Athlete of the Month: Katie Egan
By Chris Fox
This month we recognize Katie Egan, a pocket-sized Bostonian who has really impressed the coaches lately. Not that we’re all that surprised, though. We could see her potential right away when she first started with us. Since then she’s shown great patience, dedication, coach-ability, and ability. Read on, and don’t forget to ask her to tell you a cheesy joke!
Fox: Congrats! Your name has been mentioned for a few months now for AOM and finally, here we are. When and how did you first start CrossFit?
Katie: Thanks! I’m almost embarrassed about this. I’d done CrossFit a few times up in Boston in 2014 when my ex-boyfriend, Scott, convinced me to try it out. When I moved to Brooklyn that year I came to CFSBK and started coming regularly that October.
Fox: Exes can always be good for something. I’m glad we got you in the split! What were your first impressions of CrossFit, and what were you doing before?
Katie: Well my first impression during my “test out” class with David, was that I really sucked at some stuff and that I didn’t really know what a Squat was. I remember the workout was some intervals of 270m runs and 20 Pull-Ups. I couldn’t do 4 Chin-Ups with the help of a green band. I’d done “weight training” in college but quickly learned that those Squats were bullshit. It was humbling but also frustrating enough to make me want to improve. Before coming here I was doing a bunch of random stuff: SoulCycle, home bootcamp video workouts like Insanity, and the occasional run. In college I played soccer (with fellow CFSBKers and roomies Toni and Allie!) and used the student gym, but I hadn’t been going to a gym regularly since school.
Fox: I’ve heard someone say that you are the best athlete they’ve ever been around. You must be pretty impressive on the soccer pitch! Were you always into sports and physical activity?
Katie: That’s quite the overstatement! I have always been around athletics though. My two older brothers were wrestlers, and I played multiple sports once I was old enough so a lot of our time as a family was spent traveling to and from youth sporting events. In high school I played soccer, basketball, and despite my lack of talent at it, became the captain of our tennis team. (Ask me about the time I took a speeding tennis ball to the eye.) Even between the three of us, our parent’s somehow managed, in addition to both working as full-time nurses, to make time to support us in sports. I’m really grateful for that.
Fox: That’s awesome that your parents helped keep you all involved in being physical. What was it about CrossFit that made you stick to it?
Katie: Besides that fast that I’m a bit stubborn and wanted to get better at Pull-Ups and do real Squats? In college I played on a D1 soccer team that was pretty competitive, and I’ve always loved to compete. CrossFit filled that hole for me that was missing once I wasn’t in team sports anymore. It also reminded me a little bit of a class that our high school gym teacher would run that he called “Gut Check.” It was just a mix of HIIT type exercises, but it was fun and I always felt like I was working hard.
Fox: Where’d you grow up? And what brought you to Brooklyn?
Katie: I grew up in Hanover, Massachusetts which is a suburb of Boston. My parents and brothers are all still there. I came to Brooklyn in 2009 for college when I attended the nursing program at LIU. I honestly always thought I’d return to Massachusetts but I did an internship that led to employment and started working right after school. Between school, soccer, and work, I’ve developed some strong friendships that have kept me here. I didn’t love Brooklyn at first, but I do now. I also didn’t love that first job, but I recently switched to another location and things are looking up.
Fox: What do you do outside of work and working out?
Katie: I love my time spent playing under the Brooklyn Bridge Park lights with the CFSBK soccer team, and also love our after-game drinks at Sweet Polly. I like going on long runs, regularly covering miles in Prospect Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. I also like to travel with friends when we can. I’ve got a group of 5-10 girls from my college soccer team who travel once or twice a year together. We’ve recently been to Nashville, New Orleans, and Denver. I’m usually the one trying to plan outdoorsy stuff like hikes but we’ll often just spend time chilling out, laughing, and catching up.
Fox: You mentioned that you love to compete. Have you done any CrossFit comps?
Katie: Yes! KHarpz and I recently took first place at Hail to the Team! Granted there were not many Rx’d women’s teams but it was still fun. We’re also doing Flex on the Beach together with Brett and Phil, which I’m excited for. I’ve only done team competitions so far so I’ll have to sign up as an individual at some point, I guess.
Fox: What were some things you first worked on in CrossFit, and what are you currently working on?
Katie: Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups, as I mentioned before. Now I’m working on consistent Butterfly Pull-Ups. It’s kind of funny: I always thought I’d just be one of those people who can’t do Pull-Ups, so it’s really cool to see the progress there. I’ve even done a few Bar Muscle-Ups but would like them to be consistent as well. I’m doing an Active Life Performance Care program, Bulletproof Shoulders, that I was given from the last seminar. Then also, like everyone, Olympic lifting is always a work in progress. I like to set different goals for each training cycle, it helps to keep me focused on making small progress throughout. I’m also working on simply getting stronger. Last cycle I made a point to do harder versions of the workouts and not to modify or scale if I could do the Rx’d loads and movements. I accepted that my times would be slower, and I wouldn’t worry about about my speed as much.
Fox: What’s something about you that most people don’t know?
Katie: Hmmm… I love to sing and dance to just about every kind of music, from 70’s rock to current teeny bopper stuff. I also love cheesy jokes and one-liners. I heard a great one recently when a random guy approached me on a grocery store checkout line: “What do you call a line of rabbits marching backwards?” … “A receding hairline!”
Fox: HAH! I love awful jokes. Last question… What should we look for in a future Athlete of the Month?
Katie: Someone with good training habits, who’s always pushing and doing a little bit extra to improve. I think positively affecting others is also important, whether it’s verbally supporting a classmate when they could use it or inspiring people through your actions to perform to their very best.
_____________________
Why Black Holes Could Delete the Universe Kurzgesagt
Moving When Young May Strengthen the Adult Brain NY Times
Wednesday’s Programming
2015 CrossFit Regionals Workout #6
Performance
5 Rounds for Time:
25 Calorie Row
16 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups
9 Strict Deficit Handstand Push-Ups*
*HSPU Rx use 4.5″ for Men, 3″ for Women
Fitness
5 Rounds for Time:
24/16 Calorie Row
16 Pull-Ups or Ring Rows
8 Handstand Push Ups, Box Piked Push-Ups, or Push-Ups
Post time and Rx to comments.
Love reading these AOM- super inspiring! Go Katie!
Chicago and Boston travel gym question: any favorite boxes in the ‘burbs of northern Chicago (staying in Glencoe, will uber) and/or Boston (Somerville area)? Planning ahead for some upcoming travel, inspired by Stella’s numerous drop ins!
The closest one I know is Windy City, which at least is in northern Chicago proper — but at 14+ miles it’s probably still an expensive Uber ride 🙁
A few of us have been to Brick in Boston. IMO it’s OK, a fine place to get your workout in (very posh, actually!) but far from perfect: They don’t post their WODs ahead of time, they’re expensive, and the coaching is…interesting. As in, I got some decent pointers, but the coach also allowed the mom of an athlete who was dropping in to take the class, even though she had never done CrossFit before…and he didn’t modify anything for her. This poor lady was trying to keep up with the class doing *cleans* and she had never touched a barbell before! I’ll never forget it. I hope she didn’t walk around with back spasms for a week because of that.
PS, I like Windy City a lot, better than River North. I have been to both several times (although other than yesterday, my last time at WCSC was back in 2014). They care about form more than some other gyms I’ve been to, and they’re really nice about letting you do your own thing if you need to do that because they have a TON of space.
I’ve dropped into Brick in Chicago (downtown) and had a good experience. Decent coaching, great facilities and a flexible schedule. No published programming, so it’s hit or miss – my Sat there was a long (~40min) partner workout.
In Boston I’m usually in the Cambridge area so I’ve dropped into Kendall Square CrossFit. Small space, coaching is ok, when I was there they had a reasonable number of beginners so the programming was not crazy (but also not posted anywhere beforehand).
Neither of those are fantastic recommendations if I’ll be honest with you.
(not that I think anyone will read this, but…)
Actually turns out Kendall Square CF does post their programming on their blog: https://kendallsquarecrossfit.com/category/wod/
http://www.crossfitsouthie.com/ is a great gym- didn’t do classes so can’t speak to that, but they let you do Open Gym at any point throughout the day, their facility is huge, tons of equipment and nice people. It’s worth the uber ride to get there.
Thanks to all 3 of you; really appreciate these recs. Will report back!
Congrats Katie! Wonderful choice for AOM! What an incredible athlete. I remember taking an AG class with Katie and watching her nail a 36″ box jump with several inches to spare. At that moment I said to myself, “Wow!! She moves just like an incredibly handsome 50-year-old man and must be great at Crossfit!”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Katie rules, obviously. Whenever I see she’s going to be in my class I’m like, “I have to pick it up a little. No, a lot.” Also, Katie + Katie + Phil + Brett…that’s going to be a stacked team!
Congrats, Katie! So deserved. I love spying on you and katie Harper when you team up to do your own thing in 608. Super impressive and inspiring.
Congrats Katie! About time! You’re amazing!
—
Took a couple of days off because I was feeling a bit under weather.
Really happy I’ll be able to join for most of the Crush Week workouts this time! Yay!
8am with Snickers and Jess.
‘Tommy Mac’- 25:08 Rx
Overhead squats were the worst part for me.
Congrats, Katie! Well-deserved! Our Boston-area expat contingent here has a very strong game. (Step it up, Jersey.)
On the subject of lessons learned, I bolted upright in the dead of night twice stressing out about Tommy Mac this morning, and finally told myself “look, just try it Rx’ed and see how far you get at the cap.”
Made it through 7 hang squat cleans in the second round at 30:00 and put the bar down. Could I have gone on and finished around the 34-minute mark? Maybe, but I pushed myself harder than I’d planned to during testing last week and started to feel it on stage late at night. Making a plan and sticking to it is hard when you always want to give it your all, but you have to listen to your body and not be reckless when other people are counting on you. Not a fun feeling to take the DNF, but it’s also most likely the right call.
Like Katie mentioned in her write-up, its necessary to do a heavier load sometimes and be a lot slower or DNF. The metcons can be strength training opportunities, if you let them be. Technique permitting.
Katie E! Great AOM choice. she deserves it just for her performance on death by burpees alone. And JayStar, thanks for mentioning me.
Tommy Mac. I need to read more carefully. One round looked soo doable.
I finished 6 burpees into the final round @75#. very happy to get 12 OHS reps at 75#.
7am w/ Jess + Lauren doing Monday.
Tommy Mac in (I’m pretty sure) 26:42. Scaled to 52#; OH squats are definitely the limiter for me. Wanted to do 63# but punked out…probably could have, but it was still plenty hard at this weight! This was among the hardest CF workouts I have ever done and I think I now understand what people mean by “WOD drunk”…when I got home and tried to fix a cup of coffee I kind of couldn’t figure out what to do with my hands. Still recovering!! Ahhhh crush week.
Great work Katie | Very well deserved AOM
6a with Snickers
Tommy Mac – 28:xx
This was a rough one to come back to today. Starting that second round was demoralizing. Burpees were soul crushing. I gave up hope
I’m pretty sure the last time I did this workout me and Snickers were in the same class together, June 2015, and I did it at 75# or 95# (75# most likely).
My notes are brief: “Tommy Mac” followed by multiple thumbs down emojis
There’s AG tonight, right?
yes- with special guest Coach Whit.
What’s the workout!? I have been checking the blog every break in agony. Lol. :/
I don’t think anyone’s gonna tell us. Can’t be any worse than Monday or Wednesday’s WODs though. I am so in!
yeeeehEEEEE KATE E!!!!!! great training partner. great person. great friend. Many memz to come. Proud of all of the hard work she’s put in and looking forward to applying it in the fall! <333
V proud to see Katie Egan highlighted as our AOM. Super hard worker, always a pleasure to have around the gym, motivating, friendly and fun! My claim to fame is that I once beat her on a workout. Just ONE time, but still!
Hope for many more years for lady Katie at CFSBK
Katie is super impressive – her focus, determination, and drive is absolutely inspiring. She is also so supportive to everyone in class! Such a great pick for AOM!
Did a scaled balance between performance and fitness today.
5 Rounds for Time:
25 Calorie Row
16 Pull-Ups
8 Kipping Handstand Push-Ups, started with 1 abmat and switched to 2.
Committed to the long road with this one, knowing that HSPUs would just be a painfully slow slog. Lots of encouragement and tips from Jess, Dan, and JB. Finished 36-37 minutes.
Congrats Katie! Such an excellent choice for AOTM!! I’ve been lucky to get to know her through the CFSBK soccer team and I can vouch for her being an incredible athlete and teammate.
YAY Katie E! So well deserved. You’ve always had an out of control engine and it’s been awesome to see you dial in on strength and skill stuff this year. Your’e one of my favorite people to workout next to.
Yesterday:
Tommy Mac with my own Tommy Mac in OG: 20:27, with more swearing than I’ve done in a workout in a long time. Made the mistake of not eating before this and just ran out mid-workout and ate half a banana before the second round (there’s a first time for everything). I am now questioning all of the times I have told people “you will never fail a burpee,” because I’m pretty sure I almost did.
Regionals WOD at 6am this morning: 23:35 Rx. Was never in the pain cave here, just took the rows at a sustainable pace, broke the pull ups up 6/5/5 and HSPUs mostly as 3-3-3 (these were the limiting factor on pace). I remember doing this two years ago and not doing the deficit and failing way more on the handstand push-ups (I think I got a slower time). It’s nice to see improvement from improved gymnastics efficiency and a more strategic approach (things I’ve been focusing on lately).
Got 22:54 in 2015…but without a deficit so I would still say this is an improvement (if anyone is interested, we did this on 6/6/15!)
WOW Katie E! You’re so impressive to watch workout with! Now I want to see you play soccer!
Short Circuit Today!
Strength (3 total res in 15 minutes)
8 RDLs :3 decent #44
12 band pull aparts
10 DB bench press #40
4 Dragon Flies
Metcon
10minutes @85%
130 m run
8 box jumps
12 db dnatch #35
2 min rest
10minutes @ 85%
50 m walking lunge #35
8 wallballs
12 KBS #35
We did this a few months ago and I totally didn’t pace this the way I was suppose to.Today I listened to Brett and tried to maintain the same amount of time between each interval and I did a much better job and maintained way better then I did back then!
I also almost got my strict muscle-up. I turned over but was too deep in the dip to get out. Got some good tips from KHarper and I’m looking forward to trying again!
KATIE E! Congrats! Well deserved!
Considering today was the hardest workout I may have ever done, I’m going to share. I say “hardest workout” meaning within my ability. There have been workouts over the years that had movements and RX weights that have stopped me in my tracks, but “Tommy Mac” was a medium yet challenging weight and a volume I could handle, but golly was this tough.
10am w/ Jess + Lauren
Tommy Mac: 24:40 RX
Got hit with a no-rep on one of the first squat cleans, since I just took it right from the floor. Good thing Jess Fox was there to keep me in line. 2nd set of overhead squats was humbling. Big up to Shlomo for moral support!!!
6:30pm with Whit doing Tommy Mac
Reached 30:00 cap 5 power snatches in to second round. 42#. I’m not disappointed per se but I had hoped to get a little bit farther. Lifts were moving at a fairly consistent pace but those burpees really burned me out quickly. I don’t do them quickly, I get out of breath, and I feel icky reflux things. I need to find ways to plow through them better because they also burn me out mentally which isn’t good. Ug.
It’s 9:04 so just starting to breathe normally again. Ha.
CONGRATS KATIE!!! so well deserved for one of the most badass athletes at the gym who also cracks me up hard every time xo
Congrats, Katie! You really are such an inspiring athlete. I am constantly in awe of what you accomplish!!
5:30 Tommy Mac in 25:35 at 63#
Burpees were slow and steady
Thrusters 7/5
Snatches: singles
Jerks: 7/5
Squat cleans: 7/5, 4-4-4
Ohs: unbroken
If I want to improve, gotta work on my engine/heart rate maintenance and cycle snatches. Hm.
Then a fun AR and Pilates to close out the evening.
Also, did a couple of cool workouts at railroad crossfit at Hudson barbell upstate this past weekend. Then a fun park/playground workout on my own. Too tired to post about it, but good gym!
Bye!
First things first: congrats Super Nurse Katie! Man, AOTM was a long time coming! Hope you find a bar that honors your award with free beverages instead of smiles, nods, and shrugs.
Tommy Mac: 1 rd + 52 reps (4 burpees after the power snatches) @ Rx.
Over the past few months, I’ve pondered three quotes because they continue to push my thoughts on life. Two of them definitely play a role in Tommy Ma:
“People do not lack strength; they lack will.” – Victor Hugo
“You, Hannibal, know how to gain a victory; you do not know how to use it.” – Maharbal (purpotedly to Hannibal)
I won’t lie: the last time this meal was on the menu, I skipped class (why would I eat a meal I wouldn’t enjoy?). This time around, I decided to be a better individual and feast.
I knew the workout had 240 reps and half of them were burpees. It didn’t matter to me because I had one major goal: don’t let the thrusters win. See, I hate thrusters. Fran, 14.5, 16.5, doesn’t matter when, where, and how. I abhor them. So, I planned to not let the thrusters win. My first round, I did them in sets of 4 with quick (albeit for me) rests in between them. My second round, I also did them in sets of 4 with longer rests in between them. I was happy because I took Hugo and put it in action. For the first time in a long time, Karl 1, Thrusters 0.
3/4 of the remaining movements felt solid. Power snatches were singles and they felt crisp. Push jerks were 4s and they felt solid. Overhead squats (a weakness) were stable and I did them in 4s. However, the hang squat cleans were trash. I did doubles and the only reason I didn’t do greater sets was because I stopped caring. At this point, Maharbal pushed Hugo aside, gave me a stern, disapproving look, and pointed at his supposed quote to Hannibal.
I used a lot of will to “beat” the thrusters (to beat them would be to no longer fear them, and I’m not there yet). But then I didn’t use that “victory”–if you’ll just roll with my suspect narrative here–to spur my performance in what came afterwards.
So, am I pleased that I didn’t finish Tommy Mac? Hell no. Am I glad I did it? Hell yes. It revealed many strengths and weaknesses. Now the fun part will be whether I actually turn my weaknesses into strengths and bolster my strengths or just talk a good game but get cold feet come game time.
Karl out.
KARL! Miss you!!!!
Just getting to the blog after a loooong day, so I’m tardy to the AOM party. Egan rocks, she’s easy to have in class, and is a ton of fun to watch when she succeeds. One of my favorite coaching moments was witnessing her quiet, almost subdued celebration when hitting a new snatch PR a few months back. Well deserved AOM.
Katie E.! Well deserved. I appreciate your appreciation for today’s greatest hits.
Strength cycle
LBBS: 145x5x3
Bench: 90x5x3
DL: 190×5
All good! Get me repping squats past 150 already.
Practiced the snatch complex for flex with Karina for a little after. Only went up to 75#; snatched up & practiced an overhead squat at 85#. I feel good about adrenaline getting me past that day of, but the 45# bar is really not easy to hold on to for my grip or wrists. But no excuses play like a champion, amirite.
Ugh Tommy Mac looks like something I really want to try but I had to do strength instead today. Congrats on a crazy start to crush week y’all!
Long busy day at work so I am getting to this late! Thank you guys for all of the kind words! It has been so much fun becoming a part of this community and I am so grateful for finding CFSBK.
Congrats, Katie E! Incredible athlete and an awesome person!! And most of all I love Toni’s IG stories of you:) 🙂
Late AG post…
So AG had 120 burpees. Thanks Ro! 😛
I tried to be all, “Can I get out of burpees if I’ve been doing high volume pushups a lot lately?” and Whit was like, “NEWP.” I did them but I am well and truly spent now.
AOM posts always a good read! Also making a rare comment because today’s was probably the most bananas workout I’ve done here so far. (Plus everyone was talking about Ample Hills after class, so I’m also sugar high.)
“Tommy Mac” at 7:30 w/Lauren – Called it quits at 29:09 after the second round of power snatches, because 84 burpees felt like more than enough burpees. Had more lifts in the tank, but these were dangerously close to turning into barf-ees.
Good lesson in why practice is important! Wasn’t able to come to class more than 2x a week until last month as a newish person and missed the whole clean complex cycle this time around, so hs cleans and push jerks were feeling spazzy. In contrast, made it to the whole snatch cycle, so those were feeling lovely. Since I haven’t done a lot of these movements in a while, possibly ended up being a hair too conservative with the weight too. Did 35lbs, could have probably done fine going a touch slower with 42lbs. Burpees were really the slowing factor, though 45% less garbage feeling than usual. Improvement!
Anyway…overall happy for the first time around on this one. I looked at it and was like “Cool, I’m going to die today”, but ended up doing 4 more sets than planned.
Congrats Katie E! 🙂
Strong work. Love Da.