Wednesday Wins! Team “Run, Row, Ride”
Today we shine a light on some of our most ambitious and selfish athletes — Team “RUN ROW RIDE: GO THE DISTANCE”! . Inspired by the rowing challenge in December (remember that? 100K between Thanksgiving and New Years?) Nassim, Corey, Meredith and Terry set out to up the ante AND do it for a good cause. They committed to rowing one million meters this year (also encouraging others to do it riding or running too) and have stayed true to that mission. They’ve raised almost $1,500 for The Community of Strength Project , an amazing organization committed to empowering and motivating at-risk youths through CrossFit (Founded by our very own WODFather, Geo Rockwell). The dollars they raise are to provide education (tuition) and materials (books and living expenses) to continue their successes outside the box. Even the smallest donation will make a difference, so please consider supporting this great cause. The Cove recently ran a ‘check in for charity’ FB program and we’re happy to say we raised $200 for the fund. If you can spare just a little, give to Team “RUN ROW RIDE: GO THE DISTANCE”!
But this mighty team got more out of giving than they ever imagined. Corey, Nassim and Meredith all started around 8 months ago AND all came to us from our Fresh Start Six-Week Challenges. Corey went from dreading the rower to knowing way more about it than most people could think possible. He proved his mental toughness when he took the December Holiday 100k rowing challenge, blew the lid off of it and hit 200K. Meredith also took the 100K challenge easily and hit 200k… and she, too, got the bug. Then Nassim. And Terry. And now Julie P. All have the rowing fever!
So what drives them to spend so much time on the erg? To make this kind of massive commitment in energy and time? No matter which one you ask, you’ll hear two common themes. The first is that it took them outside their comfort zones. It was a challenge they never thought they could possibly do before now. Nine months ago, none of these athletes even considered themselves ‘athletes’; now they are part of an elite rowing club.
Secondly, it helped them prioritize things and keep motivated. As Meredith so beautifully said “In this race to a million rowed meters, I’ve learned that you have to prioritize what’s important to yourself and that you can always make the time if you are motivated, even if it means adjusting your schedule and sleeping a little less. After recording 660,000+ meters in the last ~5.5 months, I have a completely different outlook on the rower and have so many new friends to talk rower strategy with, including a few coworkers!”. All of these people have demanding jobs (some have multiple jobs!) and busy family lives (Corey has FIVE kids!), but yet prioritizing time for THEMSELVES allowed them to succeed. Heck, Nassim even bought a rower for the house so she could multi-task ‘me’ and ‘them’ time!
As if rowing 1,000,000 meters isn’t enough, they added another challenge to the list: rowing a full marathon. Yep, that’s 42,195 meters in one sitting. Meredith and Corey completed it last week and Nassim and Julie hope to hit it this weekend! To put this in perspective, that’s working on the erg for around FOUR HOURS. Burning over 2,000 calories. And nursing a bit of a numb bum when it’s over.
So much has changed in these last 8-9 months for these athletes. As Corey said, “If you’d told me 9 months into my CrossFit journey that I’d row 42,195m in one sitting, I’d laughed in your face. I actually wasn’t a fan of the rower until I did the 200k in December. In putting such a large number out there, it forced me to learn to like rowing and has also been beneficial for me in building my endurance.” We hope this amazing group provides you with motivation, inspiration and a desire to step outside your comfort zone — AND to make a change in someone’s life through the charitable act of giving!
SKILL WOD
8 Bulgarian Split Squats (6 per leg, use DBs to go weighted)
20 Second Hollow Hold
3 Rounds
WOD
40 Cal Row
10 Power Cleans
30 Sit ups
2 Rounds
Fitness (FX): 115/75
Open (RX): 185/125
Performance (RX)+: 205/135
COACH’S TIP: The focus today will be on core and lower body since you’re shoulders are likely a little toasty from Run, Cindy, Run! For the Bulgarian split squats, focus on range of motion before loading too much (no weight is OK!). Shoot for 3:00 per round (ladies might be longer due to the row) but this should be a quick burner Metcon. The clean weight should be heavy and challenging. It’s ok to go in fast singles for each set of 10.
A whole new kind of Daddy/Daughter “Dance”…
Prep for Murph at the Cove
MURPH IS THREE WEEKS AWAY!
Americans celebrate the lives and honor the memories of their fallen soldiers every Memorial Day. As CrossFitters, on this day, Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy is memorialized by thousands of people completing the CrossFit hero WOD (workout of the day), which is titled “Murph” in his honor. This is meant to be a day for community and remembrance, and we want everyone to have FUN and stay HEALTHY as they tackle this challenging WOD.
Murphy was deployed to Afghanistan in April 2005. During a mission (later depicted in the movie Lone Survivor), he died while climbing to higher ground to make a call for help. Despite suffering severe wounds, he was able make the call and continue fighting. During that mission, Michael Murphy, Matthew Axelson and Danny Dietz were killed. The fourth member of their SEAL team, Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, was able to escape, partly because of the call made by Murphy. We honor his heroism with the following benchmark WOD:
We will be posting numerous tips and recommendations for how to tackle this workout on the day itself, but will also be providing information on how to be well prepared leading up to the day (everything from hydration to handcare). But part of this planning includes getting more proficient in the movements themselves. As you know we are in the midst of an endurance cycle, so the running should inherently feel easier. BUT we will also be adding additional programming over the next days and weeks to ensure you are executing the pull ups, push ups and air squats with virtuous form (preventing not only injury, but preventing soreness in the aftermath). Tomorrow’s workout designed perfectly to help you assess your strengths and weaknesses… but more importantly, to help you figure out how you want to approach (or scale) this workout on Memorial Day. We want everyone to come in with a ‘game plan’ and we strongly encourage you to talk to us about that very plan. Sticking to your plan and working within your INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY is critical to success for this historic and memorable workout!
WOD
“Run Cindy, Run”
800 M Run
then
20 min AMRAP
5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Air Squats
then
800 M Run
32 min Time Cap
Coach’s Tip: Today we hit “Cindy” (a 20 min AMRAP of pull ups, push ups and air squats) sandwiched between an 800M runs. This acts as a “Mini Murph” in that we also break out the reps in a similar style to Cindy. If it takes you four minutes to do the run (as an example) you will start your AMRAP at four minutes on the clock and end at 24 minutes. Then you will head out for your final run. If you find you are more than 5 minutes on the first run, consider scaling the second run to a 600 or 400 to ensure you return within the time cap. We will be hammering GOOD push up and pull up positions as high volume like this can cause muscular damage if not done correctly. LISTEN to your coaches and check that ego at the door!
Here’s a throwback shot to last year’s “Murph” at the Cove!
1-1 Coaching Opportunity at the Cove
1-1 Cove Coaching
Several of you have approached us recently about 1-1 Coaching options here at the Cove. Some of you identified weaknesses you want to work on during the Open and others just have skills they’ve been trying to master and just want to dedicate more time to them. Whatever your reason, we want to help!
While we still offer personal training as a general fitness regimen, most of you already get that from attending ‘regular’ classes here. 1-1 Coaching is much more SPECIFIC in nature. We discuss your goals, map out a specific and customized plan and coach you just for those specific goals. Specific goals could be increasing a PR on an Olympic lift. Or getting that elusive first pull up. Some of you have a long list of things you want to tackle, and we can help you prioritize them and make sure you’ve developing the skills and strength in the best order so they can build upon one another. The net net is that if you can dream of doing something, we want to help you get there.
Here’s what Cove 1-1 Coaching includes:
- Goal setting kick-off meeting
- Four weeks of personal accessory programming (for skill or strength improvement or as defined in your goal setting discussion)
- This wouldn’t replace the Cove programming, rather it would be extra skill/strength work to help work on your weaknesses.
- One hour long 1-on-1 coaching session ($75 value)
- Total cost $140
Think of this as a month long plan with the athlete doing their pers0nal programming one day a week (in addition to taking their regular classes). One of those hours would be coached privately with one of our Coaches. If you have interest in this program you can email us at info@CrossFitCove.com and we can get you on that path to success!
STRENGTH WOD
Strict Press 2/2/2/2/2
Between each set complete (6) 1 Arm DB Rows (opposite leg should be elevated on a bench or box)
WOD
20 1-Arm Alternating Dumbell Snatches (10 per arm)
40 Double Unders
10 min AMRAP
Coach’s Tip: The sets of 2 for the strength should be close to your previous 1 RM (90-100%). The DB Rows should light; they are not meant to be super hard. We want it to be a manageable load because we are seeking focus on good range of motion and really pulling the shoulder back. For the METCON, there is no load prescription today… go with a load you are confident in moving. What does that mean for scoring? There’s no RX button today! Just put your weight in the notes along with details on the rope. And have fun with it!
Huge thanks to Coach Maria for helping us run better… AND FASTER! The running clinic was a huge success!
