Author Archives: Crystal Clarke

40 Day Challenge One Month Update

  By Crystal Clarke | July 10, 2013 - 11:31 am | ,
Leave a comment
Thanks to Chad Bennett for this awesome photo of the line of bikes.

The other day I kind of cheated on the 40-day exercise challenge that I have been doing. I weighed myself. I’ve been feeling pretty good about getting out or just doing some kind of exercise every day. It turns out that I lost 2 pounds. It was nice to see that, but I won’t weigh myself for a while longer. It’s been 4 weeks since I started this and I have been pretty consistent. Some days, like I said before, I have done very little, but at least it is something. I do SOME kind of exercise every day. Sometimes … Keep reading →

40-day challenge update – day 13

  By Crystal Clarke | June 25, 2013 - 9:36 pm | ,
Leave a comment
Firefly

Over the last two weeks there have definitely been some super lame “workouts” that I’ve claimed as exercise. However, I feel like I’m actually progressing! It’s those days of weak exercise days that I can convince my mind as being successful and keeping this thing going. Yes, I’m playing Jedi mind-tricks on myself. I’m so gullible! Anyway, consistency of ACTUAL exercise is happening these days. Last week I got out on my bike three times and went on numerous walks. The last two days I have went walking with my hunny. Last night we even convinced the teen and pre-teen … Keep reading →

5 Days Strong

  By Crystal Clarke | June 17, 2013 - 9:07 pm | , ,
Leave a comment

Today it was a struggle to get outside for some “real” exercise. I managed to get out for a good speed walk. It was a cloudy day but it turned out to be a beautiful evening. So this vegan triathlete went for a good walk fighting the mosquitoes and felt better. I was not feeling well today so it was hard. I did it, though, and the sense of accomplishment is great. Day 5! My 40-day challenge is coming along well and I’m  happy with my daily exercise goal. I’m not going to lie, this weekend was weak in terms … Keep reading →

Day 2 Success

  By Crystal Clarke | June 14, 2013 - 9:55 am |
1 Comment

Yesterday I was completely beat after a long day of driving for work. I ate some food and was crashing on the couch… it’s a good thing I had this challenge going or I would have just parked my butt there watching a movie. It was a nice evening so I headed out to get in a walk with my pup. The toughest part of getting going is actually getting out of the house. Once I’m out I’m happy to be out there! I ended up walking for about 45 minutes and enjoyed the beautiful prairie landscape once again. Here … Keep reading →

40 Day Challenge

  By Crystal Clarke | June 12, 2013 - 10:44 pm |
3 Comments
Crystal biking in the prairies

Today I started a challenge for myself… 40 days of exercising every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s dancing to my favourite tunes while vacuuming, doing squats while I drink my morning coffee, or running all hardcore. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but the intention of being active is what I’m going for. While I was biking tonight I realized once again that I have stopped exercising, not because of disliking it, but because my internal motivation has deteriorated for reasons I cannot come up with. As I settle into my new life in small-town Saskatchewan at a … Keep reading →

Week 14

  By Crystal Clarke | April 8, 2013 - 10:29 am | , , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

14 weeks. 14 weeks until my A-race of 2013. Holy S**t. When I counted the weeks this morning I had a little jump of panic. Why? Well, let me just tell you why. The past few months I have been more active than I have been since the marathons last spring. That really isn’t saying a lot since I did almost zero activity from June to December. The reasons for that were numerous: burn-out (2 years of straight training will do that), a knee injury, a lot of various family issues from my brother being in an accident to my … Keep reading →

More and more inspiration!

  By Crystal Clarke | January 16, 2013 - 9:06 am | , , , , , ,
2 Comments

On Monday I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour viewing of some amazing short films. I try to go every year, but can’t always make it. Whenever I go, I am taken back to my epic bike ride across Canada. The people in these extreme outdoor adventures go through such adversity and push the limits of the body so hard that it can’t help but be inspiring! I have a bit of a flaw these days. My flaw is that I really like to plan my workouts, but have a difficult time finding time to do them. … Keep reading →

Weekend Recipes!

  By Crystal Clarke | January 13, 2013 - 3:03 pm | , , , , ,
1 Comment
Two pancakes with Becel Vegan margarine and maple syrup. Delicious!

Last week I made a wonderful meal of steamed veggies (peppers, onions, and spinach) on top of quinoa with a simple tahini dressing/sauce (tahini, garlic, Bragg’s). It was delicious when warm and then the next day for lunch when it was cold. Last weekend I made some delicious dahl from my new Forks Over Knives cookbook that I got from my sister for Christmas (Thanks Ash!). I was planning to make home-made naan to go with the dahl, but I got lazy and had a double lentil meal with some lentil rolls a friend randomly gave to me earlier that … Keep reading →

Setting Goals

  By Crystal Clarke | January 3, 2013 - 11:28 am | ,
Leave a comment

It’s the beginning of January and everyone knows that this is the time to make goals and resolutions for the new year. While I subscribe to this somewhat, I believe in making goals year-round. In fact, I have been thinking about goals for 2013 for quite a while now. Here they are: Try new recipes This is something that has been on my mind. I’ve gotten into a bit of a food rut – going for quick and easy as opposed to healthy and varied. This is partially due to the low energy I have right now (see below) ; … Keep reading →