New York

So I started this post in December when I started my new job and then I promptly forgot about it until now. 

photo courtesy of CrossFit Hell's Kitchen

Last Monday I started my new job as the Manager of AmeriCorps Residency Programs at Relay Graduate School of Education. I am so very excited to take on this work because I am passionate about AmeriCorps, and I know that this is the way that I can have a positive impact on education. I just also really enjoy managing AmeriCorps programs - everything from service events to making sure we're in compliance.

Relay has campuses across the United States, but the home office is in New York. I feel really fortunate that they found me such a strong candidate for the role that I get to work remotely with regular travel to New York. I flew up Monday morning (after driving back from Tampa on Sunday, ugh) and stayed through Friday. I got to drop in at CrossFit Hell's Kitchen for a debilitating workout - 50 front squats at 50% back squat 1 RM, followed by 5 rounds of 20 wallballs, 10 hang snatches, and 10 chest to bar pull-ups. I was walking funny all week. 

As thrilled as I always am to make it to CFHK, I was nervous to come back to New York.

I was nervous that I'd come back to New York and use my new job as an excuse to move back. I was pretty sure I really loved living in Atlanta, but it's hard moving somewhere, making all new friends, being hundreds of miles away from your nearest family member, and leaving the only company you've ever really worked for. When I came up in December, I kind of entertained the idea of moving back to NYC, getting to go to CFHK all the time, and seeing my parents every other weekend because I am a helicopter child. And then I snapped out of it. I dislike New York. Frank hates Manhattan. We'd end up living at my parents' house and I'd have to change the title of my memoir to Alone with Dogs. (Type alone with cats in the search bar at the top of my blog.)

15.5

Workout 15.5

27-21-15-9 reps for time of:

Row (calories)

Thrusters

Men use 95 lb.

Women use 65 lb.

Open workout 15.5 was my opportunity to redeem myself after a very disappointing 15.4. A year before, I did thrusters at 65# for the very first time during 14.5. They were difficult and I could only do about three at a time, and I got no-repped like nobody's business.

My friend Laia Marti captured me mid-thrust. Awesome photo, but it also motivated me to start tracking what I eat. I still consume all sorts of fried deliciousness, but at least I'm tracking my macros?

14.5: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of 65# thrusters and bar facing burpees

I love Laia's photos and she has some great shots of 15.5 from CrossFit Hell's Kitchen and Reebok 5th Avenue that I'm excited to showcase in this post. She is seriously talented and you should hire her to photograph your next event.

Couples who work out together, stay together.
Tommy Wornham and Christina Gryte from Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave

No Place Like Home

I occasionally get asked if I miss anything about New York. While living without Seamless and 24 hour bodegas has proven to be an inconvenience, I really don't miss anything* besides CrossFit Hell's Kitchen.

*I know my boyfriend is going to read this statement and get offended, but in my opinion he is not a part of New York - he just happens to live there. I always miss him, wherever he is, if he's not with me.

I miss CFHK a lot, especially now that it's the Open. I wish I was able to celebrate this special time with everyone there. I really dislike a lot of places in Manhattan (and don't even get me started on Brooklyn), but the 4,500 sq. ft. that make up CFHK is my home and I miss my family.

This week has been a really shitty week, and this morning was a shitty morning. I walked out of CrossFit without doing anything. For the first time, I just didn't want to be at CrossFit and I left. I got in my car and I cried. Not sure if I mentioned that I got a new car, a platinum grey 2015 Nissan Rogue Select named Miranda. (No, I didn't get a Rogue because it's called a Rogue. Yes, she's named after Miranda Oldroyd.) A much nicer car to cry in if you're going to cry in a car. And then I drove myself to Target, where I bought myself socks and a new shoe rack to display all of my sneakers. 

Shopping at Target in New York is not a pleasant experience because you have to figure out how to lug everything back home from Harlem. Shopping at Target in Atlanta is spectacular because you can park directly in front of the doors and then drive back home to your apartment parking lot. I love lots of things about Atlanta and I like where I go to CrossFit now, but the only place I really wanted to be today was home.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

New York State of Mind

I've been back up in New York since last Wednesday. My trip was very much planes, trains, and automobiles and I got to experience the joys of the New York Subway, the MTA Bus, and the Long Island Railroad. Oh the L train.

I spent time at my parents' in Oyster Bay. I spent time with some family in Queens. My boyfriend's exceptionally lovely roommate let me stay at their apartment in Williamsburg. Some wonderful friends hosted a wonderful holiday weekend in Southport. It's been great, but I am more than ready to get back to Atlanta.

We both owned those bathing suits and didn't plan this at all.

The boyfriend and I fit in a run while we were in Southport. It was really just an excuse to run to Spic and Span Market for sandwiches because it was cheat day.

WOD Times

Every CrossFit box around the world programs a Workout of the Day, aka a WOD, and as the name implies, it is the workout that is offered all of that day. Some boxes also offer boot camps (drives me fucking nuts even though I'm guilty of going), mobility classes, oly lifting, or advanced level programming at times throughout the week, but my experience has been that the same WOD is offered multiple times in the course of one day. So if you're getting the same movements, does the time that you go matter? I say that it does.

Some people have strong preferences about their workout times - they perform better in the morning, they're not awake enough to train before work, they can't go in the evening because it keeps them up all night. But others, myself included, can workout any time. Why should we commit to a WOD time?

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CrossFit 1 Year Anniversary

Today is my CrossFit anniversary and it has been a great day. I wrote the post below on Facebook this morning.

Abby, Garland, me, and Svetlana the night of my last WOD (for a while) at CFHK

Today is my one year CrossFit anniversary and I could not be happier with the last 365 days of my life. By signing up for Essentials at CrossFit Hell's Kitchen, I started a journey that took me from a pretty dark place to one where I am filled with love for others and allow them to love me in return. I am a better friend, daughter, sister, and employee. I am also strong as fuck. Thank you Anthony Preischel for putting up with my shenanigans and always pushing me to be better. Getting my first rope climb with you was one of the greatest moments ever. Thank you Jim Cerqua for being a badass Essentials coach who made me psyched to show up the next week for the "scary and intimidating" WODs with everyone else. Thank you Danielle Eberhart, Hayden-William Courtland, Marc Giordano, Jason Fernandez, and Stephen for being great coaches with your own coaching styles - I'm so lucky to have trained with each of you.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful CrossFit family at CFHK and to have made friends across the NY CrossFit community. Matthew Bronson, James Quigley, and Blair regularly welcomed me to EVF. Chad Syniec, Alex Wong, PJ, and Chris made me consider moving back to Long Island so I could go to Crossfit Central LI more often. And without Team Dangerous and their prom, who knows if I would have stayed in NY long enough to make any of these friends?

While I miss every one of the amazing people I call my friends in NY, today I am excited to spend my anniversary at Crossfit Identity in Atlanta. As Frank Sinatra said, "It was a very good year."

My Passions are So-Called Cults

The two things I love the most, Teach For America and CrossFit, are often accused of being cults. Apparently I like the taste of Kool-Aid.

I am a Teach For America alumna from the 2008 New York City corps. I am a member of CrossFit Hell's Kitchen. I could not be prouder to call myself these things.

The similarities and differences between Teach For America and CrossFit are the reasons I find each so essential to who I am. I've been with TFA for the past six years, ever since I graduated from college. I only recently joined the CrossFit community, June 2013, but I already cannot imagine my life without it, nor would I want to. This post is not a response to criticisms of either organization, nor is it an attempt to connect the education non-profit to the fitness company outside of my own experiences. I am a Teach For America alumna and a current Teach For America staff member who CrossFits and because this is my blog, this post is about me.

There are days where the magnitude of my job scares me. If I fuck up, there are actual and serious consequences that will have an impact on teachers and students. It is removed enough from the classroom where I no longer feel control over student outcomes and yet I feel a deep sense of responsibility to ensure that the students in the schools that we serve are receiving the best possible opportunities because they deserve them. I am deeply committed to Teach For America's mission and my sense of urgency is high. And sometimes I get myself so upset about educational inequity that I feel entirely helpless and about to lose my shit. CrossFit grounds me and proves to me that hard work, ambitious goals, and a plan leads to results.

The Return of the Morning Run

My friend Matthew deserves a big thank you for motivating me to get out of bed this morning and run a 5K. He has recently committed to adding 3 days of running to his current routine and yesterday he invited me to join him for a run. I had already done the WOD, the extra work for the WOD, and I was about to get in the shower so I declined. But his commitment stuck with me and so this morning, even though I didn't really want to, I got up, put on my spandex and hit the pavement for 3.1 miles.

Matthew! Isn't he handsome?

CrossFit with Friends: Ryan Kay

Ask the Athlete: Ryan Kay

How long have you been doing CrossFit?
Just over a year.

What affiliate do you call your home box?
CrossFit the TAJ in Boston.

What is your favorite movement or WOD?
Overhead squats

What movement or WOD do you hope never to see on the board?
I hate box jump workouts.
___________________________________________________________________________________

My friend Ryan sent me a message sharing the good news that he would in New York on Friday and wanted to drop in at Hell's Kitchen with me. We decided upon the 12:05 WOD. This is a class time that I rarely go to and I'm glad I did because I learned many people I like are regulars.

I was super excited to get back into the box. I had been back at CrossFit since Monday but I hadn't WODed at CFHK since before my surgery. Fortunately Friday's programming was all things that I am permitted to do.

Early April in Photos

April has been pretty dang good to me thus far. Here are some photos that capture why it's been so nice.

One day my friend Brittany came to visit me at work and we went to CFHK. She didn't bring her gym clothes but we were able to convince her to wear some of our extra gear and train in her sock feet. There she is with two of my other most favorite people - Tammy and Rachel. It was a great Friday afternoon and I am so thankful to have these three ladies in my life.

Tammy is working on her jerk recovery. This is when we put more weight than we can jerk onto the rack and jerk from that starting position. This helps us to get stronger and improve our form.

I stayed with my parents for a little after my surgery. My dad apparently doesn't like the scent of cooking bacon. I woke up to find this Post-It on the microwave.

My friend from high school works for CrossFit HQ and just casually trains with Pat Sherwood. No big deal. It took them about 52 minutes to perform their workout. And for some reason, this friend of mine refuses to introduce me to my future husband.

I've mentioned that my friend Ryan has influenced me to start using MyFitnessPal, but I might not have added that I've already lost 4.5 lbs. I guess I was eating a little too much food. When I was in LA hanging out with my friends Rylan and Colton, I joined Colton on his daily trip to Whole Foods. He likes to eat turkey and a green juice every day. I've been eating it for my morning meal more often and it is surprisingly filling and delicious.

The Saturday before my surgery, I joined some of my CFHK friends at the Cliffs at LIC for some bouldering. I've gone rock climbing before but not in the past decade and I had never gone bouldering. Nieves was a great and patient teacher. I was scared at first but I got to the top of one of the v0 problems by the end of our session.

Atlanta

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Tonight I'm heading down to Atlanta to check out apartments. People keep asking me if I have a lot of friends there, and to be honest, I don't. I'm just going to join a box.

A year ago, I was a hot mess. I surrounded myself with people who didn't actually care about me or my well-being. I compromised my happiness and subjected myself to treatment that is less than I deserve. My life was empty and it's no wonder I spent a significant amount of it drunk.

Signing up for Essentials at CrossFit Hell's Kitchen was a 3 day commitment that entirely changed my life and gave me the opportunity to meet more than a hundred amazing people. I am honored to be their friend. I also don't have to compromise myself to do so. I am my best self when I am with them.

So no. I don't have a lot of friends in Atlanta but I'm not concerned. I'm not moving to Atlanta for any reason or anyone but me. I want to live in a more affordable city that has nightlife for young people but will also make a good place to settle down and start a family. I want to live in an apartment bigger than a walk-in closet. I want to drive my car. I also want to continue working for my organization and our Atlanta office is well-established and home to many of our senior leaders whom I admire.

I look forward to touring boxes in Atlanta and finding my new family, but no matter where I live, I will always call CrossFit Hell's Kitchen home.

14.3

I missed the 14.3 announcement because GoGo in-flight wireless refused to live stream it for me. That's some malarkey because I really wanted to see Alessandra Pichelli kick some major ass. My name is Alessandra, her name is Alessandra. I'm 27, she's 27. This workout made me giddy with excitement, she schooled this workout like nobody's business. This is what I call fate because back in 1986, our parents' clearly named us with this moment in mind.

WORKOUT 14.3

WOMEN - includes Masters Women up to 54 years old

Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:

95-lb. deadlifts, 10 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

135-lb. deadlifts, 15 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

155-lb. deadlifts, 20 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

185-lb. deadlifts, 25 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

205-lb. deadlifts, 30 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

225-lb. deadlifts, 35 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Frostbite 2014

Everyone should compete as a team at least once. I had originally signed up to volunteer at Frostbite 2014 to support Denis and Anthony's team, but found out that I was actually a member of that team. We asked Katrina to be our fourth and Team When Hell Freezes Over was born.

I'm carrying Anthony while Denis is performing the reverse med ball toss. Katrina, not shown, is rowing.

When Hell Freezes Over at Frostbite 2014

Team "When Hell Freezes Over" came in 9th place out of 21 scaled teams at Frostbit 2014. I love these guys and couldn't ask for better teammates!

Thank you to all the coaches at CFHK, especially to Anthony and Stephen for all the time you have spent working with me, and Danielle for being there today to encourage and sharing your expertise when I really needed it!

A very special thank you to Chad Syniec, an amazing CrossFit Central LI coach, who has welcomed me to Olympic Lifting Sunday and taught me so much about lifting, strength, and believing in my potential. I couldn't have made it through WODs 2 and 3 without you!

Weekend Windup with Some Oly Sunday Funday

All last week I was dying to get out to Long Island. I was in need of a Siberian Soul Reboot.

This is what you get if you Google image search Siberian Soul Reboot
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I made the 4 PM WOD at CFHK on Friday. It was a special blend of awesome and fml. I PR'd my sumo deadlift at 203#. Here's the video of me completing 2 reps. My form goes to shit. I have to be more aware of rounding my back.

Rachel's Birthday WOD

I found myself Saturday morning at 6:25 AM, drinking seltzer and trying to First Aid my finger so that I could properly attend Rachel's 9 AM birthday WOD. I made some bacon, cursed the theatre gods for making Rachel have rehearsal that afternoon, and forced my slightly hungover body into skinny jeans.

I hate when it's too early to wear sunglasses without people assuming I have a drug problem

No one should ever have to see this.