Mattie Rogers Brings Home Bronze for Team USA

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by Brute Strength.

Goodbye regionals, hello sanctioned events. Learn how to shift your training focus to reach your goals in this exclusive webinar with 3x CrossFit Games Champ, Adrian Conway. Only 50 spots available. Claim yours.

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee

Marcus Smith is Running 30 Marathons Around Dubai in 30 Days

Who?

Marcus Smith is an ambassador for Dubai CrossFit Challenge. But, he’s also loves running. So he took it up a notch and decided to run 30 marathons in 30 days on the streets of Dubai.

Talk about taking his job seriously.

He ran his first Dubai marathon on October 26th. His mother and his sister joined him across the finish line. Since then, he’s run all over the city, running on school tracks and “The Bike Course” (hmmmm, a hint?) and on Monday he ran marathon number 12 at GEMS Dubai American Academy.

But why?

Well, after finishing his marathon Monday, he spoke to the kids there about his story. Turns out, Smith was in a terrible bike accident February 10th of this year. As he was riding his bike, he was hit by a truck. He woke up in ICU, with seven broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken scapula.

“All I could do for the first three days was move one hand. Then, my arm. In the end, I realized if I can do the small things, and I keep doing the small things, then I can do anything,” he told the students.

“Anyone can run a marathon. If you wake up every single morning to do something to get you to be able to run a marathon, you’ll get there.”

Yeah, but thirty?

“It’s all comes down to recovery. If you recover properly, you should be fine the next day,” he said in an Instagram Q&A session. He burns about 3,000 calories per marathon. But, surprisingly, he’s not lost one single pound. His average time so far is 4:15 which is perfect as he aims for 4:20, so as to protect his legs and recover faster.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one. He’s made it clear he’s not doing it for charity, but instead to motivate the people of Dubai. “I want you to understand as human beings that you have incredible potential. All you have to do is do something out of your comfort zone and tap into your potential,” he clarified in the same Q&A session. “That’s what im doing here”

“I’m having the best time of my life. How could this not be good fun.”

Things To…

WATCH: CrossFit in Saudi Arabia

Amal al-Shahrani, who began to practice CrossFit during her time in London in the beginning of 2013, said she had underwent hard training with her coaches there in order to become an accredited trainer back at home in Saudi Arabia where she started to build the first CrossFit community for women.

IT CHANGES THEIR LIFE. 

HEAR: Mike Bledsoe on Feed Me Fuel Me

Mike Bledsoe, one of the founders of Barbell Shrugged and the Shrugged Collective, joins the Feed Me Fuel Me Podcast to discuss what makes a strong coach, Burning Man, Project X, building the Shrugged Collective, and unlearning and relearning at the Training Camp for the Soul.

OLDER AND WISER. 

EAT: Broccoli Caesar Salad with Garlic Dressing

Maybe this year you try something new at Thanksgiving dinner, like this raw broccoli and cabbage ceasar salad. Topped with a creamy, tangy, garlicky dressing it’s a great side salad to add to the table.

YOUR MOM WILL FORGIVE YOU.

SIGN UP FOR: Free ButcherBox Bacon For Life

Yes, you read that right. For the month of November, new customers who sign up will receive free bacon in each box they receive for the lifetime of their subscription. And not just any bacon, ButcherBox only offers uncured, free of sugar and nitrates, non-GMO verified, hormone free, made from pasture raised heritage breed pigs and its whole30 approved.

THIS IS A WIN ALL AROUND.

Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is powered by

Chalk Up Community

• HELPING HOMELESS VETERANS — At midnight on November 10, CrossFit Kokomo will begin a 24-hour fundraiser to help support local veterans at Jackson Street Commons, a 27 unit apartment building providing permanent housing and supportive services to homeless Veterans. Members of the gym are taking on a Hero WOD every hour and are also looking to support these veterans through a list of donations. 
• A COMMUNITY RALLIES BEHIND A CHILD — CrossFit Thunderhawk Kids and Teens is inviting the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho communities to come together to honor Clayton Brack, a local teen fighting a rare form of muscular dystrophy and type 1 diabetes, with a WOD on Saturday, November 17. “As CrossFit athletes, we want to dedicate this WOD to honor a young hero living among us,” said Javier Hernandez, M.D., co-owner of CrossFit Thunderhawk
  Kids and Teens.
• NEW BOX IN QUEENS – CrossFit Middle Village in Queens, NY is open for business. Owners Chris and Agata Oehl opened in September. 
• PLAY LIKE A KID — Compete Every Day has released a new line of shirts, Play Like A Kid, to help support Kids Shouldn’t Have Cancer Foundation. Preorders run until November 14 and all proceeds benefit the foundation’s work to cure the world of cancer.

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

Happy tenth anniversary to Boise CrossFit • NOBULL now has men’s joggers • Olivia Sulek compares two years of weightlifting progress • Happy seven year anniversary to Hayley Murillo and her husband Joshua and their pizza • Two-year-old Freya Ann deadlifts with her dad, James Townsend • Brooke (who’s visually impaired) accidentally PRs her power clean at 65 pounds. 

…and these kids doing burpees win being adorable for time.

CrossFit-Tested, Froning Approved — On November 15, Reebok and Rich Froning are launching The Froning Collection, his capsule collection with Reebok. The collection includes the RF1 sneaker and three pieces of apparel: a pair of shorts, and a short and long sleeve ACTIVCHILL tee, all available in only one color scheme; neutral blacks and greys, Froning’s
favorite thing to wear on the competition floor.

“If I could make anything in the world that I wanted to wear, this really would be the stuff. I wanted to make sure that it was stuff I would actually wear, stuff that fits my lifestyle,” Rich Froning said.

Sanctioned Schedule Update — The Brazil CrossFit Championship online qualifier will run from January 20 – February 3, 2019 and consist of 4 workouts. We don’t know how many athletes and teams will be selected yet. This is roughly the same dates as the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge Online Qualifier.

— The CrossFit French Throwdown online qualifier will run from April 19 – May 1, 2019 for individuals and May 6 – 13, 2019 for teams. The finals will be held on June 28 – 30, 2019 at the Vélodrome National de Saint Quentin en Yvelines near Paris.

— The Australian CrossFit Championship announced that 32 male and 32 female athletes, and 16 teams will advance from the qualifier to compete in Wollongong, Australia in January. 

“Our event will be following a similar format to the old Regional format, with some small changes that we think are going to make for more interesting watching and competition. But also it will test the athletes – so we know that whoever wins it is going to do well at the CrossFit Games,” said event director Darren Coughlan. 

— Full Schedule.

International Weightlifting Foundation 2018 World Championships — Yesterday, Mattie Rogers brought home the first medal for Team USA, taking bronze with her 133 kg/293 pounds clean and jerk. She went 5/6 on the platform, missing only her third clean and jerk attempt, with a 238kg/535 pound total.

— Meredith Alwine went 4/6 with a PR of 101kg/223 pounds snatch. She made her 128kg/282 pounds and her 132kg/291 pounds clean and jerk, but missed 135kg/298 pounds, still earning her a new Jr. American Record with her 233 kg/514 pounds total. 

— Jordan Cantrell went 3/6 with a 155kg/342 pound snatch, a 190kg/419 pound clean and jerk, and a total of 345 kg/761 pounds. 

— Up Next: There are no Team USA members lifting today.

P.S. — Sara Sigmundsdottir lifted Monday. She totaled 84kg/185 pounds in the snatch and 95kg/210 pounds for a 179kg/395 pound total. 

“The Thing That Everybody on Twitter Missed in CrossFit’s Tweets,” by Jessica Danger, Morning Chalk Up 

Three weeks ago, CrossFit made a series of tweets detailing CrossFit’s stance on nutrition.

The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. To get to the same endpoint, these are effective nutritional strategies for avoiding heart disease, death and misery.

They followed up with a few more details, stating:

If it has a food label on it, it is not food. You do not see that on the chicken. It is not on the tomatoes. But it is on the chips and cookies.

If it is not perishable, if it says “Best if used before 2019,” it is not food.

If you could not have harvested it out of your garden or farm and eaten it an hour later, it is not food.

Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, and do not go down the aisles.

To be fair, there are some problems with the wording here, which Twitter’s finest were happy to point out. “Please help! My pear has a label on it! Also, these Brussel sprouts can’t be grown in my garden due to seasonality.  Should I throw away? Please advise,” wrote Andrew Doherty, RDN.

Another person tweeted, “I’m in the hospital today and they’ve given me water with a label on it,  should I throw it out?”

Another also pointed out that the Official Beverage Sponsor of the CrossFit Games comes in a can, with a label and sold down a middle aisle next to other beverages.

But here is the point that everybody missed.

11/9: Veteran Games ABQ (Albuquerque, NM)

11/10: The Battle at Branded One (Las Vegas, NV)

11/10: Emerald Coast Honor Games (Destin, FL)

11/10: Patriot Games (Rochester Hills, MI) 

11/10 – 11/11: Extreme Games (Piauí, Brazil)

11/10 – 11/11: South Loop Games (Chicago, IL)

11/10- 11/11: Southie Showdown (Boston, MA)

11/10 – 11/11: Florida Grid League Championship (Fort Myers, FL)

11/10: Metcon 4 Hope (Reno, NV)

11/10: Best of the Wurst (New Braunfels, TX)

11/10: Warrior Affiliate League Delta Force (Duarte, CA)

11/10: USA Powerlifting Veterans Day Championship (Philadelphia, PA) 

11/10: Blue Cooler Throwdown (Deland, FL)

11/10: Bromageddon 2018 (Chandler, AZ)

11/10: Garage Games Masters Tour 2018 (McKinney, TX)

11/10: First Annual Sergeants Fitness Patriot Games (Caldwell, ID)

11/10: Boobs and Bells (Schaumburg, IL) 

11/10: Barbell for Boobs at CrossFit Composure (Boise, ID)

11/10: 2018 Fundraiser For Homeless Howard County Veterans (Kokomo, IN) 

11/11: Bonsai Brawl (Philadelphia, PA)

11/11: CFF Team Marathon Row 2018 (Metuchen, NJ)

11/15: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Hybrid Athletics Bridgport (Bridgeport, CT)

11/16 – 11/17: Veterans Day Bash at CrossFit Wild West (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups CrossFit Lubbock (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: CrossFit TIG Turf Wars (Brighton, MI)

11/17: 2018 Energy Games (Houston, TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups (Tulsa, OK) 

11/17: Green Valley Clash of the Fittest (Green Valley, AZ)

11/17: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Invictus Boston (Boston, MA)

11/17: North County Fall Brawl (Watertown, NY)

11/17: BCF for Homeless Kids Kettlebells4Kids Fundraiser (Derry, NH)

11/17: Team SuperFit Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)

11/17: 2nd Annual Well Seasoned Masters Competition (Burlington, MA) 

11/17: Guardian Games National Championship (Ashland, VA)

11/17: Femme Royale (Raleigh, NC)

11/20: Ben Marconi Memorial WOD (San Antonio, TX)

11/25: Carpathian Games II (Kosice, Slovakia)

11/30 – 12/2 Halfway There Throwdown (Bielefeld,Germany)

11/30 – 12/2: Rogue Winter Classic (Cleveland, OH)

12/1: Bro-Down Throw Down for Cancer Awareness (Bridgeport, PA)

12/1: Rock It CrossFitMas Classic (Fort Worth, TX) 

12/1: Compete with a Cougar, WOD with a Sugar Daddy (Plymouth, MI)

12/8: Hypoxia 2018 (Butte, MT)

12/8: Fittest Alive in the 845 (Poughkeepsie, NY)

12/8: Holiday Hustle 3.0 (Jackson, TN)

12/8: Squad Games (Marietta, GA)

12/9: Integrity’s Revenge (Charleston, SC)