CrossFit is Better with Friends

The most magical thing happened last week! My friend Erin was in Atlanta and she dropped in at CrossFit Identity. Erin and I went to college together, but we didn't know each other well. Years after we graduated, we both got into CrossFit and rescue dogs and started chatting about our shared interests on Facebook. Erin and her husband are fantastic dog parents. Their dog Chance is the coolest, and he has been a wonderful foster brother to TWENTY-SEVEN foster dogs. I am so thrilled that I got to spend some time with Erin in-person at the box. She's super strong by the way.

To make the day even better, my brand new Endless Summer by Nikki Leonard Fleo shorts arrived! These babies are the 3.25 contour, which have become my favorite Fleo short style. Just long enough to minimize chafing during runs, but still short enough to be cute, sassy, and #teamnopants.

We retested a workout that most people dislike but I kind of secretly love. You pick a heavy odd object and run 1,000 m around the loop. Our gym is located on this random street that has everything from psychologist offices to a tech incubator to 3 different yoga studios to a framing place run by veterans plus a nature preserve. The run route is a mix of parking lot, gravel, and mulch trail. On June 13, I used a 50# dumbbell and finished in 9:32. On August, I used a 50# dumbbell and finished in 8:35. Progress folks.

Houston and a Drop-In at CrossFit Downtown Atlanta

Hey y'all. Last week I was in Houston for a program monitoring site visit with some grant officers. I didn't realize how stressed I was about it until it started going well. I don't think they're taking my money away just yet.

Because it's totally normal to weigh your sashimi at the sushi bar. I love going to Oishii whenever I'm in Houston.

I didn't workout Wednesday through Friday and it began to drive me crazy. I should have gone to the gym instead of the hotel bar on Wednesday night. Oops.

Fran at Reebok CrossFit Fifth Ave

Way back in 2013, I was sleeping with this guy who was really into CrossFit. He routinely asked me how many doubleunders I could do, and the answer was always zero. He was a member at Reebok 5th Ave and he invited me to drop-in with him pretty often. I always said no because I was ashamed that I had gotten so out of shape. I made many poor decisions, including sleeping with him, and ordering a ridiculous amount of Chinese food instead of going to the gym. He told me that if I ever got a 5 minute Fran time, he would publicly declare me superior to him and buy me a tiara. The relationship ended terribly, but it was the catalyst I needed to turn my life around. I signed up for my own CrossFit box and now I have friends and I say nice things to them and let them say nice things to me. I can't even relate to Tilikum anymore.

I was back in New York last week and I got to work out with two of my favorite CrossFit loves, Abby and Svetlana. They now go to Reebok 5th Ave, and ironically the workout of the day was Fran. It's been three years and I have now dropped at 5th Ave and I can easily do 100 unbroken doubleunders. I do not have a 5 minute Fran time yet. I did knock 21 seconds off of my time for 7:09.

I literally couldn't do a handstand the last time I worked out with these ladies.

We finished off the perfect night with spicy margaritas and tacos at Mexique.

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.)

January 2016 Goals

Good morning! It's February 1, so 36% of Americans have already thrown in the towel on their New Years Resolutions. I am one of the 64% who still have their butts in gear.

Pure Barre goal: 16 classes in January. My monthly goal is 10 classes, but our studio had a 16 classes in 31 days challenge and I like to win challenges.

CrossFit goal: 8/200 WODS. I went to CrossFit 8 times in January, making a slight dent in my goal of 200 WODs in 2016. I had two drop-ins - CrossFit Willy B and Beltway CrossFit.

Wellness goals: I have been tracking my water intake on most days and getting close to 100 ounces of water or more a day. I have been sleeping a little better. I also have an Ambien prescription but I try to not take it.

I've been working with my nutrition coach Jenna from Crazy Healthy Fit since November and I've been making some real progress. Today I weighed in at 143.8 lbs., down from 150 lbs. I have this Omron body fat tester but for the life of me, I cannot get a consistent reading. I am going to get my body fat tested again this month to see how much I have improved since October 31.

My new Target bathing suit. How many more days until pool season?

My friend Drew inspired me to commit to losing some body fat. Drew was one of my first friends in Atlanta and she welcomed me to CrossFit Identity right away. Then she decided to leave me for Dallas! Drew is a badass, a lawyer, a CrossFit coach, a wife, and a wonderful mama to some beautiful furbabies. She's basically my hero. So when Drew made a goal to lose some body fat last summer and then knocked her goal OUT OF THE PARK, even after attending the Texas State Fair, I was like girl, you need to make a commitment to yourself too. Today is Drew's first day at her new job, which is sadly still in Texas, and I hope she has an awesome day!

Drew came to visit us in October and it was magical.

Addicted to CrossFit

I really didn't think that I was going to make it to 5:30 AM CrossFit today.

But then I couldn't sleep.

5:30 Club - So Blessed

I was in class with Gina Gallo at Bikram Yoga Roslyn in June, and she closed out the 90 minutes by sharing a little wisdom about being busy. She told us that when our days are really full and we have so many things we need to do and want to do, we should be thankful to have such rich lives and feel grateful for the opportunities instead of stressed out or resentful. At that point I was being paid to not really have a job, no one was offering me a job I actually wanted, and I was so exhausted from not sleeping that I acted like a zombie with an exceptionally short fuse. I swore I would be so grateful the next time I had a rich full life.

Well guys, I am super fucking thankful.

So fucking thankful that I had to start working out at 5:30 in the morning.

Rivka and I so happy after 3 RFT 100 doubleunders, 20 sumo deadlift high pulls @65#

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.

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.

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.

WODs on the Go

So I'm in Colorado for a leadership journey and I have entirely lucked out with my roommate Kristen. She's based out of our San Francisco office and she's a CrossFitter! We were so excited when we found out that we had that in common. Kristen goes to Diablo CrossFit, which happens to be where Alessandra Pichelli trains. My name is Alessandra, her name is Alessandra. I'm 27, she's 27. She holds a special place in my heart.

Kristen and I have been committed to exercising during this trip. We spent the first couple of days at a YMCA in Granby, Colorado. This is the mountains and there was snow. As much as I would have liked to run outside, I value my ankles too much and didn't want to fall off a cliff. Instead we did 100 burpees for time and both finished under 10 minutes. My time was 9:26.

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.

Cave CrossFit

Greetings from LA! I arrived last night, went to Yogurtland and then watched Sideways with two of my favorite guys in the world. Conked out on the couch and felt spectacular this morning.

Colton and I spent the day running errands and driving around town. We hit up Whole Foods, Alfred for coffee, and drove around the Hollywood Hills. Then I switched rental cars and made Colton take me to CrossFit (even though I have my own car.)

After much deliberation, we decided to go to Cave CrossFit on Beverly Boulevard. Coach and co-owner Zee Brod taught our class. Zee was great and gave me so much personal attention during our snatch work. We also got to meet Brian Jaffe, the other co-owner/coach at Cave CrossFit.

We had a thorough warm-up of a 400m run, jumping jacks, burpees, and Samson stretches. My snatch was seriously struggling today - I had to stick at around 45#. I realized that I hadn't eaten anything besides a green juice and a chocolate today and was pissed at myself.

The WOD was 21-15-9 thrusters and box jumps - 24 inch for women and 30 inch for men. Besides getting incredibly lightheaded and thinking I was going to throw up from hunger, I had an amazing time. I used 50# for the first 19 thrusters and then switched to 45# for the remaining. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this WOD and want to do it again.

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.

Brittany's Birthday Burpees

A little over a year ago I met my friend Brittany at a work conference. She's based out of our New Jersey office so I get to see her but not nearly enough. She started CrossFit about a month after I did and she goes to CrossFit Jersey City. They had a scheduled rest day so Brittany came to CFHK with me for a birthday WOD. I was so excited to spend this morning with her!

Friday Confessional

I have a confession to make. I used to like musicals A LOT. I've seen Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, Carousel, Cats, Footloose, Grease (twice), Guys and Dolls (at least twice), Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The King and I, Les Miserables (three times), The Music Man, Oklahoma!, Once Upon a Mattress, Peter Pan, The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime (twice, it wasn't any better the second time), The Red Shoes, and I can't remember if I saw South Pacific or just memorized the soundtrack. I even went to, wait for it, musical theatre camp.

Now I hate musicals. Everything about them makes me uncomfortable. Why are they breaking into song? And why are they smiling so wide? Is it time for intermission? Can I sneak out at intermission? I went to Jersey Boys last year somewhat against my will and I promptly closed my eyes and pretended I was just listening to Frankie Valli, whom I love dearly. A couple of uncomfortable hours later (anyone else notice that the actress that played his heroin addicted daughter also played the dancer/prostitute that wanted him to cheat on his wife?), and I was telling myself that at least it wasn't The Lion King or Rent. God, I cannot imagine a worse musical experience than Rent.

Deadlifts and That Time I Could Have Died

Remember that time I fell off the rig with my foot trapped in a band on my fiftieth pull-up and all of the 8:10 and 9 PM classes let out a collective gasp? Yup. That happened. I landed on my well-padded rump and was perfectly fine, but I think I scared a few people when it happened.

sometimes you have to work with what you've got