Investment

You get out what you put in.

Words to live by

CrossFit: Get some and go again

Bounce!

Broad jump

Murph

Veteran's Day CrossFit workout

In memory of Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Michael P. Murphy

Boat racing

Concept 2 offers a Venue racing software package on its website, free to C2 rower owners. Venue racing enables you to race up to 22 ergs at once and display the race and results onscreen. Using a laptop and affordable USB hub, we were able to get the system up and running in about 20 minutes. Configuration and usage were pretty straightforward.

Venue racing software is a great tool for managing team rowing events. You can assign boats to users, set the distance and pacing of the rowing heat and warm-up cycles, etc. Once the athletes are warmed up and ready to rip, they are given a five-second countdown from the computer, and a loud horn starts the event. The software also catches any false starts by overeager competitors.

Aside from displaying the event live on the LCD, which is great for both competitors and spectators, the venue racing program also gives feedback to the racer on the PM3 monitor right on each erg. As you row, you know who in the racing heat is number one and two and how much time separates you from the lead.

As a motivational tool, this program rocks. Live data and onscreen visuals letting you (and everyone else) see just where you place and how you are going to finish is a carrot everyone can chase.

Fifty-one

Scott Chamberlin, despite his overly cautious approach to indoor rowing (and some gender confusion in his fashion sense), just exceeded his pull-up goal for 2007. Fifty-one--yes, 51--pull-ups in a single set gives him the gym record.

Congrats, Scott!

Who's next to 50?

Soon it will be time to start thinking about your goals for 2008.

Slammed

Dustin, great having you around. Be safe on the mountain this winter.

Say cheese...

...it goes well with beer. Our in-house brewmasters and team-deadlifters, Sean and Brock, will be bringing a few different batches of homebrew (including the highly anticipated Overhead Pale Ale) Friday evening for all of us to sample and enjoy. Join us for the evening: we will have BBQs roaring. Bring your own meat to grill, and, if you so desire, veggies and/or side dishes to share.

Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, authors of the brand-new edition of their unparalleled weightlifting text "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training," will be here from Texas and looking forward to meeting y'all, so come by and say hello. Bring your friends and family and come hang out for the evening. We'll get going just after the 6:00-7:00 workout--so, starting about 7:15--this Friday evening, October 26.

We'll also have hot-off-the-press copies of the new book here for you to peruse.