Best Places to Grab Food in Madison During the Games

August 2   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. The 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games are one day away, and we will have you covered for everything and anything you need to know.

In today’s edition:

• CrossFit Reykjavik finds a home away from home at the Pit Fitness Ranch
• Women’s podium picks and potential dark horses
• NOBULL athlete check-in experience
• Jay Crouch is dreaming of heavy lifts this week
• Check out our top food picks for Madison during the CrossFit Games
• The Bottom Line discusses the women’s field in Madison

Note: The Morning Chalk Up will not be publishing the newsletter August 8-12, as we will be taking some much needed R&R, but we’ll be back in action the following week, so don’t go anywhere.

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.” - Alexandre Dumas

CrossFit Reykjavik Readies for Games at Pit Fitness Ranch

The Pit Fitness Ranch in Three Rivers, MI became the heart of teen CrossFit with the Elite Teen Throwdown in 2020. But with trails, a lake, 65 acres, and of course, a world-class gym, it’s becoming a prime location for training camps as well. Team Reykjavik, along with their individual athletes, caught onto the amazing facilities and claimed the gym as their own for pre-Games training.

• “We were all like, “this seems too good to be true!” Team member Khan Porter said. The team originally set out to find a temporary home-base while training in the United States close enough to both Chicago and Madison, and the amenities of the Pit made the choice easy. “I’ve spoken to a few athletes in the past about how we came here and how the facilities are, so I think we might get a bit of a boost next year!”

While The Pit may have all the right options for a small army of CrossFit Games athletes, Three Rivers, MI is a one-Culvers town. This close to the Games, many athletes might be interested in a full-team effort, complete with nutrition companies, physical therapists, and all the other odds and ends taken care of for them, but Porter says the bare-necessities style of the town is perfect.

• Porter: “It’s probably better anyways, the less I have to do outside of training, the better.”

For an Icelandic team needing to acclimate to the heat and humidity of the Midwest, it seems like the perfect set-up. For Pit Fitness Ranch’s Brock Yost, though, this development into an international training destination was completely unsurprising.

•  “Obviously it’s a privilege to have all of these guys here and it’s very humbling to know that they picked our space,” Yost said. There aren’t many CrossFit gyms on a ranch in a rural area, but Yost chose his place intentionally, just for this purpose. “We planned on this someday, and it’s here and it feels great because it’s reassuring that we’re doing the right thing. Our platform is reaching the right people.”

Autumn Yost, co-owner of Triple River CrossFit and the Pit, has taken special care to make sure the visiting athletes feel the warm welcome she says is synonymous to their gym’s community.

• “Our community has been nothing but accommodating, rounding up supplies for them, making sure they feel welcome, doing everything they can to make sure they get the full Pit experience that our community has to offer,” Yost said. Through their internal Facebook group, members brought together baby items for Annie Thorisdottir’s daughter.

CrossFit Reykjavik has been under a microscope all season as a potential threat to Mayhem Freedom’s sixth Affiliate Cup Championship, but in a recent Miles to Madison episode, shot around Quarterfinals, Thorisdottir admitted that the team wasn’t ready yet. But with four months of training and some of the complications that come with moving across the ocean taken care of for them, Porter says the team has seen significant progress since Quarterfinals.

• Porter: “We are a completely different team than the one in Quarterfinals, we’re just excited to see how we stack up.”

Learn The Champ’s Best Kept Secret

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In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to Chase Ingraham and Adrian Conway about who they think will get onto the men’s podium at the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games.

More announcements: The event drops are coming fast and furious now and we have “Bike to Work” to kick off the Games and “Shuttle to Overhead“.

New dates: The 2023 CrossFit Open will start Feb. 16 and the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games kick off the week of July 31, 2023.

Super cool: Artist Matt Ashwood is making art from broken weightlifting plates and donating the funds to an orphanage in Guatemala. 🎨

New trainer: TYR’s CXT-1 is now available for pre-order and these shoes are pretty sick.

Another one: Emma Lawson is the latest athlete to sign with the NOBULL crew.

Guessing Games: Last day to get your picks in for the top five men and women at the CrossFit Games. The top guess will win $1000 Reebok giftcard, YETI cooler prize pack, and a FITAID fridge filled with drinks. 🏆

Drops and deals: With so many brands releasing new gear and offering discounts, it’s easy to miss out on the best ones. Check out our top picks for the best deals and drops you need to know about this year.

Staying fit on the Job: Working out for a living sound like something you’re interested in? Lt. Luke Cuneo spoke with us about turning CrossFit into a career as part of the U.S Army Warrior Fitness Team.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

2022 CrossFit Games Women's Podium and Dark Horse Picks

Yesterday we ran through the men’s field and talked about how difficult it is to find a place on the podium because so many of the top men are doing it so often. That has in part been the case with the women too, only this year, many of the familiar names from the last seven seasons are missing:

• Katrin Davidsdottir: four podiums in the last seven years
• Sara Sigmundsdottir: two podiums in the last seven years
• Annie Thorisdottir: two podiums in the last seven years
• Kari Pearce, Kristin Holte, Jamie Greene: one podium each over that time period

That’s more than half of the last 21 podium places that are gone… and yet to get on the podium in the women’s division, is still an incredibly daunting feat.

Behind the Design: NOBULL Athlete Check-In Experience

When NOBULL became the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games in 2021, there was a noticeable change in the look and feel of the athlete jerseys, footwear and check-in experience. As we begin year two, the standard continues to elevate.

When picking up her gear, first time CrossFit Games qualifier Alex Gazan said the process exceeded her expectations.

“It was amazing, and everyone made us feel so special,” Gazan said.

The locker room experience is thoughtful, intentional and taps into a unique look, feel and sound. As athletes enter the tunnel to the area, a seven minute looped audio bit plays in the background: a compilation of the best CrossFit moments over the years.

We caught up with the masterminds behind the jerseys and shoes you see outfitting the fittest on earth to learn more about what goes into creating an experiential, durable and attractive line for individuals and teams alike.

Best Places to Eat in Madison During the CrossFit Games

If you’re not from the Midwest, you might not realize all Madison has to offer. Between the outdoor activities, craft beer and local coffee roasters, it’s a vibrant, active, diverse community; a fitting host for the CrossFit Games. But that’s not all: the food scene is not to be missed.

Michael Wudtke, Strong Coffee Company Community Liaison, is a Milwaukee resident and has visited the neighboring city many times.

“Madison, being the capital of Wisconsin, provides you with not only amazing food and drinks, but you find something for literally anyone,” Wudtke said. “From your Badger-inspired bars filled with years of memorabilia and die hard students, to a more relaxed environment with farm-to-table food–it’s pretty hard to not find what you are looking for.”

Here are five top places in the area to check out:

1. The Old Fashioned

23 N. Pinckney St. #1, Madison, WI 53703

It wouldn’t be right to start this list with anything else than the award-winner of Wisconsin’s Best Cheese Curds. Top-rated on Google, 3,200+ people can’t be wrong, right? Old Fashioned has a large food and drink menu with something available for everyone in your group, and although they’re closed on Sundays, they have fish fry Monday-Saturday. Score!

Didn’t Bring Your Nano X2’s to Madison? Be on the lookout for the iconic red Reebok shoe-box. Reebok is hiding five boxes throughout Madison this week and whoever finds them will have the opportunity to redeem for a fresh new pair of Nanos.

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