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March 24
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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Two more teens are ready to take on the CrossFit world
• Alethea Boon shares her experience as an elite athlete and new mom
• So, your CrossFit season is over. Now what?
• And, Arielle Loewen’s workout of the week

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

Teens Trista Smith and Lucy McGonigle To Take On Individual Semifinals

With Individual Quarterfinals behind them, CrossFit Games teen athletes Trista Smith and Lucy McGonigle have proven themselves as strong up-and-coming athletes to keep an eye on in the coming years. At ages 17 and 16 years old respectively, both girls (unofficially) qualified for Individual Semifinals before exiting the teenage division.

This continues the trend of strong rosters in the younger division now that the likes of Mal O’Brien, Emma Cary, and Paige Powers have officially aged out of the group.

One big thing: In years past, athletes that qualified for Semifinals in multiple divisions had to choose, meaning that athletes like Olivia Kerstetter were required to decide between going teen or individual early on. That rule has changed this year, as laid out in the 2023 CrossFit Games Rulebook.

• 3.08 “Athletes who qualify in an age-group division and as an individual OR on a team may compete in the Age Group Online Semifinal and in the division they have qualified for at the in-person Semifinal.”

Both Smith and McGonigle have decided they’ll compete in both Individual and Age Group (assuming they qualify) Semifinals. McGonigle says that she’s not committed to going to the Games as an individual this year, and is going to the European Semifinal to gain experience competing with her idols and have fun.

On top of that, the 16-year-old has exams scheduled for the same weekend as she will travel to Berlin, so she will have to balance both her academic and athletic commitments.

• “I don’t really have any expectations because I have a whole bunch of exams during (European Semifinals)…so just getting those out of the way and do a decent job, like don’t screw them all up,” McGonigle said.  “Now that I’m in the season, it obviously tailors toward CrossFit a bit more because I know I shouldn’t be, but I am focusing more on CrossFit than school.”

High Performing Athletes Trust Rootine

As CrossFitters, we worry about what we put in our bodies more than most people. That’s why athletes trust Rootine to create their personalized health routine.

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Take Rootine’s quiz and at home-tests, and they’ll send you your results: including your nutritional deficiencies. You’ll review your personal health optimization journey and get a dynamic multivitamin made specifically for YOU.

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2023 CrossFit Games Leaderboards (updated, still unofficial until March 27)

• North America East
  1. Dallin Pepper (46) | Mallory O’Brien (16)
  2. Jeffrey Adler (47) | Brooke Wells (44)
  3. Samuel Cournoyer (59) | Emma Cary (48)
  4. Noah Ohlsen (63) | Anikha Greer (58)
  5. Spencer Panchik (107) | Emma Lawson (59)
• North America West
  1. Justin Medeiros (9) | Arielle Loewen (29)
  2. Patrick Vellner (15) | Alex Gazan (42)
  3. William Leahy IV (42) | Rebecca Fuselier (73)
  4. Cole Greashaber (51) | Kelly Baker (81)
  5. Mitchel Stevenson (65) | Emily Rolfe (89)
• Europe
  1. Fabian Beneito (81) | Laura Horvath (33)
  2. Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson (94) | Gabriela Migala (48)
  3. Victor Hoffer (95) | Emma Tall (54)
  4. Lazar Djukic (104) | Manon Angonese (65)
  5. Harry Lightfoot (150) | Thuridur Helgadottir (72)
• Oceania
  1. Ricky Garard (28) | Katelin Van Zyl (26)
  2. Jay Crouch (36) | Jamie Simmonds (32)
  3. William Kearney (112) | Briony Challis (54)
  4.  Jake Douglas  (120) | Ellie Turner  (57)
  5. John Champion (130) | Georgia Pryor (68)
• Asia 
  1. Morteza Sedaghat (57) | Dawon Jung (14)
  2. Andrei Fedotov (74) | Seher Kaya (21)
  3. Eren Kim (74) | Kamlia Takeyeva (22)
  4. Ruslan Miftakhov (85) | Shahad Budebs (46)
  5. Arthur Semenov (89) | Minjeong Kim (60)
• South America
  1. Guilherme Malheiros (39) | Victoria Campos (31)
  2. Benjamin Gutierrez (72) | Sasha Nievas (32)
  3. Agustin Richelme (117) | Carolina Martinez (50)
  4. Gustavo Errico (118) | Amanda Fusuma (57)
  5. Vitor Caetano (125) | Luiza Marques (60)
• Africa
  1. Kealan Henry (39) | Christina Livaditakis (31)
  2. Darren Zurnamer (41) | Mariska Smit (41)
  3. Callum Deeble (53) | Gemma Rader (43)
  4. Michael Van Tonder (54) | Tanha Bouffe (55)
  5. Daniel Griesel (70) | Georgia Ayres (60)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Alethea Boon Shares Her Experiences as a New Mom and Athlete

New mom and five-time CrossFit Games athlete Alethea Boon has been an elite athlete since she was 8 years old. She has represented her home nation New Zealand at three Commonwealth Games–twice as a gymnast and once as a weightlifter.

Given her athletic background, Boon assumed that she would be able to maintain her high level of fitness when she became pregnant last year. However, Boon’s pregnancy presented both physical and mental challenges that she hadn’t anticipated:

So Your CrossFit Season is Over, What Do You Do Next

Unless you’re moving on to Semifinals and potentially the Games, for the majority of us, our CrossFit season is over. Can you believe it? It feels like it takes forever to come around and then it flies by once it’s here!

Some may be feeling proud of their effort and like all their hard work has paid off. While others may be left feeling disappointed because their expectations were not met with reality and ended up finding out on game day. Regardless of where you’re feeling, hopefully you can help use your results and awareness of where you are in the sport and motivation and fuel for the fire for another year of fitness and dedication.

After three adrenaline filled weekends of the Open and the chaos of Quarterfinals, it’s time to start planning your next year out. But where do you start?

Take Some Time Off

Most athletes are so ready and gung ho about getting right back to work and striving for perfection they don’t think about their longevity in the sport. Which is fair, you’re excited!!

However, if you take the purposeful time off now, you hopefully won’t be forced to take time off later due to injury, sickness, or burn out. Quarterfinalists may need a little more time than those who finished their season at the end of the Open, but regardless of where you fell, about one to two weeks off should do it. Even a week off from the gym and then a week of bodybuilding and zone two engine work is a great place to start ramping back into training.

This purposeful time off goes for your nutrition too! If you’re someone who tracks all year round, take the time now, because you’ll be getting right back to it when you get back in the gym. When your coach or your gym recommends the time off, truly take it. Spend some time outside of the gym and use that fitness you’ve been working so hard on to improve. Spend some time celebrating and sharing meals with family and friends.

Do Some Reflection

Review the following questions:

1. A general recap of your Open and/or Quarterfinals fueling strategies, overall energy, subjective recovery time, and “motivation” to attack the workouts. What are things that you think went well and things that you think need improvement?

2. How was your sleep quality and quantity throughout your season? Throughout the months leading up to competition? A good measure of this is how refreshed you felt after waking, how fast it took you to fall asleep, and how many wake-ups you had in the middle of the night on average.

3. What are 1-3 things you want to focus on immediately? What are 1-3 things that you want to improve long term in regards to your nutrition?

4. Assess each event. What were your limiters, what were your strengths? Which events were your best scores, which were your worst?

Arielle Loewen’s Workout of the Week

Today’s workout is programmed by CrossFit Games veteran, Arielle Loewen. Loewen burst onto the scene in 2021, winning the Granite Games Semifinal and taking 14th place in the Games. In her sophomore effort, she almost missed Games, taking 6th at the Syndicate Crown before stomping the competition and earning a spot to the Games as the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier. She improved at Games, taking 11th.  More recently she took 10th at the 2022 Rogue Invitational.

Arielle Loewen

• 3 Rounds for Time:
• 20 Bar-facing Burpees
• 10 Clean and Jerks (205/135)
• 5 Bar Muscle-Ups

Time Cap: 12 Minutes

Scaling options: Drop the weight to (135/95) and do pull-ups or ring rows instead of the muscle-ups.

Some advice from Arielle : “I personally love long workouts where you set a pace and grind through it. But when I saw this one, it scared me because you can’t pace it. The stimulus is to start at an uncomfortable burpee speed and try to hang on throughout the whole workout.

The weight should be one that lets you do quick singles. Shouldn’t be light enough to touch and go any of them, Start strong and try not to die.”

To inquire about submitting an upcoming workout of the week, shoot us a note.

…LEARN

Why You Should Be Doing Tib Raises

Tib raises are super simple and make a world of difference. Plus they’re a great exercise to do anywhere! What does a stronger tibialis muscle do and how do I do tib raises you ask? Why don’t you let Bethany Shadburne show you.

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Support Your Troops in the Ultimate Fitness Headband

Functional fitness resonates with you if you are a member of the armed forces because it helps aid real-life movements, creates camaraderie, and it supports and gives back to your community. Show your appreciation and support with the JUNK Armed Forces Collection.

…READ

Five Easy Ways to Stay Consistent this Weekend

Do you struggle with your nutrition on the weekend? I think we all can agree that our answer is a resounding yes. Instead of undoing your progress during the week on the weekends, use these five tips to maintain a healthy balance.

…SNAG

New Shorts During the WodBottom Spring Sale

Booty shorts season is almost here, are you stocked up with your favorite fiery shorts? If not, now is the perfect time with WodBottom’s Spring Sale! Use code “SPRINGSALE” for up to 70% off your favorite workout shorts.

…KNOW

How Much Water Should I Drink?

Hydration is one of the most important aspects of your health. It’s especially important with the warm months approaching. So how much water should you ACTUALLY be drinking?

Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise. Send us a tip.

• Congratulations to Glen Clarkson from CrossFit Horsepower in Studio City, CA on his first year qualifying for Age Group Quarterfinals.
• Congratulations to the Ocean State CrossFit crew in Cranston, RI for having 13 individuals compete in Quarterfinals, and, if his score holds through Monday, Jacob Heart will advance to the North American East Semifinals.
• Congratulations to Melissa from CrossFit Cobalt in West Babylon, NY on completing six of the nine prescribed 25-ft unbroken handstand walks (“not my strongest suit”) in Quarterfinals Workout 1.
• Congratulations to Jennifer Hill from CrossFit Cibilo in Cibilo, TX on the two new PRs—260 pound/117.9kg deadlift and 190 pound/86.1kg back squat.