Category Archives: swimming

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 →

It starts at the Beginning

  By Crystal Clarke | September 22, 2014 - 8:04 am | , , , , ,
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IM Silverman swim wave start

Since my last major triathlon event (Ironman Canada, 2011) there has been a change in how the swim starts. Instead of a mass start, we now have the joy of the wave start. When I heard about this change I had hoped that it was like the indoor triathlons I did where we self-declared our time and were put in that group. That’s the way marathons are too, where you seed yourself in the group. A few months ago I learned that this is not how the swim wave start is. A swim wave start happens according to age groups. … Keep reading →

An Easy Week

  By Crystal Clarke | February 1, 2011 - 10:10 pm | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Having fun on the trainer!

Last week somehow turned into a rest week. I guess it makes sense after the week before’s pummeling of my body. On Sunday after the swim it kind of shut down. I could feel myself lagging in the water. I felt ill. Somehow I made it through the swim and spent the rest of the day on the couch. Actually, I spent Monday there too (other than going to work). I thought I had the flu that was going around, but since it didn’t turn into anything more than an upset stomach and sore muscles I guess it was “just” soreness from … Keep reading →

A swim-oriented week

  By Crystal Clarke | October 24, 2010 - 7:43 pm | , , , , , ,
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This past week has been kind of full of swim workouts. I swam three times and I’m loving it! It feels so good to get back into my swimming groove, even though I have felt less powerful in my stroke and my right shoulder has been bothering me (more on that later). This morning I did 3100m with the triathlon club and it was hard work, but, honestly, at the pace I was going, I could have swam all day. I’m not sure if that’s what I should be doing or if I should be pushing it harder during the … Keep reading →

It’s been a long time

  By Crystal Clarke | May 16, 2010 - 9:40 pm | , , ,
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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 train again. How long has it been? Well, it has been since last July that I have consistently and on purpose exercised regularly. For a few weeks now I have committed to running 3 times a week, biking as much as possible, and just get … Keep reading →

My “You Know You’re a Triathlete when…” moment

  By Crystal Clarke | March 24, 2009 - 7:55 pm | ,
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Today I was in my bathroom and I had my first unique “You know you’re a triathlete when…” moment. Mine is this: You know you’re a triathlete when you realize that you have not showered in your home for many weeks! I realized this when I saw that my “home” towels have not moved from their spots in a long time and probably need to be washed because they have dust on them! Actually, that brings me to another one: you know you’re a triathlete when you have “home” towels and “gym/pool” towels. It is funny to me at how … Keep reading →

Last week was a bust, but this week is looking up

  By Crystal Clarke | October 28, 2008 - 11:50 am | , ,
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Last week I had to take time off of everything so that I could deal with some personal life stuff and felt bad about it everyday. In fact, I made two (TWO!) attempts to get to the pool, but the one time I forgot my swimsuit and the next time the pool was closed due to a swim meet. I figured that it just wasn’t meant to be. As for biking, the wind was too much and I was hardly motivated enough to get on the trainer. This is definitely going to be changing soon enough. This week’s 2-hour bike … Keep reading →

Swimming: I Love It!

  By Crystal Clarke | October 9, 2008 - 3:27 pm | , , , ,
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Yesterday in the pool, I felt very strong. I did the workout my coach had set out: 300m choice 2 x 900m (100m flutter kick, 200m back stroke, 300m freestyle, 200m breast stroke, 100m flutter kick) 200m choice TOTAL: 2300m I do believe my coach is torturing by making me do 200m of back stroke without anything in between. I always get dizzy and am completely paranoid about hitting my head, especially at the pool that I swim in at lunch time. The pool lanes are crooked to the ceiling beams and they don’t have flags to mark the 5m-from-the-wall … Keep reading →

Hitting the Pool

  By Crystal Clarke | September 30, 2008 - 10:19 am | , ,
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My second day of “back to training” week was a success. The biggest part of the success was actually making it to the pool! Over the past 6 weeks or so, I had tried over and over again to get my butt to the pool. However, I just couldn’t make myself get out of bed at 6am “just for fun.” Alas, I didn’t. My training buddies, who are still training for a Half IM in November were rather unsympathetic to my need for more sleep. But they had no choice. So I had a blissful 6 weeks of not getting … Keep reading →

Training Buddies

  By Crystal Clarke | June 17, 2008 - 9:00 am | , ,
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This morning my alarm went off at 5:30 and I cringed. “Already?!?” I asked myself. I contemplated not going to the gym and pool, but I knew that my training buddy would be waiting for me. I contemplated calling her, but if I’m going to be awake enough to look for her number, call her, have a conversation about how tired I am, and then lay down again, I might as well go to the gym. Am I ever glad I did! Despite my puffy eyes and tired body, I made it through the weights and then the swim workout. … Keep reading →