest things I've done all summer.

source

Logging your food is a proven way to reach your weight loss goals. Many respected fitness experts, including Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, recommend keeping food diaries. Trainer Bob might be a vegan but he CrossFits at Brick so I trust his judgment, and I love me some Jillian even if she can't push press a 55# bar. There's been a lot of information circling about timing your eating and fitting your macros and eating for your body type, all of which requires some kind of food diary. It's a good habit to get into.

Unless it starts to drive you crazy.

1st Choice Healthcare Center

You might have been wondering where I've been since lately. Sadly, I have not been at the box.

On Monday, August 25, I woke up feeling sore and kind of foggy. Pretty typical Chinese food hangover with the headache and bloating to match. I decided to work from home and then take a midday break for the 12 noon class at CFID. I kept thinking that if I got a good workout in that I'd shake the ugh feeling and loosen my muscles up. Unfortunately, I was barely through a warm up set of front squats at 85# when I felt a weird tinge in my back. I didn't like the feeling one bit so I put the bar down and went to speak with Keith.

Keith spent some time helping me to pinpoint where it hurt and said that I should go home and ice. I was sad that I couldn't complete the workout (front squats, power cleans, TTB, and running!) but I'm not a fool and I didn't want to be laid up with an injury. Keith said that if it still hurt the next day that I should contact Dr. Dan Shuman. Dan is a chiropractor who is nationally certified in Active Release Technique for both Full Spine and Long Tract Nerve Entrapment. He also happens to be one of my favorite friends at CrossFit Identity.

source

I went to see Dr. Dan on Wednesday, August 26 because it really hurt to walk. I couldn't bend over to touch my toes and normally I can lay my hands flat on the ground. Dan said that psoas muscle was spasming. Basically I spend a lot of time sitting on airplanes and sitting in the car and sitting at my desk (must build pop up desk this week!) and that makes my body think this is normal. When I rolled up to the box and started squatting, my back was like WTF? We don't move this way! Dr. Dan did some adjustments and then some other body work and I felt better immediately. When I came in on Friday for my next appointment, I felt like a new person.

CrossFit with Friends: Elissa Ho

Ask the Athlete: Elissa Ho

How long have you been doing CrossFit?
Started Crossfit December 2012.

What affiliate do you call your home box?
CrossFit Hell's Kitchen is my homebox and where my heart is whereever in the world I may find myself WODing.

What is your favorite movement or WOD?
Wallballs. Wod-wise - anything short and sweet. 15 min time cap

What movement or WOD do you hope never to see on the board?
All the strengths and skills that I suck at or don't have.. HSPU, MU, pistols, ring dips.. Oh and excessive cardio D:  that being said, i don't wish to never see them on the board.. gotta get better somehow.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Elissa and I are both members of CrossFit Hell's Kitchen who currently reside in Georgia. I'm still calling myself a member at CFHK because I have active classes in my MindBody account and I spend just as much time in the Facebook group as anyone else. Elissa is down in Augusta for some army training. When I heard she was coming to Atlanta and looking for a place to stay, I invited her to stay with me because that's what family does.

New Nano 4.0s!

Hot man bearing new Nanos = my kind of birthday fantasy

Ryan came down for a long weekend so we could celebrate my birthday a few days early. I'm leaving for Houston today and won't be back until this weekend. I have a wonderful boyfriend who has a wonderful family and they made me feel very loved this weekend. Ryan's nieces made me the best card I have ever received and it is my favorite present. My new Nano 4.0s are pretty sick too.

We both took Monday off from work and had a great day hanging out with each other. Ryan joined me for the noon class at CrossFit Identity. We worked up to a 1RM back squat and I PR'd with 190#. One hundred ninety pounds of barbell (and not 188# because I used the men's bar) went down with me below parallel and then made it back up. There was a moment there where I wasn't sure I was going to make it but my partner Stacey talked me through it. Thanks Stacey!

The WOD was awesome. I used 75# instead of 95#, but Ryan Rx'd it at 135# and crushed it!

WOD:
Power Cleans (PC) 1 minute-max reps
Rest 1 minute
Shoulder to Overhead (STO) 1 minute-max reps
Rest 1 minute
PC-1 minute-max reps
Rest 1 minute
STO-1 minute-max reps
Rest THREE minutes
REPEAT

photo courtesy of @cfidentity

Reunited with Cleo

Last November I was talked into volunteering with children on a Saturday afternoon. I spent three years of my life working with children. I like to volunteer with animals, the elderly, and the environment, but somehow I ended up at a school on a weekend. There was a boy involved. Most of my really poor decisions are because of a boy or boredom or both.

Anyway, this day was not a total loss. It's where I met my friend Cleo and soon after we were enjoying Kettlebell Kitchen lunches during the workday and watching the Chargers on the weekends and WODing whenever I could get him to drop into Hell's Kitchen. Life was glorious until February when Cleo up and left me for San Francisco. His leaving was the kick in the pants that I needed to leave New York and the rest is history. Oh, and that guy I was willing to volunteer with in order to see? We don't speak anymore, which is for the best.

Cleo and I reunited at the CrossFit Games and enjoyed beers and gossip while watching other people work out. It was exactly like it used to be except it was warm out. We got a workout in together and I haven't been that happy in a really long time.

Intervals on the Active Oval

I woke up on Sunday and couldn't lift my arm. If it didn't hurt so badly, I would have thought I was paralyzed. It turns out that I did something to my rotator cuff when I reached behind my driver's seat looking for my pocketbook the day before. Yup, I have injured myself through my own laziness because I wouldn't get out of the car to look for my purse. I blame my passengers for forcing my pocketbook to relocate to the backseat floor in the first place.

On Monday I woke up in excruciating pain. I managed to dress myself and get to CVS for Icy Hot patches and Advil. I really wanted to make it to CrossFit that evening because the WOD was everything I like: clean and jerks, cleans, shoulder to overheads, doubleunders, wallballs (eh maybe not wallballs), but my arm just didn't feel right. I decided to get over to the Active Oval and complete the interval run from my half marathon training plan that I have been putting off for weeks.

I ran from my apartment to the Active Oval and that conveniently took care of my 1 mile warm up. Then I ran fast for 30 seconds and recovered for 60 seconds sixteen times. I'll be honest, some of those 1 minute recovery jogs were more like stumbling around like a drunk walks. Most of my 30 second runs were at 7:09 or 6:15 pace. Once was an outlier at 8:20 but that was when the timer went off in the middle of me chugging water from my almost empty bottle. It was pitiful looking. Georgia is hot.

Hot Yoga in Houston

I was in Houston for work last month and my colleagues sent around an email chain about going to hot yoga at YogaOne. Only Kaitie and I ended up getting up at the butt crack of dawn to make the 6 AM class but I'm glad we went.

What's Mine is Mine

If I were out to dinner and I ordered a delicious bowl of pasta and my dining companions ordered measly salads, the waitstaff would never bring extra forks for them to enjoy my dish simply because they ordered poorly.

Why is it then that when my dining companions order only coffee and I order a delicious piece of cake, the waitstaff always brings extra utensils for sharing? I didn't order 1/2, 1/3, or 1/6 of a dessert. I ordered the whole damn dessert.

And that's why I've started picking up the extra utensils and handing them back

100 Doubleunders

A year ago Anthony, my coach at Hell's Kitchen, told us that if we all committed to 100 doubleunders a day, we'd all have doubleunders. The idea of being able to do 100 doubleunders, not unbroken, just 100 doubleunders within a window of time was unfathomable to me. When people complained that it would take forever to complete 100, Anthony said that even if it took an hour, we should do it because how were we going to reduce the amount of time it took if we didn't practice.

source

So fast forward. I attended a doubleunders workshop, I upgraded to a cable speed rope, and I got unbroken doubleunders. But like anything, if you don't use it, you lose it. I moved down to Atlanta and was messing with a rope one day that first week and my doubleunders were horrendous. Victor walks over to me and says that I'm working too hard for doubleunders and he was right. Victor tweaked my form, gave me feedback, and generously offered to size my new rope.

Now I do 100 doubleunders before every WOD and it takes me maybe 5 minutes. Right now I'm up 60 unbroken. My goal is all 100 unbroken by August 15.

The moral of the story is when Anthony tells you to do something, fucking do it.

A Long Run for Half Marathon Training

Long runs are pretty critical for any long(er) distance race. I used to run and race so often that I didn't really bother with them. I signed up for the Area 13.1 Half Marathon in November under the condition that I would train for it. I have a training plan that I loosely follow, but I haven't been that great about the long runs. I did my first long run in a very long time on Monday, July 14.

I gave myself 2 hours to run 10 miles. As you can see above, I reached that goal.

Squats with Charlie and Pat Sherwood

Charlie and Ryan at the CrossFit Update Show desk
I know that my boyfriend will always love Charlie more than me, and really, I can't blame him.

Remember when I was so nervous about meeting Pat Sherwood? Well it went swimmingly if I do say so myself. Charlie, my boyfriend Ryan's best friend, met us at the StubHub Center, gave us nifty CrossFit Media wristbands, and then took us on a tour. Part of this tour included meeting Rory Mckernan, Tommy Marquez, and Pat Sherwood. I said hi, thanked everyone for letting us come in to see where they work, and tried not pee myself. Ryan said my eyes got really big and that this is the most quiet he's ever seen me in the thirteen years that we've known each other. I call that a success.

I cannot thank Charlie enough for a wonderful weekend. One of my favorite parts of the trip was being able to have dinner with Charlie and Ryan at a sushi place in Manhattan Beach on Friday night. We ate Kobe beef corn dogs, nbd.

While we were at dinner, Charlie mentioned that he and Pat made a video about the squat. And then I saw it posted on CrossFit's Facebook page. Charlie and his dog Riley are famous. Enjoy.

My CrossFit Games Date

I had a great date for the 2014 CrossFit Games. My boyfriend, Ryan, loves lifting as much as I do, if not more, but he's not a CrossFitter. Despite having a girlfriend who won't shut up about CrossFit and a best friend who works for CrossFit, he has remained adamant about staying at a globo gym and following his own programming. I think that spending three days in CrossFit paradise may have convinced him otherwise. There's a glimmer of hope for him yet.

#cheatclean

Post CrossFit Games Depression

I spotted and ambushed CrossFit Games athlete Cody Anderson at LAX.

Today I am suffering from post CrossFit Games depression. Nothing about an inbox with 186 emails excites me and I wish I was back in Carson. It was a real struggle at work and I think I almost cried twice (not really sure what crying feels like but there was this weird pressure behind my eyes.) PCFGD is a real thing but going to CrossFit this evening helped.

Why thank you CrossFit Identity for programming a WOD that caters to my wheelhouse.

WOD
1. Front Squats 5×7

2. For time of:

Row 1,000 meters
100 double-unders

Run 1 mile

Front squats are my favorite thing. I like them even more than back squats and cleans. I worked up to 125# for my last set.

The metcon was a scaled version of the first individual event on Friday called Triple 3. This was the event that got Rich Froning to WALK.

TRIPLE 3
Points Available: 100
Location: Outside of Track and Soccer Stadium
Friday Morning

For time:
Row 3,000 meters
300 double-unders
Run 3 miles

I finished SINGLE 1 in 14:21 Rx. (See what I did there?)

CrossFit Mean Streets

Continuing my LA box tour, this morning my friends Jhon and Raiza accompanied me to CrossFit Mean Streets of Downtown Los Angeles. Jhon had gone the day before while I was hungover in my hotel bed praying for a swift and sudden death and he had on the t-shirt to prove it. It was nice that he could lead the way to the box since my brain doesn't always function at 5:30 in the morning.

CrossFit Sandbox

Greetings from LA!

I got in late last night and my buddy picked me up at the airport. I'm here for a conference this weekend but last night I crashed at his place in Santa Monica. Saving the organization money and catching up with a good friend - two birds with one stone. This morning I awoke to the familiar sound of barbells and remembered that my buddy's place is next to CrossFit Sandbox. I promptly put on some spandex and walked down the street.

The guys at CrossFit Sandbox were welcoming right away. The 9 AM was finishing up and I filled out my waiver, paid the $25 drop-in fee, and hung out with everyone else in the back. I really enjoyed the company (it had been more than 3 days without CrossFit!) and I felt very much included in the conversation.

#QUADZILLA

I love Saturday WODs at CFID because we do partner WODs. Today I teamed up with Tracy and we kicked ass if you ask me.

My wonderful friend Brittany sent me a wonderful present - a tank top that says #QUADZILLA from Stupid Easy Paleo. It was a big hit at the box today. We did a variation of the hero WOD Nukes and it took quadzilla quads to power through it. I always try to give my best at CrossFit, but I feel that I must give my all during a hero WOD.

CrossFit

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Matthew "Nukes" Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., assigned to the 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., died Aug. 10, 2012, in Sangin District, Afghanistan, after being shot by an Afghan policeman. He is survived by his parents, Socrates Peter and Patricia Manoukian, and his brothers, Mike and Marty Manoukian.