(Very) Cool Runnings

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Allison Bojarski

MONDAY 110124

Three rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
Rest 2 minutes

Post time to comments.

Compare to 070218.


BLACK BOX EVENTS:

Friday Night Faceoff: Jan 28th, 7:00pm, FREE!

DAY 24 of the BLACK BOX 30-DAY PALEO CHALLENGE–LINKS:
Local-food resources: Local Harvest / Eat Well Guide / Eat Wild
Steak in the sauna
Paleo kitchen: The method behind my madness
OTHER LINKS:
The warrior gene
The case against Lance Armstrong
Kafka’s calisthenics
R.I.P, Jack LaLanne

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS to DAN T. and RONICA!

Just another Saturday afternoon for today’s interviewee, Mike “Maniac” Mishik:
Just another Saturday afternoon for this crazy cat.
Our next interview is with Friday Night Faceoff competitor Mike Mishik:

1. how long have you been a crossfitter? 2 years
2. have you ever been in a competition? Crossfit215′s Winter Throwdown, 2010 winter hybrid challenge, 2010 summer hybrid challenge, 2010 sectionals, 2010 affiliate regionals, Crossfit Hoboken winter challenge
3. Why do you like to train? Competing gives me a great opportunity to put into practice everything I do in the gym everyday. They’re my benchmarks to see what I need to do to get better at and what I’m doing well at already.
4. what is your best/worst experience in a competition? Best and worst happen to be in the same event at Hybrid Challenge, event was Farmer’s Carry 210# in each hand 50 feet, 7 hspu, farmers carry back 50 ft, 7 box jumps amrap in 7 mins. Well best part was being able to carry those 420# the first 50 ft. Worst was not being able to pick it up again.
5. who poses the biggest threat in the face-off? Sara…did you see those butterfly pull ups, those things aint no joke!
6. what type of movements do you want to see? HSPU, Double unders, burpees
7. what type of movements do you not want to see? Forward Rolls
8. what is your best workout? Grace or Annie
9. what is your worst workout? Isabel
10. do you do anything special to prepare for a competition?Cycle of Roids month prior to showtime
11. what type of music do you like to hear while you work out?Either someone yelling at me or weights being thrown around
12. who will be the sweatiest competitor? DUH HAHA…great question Sophie
13. who will be the best dressed? Christine or Jim, def not me or Craig
14. anything else? I swam and played water polo in college…if there’s a swimming event, this show is over.

  • http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski
  • CAIN

    CAIN’s goats = Mishik’s gold!

  • MC

    New site hurts eyes… too bright!

  • http://timbroder.com Tim B

    the white… it blinds me!!!

    kudos on the new site guys/gals

  • Amarides Montgomery

    3:59, 4:12, 4:19

  • dan def
  • jim

    is this really the ‘new’ cfnyc website? really? hopefully i’m not out of line by saying this, but i feel this is a step backwards. i honestly hope this is a beta, definitely not web 2.0, or even 1.0!

    for starters, can the site be debugged and the fonts be changed, because it hurts to read.

    /rant.

  • Brett_nyc

    I have to be harsh here.

    I think the web site refresh is terrible. The overall information layout is fine, and the coaches section is nicely filled out now, but overall, it’s completely absent of design. It feels generic and has no character. White, light and minimal is great, but unfortunately it’s much easier to get wrong than right as this website proves.

  • Brett_nyc

    jim, you beat me to it.

  • jim

    absent of design?! there is a single low-resolution banner with one rotating image holder at the top. end design/creative. rather embarrassing.

  • Adam R

    Mishik destroyed yesterday’s workout, it was fun to watch.

    The biographies of all the coaches are great. I especially enjoyed reading how they got started in CrossFit, struggling at their first WODs, and now I see them in the gym lifting massive weights and pounding out a lot of volume, very impressive!

  • Court

    Jim & Brett, you have now both been officially “volunteered” for the CFNYC website
    redesign “redesign” committee…when can we meet?
    Love ya!

  • http://www.gabekassel.com GabeK

    why won’t my long comment post. does someone have to approve?

  • http://www.gabekassel.com GabeK

    Very poor site, and thanks Jim and Brett for breaking the ice. Very surprised Tim was so soft on the new design, given how deep you are into WebDev!

    To be frank, you got a very bland theme with almost ZERO customization. I set these up blind-folded (nearly) in about 30 minutes – no joke.

    Please reference the original theme: woothemes (dot) com / 2010 / 02 / canvas /

    And a slightly better CF implementation: crossfitfairbanks (dot) com

    No CSS customization – that I can see
    No mobile formatted version – a basic one takes 10 seconds using one of a number of wordpress mobile plugins
    Legibility is awful
    No use of jquery or any other interactivity
    No increased functionality. There’s nothing here that actually improves the user experience from the previous site. This isn’t a month’s worth of effort.

    So when can we start on a new site?

  • http://www.self-aggrandizement.com Josh Newman

    Re: the redesign:

    First priority was getting off an increasingly buggy Movable Type backend, and into the modern world of WordPress. Mission accomplished.

    Second priority was providing useful content for people trying to learn about the gym, as many first-time visitors to the site previously reported being scared / confused by the blog, and the lack of ‘what is CrossFit?’ information. I think we’ve fixed that, too.

    Third priority is making it look good. I, personally, also feel the site falls short here. The feel is 1997, and the typography makes my eyeballs bleed. Obviously, this still needs work.

    The site is built using WooThemes Canvas 3.2.4 (see http://www.woothemes.com/2010/02/canvas/), which gives us extreme flexibility to quickly change / repair the design. Any and all suggestions to that end, and any and all help, hugely welcomed and appreciated.

  • Mike Mishik

    Thanks Adam…

    Site needs a little more formatting done, most of the pages format looks good but when viewing comments the allignment isn’t centered correctly.

    P.S. The Black Box deserves a black background….I’m with Brett on the design aspect.

    I do like the notify for follow up comments though.

  • http://www.gabekassel.com GabeK

    Oh and where’s social? I would have expected Allison to push hard for Facebook/Twitter streams, embedded Flickr galleries…the whole nine

  • Matt D

    + 1 on jim, craig, and gabe’s comments.

  • http://timbroder.com Tim B

    I hadn’t had my coffee yet ;)

    The fact that the daily posts are not on the page is going to kill SEO
    the design on the posts pages is also broken, I’m currently typing this in the background column

    if you are going to have a side nav and a top nav, keep the position of the side nav consistent.

    If you want really, really, quick social network integration, throw discus in as the comments. auto login to facebook, twitter, and a few others. if you want deeper integration facebook connect for WP is really easy to do

    the try it free button makes me want to vomit

    the site feels a little too rainbows and gumdrops for a crossfit site

    don’t put a live google map on the homepage, its slow to load. have it under contact us

    link to the mainsite faq from ours. it has a lot of information thats not presented

    more thoughts after i eat

  • http://allisonbojarski.tumblr.com Allison Bojarski

    Apparently I broke the design on today’s post (and ONLY today’s post) when I originally posted a pic of Mishik that was too big.

    So really, Mishik skydiving broke the blog. ; )

    Seriously, though, we are already hard at work on figuring out how to fix stuff but please feel free to give us your thoughts on what you’d like to see.

    Thanks, everyone.

  • Jai

    From the old blog, I liked that the comments link was at the top, so that if I’d already checked out whatever links I liked, I didn’t have to scroll through them to get to the link. I also liked that I could click to the next day’s or previous day’s post via link. Earlier today, I had to back out to switch.

    I’m cool with the landing page being geared toward newbies. Makes sense. Love the lack of captcha. That thing made me want to eat the screen.

  • Simon P

    It would be a nice added bit of functionality if we had a forum of some kind. Right now, if I wanted to ask a question, I’d have to do it in today’s blog post. Tomorrow, that blog post gets buried by a new one. Many questions in the comments end up going unanswered, and the current format doesn’t encourage discussion. A simple forum that works really well is the “Talk” section of SeriousEats.com:

    http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/

    We could have general topic areas like they do, such as “nutrition”, “mobility”, “injury recovery”, “pose running” just as examples off the top of my head. “Site feedback” would be another useful one obviously :)

    Also from a design standpoint, I would think that we would want to show MORE pictures, more video, etc. At least the old site had the three flickr fed images, albeit those pictures were all super old…

  • Jeff

    My biggest problem with the new look is that picture of Mishik. It makes me want to vomit.

  • Jeff

    You can always just check out http://www.crossfitnyc.org/

  • http://wodalmighty.blogspot.com Reis

    5:49 – 6:25 – 6:10

    Yep, I’m slow…

    If this is gumdrops and rainbows for you just wait until you see the T-shirt colors when the store comes back. It was there last night then disappeared. Men’s shirts were offered in Pink, Canary, Sky Blue, and I think there was actually one called “My Little Pony” (maybe not…I think it was Ash). Either way I’ll rock a canary tee for the Black Box any day. Should we change the name to the “Canary Box”? I digress…at least the shirts were offered up to 5xl, which means I can squeeze into one since I’m now down to a 7XL…yeah Burpees!

    I agree that social elements are a must. There is no reason everything from WODs to competition details can’t be fed into a CFNYC Twitter stream (that can very easily be widgeted onto the home page). Set up an account on Hootsuite or Tweetdeck so you can track clicks and gauge how effective your tweet content is. Facebook integration (“like” buttons, friend widgets) is also standard at this point.

    Design-wise, it’s tough to maintain a catch phrase like “The Black Box” and have a painfully white site design. There are thousands of WP themes that incorporate black while still departing from the old site’s look and feel. Seems like a no-brainer there. And the CAIN games videos are lost in a blog archive instead of featured on a “media” page? Why not have a centralized YouTube/Vimeo or Blip.TV channel and feed it into a media page where people can stream them from a thumbnail library? Also yes, Flickr integration on the same page would be simple as pie. I’m sure there are hundreds of pics over the years that would keep people coming back to the site. There is nothing on this site (outside of the WODs/comments) that encourages repeat visits.

    And why not have a section outside of the blog that archives the CFNYC member profiles? Maybe expand the video library to include footage of members hitting a PR or crushing a WOD. And why stop at profiles? Have members write original content that can sit in an “articles” section…maybe have a submission page, or crosslink to a member’s blog if a relevant post comes up. The more unique content the better…

    All of the above can still sit in an organized layout that still makes it easy for new folks to get to the relevant information on classes, but also gives active members a lot more to chew on.

    Anyway…I’ll leave it at that for now.

    Peace…

  • Jason L.

    Back Squat: 3×240 3×275 3×305
    Shoulder Press: 3×115 3×130 3×150

    Yesterday’s WOD Rx in 5:23

    5 Rounds not for time
    20 GHD Situps
    20 Hip Extensions

  • Mike Mishik

    more pictures of me and more trash talking from Jeff.

  • Keller

    Lot’s of complaining and no working out…

    Front squat work and then 3 rounds for time of 100 double unders, 15 40# dumb bell thrusters and 15 chest to bar pull ups – 12 minute cap – two rounds and 50 double unders in the time frame

    Worked out at Crossfit 305 (thanks for the tip Rickke) in Miami – I think the sun and fact that I could wear shorts and a tshirt at 5:30 am this morning put me in a good mood! All that freezing weather is making y’all nasty!! <3

  • http://timbroder.com Tim B

    Mike – eff you

    Ries that was awesome

  • http://wodalmighty.blogspot.com Reis

    Horrible new Slate Magazine article comparing (likening?) Crossfit & P90X

    http://www.slate.com/id/2281700/

    I mean really…tomato cans? Bales of hay?

    Hilarious YouTube reply from a couple of CF’ers:

    http //tinyurl com/45e5m4q

  • Josh R

    I agree with pretty much everything already said about the site. Here are some more specific thoughts.

    PROS:
    1) Even though it’s just a static jpeg, I love seeing the schedule viewable on the site, in an easy-to-read format. It’d be great to add open gym times.

    2) The expanded trainer info page definitely has value.

    CONS:
    1) Overall, the layout is pretty heinous.
    2) The logo is HUUUUUUUGE. It takes up fully 2/5ths of my window, and provides zero functionality. It’s also both generic and bland: generic because it’s just letters, not even kerned or otherwise tweaked, and with a fairly common textural effect – and bland mostly because of the colors – grays and muted primaries. And I feel the same about the site as a whole.
    3) Between the mega-logo, the Crazy Eddie “try it free” button, and the map – useful, but unneeded on the homepage – you’ve relegated all your core information to other pages. I’m not sure the welcome message even needs to be the central focus of the home page (as opposed to sticking it in a sidebar), but even if it is, I think it could co-habitate with the “today’s WOD” and announcement info.
    4) I liked how, on the old site, the “comments” link was at the top of the blog post. It’s kind of buried now.
    5) The serif body copy seems rather condensed, IMHO.
    6) A plethora of alignment issues…
    7) It would be totally fab to see a flickr feed on the homepage. That sort of thing conveys the “community” feel you’re after. As does the “Today’s WOD” and comments.
    8) Any particular reason not to capitalize the navigation items?

    I’ll be more than happy to discuss any of these points further upon request.

  • Akash

    Agree with the comments – especially regarding white space, fonts, social connect aspects and forum. Think the community has done a great job of making one in the Comments space but could be a lot bigger/better.

    Just one additional call out – all links under “program & rates” do NOT work. Takes you to an error page…

  • Zoe

    Did this on a treadmill (no incline). I know it’s not quite the same as actually running outside, but since it’s so cold, I think it was my best option…
    3:11
    3:13
    3:22

  • JoeR
  • http://timbroder.com Tim B

    turns out a bunch of us do it for a living

  • Simon P

    Fairway has whole beef tenderloins for $6.99 a pound. with some good knife skills you can get a LOT of beef filet “mignons” for very little money. Took me about 30-40 minutes yesterday to break it down which I could do comfortably sipping some wine watching the jets get their asses handed to them.

    today’s paleo:

    - four eggs scrambled in kerrygold
    - beef filet, ratatouille, braised leeks
    - Berkshire pork chops, flounder roe*, bacon and kimchi roast b-sprouts

    *flounder roe is in season right now, it’s delicious, really easy to prepare, and it’s a much better way to get your omega-3 than guzzling refined fish oil. oysters are a good buy too, once you learn how to shuck them. they keep in the fridge for a few days too if you keep it cold enough.

  • drake

    Three rounds, 800m row, 2-minute rest between sets.

    500m splits:
    Round 1–1:50.0, spm=28
    Round 2–1:57.1, spm=25
    Round 3–1.56.6, spm=28

  • Jay

    2:30, 2:47, 2:37
    ran on treadmill with 2% incline

  • drake

    As a thought on the website, I robustly urge you to continue to require a visual sequence as a permission to post to the blog, so as to reduce spam (i.e., those “Bq24Gz”-like sequences that computers can’t read).

    Otherwise, I concur with all the other eloquent and erudite comments concerning the website (i.e., it’s shit).

  • Jessica

    CFNYC has had a fair amount of press coverage lately. Thought about adding a press page link to the top and clipping/linking the articles? It’s good for both new people and anybody interested in covering the gym. If you can scan coverage it’s really easy to make a clip just using a Word doc.

    I used to always recommended prominent links to facebook/twitter/flickr/etc. to let someone easily follow/like the business. And share/email any business blog posts.

    I think I still have a book on SEO/tags/keywords for marketing if y’all want to borrow it.

  • Jessica

    And I’m far from an expert on SEO (REALLY FAR), and forgive me if I’m wrong and you have somebody on this and know way more than me about it… but I think (looking at some of the meta tag checkers online) that there aren’t a lot used on the site. Pretty sure some are blank.

    If you fill them in on each page you can help out search indexing and your page rankings.

    I used to tell people to use those free checkers to see what their biggest similar competitor (who spent the most on their site) were using for tags and keywords…then use that as a springboard/differentiate where beneficial.

    This might also be helpful: http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

    Enter New Media has a pretty nice blog that sometimes touches on how to best utilize Facebook and other social media for business purposes. http://www.enternewmedia.com/blog

    http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/crossfitnyc.com#

  • Matt

    Drake killed it.

    3:06 / 3:07 / 3:11, rowing.