Author Archives: Crystal Clarke

Being Balanced – Physically

  By Crystal Clarke | January 25, 2016 - 2:38 pm | , , , , , ,
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physical-pain-quotes-20150312154852-5501b564317dc

When I stand on one foot I wobble; balance is not something that comes easily to me. When I get on my bike, though, it takes a lot to push me over! Right now I have imbalances that are creating turmoil within my body, mostly in my muscles. The first step to solving a problem is identifying it, right? This summer, as you may remember from my incessant whining, I broke my left foot. I have always had issues with my left IT band and knee, which likely contributed to the rolling of that ankle and the impending break. I spent 6 … Keep reading →

Make Plans, Achieve Goals

  By Crystal Clarke | January 4, 2016 - 12:00 pm | , , , , , , , , ,
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Make goals, make plans

It is the beginning of January, the time of promises and good intentions. I like to make plans. I’m very good at making plans, I’m not very good at executing plans. So what is my plan? My plan is to achieve my goals. That is my number 1 goal for 2016. It is possible to achieve it if my plans are reasonable. Over the past few years I have set myself up for failure. I’m just not able to do what I used to be able to. My mental illness, medications and focusing on stability takes a lot of my … Keep reading →

Cleansing

  By Crystal Clarke | December 14, 2015 - 4:55 pm | , , , , ,
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Over the past two weeks I have been doing a clean-eating cleanse that involved no sugar, no caffeine or alcohol, no soy or wheat, no eggs or dairy (that one was not hard for me), a green smoothie each morning, a lot of water (half my body weight in ounces), and daily yoga. In addition to this I started out doing the December 1-mile a day challenge and a push-up challenge. The cleanse was a success for me! I feel really great and I think I’m going to keep going with most of it, except for caffeine. With the medication that … Keep reading →

A New Discovery of an Old Problem

  By Crystal Clarke | October 13, 2015 - 5:30 pm | , , , , , , , , ,
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swimming pool

I feel a bit sheepish to admit what I’m about to admit because I consider myself to be a very self-aware person. My body is my temple and I take care of it. My mind needs to be taken care of daily, which I do. I feed my soul with daily doses of self-care. However, I have missed some important and obvious issues that I am only now becoming aware of, specifically in the way of sensitivities and allergies. I’m going to talk about just one of them in this post. As I sit here with laryngitis and an immune … Keep reading →

Race Report: Frank Dunn Triathlon 2015

  By Crystal Clarke | September 14, 2015 - 9:40 pm | , , , ,
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FDTri-0575

It only took a month to finish, but here’s the race report for Frank Dunn! Pre-Race: It felt like any normal race for me. I got up, did my morning routine: coffee, toast, and a banana, sipping water through the morning. Got down to the transition area early as people were just starting to get there. I got my transition area somewhat set up and went to look for Blair, my training buddy. I decided to do a short bike ride up the gradual hill that starts off the bike. It was good to find that rhythm going up and … Keep reading →

The No-Goal Triathlete

  By Crystal Clarke | August 5, 2015 - 4:13 pm | , , , ,
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In 4 days I’ll be participating in my first triathlon in almost a year. This will be the 10th time I’ve been in this event. My best time was in 2006 with 3:52; my worst time was 2014 with 4:59 (yes, training DOES make a difference!). Not surprisingly, the bike time makes a huge difference (see the table below). This year’s race, though, will be in a team which is a first for me. I’m excited not to run! It’s always been my Achilles heal (pun intended), but I do love the run. So many people excited about finishing. It … Keep reading →

Two steps forward, one step back

  By Crystal Clarke | July 18, 2015 - 12:01 pm | , , , , , , , ,
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physical-pain-quotes-20150312154852-5501b564317dc

This last weekend I went to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with some great people. It was probably one of the stupidest things I’ve done in a long, long time. My over-confident self thought that I would be able to hobble around the festival without problem. That was a stupid thing to think. Or maybe just very optimistic? Either way, it was a difficult lesson to learn. Let me sum up the weekend: the music and people were awesome, I was in pain and quite miserable most of the time. The website says the following: “There are ten stages of music to … Keep reading →

A single step

  By Crystal Clarke | July 7, 2015 - 6:50 am | , , , ,
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A Single Step

A mere 4 weeks after I broke my foot I hobbled around the block. I am still wearing my boot cast, but I only used one crutch kind of like a cane as I made my way around the block. I’m not a big fan of cliches and whatnot, but I couldn’t help but think that this was one of those “single steps.” It’s the most I’ve “walked” in a month. It was exhausting. None of this sounds good for the race I’m signed up for in 6 weeks. However, I found a runner to finish up the race with me! This … Keep reading →

Welcome back… kind of

  By Crystal Clarke | June 13, 2015 - 3:45 pm | , , ,
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2015 - foot injury

One week ago my foot broke. Sometimes small mistakes have big consequences. In two seconds half my summer will be in a cast using crutches to get around. In my true fashion, I am trying to see the bright side: my one leg will be stellar strong, my arms will be buff, and in a couple of weeks I should be able to start biking again and maybe swim. If I can get on my bike soon then I won’t go completely insane AND it won’t destroy my race in August. Another silver lining is that this has me itching to train. … Keep reading →

Getting it back!

  By Crystal Clarke | December 8, 2014 - 4:08 pm | , ,
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Swim workout in a not-just-for-sandwiches baggie. The workout is from the book Be Iron Fit by Don Fink.

Last week I was accidentally consistent! The past few weeks I’ve been trying to get on the treadmill a couple of times a week and I put my bike on the trainer and started riding it a bit. My big incentive came from a very unlikely interaction with my training buddy. He was telling me how he does his long indoor bike rides when his wife isn’t home. They are both retired so I wasn’t quite sure the reason for his needing to wait for a time when they weren’t going to be together. He told me it was because … Keep reading →