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Fitness

Athlete Journal: Ingrid Kantola, Entry 15 – 5/28/12

Ingrid outlines her workouts in detail this week as she prepares for the CrossFit Games. She also shares the mental challenges she is encountering and the tools she uses to stay focused and confident.

Written by Ingrid Kantola Last updated on May 28, 2012

Schedule of CrossFit Athlete Journals:

Mondays – Ingrid Kantola

Wednesdays – Travis Holley

Sundays – Michael Winchester

Ingrid Kantola – Athlete Journal 5/21/12

(Read Ingrid’s Bio here)

Photo provided by Brian Sullivan.

I’m writing this blog to you on a Thursday due to the holiday weekend. Usually my blog comes out on a Monday, so this “week” is a little bit abbreviated.

As you can tell, the last few weeks have been incredibly busy with a lot of family, school, work, and training obligations. I’ve done very well, despite the external factors, in staying on track in the gym and getting workouts done. However, they have not been my best performances physically or mentally. I find myself in “panic” mode after two or three rounds, breathing too heavily, hunched over on my knees, and coming close to tears. I am probably going too hard right out of the gate, forgetting to pace, and losing steam quickly. This is incredibly frustrating, to feel exhausted in the first few minutes of a workout.

I had a good talk yesterday with my personal coach, Don Ricci, about these “feelings” during metabolic conditioning workouts. He reminded me that a huge part of feeling confident during a workout is my physical positioning and simply standing up tall to catch my breath and to relax my face. This change in physical state can help not only to increase oxygen consumption through good posture, but have an effect on my mental state by presenting a confident stance. If you look good, you feel good – right?

Another small success I noticed was during a mile run to finish our workout. I have been able to remember a repeatable mantra while running and it creates a rhythmic beat for me to run to. Focusing on this mantra keeps my mind from wandering, holds a steady pace, and helps me to run better. The next step here is to remember to use this mantra during workouts in order to shift my body into automatic, and to simply be convinced of what I’m doing. If I am convinced, I am not questioning, not doubting, just doing what I need to do.

Training Log:

Monday:

Barbell Gymnastics: Snatch work

Gymnastics: Handstand Walking

Conditioning: Chest to Bar & Dumbbell Fran

Then 3x 500m Row with rest

Tuesday:

Barbell Gymnastics: Clean & Jerk work

Strength: Back Squat

Conditioning: 5 x 3minute Intervals with 1 minute rest

  • Power Cleans
  • Push Ups
  • Air Squats

Wednesday:

Gymnastics: Handstand Push Ups

Conditioning: 5 Rounds

  • Sprint
  • Deadlifts
  • Wall Ball 2 for 1s

Then a Mile Run for Time

About Ingrid Kantola

Ingrid Kantola studied Sociology at UCLA and was an All-American pole vaulter. After graduating in 2008, she made her way through local 5Ks, and old strength training routines until she found CrossFit in 2009.

Ingrid’s first CrossFit competition was the Southern California Regional in 2009, and after training on her own at UCLA she finished in ninth place. She joined CrossFit Los Angeles shortly after the Regional and went on to sweep the events of the 2010 SoCal Sectional before a bacterial heart infection and subsequent open heart surgery sidelined her for the summer season. Ingrid recovered quickly and moved from the City of Angels to Hell’s Half Acre to continue her journey as a University of Texas Graduate Student in Sport Management.

Ingrid began interning at CrossFit Central in Austin, Texas and trained at the RedBlack Gym under Coach Michael Winchester until she was ready to join the elite training group of coaches at CrossFit Central. In 2011, she qualified for the South Central Regional and took sixth place behind five previous Games competitors. She has continued training at CrossFit Central with an increased focus on strength and metabolic conditioning.

For the 2012 season, Ingrid hopes to qualify as an individual athlete and take her first trip to the Home Depot as a CrossFit competitor.

As an intern at CrossFit Central her job responsibilities have been in event planning for challenges and competitions. She graduates in May and will assume a new role as the Director of Events and CrossFit Sport for Trinity Training Systems.

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