Yesterday my training buddies, MellowJohnny and SpeedyK, and I ran together in a team effort for Saskatoon’s 50km Ultra Marathon event. It’s a great fall season event and it was really lots of fun! The three of us had had many discussions about who would take which “leg” of the race. We didn’t know the [...]
It’s been so long and so much has happened. In fact, I don’t even know where I left off. It was last summer or last fall or something, right? Well, I’m not going to dwell on the past – I’m here to write about right now.
Right now, or approximately, I am just starting to [...]
This morning I was in the pool with my training buddies and we were talking about the half marathon race coming up this weekend. It dawned on me when I did the 10K that I was going to do a half marathon and I was not ready! No, I was not.
To be honest, I [...]
Today I get to add another first to my list of “things I have done.” Today I am running my first 10km race. It’s true, I have never run a 10k race before. I have run a half marathon before, which was my only running-only race. However, I have run a marathon during Ironman. But [...]
Well, now that I have new shoes and it’s warm out, I’m all about the running. It probably helps that I’ve also signed up for two races in February: The Brain Freeze (a 10-km) and The Hypothermic Half (half marathon, 21-km). Both of them are in February and it is likely that they will be [...]
Yesterday’s epiphany about what is causing my lower-back imbalance blew me away. It really did. It was so obvious! As someone who considers herself pretty self-aware, I feel a little silly about not recognizing what was causing the imbalance. The massage therapist, chiropractor, and physiotherapist were all wondering what I was doing to cause such [...]
Over the past week and a bit, I have been training fairly consistently. Last week I did both of my bike workouts and I felt good about accomplishing that. In fact, I did all of my workouts last week. Yay!
Last Sunday I went for my long run and ran 6-miles pretty much pain-free. It [...]
They do. They just plain suck. I have been battling running injuries for YEARS. My training buddy made a passing comment the other day about how I hate running. I said, “Woah, hold on, wait a second! I love running!” She was very surprised because she had not heard me say anything good about running [...]
Every once in a while during my training, I used to get occasional knee pain that I always attributed to “runner’s knee,” which is technically patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). However, the past 6 months have told me that my most recent knee pain is different. My iliotibial band has felt tight and the pain doesn’t [...]
“When does your season start?” my chiropractor asked.
“Ummm… last Sunday….” I answered.
“No, you’re triathlon season.”
“Oh. Mid-June.”
“You’re not ready. Your lungs might be ready, but your back is not ready. Your body isn’t ready.”
“I thought not,” I replied.
On Sunday I ran a half marathon, my [...]
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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.
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