As a former college rower, it’s sometimes painful to watch CrossFit athletes do what we call “fly and die” on the rowing machine. Meaning they go out too hard and crash somewhere in the middle of the workout. To avoid flying and dying, you need to understand one simple thing: Pacing! The great thing about the ergometer is there’s a monitor with a screen that tells you exactly how fast you’re going, so you don’t even need to guess! Before I get into exactly how to pace the row during a workout like Christine or Jackie in Part 2 of this series, it's important you understand a few things:  Step #1: Understand what the monitor is telling you Two important numbers...

We were naked.

Doing thrusters and pull-ups.

On the beach.

Suddenly, she looked embarrassed. Not because she was naked. The nudity, she seemed cool with. She was embarrassed because she needed to scale the weight and do assisted pull-ups.

I’m talking about Rachel Forbes of CrossFit 604, an athlete who has beco