Chicago!!!!

Sometimes I go a little overboard, even for me.  I get these wild hairs that say "You can do it! Your a beast!"  Why do I listen to those voices? 

So it's Monday morning and I've already decided that a 3-peat is a good idea.  Why???

6am

I was told there was a surprise for this one.  What kinda of surprise could be waiting for me at CF Chicago West Loop this early in the morning? Fran? Cindy? Grace? Nope even better Kelsey!

Kelsey is a good friend that actually changed her work schedule to join us in the early WOD and what a morning was instore for us.
Deadlifts 5x5xMax Effort 65%, 75%, & 85% of 90% of 1RPM.  I know, I know, I failed Calculus too!
275, 315, & 355 were used. Then 2x10 body rows with 155-135.
Finally 21-15-9 of 115 Power cleans & Pull Ups  5:39
I'm exhausted again and I'm only writing this! Cool Box, good group of early birds, and a cool trainer. 

Drive 10 min, Sleep 20

8am

They have this thing called RowFit here. We were a little early so we got to watch.  Looks fun, if you like rowing.  Good thing I do cuz we had it on tap today.
WOD:
1K Row; every 15 strokes do 10 burpees.  5:50 / 20 burpees / 43 strokes!
5 min Rest
60 Push Press @ 95#; everytime you rest below shoulders or out of rack do 15 box jumps (20") 5:16
Total 16:06
Shoulders = Crushed! Another good box in Chicago, one more to go and I'll have done them all. GO TEAM ROWFIT!

3:30pm

What could I possibly have left in the tank or my shoulders as the case may be. I met Sean when I walked in, well re-met Sean.  Sean was the coach at Windy City CF back in May when I visited last. Small world but made for great catch up.  CF 312 is actually another pretty new box, much like GBCF, the bumpers smelled great and even still had some oil them.  What could we be possibly in for that I haven't seen today? If you said SNATCH you get a gold star.  These were Tall Snatches though.  No hips, no jump, all arms into the squat. 75-95-115.  To bad this was just the skill work, here was the actual WOD: 12min AMRAP 4 HSPU / 8 Slam Balls @ 20#.  Shoulders crushed, had to do kipping HSPU after like 5 rounds but
I made it thru 11 rounds. Thanks for a great WOD Sean.  312 is gonna be good!

Well that's it all 7 downtown Chicago boxes visited and they all are good. Now time to hit the burbs next time I visit. 72 down and more added every day....

On the way home.....

Well many things come from a road trip, unfortunately this one was the ending, on the bright side we did get to hit one more box, CF Arlington Heights.

Quick and fun warm up and then off to the WOD:
5 Rounds of
400m Run
3 Snatches @95
12 OHS @95

I finished in 14:37, Rx.  Jaimie was the only other one who did it Rx @ 19:00.  She almost beat the other guy in class! A great time was had by off and now off the watch Farve Bowl III! Thanks CFAH!

Packer-land Saturday

So I've never went to Northern Wisconsin before until this weekend.  I had the bright idea to go see the "mecca" of the north, Lambeau Field and maybe do a handstand or two.

Pretty cool place I'll have to admit, it's no Paul Brown :), but it's cool how it's in the middle of town with houses all around.  Now off to Green Bay CF to meet Grant and Sam, Owner and Boxer respectively.

Green Bay CF has been open for just about 3 weeks and you could tell.  The place smelled of fresh bumpers and new mats, it was great!  Too bad for us Grant had something else in store for us, rope climbs and running...Yeah more running.

So we talked about some progressions and found a good progression for Jaimie to do the WOD of:
1 15' rope climb / 800m run
2 15' rope climb / 400m run
3 15' rope climb / 200m run

8:51 was a good time and just beat out the rain.  Now back time to get back, get breakfast and great ready for one crazy/awesome family wedding

Start of a great weekend!

Wow! So I had a whirlwind tour of some Big Ten towns this weekend and boy do they all hate my Buckeyes.

1st stop Friday morning was Quad City CF in Davenport, IA where we met Austin and his crew. After a quick warm up we hit the WOD: "Jump Your Wall Balls Off!": 10 Rds of 10 Wall Balls (20#), 15' of long jumps, 10 Box Jumps (24"), 15' of long jumps. 14:37, not bad but got really wobbly towards the end. Great crew, awesome box, and would definatley visit them again. Thanx QCCF!

After a quick shower, we hit the road, for Progession CF in Rochester, MN. Due to bad math and internet reading, we figured out we would be about 3 hours early. So after a quick visit to the mall and an oil change, we killed enough time to hit the box a little early.

Progession CF had Lumberjack 20 waiting for us. I haven't done this since it's inception last year. This is a brutal 1 3/4 total run plus 20 reps of 7 different exercises. BRUTAL! 27:05, about 2 minutes better than last year but my back really paid for it. This was one great box with an amazing crew, Matt really has something going on up there in south MN!

5 hours to Wisconsin......

Idaho Falls, Day 2

This place isn't so bad after all :)

I looked on line and found that there was a second CF affliate in town, ID Falls YMCA. Due to my responsibilities, their 1 class/3 day a week schedule and my wonderfully large bed in the hotel I didn't make it. Good thing Maltese CF had a 3:30 class!

I met Parker this time, he's the other owner of Maltese CF and a firefighter. This time the WOD he laid out had a little bit of what I'm good at and someting I suck at.

800M Run
8 Rds
8 Pull Ups
16 Squats
800M Run

14:13, not too bad but my runs still suck but I'm gonna blame 4700' of elevation. That and I suck at running. Met some more of their crew tonight: Blake, Hillary and Jamie were all in the 3:30, Dr. Sarah Pepper in the 4:30 and Em and Ric (i think) in the 5:30. Thanks again for a great time Maltese CF, see you again in January!

A new one even for me

Well as most of my friends know by now, my job takes me around the country and to some crazy places. I gotta admit though, this is even a new place for me, Idaho Falls, ID and Maltese CrossFit.

Maltese CF is owned by Parker and Sam, two local firefighters. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet Paker, maybe tomorrow I will. I got the box just as one member was leaving. I quickly learned that all the regular 530pm crew came in early so it was just gonna be Shane and me. As I read the white board it had two WODS: 1. Death By Press @ 95# and 2. Tabata lateral jumps.......FUN!!!!!

Death by Press went ok, 10 rounds with 10 reps of round 11, I just missed the last one. No sooner did I drop the bar it was 3-2-1 GO! with the Tabata's. 32-32-33-34-30-28-26-28 Shane did a great job pushing me thru both of the WODs.

A great time was had by all! We even had a little BS session and some muscle up work post WOD. Definately a good box, with great coaches.
Thanks Maltese CF!

Early Morning with Kitsap CF

So I had this bright idea last night to hit the 6am class at Kitsap CF in Poulsbo, WA (great box BTW) Little did I realize that 11 miles in Washington meant like a 20 min drive. None the less, I was gonna put #64 in the books one way or another. As I got to the box, it was like 43 deg out and I could still see stars in the sky.
I quickly met Brandy and the end of the 5am crew, I used to be a 5am guy...
Anyway, Dan the owner soon got there and I quickly realized he was on the CF training staff and saw good things in my future. Did a good warm up and then introduced us to a new girl named "Nadia" and how she came about.

"Nadia"
21-15-9
Thrusters 105/75
Wall Balls 20/14

Totally fun WOD! Since there are a lot of new people in the 6am, only Brandy and I were the only ones who did it Rx.10:19 and 5:29 respectfully. I really liked this WOD I must say. We hit the foam rollers, "played" on the mega monkey bars, sang happy birthday(40) to kavita and had a paleo pumpkin muffin. I thanked Dan and his crew, told him about the primal palate and then took my box photo and headed back for a long work day.

Totally a great way to start my day here in Washington. Thanks again to Dan H and all the members of KCF for making me feel welcome.

Back in the Seattle Again.....

Had a busy day at work but I found a way to work in two WODs at two boxes so far. Olympic CF (Poulsba, WA) and Westsound CF (Port Orchard, WA)

Met Nick and his 3:30 crew as they were finishing up at Olympic CF this afternoon. I thought I was going to a farm house when I got there but it was an awesome space. I did a few kipping muscle ups and then he showed me a progression for strict muscle ups. I actually almost got one. Then Phil showed up and we got to work on the WOD.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Kettle Bell Swings and 40m sprints. Finished the WOD in a pretty decent time of 5:06.
Finished up, said my good byes , thanked Nick for a great WOD and headed for round two.

......Quick side note......

So a few months ago, I met a guy named Rick Sinclair thru wodclub.com, he is a 55 year old Firefighter from Vashon, WA. Great family man with 3 kids, a wife and a granddaughter who is older than his son. Today though he is a CrossFitter and a bad ass one at that and he was able to meet up with me tonight.

......Side Note Over......

Round two was at Westsound CrossFit. Met Micks crews sans Mick, hes a firefighter and was on duty, just around 6 tonight. Their menu had one of my personal favorites, Deadlifts 5x5x5x5x5. Decided to kick some young kid ass tonight and warm up with 215. The first 3 rounds opened with 315, 365, & 385, Round 4 got crazy with a 405 for me and 395 for Rick. Young asses had nothing on us after round 3. 5th and final round had some guts behind it, 465 for me and 390 for Rick. We were impressed by him, he's a freaking beast!

Well off to bed, possibility of #64 with Kitsap CF in the morning.

Back Tracking(4): June to Oct 10

Recap Only:

-CF York (York, PA) Very inviting box, jumped in like I was one of the crew. Thanks Rusty & Brittany, you two really found a way to make someone feel welcome...."If you don't introduce yourself to someone you don't know is 50 Burpee penelty"

-CF Collective (Lancaster, PA) No coach, I knew the WOD, 20 min on the rower for a 5K. Not the best 1st impression

-CF South Hills (South Park, PA) Mike T. has a great crew, nice box!

-Mountaineer CF (Morgantown, WV) Tommy H. has done great things with lots of obsticles. Love the Mega plex tour and the Turkish Get Ups

-CF Lynchburg (Lynchburg, VA) my home away from home, the only place I can walk into and everyone hugs me and waits for my pain! Thanks Ryan M.

-CF LIS (now Jet City / Seattle, WA) Nancy after 5 days off sucked! Thanks for the post WOD beer!

-CF West Seattle (Seattle, WA) Heavy Back squats. "Are girls are nasty but we like them" = BEST QUOTE EVER

-CF New Hampshire (Manchester, NH) very nice place, good crew. Jenn and lil man were there with me, which made it even better

-CF Game 2010 (Carson, CA) EPIC!! Too many things happened to recap. Met a great crew of judges to hang with all weekend. Love ya Starr, Ro, and Stretch

-Dogtown CF (Culver City, CA) 295#(PR) on Front Squats. Liz and Dusty rock

-CF LA (Los Angeles, CA) sorry I was late, trainer didn't stay around to say anything. Found owner upstairs 45 min after sitting around the box. Not the greatest experience

-CF Paradiso (Marina Del Rey, CA) AWESOME time with Helen and the CFP crew. Dave and Zeb are awesome

-Sin City CF (Henderson, NV) 2 games style WOD

-Iron Edge CF (Mesquite, NV)

-CF Dixie (St. George, UT)

-CF Flagstaff (Flagstaff, AZ)

-CF Carmel (Carmel, IN) "I'm too stubborn to quit when I'm hurt", with Jaimie

-Blast Fitness (Indianapolis, IN) CF Oly Cert. Josh Everett..245 snatch

-CF Hampton Roads (Yorktown, VA) effin Mary!, with Mopper

-CF of Breckenridge (Breckenridge, CO) 7 girls and me for a WOD = Awesome sauce at 10,000 feet!

-CF Verve (Denver, CO) Heavy DL's and Death by Thrusters

-Pikes Peak CF (CO Springs, CO) Snatch grip DL and push-ups

-Red Rocks CF (CO Springs, CO) more snatches!

-CF Athletics (Pittsburgh, PA) Jenn runs a great crew, my new home box as of Nov '10

-New London CF (New London, CT) farmer carries with 95# barbels is intense

-CF Providence (Providence, RI) Josh, Rx = ripped hands!

-Mon Valley CF (Elizabeth,PA) new but exciting to help get it off the ground. Jason and Chris are great peoples

-CF Northern KY (Florence, KY) took my niece but she refused to workout and went to McD's. Lucas has a nice crew

-Centerville CF (Dayton, OH) pre-marathon wod may have been a bad idea ;)

-CF Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA) Annie and Fight Gone Bad. Jenn, Mike, & Blake rock!

-Catamount CF (Canton, OH) Amanda = fun! Very clean box!!!

-Coca CF (North Ridgeville, OH) Kate Rawlings is amazing!

-CF Riverfront (Wilmington, DE) Ian made a mod WOD for Susan, snatch balance time!

-CF Bare Hills (Baltimore, MD) very bad representation of CF. No intro, no warm up, no questions, just go and get it done. No interacting with the 3 non-locals, not fun and not recommend

-CF Lancaster (Lancaster, PA) pre warrior dash wod, still got a wicked deadlift!

That should be all of them, if not I will add them eventually.......

Back Tracking(3): Feb - May 10

Recap time again:

-1st muscle up

-CF Ignite (Westward, NJ) had a good AMRAP of HPC, K2E, & Push ups

-CF Morristown (Morristown, NJ) "Karen runs a mile", I hit a parking meter

-CF Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) a few visits and I gave a paleo lecture, Johnny and his crew took care of me

-CF Ktown (Knoxville, TN) a few visits here too, Grant and Jessie tried to kill me rowing

-moved to Pittsburgh, joined CF Confluence

-CF Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) Angie plus 50

-CF St. Louis (St. Louis, MO) Barbara on rhoids with Ric Stokes

-Jeannies Beach CF (VA Beach, VA) went with like 5 hashers including Jaimie and Cheryl. Learned what TRX was

-CF Chesapeake (Chesapeake, VA) tried to kill Jaimie with mountain climbers

-Alamo CF (San Antonio, TX) Patron drop in fee for Rick, crushed the wod, and 500m race. All with Mopper

-C.C. CF (Corpus Christi, TX) lots of squats! Had Hoot, Mopper, & a hot shower

-CF On The River (Lawrenceburg, IN) almost puked and the only one to see it was the trainer

-CF Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) Das Gym was full of meatheads and machines

-CF Nati (Cincinnati, OH) great crew, hero WOD "Paul" while Jaimie ran 2.5 miles of Hell

-CF Reston (Reston, VA) Level 1 Cert

-Windy City CF (Chicago, IL) higher wall balls makes life interesting

-Atlas CF (Chicago, IL) squat clinic and the Bear

-Chicago CF (Chicago, IL) up and down the ladder with the most snatches ever other than Randy

-Milwaukee CF (Milwaukee, WI) total - 975

-Lincoln Park CF (Chicago, IL) OZ park fun with sandbags

Back Tracking(2): Oct/Nov/Dec 09 & Jan 10

Lots of work has been going tons of changes have happened to me by this point. Here's a quick recap:

-Old Town CF (Alexandria, VA) 2 WODs here. Did my first back squat PR. 245# at that point

-CF Portsmouth got a new box. 1st WOD was Vince, Mer, and myself

-CF Casco Bay (Portland, ME) 1st attempt at "Randy"

-Lumberjack 20 for FT HOOD

-Started Paleo, life forever changed again

-CF on a cruise ship and scared the big black women with burpees over the bench and HPC

-CF Winter Mixer @ CF Cynergy (Hanson, MA) Had a great partner in Trish Hitchcock (AWESOME WOMAN) and met Laurie Lawerence

-CF Fenway (Boston, MA) did a little indoor invasion. Great people. Met Eric, Stacy K was in NH visiting my box

That's the abridged version of those 3 months, next 3 or 4 months soon......

Back Tracking(1): Aug/Sept 2009

What I've decided to do for the next few was play a little catch up. Taken from my work out log, a few old emails, and lots of great memories, so here goes.....

So Susan Mopper told me about this thing called CrossFit and I decided to look it up.  It just happened that CrossFit Portsmouth, in Portsmouth NH, was having it's grand opening in just a few days, I was living there stationed on the USS DALLAS (SSN 700).  I contacted Jason Goulmas and scheduled my 1st intro class.
Let's just say it was a little more than I expected but It was great because everyone was on the same level. I quickly joined the 5am / 5pm classes depending on my schedule and quickly fell into the CFP Family. The strange faces that all looked at Jason like he was crazy soon became like a second family. Vince, Meredith, Terry, Jenn, Marc, Jeremiah, and myself were Jason's originals, his "OG's" as he likes to call us.  In fact, they are all still part of CFP in one way or another, i unfortunately moved to Pittsburgh mid Feb but have been back to visit.  This is the place we were intro to the ladies, the heroes, the met cons, the lifts, and of course Eric Morris.

Who I am and What this is about

So I've been asked to do this for a while now, so here goes. I am "Navy Mike" and I am a CrossFitter. Not only do I crossfit but I am a member of the US Navy and a full time student. My job requires me to give alot of myself and sometimes let other things fall by the wayside. The one thing I don't let fall by the wayside though is fitness. In August 2009 I was on a vacation in Colorado with about 1000 of my closest friends.  One of them, Susan Mopper, told me I was getting fat. She was right, I was 6'2" and just about 260 pounds and I need to make a change.

With that said, this blog is about the trials, tribulations, & travels of 1 avid CrossFitter and the quest to CrossFit all over America and possibly the world.