At 3:30 today, it was at least 30oC (close to 40 with the humidex) and the wind was strong (26 to 37km/hr), but I made sure to get on my bike and get in a ride. Ironman is less than a month away and I know that I should be tapering, but I’m not quite [...]
I had a rough night last night and my anxiety levels were very high. This morning I woke up feeling like I had just been hit by a bus, not unlike what Michael Rasmussen must be feeling today as he watches his fellow cyclists leave him behind. I watched the Tour de France this [...]
Raw veganism has been an idea that has stumped me for a while. Maybe it’s the fact that I love my cooked carbs and figure that it’s enough. However, in the past month I have had a couple of very intense conversations with people about the raw vegan diet. With my anxiety acting up more [...]
I can’t believe it’s been over a week since my last update! There are a number of reasons for this: a 4-day weekend with no real training, the heat may have gone to my head, and the Tour de France is so controversial that I can hardly concentrate on anything at all!
Last Tuesday I [...]
Last week, I committed to myself to get in a good weekend of training hard. So I did that.
On Saturday, I went swimming in the pool. I think people were surprised I was at the indoor pool rather than the outdoor pool, but the outdoor pools here don’t have lane swimming (I think that [...]
Ok. So I know that ice cream doesn’t really fall into the category of what a vegan triathlete should eat, but sometimes it’s nice to have a treat or reward of some kind. My attention was brought to this homemade vegan ice cream blog by the vegan pictures community on Livejournal.
Somebody posted [...]
Yesterday I went for a grueling long run by the river. It was so hot! It was about 31oC and felt like 36 with the humidity. It was almost unbearable. The first few kms were especially hard. I would run for a few minutes and then stop to walk. I did almost 11km in a [...]
Last week was my recovery week from the Half IM and I have to admit that I loved every minute of it! I slept in, went for walks, and biked slowly to work. I went to a concert and I watched movies with my family. It was glorious!
At the same time, I feel even [...]
Breakfast of Champions!
Crystal and Luke’s oatmeal:
1 c. oats (cooked in 2 cups water)
add 1 cut up apple and some almonds near the end of cooking
sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp. of hemp seeds
sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp. of ground flax
add some soy milk
so tasty, so healthy, so filling, and so great!
Two weeks ago, I realized that I hadn’t followed up on ensuring that I would be able to eat at the Carbo-loading supper for the Half Iron(wo)man I was doing on the July long-weekend. So I emailed the race director and he gave me the number for the caterers. I called them and left a [...]
Get VT Blog Updates!
Upcoming Races
-
No dates present
Vegan Athletes
VT blog stuff
VT is on Twitter!
- What a great day for the #VancouverMarathon! Beautiful weather & scenery for this gr8 day. I made my time goal by 1 minute! 4:59 YES!!! #TNT 2012/05/06
- #VancouverMarathon Race Day! I cried so much tonight! I am so grateful to be running tomorrow. Why? http://t.co/HK0o5TK4 Love to you all! 2012/05/06
- A new blog post about my experience in Vancouver! http://t.co/ajiErKnV #VancouverMarathon, #TeamInTraining 2012/05/05
- @DarcyB We did it!!!! 2012/05/04
- Off to #YVR for the #VancouverMarathon! 8 months of fundraising for #TNT and training. I can't believe we made it! Woohoo! 2012/05/04
VT has a new look!
Purple has a new meaning in my life as it is the main colour of Team in Training, a group that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This cause is very near and dear to my heart as my friend and main training buddy had Leukemia & Lymphoma when he was a child. Blood cancer can be very deadly, so I am thankful for the treatment and care that he got.
It is for this reason that we decided to run a marathon together with the Team in Training group in Saskatoon. We have a goal of $5,500!
What is VT?
This website is one that I, Crystal Clarke, started in 2007 with big ideas. It is morphing slowly into a resourceful website for vegans and athletes alike. I put my personal touch on this website in the recipes and the training blog, as I'm a writer & a vegan triathlete. So what is a vegan triathlete? Well...
vegan. n. vee-gahn. - a person who refrains from using any animal product whatever for food, clothing, or any other purpose.
triathlete. n. someone who participates in races consisting of swimming, biking, and running in that order; there are several varying distances with some standard distances:
Sprint: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Olympic: 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Half Ironman: 2km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run
Ironman: 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km runPlease leave comments! I love reading and replying to comments. Cheers!
Who am I?
My name is Crystal Clarke. I'm a vegan triathlete. I've been vegan since 2002 and a triathlete since 2003. Since then I have completed 1 Ironman, 4 half IMs, several Olympic triathlons, and many other triathlons, duathlons, running races, and biking races. My goal for each race is to finish. I'm pretty slow, but can be a middle-of-the-pack person if I'm not injured and train consistently.
In addition to being a vegan triathlete, I'm a writer, I'm an Agrologist, I'm a soil scientist, I'm a knitter, I'm an anti-consumer, I'm an environmentalist, I'm a budding Buddhist, I'm a yogi, I'm a student of life, and I'm bipolar. I'm a lot of things! I don't fit into any one category - that's what I think sets me apart from other athlete blogs.
Past Posts

