Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today's edition is powered by Kettlebell Kitchen.

KBK is teaming up with Kari Pearce to get you the six pack you've always wanted. This special offer will get you $25 off your first two orders of meals as well as a free subscription to Kari's new Power Abs Course. Take advantage before this deal expires on January 23rd!

One more sleep until Wodapalooza officially begins.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -- Mike Tyson

The Sanctionals Cohort Continues Global Expansion

Some news.

CrossFit HQ announced yesterday that three more events in Dublin, Ireland, Vancouver, Canada, and Quebec, Canada will be joining for the 2020 season.

The announcement brings the total number of Sanctionals for the 2020 season to 21 events across 14 different countries, and six of those events will debut next season.

“As the CrossFit Games season expands internationally, so does the opportunity for CrossFit, Inc. to support our affiliates,” said CrossFit CEO Jeff Cain in the press release. “These sanctioned events recognize the histories and individual character of a wide variety of CrossFit communities around the world.”

They heard Canada's polite cries. 

After being left out of the sanctioned event club for 2019, Canada now has two events with the CrossFit Atlas Games in March 2020, and the Canada West CrossFit Championship in June 2020. Canada was previously divided into the Canada East, and Canada West regions, and now the country with the land mass larger than the United States, and an affiliate community in place since 2005 has a Sanctional representing both regions.

And what's up Ireland?

The addition of Ireland’s CrossFit Filthy 150 to the mix means Europe will play host to six events in 2020. The seventh iteration of the event will also have the honor of leading off the Sanctionals season next year as they are slated for November 2019, just ahead of the Dubai CrossFit Championship. It’s a distinction welcomed by event director Darinna Dunne.

“We can’t wait for everyone to experience the famous Irish welcome and perform in front of the best sports fans on the planet,” Dunne said.

In 2020, Sanctionals alone will run roughly for eight months, making their time frame longer than the entire CrossFit Games season under the old format.

To brush up on this year’s schedule, here is the complete 2019 CrossFit Games calendar.

GAMES UPDATE

Five Storylines I’m Watching at Wodapalooza

By Tommy Marquez, Morning Chalk Up’s Sr. Games Analyst

This Friday the second Sanctional of the season, The Wodapalooza CrossFit Festival, gets underway at the Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. Before things heat up in “Magic City,” here are five big storylines to catch up on.

Killer Queen-sland

Wodapalooza marks the season debut of two-time reigning CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey. The Queensland, Australia native is on the cusp of history if she wins again in 2019 and becomes the first woman to three-peat.

In September, she uprooted her life from down under, and along with her husband/coach/secret weapon Shane Orr moved to Cookeville, Tennessee to train at CrossFit Mayhem alongside men’s champion Mat Fraser.

Anytime Toomey takes the competition floor it demands full attention, but there’s added interest given Laura Horvath’s surprising struggles in Dubai before withdrawing due to injury.

Horvath’s emergence last year as a viable challenger to Toomey’s throne gave fans reason to be excited in 2019. Especially after the way Horvath outdueled Toomey to close out the Games in the final event.

With Horvath taking her lumps in Dubai, there’s a huge opportunity for Toomey to send a strong message with a dominant performance in Miami that she’s on the path towards making history and no one can stop her.

Continue reading...

Coffee Break Conversations

When your training partner asks what you think about maybe pulling three-a-days to prepare for the Open...

And now, my list of complaints. We've all heard the phrase "You'll get it (whatever IT is) when you least expect it," so says every giver of life advice everywhere. Let's take a lesson from Eliud Kipchoge, who just broke the marathon world record. He’s literally the best in the world at what he does, but Kipchoge says that the key to his success is not being overly fanatical about trying to be absolutely great every second. Instead of striving to be great, he focuses on being good enough.

Things To...

WATCH: On the Minute with Morning Chalk Up 
In this week's episode of On the Minute Justin LoFranco, our Founder and Editor-in-Chief, and Armen Amirian of ArmenHammerTV discuss the new Sanctional announcements and preview the Wodapalooza Fitness Festival, which is set to kick off in just 36 hours.
ALL THE PREVIEWS.

HEAR: EZ Muhammad on AMRAP Mentality 
On the AMRAP Mentality podcast, EZ explains how he was able to juggle a wife and kids, graveyard shifts, coaching collegiate basketball, and training with CrossFit Games Champion Rich Froning, without missing a beat. A family ma and successful gym owner, EZ truly embodies what it means to lift heavy and often.
HE MAKES IT LOOK EZ.

EAT: No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Homemade healthy no bake peanut butter granola bars will be your new favorite snack. These chewy granola bars are packed with wholesome ingredients like peanut butter, honey, chia seeds, flax, almonds, and drizzled with dark chocolate.
PACK ME ONE PLEASE.

Today's edition of the Morning Chalk Up is fueled by

Chalk Up Community

• FUNDRAISER FOR OFFICER AINSWORTH -- Raleigh, NC police officer Charles Ainsworth was shot several times in the line of duty last week. CrossFit Contrivance is hosting a memorial WOD on Saturday morning to assist the Ainsworth family. 
• CROSSFIT COMES TO TOWN -- CrossFit Molalla in Molalla, OR opened its doors to the community on Monday. And on Saturday, CrossFit Eagan in Eagen, MN opened for business. 
• MEANWHILE, IN IRELAND -- Speaking of exciting news in Ireland, they are getting a new affiliate too. CrossFit Louth turned their open sign on last week. 
• STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY -- CrossFit 2795 held a fundraiser last Saturday to celebrate its fourth birthday and also raise money for Ash Corby, a coach, who fractured her C7 vertebrae in an accident. The gym raised $4,000 to help her as she recovers. 

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES (a highlight reel around social media of CrossFit pros and average joes)

Congratulations to Nallie Friesen on getting her first pull-up • Gerry Magotiaux does a one-armed split jerk four years after a paralyzing shoulder injury • Congratulations to Lacy on getting her first set of pull-ups without a band • Wes Piatt push jerks 300.5 pounds • Sixty-year-old Marcia strings six strict pull-ups • Joey Hoey deadlifted 500 pounds • All Los Angeles Unified School District teachers can WOD for free at CrossFit Aviator for the duration of the strike • Congratulations to Ashley Mccormick on her three-month transformation with RP Strength. 

...and if Alex Anderson eats it on a box jump but no one is in the gym to see it, does it even get Instagrammed? 

Wodapalooza Starts Tomorrow -- The official main event of the Wodapalooza CrossFit Festival kicks off tomorrow morning. 

-- Who's Who in Miami: Here's the final roster and our Games season leaderboard to follow along all weekend. 

-- Set Those Alarms: The updated schedule and events for individual Elite athletes so far.

-- Watch it All: You've got a few options to watch Wodapalooza from home. 

-- BOOKMARK THIS: Our new page housing our expanded Wodapalooza coverage and content.

"How to Harness Pre-Run Anticipation," by Alex Hutchinson, Outside Magazine

The first step of any run is always the hardest. Not in a physical sense, given that I start even my hardest workouts at a geriatric shuffle, but in a psychological sense. Getting out the door requires overcoming the not-entirely-illogical feeling that not running would be infinitely more comfortable and pleasurable than running. And yet long-time runners manage to win this mental battle day after day.

There are, of course, all sorts of factors that play into that decision for any given person at any given time. But one underappreciated element, according to a new study, may be that seasoned runners experience a taste of runner’s high before they even head out the door.

Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University in Germany asked 15 trained runners to do a two-hour long run preceded by a set of pain tests, some of which were performed in an fMRI brain scanner. For comparison, the runners also completed the same tests on another day when they weren’t planning to run.

The results, published this month in Behavioural Brain Research, suggest that the mere anticipation of going for a run elicits changes in how you feel and how the brain processes pain, and that these changes are more pronounced the more you run.

We’ve all heard the familiar story of how exercise generates endorphins, which in turn numb pain and in some people produce a euphoric runner’s high. As it turns out, the actual brain chemistry of exercise is quite a bit more complicated and less well understood. Sustained exercise triggers a wide range of neurochemical changes, not just related to endorphins (the body’s natural morphine equivalents) but also endocannabinoids (your pot equivalent) and various neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA that may affect mood and mental state.

A Penn State study on runner’s high published last month found evidence that all three of those mechanisms likely play a role.

1/10 - 2/4: Row'd Royalty (Online)
1/17 - 1/20: Wodapalooza (Miami, FL)
1/19: New Year New Throwdown Event (El Mirage, AZ)
1/19: Battle For The Axe (Baxter, MN)
1/19: Warrior Affiliate League Fantastic Four (La Puente, CA)
1/19: Battle for the Axe (Baxter, MN)
1/19: Great Lakes Games 2018 (Detroit, MI)
1/19 - 1/20: Chiang Mai Throwdown (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
1/20: Det. Deidre Mengedoht Hero WOD (Louisville, KY)
1/21: Helen for Hounds at CrossFit Pretoria (Pretoria, South Africa)
1/25 - 1/27: Australian CrossFit Championships (Queensland, AUS)
1/25 - 1/27: Judgment Day Hawkes Bay (Napier, NZ)
1/26: The Force Wars 2 (Pembroke Pines, FL)
1/26: Lost River Rumble (Bowling Green, KY)
1/26: The Blizzard Bowl (Little Canada, MN)
1/26: 2019 IceBreather Classic (Springfield, IL)
1/26: ATCF Cancer Crackdown: Revival of The Fittest (Pasco, WA)
1/26: Hung Like Coff at PFC CrossFit (Las Vegas, NV)
1/26: Steel Rail Shootout 2019 (McComb, MS)
1/26: Woid Beast Fitness Challenge (Cham, Germany)
1/26: Brick NY Midtown Throwdown (New York, NY)
1/26: Fifth Annual Cold Steel Classic (Oswego, IL) 
1/26: New Year's Revolution (Seminole, FL)
1/26: Three Rivers Throwdown (Rome, GA)
1/26 - 1/27: Cougars and Cradle Robbers (Salem, MA)
1/26 - 1/27: Game Day Eau Claire (Eau Claire, WI)
1/26 - 1/27: NorCal Masters (San Rafael, CA)
1/27: Big Dawgs Athlete Development Camp (Letchworth, England)
1/29 - 2/2: Fittest in Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa)
2/1 - 2/2: Battle of the Brave III (North Kansas City, MO)
2/2: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)
2/2: Left Coast Classic Competition (Laguna Niguel, CA)
2/2: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)
2/2: A League of Their Own (San Antonio, TX)
2/3: Coffland Hero WOD (Norwalk, CT) 
2/9: Valentine's Day Crush (North Hollywood, CA)
2/9: The Garage Games Master of the Masters (Suwanee, GA)
2/9: Cupid’s Roar Partner Competition (Melbourne, Australia)
2/9: 3rd Annual Black Ops Partner Competition (Wheaton, IL)
2/9: Bedrock Heart Breaker (Calgary, AB)
2/9: Battle of the Ages (Jacksonville, FL) 
2/9: Battle for Bae 2019 (San Mateo, CA)
2/9: Battle of the Fittest 6: NYC Throwdown (New York, NY)
2/9: My Bloody Valentine (Vidalia, OH)
2/9: 2nd Annual Battle of the Ages (Fruitland, ID)
2/9 - 2/10: The CrossFit Circus (Des Moines, IA)
2/16: Valentine’s Day Massacre (Kilgore, TX)
2/16: The Garage Games Xs & Ys (Valdosta, GA)
2/16: Couples Clash 2019 (Pensacola, FL)
2/16: Tuff Love (Boulder, CO)
2/16: Valentine’s Day Massacre (Selma, TX)