We have a great interview here with Anna Hulda Ólafsdóttir. If you’re not familiar with Anna, she’s a competitive CrossFit athlete, international Olympic weightlifter, PHD candidate, loving mother and fiancé, coaches at CrossFit Reykjavik, and so much more….she’s basically Superwoman. So I thought it would be great to get a little insight about what motivates her, how she trains, how she balances life and family, etc… Let’s jump to it:
Interview with Anna Hulda Ólafsdóttir
Fusion: Can you tell us how you got into CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting? Did the two sports come pretty easily to you?
Anna: Let me start by saying that I was in the national Icelandic gymnastic team when I was a teenager. In my formative years I spent most of my time in the gym and it certainly shaped the person I am today. As for athletic performance my background has been a huge bonus and made it easy for me to learn new sports. When I gave birth to my child I thought that my days as a serious sport competitor was over. Mentally I was ready to focus on growing my family and my profession as an Engineer. Life, on the other hand, sometimes has something else planned for you. At the same time I gave birth to my perfect little angel, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away one month after her diagnostic. For me this was a turning point, and as soon as I could see clearly again I placed my focus on getting myself in the best shape of my life. This life experience showed me how shaky life can be and how quickly it can vanish. My mother was a superhero- extremely athletic and an accomplished woman- and with her as my role model, I try to make the best of all my days, professionally, in sports, and with my family. Shortly after I made the decision to start focusing on getting into shape again, I found CrossFit. I soon realized that my background was really good for the sport but I lacked the experience of Olympic weightlifting. Therefore I placed my focus on weightlifting and forced myself to compete at the Reykjavik International Games approximately one month after I started training weightlifting. The stress of competing helped me to stay focused on a goal.
Fusion: It had to be an amazing experience being the first Icelandic female to represent Iceland at the European championships. Is Olympic weightlifting starting to gain popularity in Iceland? Is there a national Icelandic training center or do most weightlifters train out of clubs or CrossFits?
Anna: Olympic weightlifting is certainly gaining popularity in Iceland and especially among women. At the last competition I attended in Iceland there were more female competitors than male. And yes, being selected to travel all the way to Israel and compete in a sport that I just became familiar with and to top it all to be the first Icelandic female to do so was the best experience. I’m so honored that I was selected for that mission. There are no national Icelandic training centers for weightlifting, but training centers for clubs exist here. Although I’m sure that most Icelandic weightlifters list in CrossFit Boxes.
Fusion: Is there a specific Icelandic weightlifting method or philosophy?
Anna: Not one that I’m familiar with.
Fusion: I’ve always been impressed with multi-sport athletes. How did you prepare for the 2014 European championships and for the CrossFit Games?
Anna: Weightlifting and Crossfit are both just hobbies for me at the moment. I’m a full time PhD student and a mother, so I can’t have two training sessions per day. Therefore I had to choose which one to focus on. The Open competition consists of 5 workouts (WOD) for five weeks. Sadly those were the five weeks prior to the European championship in weightlifting. I decided to focus on weightlifting but still participate in the Open. The plan was to only do one WOD a week, the open WOD, and see if that would be enough to qualify for the European regionals in Crossfit and then just weightlifting. The plan succeeded.
Fusion: Can you give us an example of your weekly weightlifting and CrossFit routine that you did to prepare for the competitions?
Anna: I don’t really follow any plan, I just always try to do my best and train as much as I can. Sometimes I’m really busy with school and then I can’t train. For the 2014 European Championships I had 2 months to fully focus on Olympic weightlifting, then I had one month to prepare for the CrossFit European Regionals and switch my focus to work on my cardio and CrossFit workouts. Then two weeks after the CrossFit European Regionals came the Nordic championships in weightlifting, so I shifted my focus back to Olympic weightlifting. During this time I had to also focus on losing weight (to make my weight class- 58k) so my energy was not really high prior to the Nordic championship.
Fusion: Do you think you’ll stop one sport and fully focus on either CrossFit or Olympic weightlifting?
Anna: I can’t say. I might have to choose one day. But I really love doing both.
Fusion: What are you goals for this year?
Anna: I guess I have to find a new goal. My goals for this year were to compete at the European championship in weightlifting, win the Nordic championship and compete in the -58kg weight class, and to be in the best and final heat at the European Regionals in CrossFit. I’ve done all of these and there are 5 more months until 2015.
Fusion: You’re clearly a very motivated and talented athlete, what drives you to keep pushing through hard training days?
Anna: I have the best partner, my fiancé. He is always there for me and telling me to push my limits. When I feel really tired and I’m not doing as well as I would like, I just think of my late mother that I mentioned in the first question.
Fusion: As you’re starting to compete on the international stage, what has been the biggest challenge(s) for you?
Anna: Financing all the trips and utilizing the time so it won’t affect my work and my family. *If you’d like to help support Anna get to Minnesota for Granite Games – (9/12/14) please go HERE and donate. If you want, you can “invest” in her and if she places she’ll do her best to pay you back.
Fusion: Finding weightlifting and CrossFit later in your life, being a Mother, and working on your PHD, how do you manage your life, workouts, and stress/recovery? I imagine recovery naps are a rarity in your life vs. many other athletes?
Anna: It becomes a habit. It’s similar when one decides to stop eating candy. It’s hard when you are getting used to it, then it becomes natural. And yes, recovery naps are rare;)
Fusion: I assume being a vegan is challenging, especially when you’re training load increases. Can you explain the type of foods you eat to help enhance your performance?
Anna: I’ve tried 100% vegan, I even became raw vegan for a time and 100% vegetarian. Now I would say that I’m 90% vegetarian. It’s really hard to be a vegan or a vegetarian when living in Iceland although I’m really lucky that I’m sponsored by an awesome restaurant in Iceland named Glo, that offers various vegan and vegetarian meals. I do eat a lot of nuts, and seeds and especially almond butter and I love green smoothies. I often add a protein called Pro VX from Sci-Mx, that’s suitable for vegetarians to my smoothies and I also frequently drink amino acids called BCAA also from Sci-Mx.
Fusion: Could also share an example diet when you were preparing for the CrossFit Games?
Anna: When I compete in Crossfit I eat little during the competition. The weeks prior I try to eat clean and I include a lot of green vegetables.
Fusion: Anna, Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions. Is there anything you’d like to add or advice to give to our readers?
Anna: Thank you! Just find a goal, believe in yourself, and don’t give up!