I’ve had a few people ask about doing another order of the Lululemon Wunderunders printed with our font and logo.  I know the last order happened a bit quickly because of the time crunch of our event so I’m going to open it up again and give you a ton of time this time to acquire your tights.  We will have to pay to set up the screens again so the cost will depend on how many people order but probably in the $10-20 range per pair unless we order a ton.  Let’s set a date of JUNE 15th to get the tights to me by.  They have to be black Lululemon wunderunders as we’ve had that material cleared and the seams line up properly (basically luon material works well).  Please leave the tags on until after we get them printed (just in case you need to return them) and please write your name on the tag with a piece of tape.   I can attest to the fact that the Wunderunders don’t ride up or down at all when running… in my opinion they are the best running tight that Lulu makes which is funny since they aren’t running specific.  Guys if you want to get the Real Xtreme Rx Hybrid shorts printed you are welcome to jump in on this order too.  JUNE 15th people.  I’ll give you another warning as the date gets closer but please get them in to me sooner than later so I can have a better idea of how the cost will divide up when people ask me.

2. JERSEYS

Endurance season is definitely here and there has been some talk of getting technical bike/traithlon/run jerseys made up to race/train in.  This will definitely be a custom order for those who want one.  We are still looking into brands and styles of shirts, design options and therefore I have no idea the cost yet.  If you would be interested in having a CFS jersey please email me and let me know what style you would like (bike/triathlon with pockets in the back, hate V-necks, love V-necks etc), if you have any specific preferences for cut or make, when your first event is that you would want it for, and your upper limit that you are willing to pay.  We will see what the interest is and then get some quotes and make a decision.  This one might be a bit of a balancing act so bear with me!

Heather

Cliff:
“I will bring BAB out (big ass barbeque) and fire it up for anyone that wants to have smoked meat monday morning. BAB can hold 20 brisket or 40 pork butts or 80 chickens or 100 racks of ribs with room to spare so she needs a lot of meat to fill her up and make it worthwhile firing her up. The idea is Sunday after dinner drop off what ever you meat you want smoked, I will baby sit BAB overnight and then monday morning you can pick up whatever you brought. Being that BAB is so big I would like to get as many people as possible to bring something to have smoked (think large cuts of meat). The butchers at Nesters are familiar with what I usually get for either brisket or pork butt so I am recomending them but I don’t have a vested intrest either way as to where the items being smoked come from. If you are going to use Nesters however you should talk to them before Wednesday mid morning just to ensure that they have you meat for the weekend. The only cost besides the meat will be with any luck under $10.00 for charcoal, smoking chips and tin foil. A beef brisket is about $60 and weighs around 15# and a pork butt is about $25 and weighs around 10#. Both brisket and pork butt freeze super good so if it seems like a lot of meat it is but it can be made into many meals. Can anyone interested please sign up either at the gym or post to comments to make sure we can get 20 plus people that want to do this. Once you have picked up your choice of meat google meat rubs or marinades for the best options for bringing out flavor in your choice of meat.”

…and now for a short musical interlude…

You’ve really got to watch that a bunch of times. One for general overall feel and once more for each person in the band (I’d recommend starting with the guy on the far right).

Nesters has offered up a CrossFit discount on meat. Check out the poster at the gym for who to talk to, what to say, and the secret handshake. Is anyone else thinking: holiday Monday lunch time meat and greet?

Jesse

Most of you understand that nutrition is a large part of success and generally know how to (or are learning how to) manage it for optimum results. However, many of you may not realize the extent that your mental strategy and thought patterns are another huge factor. People commonly believe that they cannot manage this as easily. The flip side is that others can naturally manage it quite well, until they are in a situation that is unfamiliar or highly stressful and then realize that they cannot.

Sylvia usually works one on one with athletes in her clinic to identify and work on thought patterns and mental strategy, but has offered to come to the gym for three Sunday evening group sessions: May 27th, June 3rd, and June 10th. Sylvia has very kindly offered to do these sessions “by donation”. Jesse and I strongly encourage you to donate $10-$20 per session as she is preparing these sessions specifically for our CrossFit training environment and you will receive 2 hours of information for each session (her clinical rate is $150/hr). The classes will be posted on Mindbody for you to sign up. Please bring cash only for your donation as it goes directly to Sylvia.

I am definitely excited about these sessions

Here is some info directly from her:

__________________________________________________________________

Join Sylvia Rayner, Certified Sports Hypnotist and owner of Cortex Hypnosis, for series of workshops about mental training for sport. These workshops will involve tools & information you can incorporate into your training, to improve your performance. The talk will also feature demonstrations of hypnosis, and plenty of discussion. Your mind is your greatest athletic asset. Learn how to use it!

Each of these talks will be useful on their own; however participants who wish to learn most effectively and solidify their new-found skills should plan to attend all three sessions.

For more information on Sylvia & her practice, visit www.cortexhypnosis.com

Cost: by donation

FOCUS
May 27 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The foundation on which success is built. How to turn off fight/flight/freeze (the fear response), which in inhibits performance, and create instant focus. Learn simple, repeatable mental tools that we reinforce in hypnosis to minimize distractions. Also, the importance of focusing on goals: short term and long term. Focus, then flow.

FLOW
June 3 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The most important component of pure peak athleticism. When athletes are performing at their best, when people are living at their best, they are in flow. Recognizing & conditioning the flow state, making sport effortless, efficient and enjoyable. More demonstrations & tools round out this key session.

FINISH
June 10 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Do you push hard right to the end? Or do your own negative thoughts trip you up in competition or practice. Learn tools to kick the “inner critic” and finish strong. Become respectful of the game, the self, and the others. Learn to adopt the champion attitude, in training, competition and life.

Tomorrow is a CrossFit Total. I’m giving you fair warning tonight as I want you mobilized, rested, fed, and well prepared to succeed tomorrow. Spend an hour tonight working on your mobility (hit Mobility WOD if you need ideas), eat a bunch, and show up tomorrow ready to roll. 15mins isn’t much time to get warmed up so be punctual and get some extra time logged at home if you need it. Here’s how it’s going to go:

Time Pressured CrossFit Total:

1RM Back Squat
1RM Shoulder Press
1RM Deadlift

Add your best of each together to get your total

You get 3 attempts at each (no more… not even one… not even a really fast one… just for triesies), and this is not to be confused by 3 attempts at each weight or 3 misses either. Once you’re warmed up it’s 3 attempts total.

You’ll lift your first of 3 Back Squats @ 15mins into class and have 15mins to complete your other 2 Back Squats (this will be on the clock).

Any lifts not started when the clock hits 15mins will not count. Following your Back Squats you’ll have 15mins to start and complete your Shoulder Press and then 15min. for your Deadlifts. If you complete a movement early you may move onto the next lift, but no exceptions will be made of the 15min time caps.

Best two quotes from the video:

“It’s really not about the genetics as much as it is about the effort, and about doing the activity right”
“if you can’t clean the house right, how are you expected to run a fortune 500 company right” (I like to think this plays into the “how you do anything is how you do everything” speech)

So stoked for tomorrow,

Jesse

For May we have….

Vicki and John S.’s 1 year anniversaries. And we should mention that it would be Laura’s 1 year with us also except that she is in Regina now… sniff.

That’s all!

p.s. Stretch your calves today after yesterday’s running

Our weekend was eventful for sure, and not so much relaxing. For those of you who don’t know what we were up to… Nils, KJ and I went down to Lake Hughes, California to run a 50km race called Leona Divide.

For KJ it was a time domain training event for her Ironman Canada in Penticton this summer, for Nils it was his first specifically 50km trail race, and for me it was a competition environment training day for my run this summer (Angeles Crest 100mile).

We started the weekend by missing our flight from Bellingham. We’d love to say we know how it happened but it really was just a combination of things along the way. Having never missed a flight before I was shocked by the lack of logical reasoning behind the GIANT change of ticket fee + the current price for the new ticket. So we sucked it up and had to drive a little further to Seattle to catch our flight there. Nils proceeded to lose his passport in the Seattle airport (it was clear that the hex had been established) and we boarded the plane wondering what would happen when we had to come back and had to cross the border. Other than getting into LAX really late, the rest was reasonably seamless for a while. All we had to do Friday was pick up our race packages, eat, hydrate, and prepare food for the next day.

(And Nils found out that his passport was safe in the lost and found at Seatac which turned him into a much more relaxed person)

We had a 6am start on race day. There were 500ish runners on course of which 150 were in the 50km option with us. It was clear, dry and HOT for our run… that was the intention. The course was really good, the scenery amazing and the event was run really well with tons of enthusiasm. We all finished unscathed other than the stiffness you would expect from a course that mixes grindy ups and pounding descents, with all sorts of slanted terrain in the middle. KJ had a solid day and managed to stay feeling pretty good throughout the whole event. Nils had a bit more of an adventure (his water bladder hose connection burst 2kms in and he had to carry hand held water bottles as well. Lame), and he came in swearing he wouldn’t do another one. Ask him now if he would For myself it was as good as a day can go. I felt great, ate well, stayed hydrated, went out fast and was able to maintain some momentum through the harder parts of the course.

This is my favourite photo of the weekend… I was setting up to take a picture of KJ (who had built herself a hat out of her shirt) crossing the finish line when suddenly she stopped and took a picture of the finish line. So funny. Who does that?!

The results are posted here: Results (You can search by gender once you are in there if you want)

The next day we drove to Wrightwood, CA which is the starting point of my run this summer. We had the intention of driving the road that accesses the crew checkpoints but even that plan got stopped by a fatal motorcycle accident on the road and we had to turn back. So we headed to Venice Beach to witness some ridiculousness and pretend to do a recovery wod on the pullup bars at Muscle Beach. The trip home could have been uneventful but instead the hex lingered and we got a speeding ticket on the I-5. FYI speeds that are ok on LA freeways are NOT ok on the I-5. A trip to Trader Joe’s made us feel better.

Pretty fun weekend all in all minus the mystery curse.

Anyone want to come along on the next adventure??

Heather

Our trip was fantastic. On day 4 we acknowledged that we hadn’t hit that level of relaxation since waaaaay before we opened the gym. So, we are back and rejuvenated and as busy as ever.

Last Thursday we started a new group of Foundationers (who are awesome by the way). Slater is assistant teaching them with us and Mel and Jenn are continuing to shadow.

Tomorrow is Steve’s last (official) shift. Sad but true. Don’t make him get all emotional, he has to save his energy for the weekend

Friday is the start of Regionals. If you didn’t know that by now I don’t even know what to tell you Steve is fired up and we need to give him all the support we can. If you haven’t already figured out what you are up to and are looking to carpool down with some other people from the gym you can post to comments here. I highly recommend wearing your CFS clothing and/or buying a Steve shirt once you are down there. Jesse is going to by crazy busy there all weekend and I am out of town so you guys are on your own to represent us in the cheering department. Be loud. And take pics on your phones and keep our Facebook page updated for me (that means you Slater).

Reminder that the gym is closed this weekend (Friday-Sunday). There are 4 regular classes on Thursday morning though.

Have a great week and we’ll all reconnect again next week and roll on into our summer routines… I think it’s time for cruiser bikes, Farmer’s markets and maybe some double dutch in our warmup (hey Michelle??).

Heather

ps. To those of you who have been asking… this weekend is not my “big” race… this is a training run… but thanks for the good lucks

Because of the cost of setting up the screens to print, this is a one time order by request only. We will not be carrying any of these in stock. Down the road if there is enough demand we potentially could do another order but not for a long while. If you have questions about the Lulu or Real Extreme Rx products either call the company or ask someone who owns them (lots of girls in the gym have Wunderunders… they are my favourite tights of all time, and Steve and Slater have the shorts).

If you have any questions email me and I’ll do my best to get back to your right way.

Heather

p.s. And yes I did just post this from our balcony at the top of the Westin overlooking Waikiki Beach (I pre-wrote it though and was waiting for confirmation).

Please keep an eye on your schedule online if you are on wait lists as I can’t promise that the hotmail bounce back issue is completely resolved yet. Sorry.

Have a lovely week. We will miss you, but should survive out there on our own

Heather & Jesse

9 years later….

If you only plan on watching 1 of this three part video watch the second as it’s all Squamish and the West coast.

The Man Who Can Fly (Part 1)

The Man Who Can Fly (Part 3)

Jesse