Visit to CrossFit Reykjavik and Iceland Annie

This is me finally catching up on some blog posts. 

While in Iceland, Ditty and I had a great time hiking and seeing a ton of natural beauty: waterfalls, mountains, volcanos, and landscapes from a picture book. (see the Flickr album in the post below) But it wouldn't have been a vacation without visiting a CrossFit box. And not just any box, but the one that Iceland Annie trains in, CrossFit Reykjavik. In case you didn't know "Iceland" Annie Thorisdottir, she won the 2011 CrossFit Games (and a cool $250,000) Annie also came in 2nd at the 2010 Games and 11th in the 2009 Games. 

in case you forgot your Inov-8s, you can buy them!

CrossFit Reykjavik had some seriously big space and equipment. They need it because we were told they had 800 members! The class structure was different to accommodate that many people. All day they run open gym, where you warm up in one room, do the workout in another, and cool down on the side. Workouts start every 10 minutes and there are coaches in each room to supervise each part. 

warm up room...the size of most boxes

plenty of equipment, that's for sure

cool down/mobility area

hot tub anyone? extra lifting shoes? laundry??

there were four full racks of Rogue bars...I wonder if Annie donated them from her quarter mil

a room full of road and tri bikes...for people to use for workouts??

Ditty and I warmed up and did the daily WOD which was: 

5 rounds for time of:

400m run

10 pull ups

30 box jumps, 60cm/50cm (24"/20")

10 pull ups

main workout room

I finished in a little over 20 minutes. After this gasser of a workout, we were told by the owner, Evert, that Annie would be arriving in an hour to train their Reykjavik team which placed 1st in the Europe region and 10th in the world. Evert said I was more than welcome to stay and train with them. After almost leaving to eat dinner, Ditty convinced me to stay and train with them. That's what wives are for, right?

Ditty on pull ups

Annie arrived and got us started right away. It was awesome to hear her speak Icelandic to the team and recognize some of the words simply because there wasn't a translation. We worked up to a heavy clean and jerk, focusing on form. They even had extra oly shoes for me! 

Annie warming us up...she didn't let us put the bar down for the whole time, ouch

After the C+J's, we did 2008 CF Games' final workout: 30 squat clean and jerks at 155# (105# for ladies). Between the daily WOD and not hydrating properly, I definitely felt those C+J's! 10:00 flat, just made it under the cap that Annie set. Afterwards we worked on some muscle ups, but I was so dehydrated that when I jumped up for the rings, my calves cramped up BAD. Oof. Time to stand off to the side and talk to Annie. 

workin' the jerk

Annie was really personable and easy to talk to. She mentioned that she is good friends with Rich Froning (men's winner of the 2011 Games) and frequently checks in to see how workouts are going. She also said she was hoping that Josh Bridges and Mikko Salo could sneak into the 2012 Games because Josh will be in the States for the birth of his new baby and Mikko should be healed from knee surgery earlier this year. (this is purely speculation and not based on anything so don't go spreading rumors) It was interesting to hear that she doesn't really talk to a lot of the girls, mostly because she gets along with guys better (most of the guys out there are nodding their heads wishing they were those guys). I won't give away all of her secrets, but it was very cool to talk with her.

finishing up the clean and jerks

I asked Annie about her training (she had just gotten back from Phoenix filming something for Reebok with Carl Paoli) and she said she's glad to have a break before Regionals and the Games. Although her training had not gone backwards, she said it also wasn't going forwards. While traveling, she's been able to maintain her strength and skills, but she's looking forward to spending time in Iceland progressing on everything. 

chatting it up with Annie

Ditty and I had a great time at CF Reykjavik and highly recommend anyone to drop in and do a workout. Evert and Hronn are awesome and very welcoming and if you get the chance to meet Annie, she is equally cool. 

a great time at CF Reykjavik with Evert and Annie!

Stay tuned for my next post, "Why Icelanders are Ridiculous Athletes"