Schedule of CrossFit Athlete Journals:
Mondays – Ingrid Kantola
Wednesdays – Travis Holley
Sundays – Michael Winchester
Ingrid Kantola – Athlete Journal 4/9/12
(Read Ingrid’s Bio here)
I traveled to Sacramento, California on Friday for a long weekend at my parents’ house. Traveling can often be a pain for CrossFitters, because several questions arise:
- Where am I going to train?
- What am I going to eat?
- How much sleep am I going to get?
Luckily, I am in good hands when I go to Sacramento. I always train at CrossFit East Sacramento. Owned and operated by Justin Riley, Travis Cassidy, and Chris Lene, CFES was one of the first boxes in Sacramento. I did my very first WOD at a box at CFES over Thanksgiving break of 2008 – that date is prior to my official “start of CrossFit” date! I am fortunate to be part of the extended CFES family and always head straight to their place to work out when I get to town.
The best thing about CFES is they have seen my growth and development, and allow me the freedom to either do my own programming, or to take part in one of their classes or competitors programming. Most gyms require visitors to take their regularly scheduled class, which is understandable.
I did a workout on my own on Friday night and joined some of their Affiliate Team members to do the Hero WOD “Del” on Saturday morning. It is always fun to get into the mix with people you don’t normally train with and especially to chat and hang out afterwards! I have learned so much from Justin and Travis, and I am so thankful for the CFES family that I get to visit in Sacramento. I highly recommend their gym if you are looking for an amazing community and next level coaching in Sacramento.
When it comes to food, Mom’s cooking is the best! Despite the fact Mom believes in grains and sugar, I have been able to eat mostly clean while at home. Dad is sweet and leaves bacon for me in the pan in the mornings, and even our Sunday dinner was grain/gluten free if you skipped the bread basket. I did have a slice of our dessert cake – layers of homemade meringue, homemade vanilla ice cream, and homemade lemon custard. It was incredible. It was also incredibly sugary and induced a serious couch nap. Other than Sunday indulgence, I’ve stuck to salads and protein.
Sometimes it can be hard to stick to your nutrition plan when you travel. Weird hours, new restaurants, family that eats only Eggo waffles – there are many reasons why nutrition fails. I have found as long as I can find protein I can interchange the types of fat and carbohydrates pretty easily. At my layover in Las Vegas, I opted for a breakfast burrito in a bowl (no tortilla), with bacon and spinach. I got a nice watery coffee, some cashews, and was set. You just have to be a little creative!
The time change from Texas to California is two hours. This means when I headed to bed on Friday night, it felt like midnight at 10 o’clock. I felt like I was sleeping in on Saturday morning and have had no problems getting to bed by 10:00PM. While coming back to my high school home, a lot of my friends have moved away. There are not many temptations to go out and drink or stay up late socializing. That has made staying on track much easier!
With less than three weeks left before Regionals, this trip to visit family has been a nice break in the pattern of school-CrossFit-repeat without too much deviation from the overall plan. Back to the system tomorrow in Austin.