Teamwork Makes the Dream Work...






What happens when you take 5 people, 1 car, 362 miles, 7.5 hours and add them all together? Sugar shock!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of driving down to Virginia Beach to attend the Level 1 CrossFit Certification Seminar. I was accompanied by my training partner-in-crime Lisa, my favorite paparazzi Dan, the ever patient Coach Mike and the always fabulous Gillian. I picked them up in midtown Manhattan, crammed them into the car (poor kids, they never complained once about the cramped quarters), and we were off!

4 states and one speeding ticket later, we crossed into Virginia, made our way to the oh-so-glamorous Econo Lodge, checked-in, refreshed and headed out to dinner. This would be the theme for the weekend....go, go, go! Dinner was fun - we had the opportunity to meet up with our head trainers for the weekend - Jeff T and Maggie from CF Fairfax, Drew from CF Quantico, Pat from CF Va Beach, Tony B from CF HQ and Bobbi (I apologize, I'm not sure with whom she's affiliated with - but she's great!), as well as some of the other attendees for the weekend (including Dan(2), on leave from Iraq).

After dinner, we shot over to the supermarket to pick up snack supplies for the weekend: water, cheese, turkey, ice cream and Nerds on a Rope. Yes, you heard me - Nerds on a Rope (notice I'm glossing over the ice cream....). Gillian was disturbed to find out that none of us had experienced this sugar confection, so she insisted on buying us all some Nerds on a Rope, which are exactly what the name implies - Nerds stuck to a licorice rope. Sugar stuck to sugar. My poor teeth.

After 26 nasty hotel carpet burpees, ice cream and the Olympic opening ceremonies, we all settled into bed (no worries, the boys had their own room!).

The next morning we dropped Mike and Gillian off at the training center for their trainer meeting and set off in search of breakfast. Surprisingly, we were able to find pretty good bagels (scooped, of course, as we were all very health conscious, lol). Satiated, it was time to hit the cert!

The cert was....interesting. Two days, about 14 hours (at least 3 of which were physical) and mostly a lot of sitting around and listening. It was basically an interactive rehashing of the information available in the CrossFit Journals. Very informative in regards to CrossFit itself and the application thereof, but it left me feeling a bit empty. Maybe it's because I have the advantage of personalized training here in NYC?

Saturday's lectures were focused on CrossFit, Fitness, and learning the 9 essential movements. We would break up into smaller groups for some individualized coaching, and it was there that we had the opportunity to ask the most questions and get feedback if we so desired. We rounded out the day with Fran, which I completed in 4:10 (though I had to scale to 45# due to cleaning from the floor, and subbed jumping pull ups since I am still a weakling). Lisa rocked it out, using the rx'd weight and jumping pull ups, and Dan kicked butt as well even though he was favoring a knee injury.

Saturday night after the cert, Lisa, Dan, Dan(2) and I hit the beach (oh, so gorgeous) before meeting Adam (our favorite local) for dinner on the water. Before we knew it, it was late in the evening and we returned to our home base before reverting into pumpkins again. We wound down with some more Olympic madness and neglected to do our dirty-carpet burpees before hitting the sack.

Sunday morning found us at our bagel shop again for breakfast, after packing up and checking out of the motel. Bellies full, we returned to the CrossFit Training Center and took our seats in the front row. Today's lectures focused on the evil GHD, nutrition and programming, and then we spent most of the day being fairly active. After a pre-lunch WOD of AMRAP in 10 minutes: row, box jumps and wall ball (the wall ball and I are not friends, btw), we broke into 4 groups to get technique coaching in the rower, kipping pull ups, the muscle up and the snatch. Again, I felt as though it were too little :( It was almost like a tease...

Before long, it was time to gather our things and head home. Pat's parting words were "Go home, break the handle off your broom, knock on your neighbor's door and start training!".

5 people, 1 car, 362 miles, 9 hours, 1 massive thunderstorm, 1 nasty burger and entirely too much sugar later I dropped everyone off in the city and made my way home, a newly certified Level 1 CrossFit Trainer.

Click here to view the entire set of Dan's pictures from the Cert.


3 comments:

  1. Ahhhhhhhh yeah, congratulations!!! BTW, which state nailed you with the ticket?

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  2. Maryland. Trooper looked at my PBA card and didn't even blink. Ah well.

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  3. You ROCK Girlfriend!

    Sorry I missed you in the City this visit!

    Love you,
    Heather

    ReplyDelete

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