What does it take to win an open water race when the water itself feels like a warm bath? On this week's Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast we sit down with Australian Masters standout Sharon Crisafi to unpack the 3km World Masters title she earned in Singapore - where heat, humidity and chop turned the race into a physiological and tactical puzzle. Sharon breaks down how she and her coach built a plan around the environment: hunting down warm indoor pools during winter, adding a wetsuit to simulate heat stress, and drilling race pace sets until the target speed felt familiar under fatigue.
We walk through the race from the pontoon to the final touch: drafting early to curb pacing nerves, taking the lead on lap two when the tempo dipped, and holding form through lap three. Sharon shares why she skipped mid-race fluids, how she fought to rehydrate after, and what she’d change next time. We zoom out to her full training picture—core pool sessions a week, open water practice, and strength work built around the swim chain with endurance-focused reps.
You’ll hear practical open water tactics you can copy right away: sighting advice, reading currents and ferry wake and understanding why ocean pace rarely equals pool pace. Sharon also opens up about managing nerves and aiming for Budapest with a realistic plan for freshwater and a deeper field.
If you care about open water strategy, heat acclimation, and training that respects real life while still chasing fast, this conversation is a blueprint.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danielle Spurling (00:06):
Hello swimmers and welcome to Torpedo
Swim talk, the podcastcelebrating swimmers at every
stage from Masters Legends toOlympic champions.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we dive
into inspiring conversationsfrom around the world about
performance, resilience, and thepure love of swimming.
(00:27):
Today I'm joined by anAustralian Masters open water
standout, Sharon Crisafi.
Fresh off winning the 3km WorldMasters title in Singapore.
Sharon quietly put together abrilliant prep across pool work,
ocean sessions, and smart racestrategy, and then she executed
it perfectly on the day.
(00:48):
We're going to unpack how shetrained, how she handled those
brutal Singapore conditions, andthe key moments that shaped her
world title swim.
Let's hear from Sharon now.
Hi Sharon, welcome to thepodcast.
Hi Danielle, thanks for havingme on.
(01:08):
You're really welcome.
I wanted to um just start ourchat today by um letting
everyone know where are youbased in Australia?
So I'm in Wollongong, New SouthWales.
I want to talk about the swimin Singapore, but before I do
that, I wanted to find out howyou actually came to be such a
wonderful open water swimmer.
(01:29):
What's your background?
Sharon Crisafi (01:31):
So I swam a lot as a kid, but um concentrated
more on pool swimming.
So I I dabbled in a bit of surfclub, but predominantly I was a
pool swimmer up until about 17,18.
Got a job, um, didn't then havethe time for training.
So swimming went by thewayside.
Danielle Spurling (01:52):
And how long were you out of the water before
you sort of got back in andstarted racing open water?
Sharon Crisafi (01:57):
Uh at least 30 years.
Danielle Spurling (01:59):
Wow.
Sharon Crisafi (02:00):
Okay.
So got back into it because Idecided that um, you know, I
wanted to get a bit of fitnessback in.
Kids were getting a little bitolder.
Um, so yeah, I went from there.
Danielle Spurling (02:14):
And did you start by just some local meets
around New South Wales or didyou sort of start back in the
pool?
How did that all come about?
Sharon Crisafi (02:22):
So I started back in the pool um basically
just a couple of days a week.
Um, what was good was that oneof the coaches was an open water
coach at the time.
Um I didn't have anyinclination really about getting
back into pool racing.
I just I just wanted to getback into swimming itself.
(02:45):
He basically encouraged me tocome along to one of their
training sessions on a Saturday.
And I did my first ocean swim.
So having done surf club, youknow, I was aware of the ocean
and and and that sort of thing,but I've never really swum open
water as such.
So that was that was the firsttime, very first time that I did
(03:10):
swim with them.
Um, I had to really get used tomy surroundings, the
environment.
Uh very eye-opening when you'reswimming quite shallow across a
rocky reef and this humongousstingray goes under you.
And I thought I was gonna havea Steve Irwin moment.
So yeah, that's and I stilllive that down, that moment.
Danielle Spurling (03:34):
I think that most people swimming in
Australia in the open water,every time they see a stingray,
think of the Steve Irwin moment.
Yeah, absolutely.
They sort of glide underneathyou, don't they?
Sharon Crisafi (03:45):
Yes, they did, and and some of them are so big.
Like even in our local harbour,we can get some really big
ones.
So yeah.
Where do where do you do mostof your open water training?
Uh, just around the Wollongongarea, uh, different locations.
Uh sometimes it can be in aharbour.
It really comes down to theconditions.
I personally can't read theconditions, but our coach has
(04:08):
always picked places that, youknow, depending on the wind, we
might go somewhere else becauseit's more protected and things
like that.
So sometimes we'll go down toone of our rivers and you know
swim against tides and stufflike that.
Still salt water, but it's verychallenging.
Danielle Spurling (04:26):
And so how many times a week are you
swimming in the open water?
Sharon Crisafi (04:30):
Uh only twice a week, generally.
So definitely always on theweekend, once a week.
Um, and I I do currently whatI'm doing at the moment is I
just saw a casual easy swim on aWednesday.
Um, just a lot of what I wouldcall a rollover, so to speak.
And that's I prefer to do thatin the pool, not uh in the ocean
(04:50):
than the pool at the moment.
And if you've got the accessand conditions are good, way
better than following a blackline.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (04:57):
And do you top up those two swims with some
pool training as well?
Sharon Crisafi (05:02):
So basically, I'm currently training uh three
days a week in the in the pool.
And then I do what you'd calltwo rollovers.
So Wednesdays and Fridays I doa rollover session, and Saturday
is is a big swim.
Danielle Spurling (05:18):
Yeah.
How far do you go in your bigswim?
Sharon Crisafi (05:20):
Currently, we're up to about eight, 10, 12ks.
Wow, okay.
In one go.
So yeah.
Well, we're training for a muchbigger swim later on.
So yeah, that's the next goalthat we can talk about later.
So yeah.
Danielle Spurling (05:35):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
So you competed in Singapore atthe World Masters.
Was that your first WorldMasters that you'd ever been to?
Sharon Crisafi (05:42):
Yeah, and to be honest, when I put my hand up
and I said that this is what I'dlike to do, I went over.
I was thinking I was putting myhand up to um experience, never
having been there before.
My coach had been over the yearbefore, and you know, the
experience that he had wasawesome, and it's something I
wanted to experience, but Inever first thought anywhere
(06:07):
about possibly winning it untilmy coach said, Well, why are you
going?
And then I I had to think aboutand I said, Okay, I'll give it
a crack.
So committed to trying to winworld championships.
So yeah.
Danielle Spurling (06:22):
Yeah, well, you did, and and by a fair
margin, I will say, as well.
Um, so for the listeners whoweren't there, the conditions in
Singapore were extraordinarilyhot, and the water was very,
very hot as well.
Can you describe the courselayout for everyone listening
and what the conditions werelike on the day?
Sharon Crisafi (06:42):
So we basically um swung the same course as the
elites, but because of theconditions, because of the air
temperature and the watertemperature, they made our
course, it was because it's only3K, they made it three 1k laps.
Um, you know, what we we'dnever experienced water that
(07:03):
warm before, you know, 30, 30degrees with very, very high
humidity.
Um, but to to give my coachcredit, when we found out that
the water temperature from theelites was as high as it was, we
went indoors.
We you know, we're we'retraining in winter.
We we didn't have any warmwater around us, so we had to go
(07:25):
looking for it.
So I had to call up every poolum and find out who had the
warmest water, and it was a25-meter pool, and then he threw
at me and we're gonna wearwetsuits.
So it was 28 degrees in a25-meter pool with a wetsuit on,
and I can tell you now that wasthe best preparation that we
(07:48):
could have done because as warmas that water was in Singapore,
I was hotter in the indoor poolin the wetsuit.
So well prepared.
Danielle Spurling (07:58):
That's great.
I I love the fact that you areclimatized by doing that.
How far out from the race didyou move indoors and wear a
wetsuit?
Uh, the last basic the lastfour to five weeks.
Sharon Crisafi (08:09):
So the the last week and a bit, I said to
Lawrence, my coach, that I Ineed to stay, I wanted to stay
in warm water.
Where we were training, it was26, and that was probably the
temperature, and it wasoutdoors.
That was probably thetemperature that we thought the
water would be at, maybe alittle bit warmer.
But to be, you know, 30, 31,borderline to being cancelled
(08:33):
because it was too hot, yeah.
We we never thought it would bepossible that it would be that
warm.
Danielle Spurling (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, it was it was very warm.
And then you mentioned theybroke it down into three 1k
laps.
So did you stop on the waythrough to grab a drink or some
gel or anything like that, ordid you push right off?
Sharon Crisafi (08:50):
I I didn't, I didn't, but the there was the
opportunity to have a a drink ofwater if you chose to.
Um, but that yeah, that wasn'tmy plan.
Not that I actually went intothe race with a with a set plan,
but um no, no, it's 3K and justoff you go.
Danielle Spurling (09:11):
Yeah, in a normal 3K race, you wouldn't
stop for a drink.
But I just wondered being sohot and some other people I knew
did it and really sufferedbadly with stomach cramps and um
and some gastro and thingsafterwards.
Did you have any of those umeffects after the race?
Sharon Crisafi (09:27):
Not at all.
Yeah, you was definitely, I'dsay, struggled to rehydrate
afterwards.
Um, had electrolytes.
Did I use them?
No.
Um, should I have used them?
Definitely, but you know,you're just trying to get in as
much water as you canafterwards.
And yeah.
Danielle Spurling (09:46):
And did you dive off the plant, um the put
platoon, the platoon, theplatoon like the pontoon is what
I'm searching for.
Did you dive off the pontoonlike the elites, or did you
start in the water?
Sharon Crisafi (09:58):
No, we have to start in the water.
Yeah.
And I I guess that's cateringfor, you know, the people who
aren't comfortable in diving.
And there's quite, you know,there's quite a lot of you as
well, um, where the elites is,yeah, you're not you're not
going to get the numbers likethe elites do, you know, and
you're you're talking possiblyabout 85, 90-year-olds that may
(10:20):
not be able to, so treateveryone the same.
Danielle Spurling (10:23):
So, how did you find the start?
I know you just mentioned thatyou didn't really have a race
plan per se, but how did youfind the start with so many
people clumped together?
Did you get away or did youstay in a group?
Sharon Crisafi (10:34):
I I had a fantastic start.
I was really happy with mystart.
My number one problem that Ihave is pacing.
I'm terrible at it.
So as soon as I was in in whatyou I was out in front, but not
in front.
There was like three or four ofus.
(10:54):
And I had to use a little bitof common sense, don't go out
hard.
I tucked in behind a couple ofswimmers and I sat there for the
first lap.
Um, and then I just felt afterthat lap that the pace for me,
it it felt like it was a littlebit too easy, and you don't
really know what's going onbehind you.
(11:15):
So I took the lead on thesecond lap.
And every now and then I gotthese little tap tap on my feet.
Um, and so I knew someone wasthere.
How many were there?
I had no idea.
Getting through the second lapwas okay.
Um, the start of the third lap,the the lady behind me, um, she
(11:39):
actually went, we we swamtogether for a little bit, and
then by the time I got to thenext boy, she she was taking
off, and I knew then my pacingof that second lap, I probably
should have hung back a littlebit longer.
Hindsight's a wonderful thing,but like I said, I'm terrible
(12:00):
with pacing, but it felt rightat the time.
If if I hung with them, wouldI've gotten the same result?
Danielle Spurling (12:08):
I don't know.
I it's so you you took off onthat third 1k.
And could you see when you wentround the the turning boys
where you were then, or you justhad no no idea how close they
were behind?
Sharon Crisafi (12:21):
I had no idea how close they were behind until
I actually crossed the line.
Right, okay.
I knew like because we werewith the 50 to 54s, so they had
blue caps, I think, and we hadwhite caps.
So I knew when the lady wentpast me, she was in the younger
age.
(12:41):
And as I got halfway throughthat second lap and onto that
third lap, it's like um I couldfeel that tiredness starting to
set in.
So I the way I kept workinghard and hoping that that next
cap, if one went past me, was ablue cap.
And towards the end, I did havea blue cap past me.
(13:03):
And it was like, that's okay,but we're gonna keep working.
But as long as it's not a whitecap, I was happy as long as it
wasn't a white cap going pastme.
Danielle Spurling (13:11):
So that gives you a real sinking feeling,
doesn't it?
When it's the same cap as yourway.
Sharon Crisafi (13:17):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, like I said,hindsight was great.
Yes, the pacing I went out onthat second lap was too fast,
but I managed to hang on.
And yeah, but to be honest,until you touch that that finish
line, you don't you don't knowwhat's happening behind you.
And I know that from from whatmy coach said, he was he said it
(13:38):
was emotionally drainingbecause my teammates are
watching the second place in myage group starting to close that
gap.
So for them, yeah, it was moreof they knew what was going on.
I had no idea what was goingon.
Danielle Spurling (13:54):
Well, that's probably good, actually.
And interesting that you reallyfeel like you dug in on that
second 1K, which obviously waswhat won you the race on the
day.
Because who knows, if you hadheld back, you mightn't have
been able to get back into thatstronger pace.
Sharon Crisafi (14:10):
That's and that that's very true.
And that's why, you know, did Ido the right thing?
I think for the outcome, yeah,I obviously did the right thing.
I just yeah, I don't know if ifsitting back with them and and
holding back that pace wouldI've gotten the same result.
I I I don't know.
That's it's a hard one to toanswer.
Danielle Spurling (14:31):
Yes, yes.
And what were the conditionslike when you were swimming?
Because it looked like on on TVwhen I watched the elites,
there was a lot of boats goingpast or a lot of waves sort of
coming through.
Sharon Crisafi (14:40):
Well, there's definitely a lot of waves
because basically you've got theshipping channel right
alongside you.
So if and okay, they'reanchored far enough out, but if
a ferry goes past or a speedgoes, you you're copping the
waves.
There's also the current thatyou're dealing with.
And I know I I found it okay.
(15:01):
I know from um one of mytraining buddies who was there,
he said that swimming next tothe pontoon, he felt the current
really, really strong there.
Um, I can't say that I did.
I was next to the pontoon, butyeah, from I think the guys had
it that little bit tougher thanus because the water was that
little bit warmer.
(15:21):
What was the water qualitylike?
Yuck.
Was it?
Well, it's yeah, I yeah, youwouldn't want to drink it.
It's not it's not like youknow, you're getting your salts
in if you drink our ocean water.
That's right.
And how many of your squad wereover there?
Because you sound like you hada bit of a crew.
There, there was four of us.
(15:42):
So my coach Lawrence, he's heswam, and then um there was
another two guys, one of one ofmy other training squad buddies,
if that's what you want to callhim.
He came out with a with asilver.
So for you know, for my coach,I think he did fantastic.
Yeah, yeah.
What's his last name?
Lawrence's last name.
Stubbs, Lawrence Stubbs.
(16:03):
So he he runs Open Water Plusdown here in Wollongong, North
Rule.
Um, I've been him, I've beenwith him since I started
swimming.
Um, I don't think I could dowhat I do without him.
Yeah.
I think it's for me, it'steamwork.
He knows me, I know him.
(16:24):
Um, I think he knows me a lotbetter than a lot of people, but
you know, it's a partnership.
Danielle Spurling (16:30):
Well, he's obviously doing something right.
So let's dive deep into that.
What are the sort of the makeupof the kind of pool sessions
that you do?
Give us a bit of an insightinto the the sessions and the
the kind of distances you swimin the pool.
Sharon Crisafi (16:45):
So basically, the the the distances we're
doing would have been about thefour four cases session.
So Mondays um it was with adifferent group, same pool, but
that was more your aerobicworkout.
And then Tuesdays and Thursdayswas centered more around um
(17:05):
your your threshold sort ofwork.
But when we started training,you know, setting um each we had
blocks.
So we'd start off with a blockof work that was low aerobic,
and then each block stepped up,so it just got harder and
harder.
Um towards the end, ourtraining sessions were very much
(17:28):
focused on race pace.
So we were told to go and doyour homework, find out what the
winners have done over the lastthree or four years, look at
the times, work out what racepace time you need to do.
So then, you know, you're doingthree 1000s in the pool and
you're trying to hold the racepace that you're aiming for.
(17:50):
Um, Saturdays was a little bitof a different story because
even though I was training forSingapore, at the same time, uh,
up until the middle of May, Iwas training for an endurance
swim.
It's not a race.
Um it was a 10K, it's a 10Kswim from Bondi to Watson's Bay
outside the heads.
So up until then, my Saturdaytraining it wasn't focused on
(18:16):
Singapore.
It was basically the poolstuff.
Danielle Spurling (18:18):
That's interesting, isn't it?
But that must have given you areally strong aerobic base that
you were able to pull from.
Sharon Crisafi (18:24):
Yeah, I think so.
I think you know that like Isaid, Lawrence had a had had a
great plan for us.
And as long as you did thework, I think, you know, you can
get the results.
Danielle Spurling (18:34):
In the in the type of work that you do in the
pool, are you doing it allfreestyle or do you mix in other
strokes as well?
Oh, just freestyle.
Sharon Crisafi (18:41):
As a as a younger swimmer, I did a lot of
breaststroke, but I don't haveany interest in doing off
strokes at all.
And do you use a lot ofequipment?
Yeah, so basically, you know,you got your fins, you got your
snorkels, um, paddles, bands,all the normal equipment that
you would use.
Danielle Spurling (19:02):
And obviously, you mentioned the
training in the wetsuits.
When you swim in the open waterand you're you're training,
you're using wetsuits up inWollongong year-round?
Sharon Crisafi (19:11):
Um, well, I was hardly in up until May, that
would have been the last time Iwas in the ocean this year.
Everything else then was donein the pool.
Um the year before that, Iactually set myself a challenge
to swim most of all of winterwithout a wetsuit.
Um, and happened to managethat.
(19:32):
But then, you know, that's 14,15 degrees, nowhere near as cold
as Melbourne temperatures, butset a goal.
And yeah, to me, you need goalssometimes.
And yeah, I I met thatchallenge.
I was happy to have done that.
Danielle Spurling (19:46):
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, it does get very colddown here in Melbourne in the
water during winter, about eightdegrees.
Yeah, no, thanks.
Yeah, we did that during COVID,and I don't need to revisit
that ever again.
No Was terrible.
The kind of work that you'redoing in the ocean when you're
when you're doing your trainingsessions, is it a straight swim,
(20:07):
or do you do sort of like a 1kand then you stop and you do
pacing work in the ocean?
How does that work?
What kind of sessions do you doin there?
Sharon Crisafi (20:15):
Well, currently at the moment, we're we're not
really working on on pacing assuch.
Um it's more about trying toget the K's in.
So no, there's there's not alot of pacing.
If I was swimming, if I wastraining, there's a swim coming
up in December, and I'll if Iwas training for that particular
(20:36):
10K swim, then it's abouttrying to trying to do the race
pace that you would do for that10K in the ocean.
And the hardest part is whatthat race pace in the ocean
feels like to pull to a pool, itcan be chalk and cheese.
Danielle Spurling (20:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And and obviously theconditions on the day change as
well.
So you've got to be preparedfor all those kind of outcomes.
Sharon Crisafi (21:00):
Well, yeah, and you can go to the same event.
Now, I'm talking about the theBondi to Watson's Bay swim.
Um, I've done it in it's 10,10, 11 Ks.
I've done it in two hours 20,I've done it in three and a
quarter three and three quarterhours.
So depending on currents, ifyou're sitting in that current
(21:22):
for a long time, then it justmakes that swim that much
harder, that much longer.
And then I get seasick.
Danielle Spurling (21:29):
So that's that's another thing.
So if you do have to deal withseasickness, what are you doing
beforehand to try and um negatethat?
Sharon Crisafi (21:38):
I've taken I've taken um travel calm and stuff
like that.
I don't, I just find for me, itdoesn't work.
I end up getting a K in andyou've got absolutely nothing
left.
It just feels makes me feelextremely fatigued.
So I I the um there is amedication that you've you can
(22:00):
take.
I can't remember what the nameof it is, but it's
prescription-based and it'ssupposed to help.
I think it's something to dowith um pregnant women with um
really, really bad morningsickness.
You can take that.
I haven't actually taken thatyet, but it's it's my next step
because travel calm and theother stuff, it just it does not
(22:21):
work.
Unfortunately, I don't itdoesn't take much for me to get
seasick either.
Did you experience that inSingapore at all?
Not at all.
No.
Oh good, no, good, good.
There wasn't there, yeah, no.
Um, there was a little bit ofwave and that sort of thing, and
no, I three K's, I think I wasI don't think the distance was
long enough for me to get sick,and I the conditions weren't
(22:42):
that bad.
Danielle Spurling (22:43):
And this 10K one that you're doing, what um
what's that leading into?
What's the swim?
Sharon Crisafi (22:48):
Well, I'm not actually doing it because I've
actually got a bigger swim I'mswing training for.
Okay, what's that?
So a training buddy and ofmine, my coach said to me, You
need you need a goal.
You can't just come to trainingand flog yourself.
You need a goal.
So um a lot of these biggerswims, rottenest, English
Channel, part, you know, Sydneyto there's a couple in Sydney
(23:12):
that are 28k.
They're so expensive.
So I picked a local one.
So we're going to swim.
It's 28 kilometers, and it'sfrom Stanwell Park to our local
Wollongong Harbour.
Okay.
So at the moment, yeah, thelongest swim we've done is 12k.
This weekend we're going to acamp down at ginderbine, and the
(23:34):
plan is to do a 16k swim downthere.
Danielle Spurling (23:37):
Right.
Wow.
Sorry, gingerbine up ataltitude.
Sharon Crisafi (23:41):
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (23:42):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So up.
Sharon Crisafi (23:44):
Well, it's currently snowing and really
cold.
Up at Threadbow.
Okay.
Yes, down there, yeah.
So are you doing that in thepool?
No, we're hoping, we're hopingthat the lake's not going to be
too cold.
Right.
Um, you know, wetsuits andeverything will go down there.
Um, yeah, if we can, if it'snot too cold and we can manage
it, then we'll do our trainingdown there.
(24:04):
Otherwise, yeah, unfortunately,we're going to be end up in
Threadbow Pool.
Danielle Spurling (24:08):
Yeah, that's a long way to go in that pool.
Sharon Crisafi (24:11):
It definitely is.
Danielle Spurling (24:13):
Except it's split, isn't it?
It's got 25 and 50.
Sharon Crisafi (24:17):
Yeah.
I haven't, it's been a longtime since I've been down there,
but yeah, I've had a look onthe web and yeah, 50 and four
lanes of each.
Danielle Spurling (24:26):
Yes, yeah, it looks it looks really good.
And do you have any any sort ofplans to try Rot Nest or
English Channel or any of theother Ocean 7 swims?
Sharon Crisafi (24:38):
No, not not at the moment.
It's just for for me for theEnglish Channel, you you're
booking five years in advance.
Yeah.
You know, and then and thenyou've got to have the boat all
lined up and and everything elsethat goes with it.
It's just I just I can't Idon't think I could justify
(24:59):
financially doing that.
And that that and that's whyI've targeted these a local
swim.
Yeah.
I mean, I'd love to go and dorotteness, but if the king, you
know, two years ago they're, youknow, 10K's in and the and the
race gets cancelled.
Like same thing, you've gotyour airfares, you've got
accommodation, all that sort ofthing.
(25:21):
And then if your race getscancelled, you've done all that
hard work.
So yeah, I I just I don't thinkat the moment that there are
things I'd love to do, butthey're not on my radar.
Danielle Spurling (25:34):
Yeah, yeah.
No, in interesting perspective.
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If you love the show, considerbecoming a Torpedo Swim Talk
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(25:56):
notes or on our website attorpedoswimtalk.com.
Would you would you um headtowards another world
championships like the next onein Budapest?
Sharon Crisafi (26:12):
When we found out it was going to be in
Budapest, I just straight outsaid to my husband that I'll
start saving now and 12 monthsout, we'll re-evaluate.
But I look, I'd love to go.
Um, I do expect it to be a lottougher swimming-wise than
you're going to the epicentre ofof open water swimming.
(26:33):
So it'll be a totally for me inmy head, it's it's a totally
different ball game again.
Danielle Spurling (26:38):
Yeah, I think um anytime the the World
Masters are held in Europe or umin North America, there's a lot
more participants than therewould be on our our side of the
world.
It'd be huge.
Yes, yeah.
So I went to Montreal, therewas 12,000 athletes, and I think
in Singapore there was six.
That's across that's acrosseverything, of course.
(26:58):
But um, yeah, it was uh a lotbusier in Montreal than it was
in Singapore.
Yeah, yeah.
So interesting.
And um, yeah, the sw do youknow where the swim is going to
be in Budapest for the openwater, is in the river?
Sharon Crisafi (27:13):
Uh I've heard um Lawrence said that it it would
be most likely lake freshwater.
That's yes, yeah.
Other than that, no idea.
Are you a floater?
Danielle Spurling (27:26):
Uh I am a floater, yes.
Very much so.
So you can you can be fine infreshwater.
It's the people that peoplethat can't float that are not
good in freshwater.
No, no, no.
Sharon Crisafi (27:36):
I'm I've been told multiple times how envious
people are of because I sit sohigh in the water.
Danielle Spurling (27:43):
Yep.
And how about strength strengthwork?
Do you do any of that or do youdo anything else on land?
What tell us about what you do?
So basically, I go to I go tothe gym twice a week.
Sharon Crisafi (27:56):
Yep.
Um, because we're doing thislong swim, then the work that
we're doing is basicallyendurance work in the gym.
So lightening the weights alittle bit, but um increasing
the reps.
So instead of doing three lotsof 10, it's four lots of 15.
So you end up doing moreheavier weights.
(28:16):
I'm not sure how that works,but okay, I'll I'll go with that
one.
Danielle Spurling (28:20):
Yeah.
Do you have someone helping youor is that Lawrence again doing
that?
Sharon Crisafi (28:24):
No, I have another mate, Pete, and he was
also in Singapore and he's donethe program.
And most of the gym work thatwe do is basically swimming
oriented.
It's not it's not bulking upfor the sake of bulking up.
Danielle Spurling (28:40):
And what kind of exercises has he got you
doing in the gym?
Do you do pull-ups and and allthe traditional functionality?
I'm too old for that.
No, you're not.
Sharon Crisafi (28:51):
Um, no, there's no way I could do a pull-up.
Um, so basically you're lookingat like internal, external
rotations on a cable, um, latpull downs, pec, there's a pec
machine, the hardest one that Ifind.
Um, Pete come up with it,you're lying on a bench.
It's with cables, but you'redoing freestyle cables.
(29:13):
So you're doing uh 15 of those,and then you go straight into
what you'd say uh they're doublearmed.
So let's let's call itbutterfly cables.
So that one and that one iswould be the hardest one that I
do in the gym.
So yeah, everything is swimmingbase, you know, anything that
has anything to do with thecatch, the pull down.
Danielle Spurling (29:34):
Yeah.
And how about your recovery?
Do you do you focus on that atall?
And if you do, what kind ofthings do you do?
I've I never used to, I'll behonest.
Sharon Crisafi (29:46):
Um, very old school that thought one had to
train every day of the week, andevery time you got in the pool,
it had to be hard all the time.
Volume hard.
That's what I grew up with as akid.
Um, it's only, to be honest,since April, when we changed the
way I trained, um, because upuntil April, I was swimming six
(30:07):
days a week and going to the gymtwice a week.
Um, but from middle of April wechanged it to the Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday, and Wednesdayis gym, Friday is gym, and I
get to do a rollover in the pooland then a swim on Saturday.
Um, and a lot of that, youknow, being being older,
(30:29):
obviously, but having changedjobs where I've gone from a
mentally stressful job to aphysical stress, stressful job
has that impact.
My boss, I've talked to my bossabout it because he also swims,
and he said, Sharon, by thetime it's 12 o'clock, you've
done a full hour, eight-hourday.
Like I've only worked for fourhours physically, but because
(30:52):
you've trained, he equates that.
And that's that's fantasticthat he understands that having
a bit of a swimming backgroundas well.
He understands where I'm comingfrom when I go in there.
I go, Oh my god, I'm so tired.
Yeah.
Recovery is I like I love myWednesdays and I love my Fridays
because I know I'm gonna get ahard, really hard session
(31:16):
Thursday, but I feel the body'smore ready for it after having a
lighter day today.
Friday's another one, hard swimor a long swim on Saturday.
And the only thing I do onSunday is go for a long walk.
I and with with that and sayingthat, walking, I used to walk
really quick, but I've had tomaster the art for recovery-wise
(31:39):
walk slow.
Danielle Spurling (31:41):
Yeah, and how much would you how much average
sleep would you get per night?
Um, I can be in bed at eighto'clock.
Sharon Crisafi (31:49):
So I have being my age, unfortunately, I do have
some really bad sleeps.
Um, but yeah, uh generally Idon't see much past 8 30.
Um but then I'm up at quarterpast four the next morning as
well.
So yeah, that's that's early.
That's uh definitely early.
But you know, I I I enjoyed it.
(32:12):
So if you know, to get up atthat time of the morning, you
have to enjoy what you're doing.
Danielle Spurling (32:19):
You certainly do, yeah.
And let's just investigate yourmindset as well.
Do you have any cues or mantrasthat you use before you race
that you tell yourself in yourmind?
Sharon Crisafi (32:31):
No, not really.
Um I I get extremely unnervousbefore race, and it doesn't
matter what sort of what sort ofrace it is.
It can be a local swim.
Um, and and a lot of that comesback because because I've won
(32:52):
the females for X amount ofyears, there's what I see is
that there is an expectation forme to come out of that water
first.
I then put that expectation onmyself because I that's and
there was one there was onesfrom a couple of years ago, and
a couple of the younger onesbeat me, and so they should.
(33:13):
But one of the parents came upto me and said, I can't believe
you didn't win that.
It's like I'm 50 years old.
Like that, yeah, I that's thesort of expectation that I
carry.
Danielle Spurling (33:26):
And so how do you deal with those nerves?
They they go as as soon as theswim starts, obviously.
Sharon Crisafi (33:32):
Yes.
I can they can start the nightbefore and that will then
interrupt a race.
Now, if we go back toSingapore, there for me, there
was no time.
I didn't have the time to bestressed because I was stressed
getting my speed suit on.
For some reason, it was it wasI've worn this speed suit four
(33:53):
or five times, but for somereason on this particular day, I
was struggling to get it on.
So while everyone's gettingchanged and getting their
numbers on, little old Sharon'sstruggling to get this speed
suit on.
So, in a way, even though thatwas a stressful period, it it
also then took away from mesitting there ready thinking
(34:16):
about the race.
I didn't have time to benervous because I was too busy
trying to get this suit on.
So it sort of helped.
Danielle Spurling (34:25):
No, that's that's really good, isn't it?
I'm I'm glad that you you hadit, you had your mind elsewhere.
So obviously that that helped.
Sharon Crisafi (34:32):
Well, Lawrence, Lawrence had said to me, you've
got to expect the unexpected,and I certainly was not
expecting not to be able to getthis suit on first time.
Did you have a spare suit withyou in case it got a hole in it?
I took two with me.
I took my theraband with mebecause there's no warm-up for
the masters.
So my intention was to use thetheraband and do some activation
(34:55):
work.
None of that could happenbecause it just took me so long
to get this suit on.
Right.
Danielle Spurling (35:01):
So you didn't get to swim the course the day
before?
Sharon Crisafi (35:04):
No, because the day before it was cancelled due
to poor water water quality.
Oh, yes, that's right.
Same as same as with theelites.
So we had a gentleman thatLawrence and some of the others
knew, and he said, Oh, just comeup, just come up to our hotel,
25-meter pool, and you can havea swim in there.
So we 12, 1500 metres, and thatthat's all we could do.
(35:27):
Like the race day was the firsttime that we've actually been
in the water.
Danielle Spurling (35:31):
Wow.
How long before the race daydid you arrive in Singapore?
Sharon Crisafi (35:35):
Uh, I arrived the Wednesday.
Yeah, we flew out theWednesday, so I had Thursday,
where we my husband and I did alittle bit of was the only day I
said to him that I've gotavailable to do or I want to do
any sort of um looking around.
Uh Friday, we were supposed togo and do the training session,
(35:57):
and then we raced Saturday,watched the teammates swim
Sunday, we flew out Monday.
Danielle Spurling (36:04):
And how did you find Singapore in general?
Did you enjoy it?
Sharon Crisafi (36:07):
I I loved it.
Like we, you know, mybrother-in-law kept telling, oh,
it's such a such an expensiveplace to go, and you know, and
then Lawrence is taking us toChinatown, and we're having tea
for six dollars.
Like, okay, I can I could,yeah, beautiful place, and I'd
be more than happy to go backanytime.
Danielle Spurling (36:27):
Yeah, I really liked it too.
And um, yeah, those hawkermarkets are fantastic, aren't
they?
Oh, brilliant.
Sharon Crisafi (36:34):
Well, well worth going because yeah, there's
nowhere else you'd want to eat.
Danielle Spurling (36:38):
When you look back at your swimming that you
did when you were a teenager tonow, what's the your different
perspective that you've got?
Sharon Crisafi (36:45):
Well, because well, back then everything was
flog, flog, flog.
Where now, you know, being atthe age I am, it's I I can't do
a really hard session.
I can't do two really hardsessions in a row.
It just will not happen.
So I I very much look forwardto doing my recovery days now.
(37:05):
Something that yeah, we didn'tdo as kids because it was just
you had to go, well, mind you,no heated pools, but you you
just went and yeah, you wereflogged every day.
Danielle Spurling (37:17):
I think as a master's athlete, you have
obviously a lot more ownershipover what you're doing and
choice in that.
And also we know a lot more.
Like I was just mentioning tosomeone at training this morning
when when I trained as an agegrouper, we weren't allowed to,
we didn't have a water bottle onthe side of the pool.
Oh no, no, we were not allowedto get out to even go and get a
drink of water.
Sharon Crisafi (37:37):
Well, even getting out and going to the
toilet was like very muchfrowned upon because you're and
and you're very much frownedupon, and that unfortunately is
still instilled in me.
Like, I can't, and I had aconversation with a young man at
training a couple of monthsago, which was eye-opening for
him, but I can't miss a lapbecause I see that as a
(38:00):
weakness, where he may have at Ineed to have this rest, so it's
it could be a good thing.
But for me, getting out andgoing to the toilet for 10
minutes, that's just it's Ican't do it.
Danielle Spurling (38:14):
Yeah, it's like you've you've also got to
go to the end of the pool andtouch the pool.
I can't I can't ever be one ofthose people that stops at the
black line and just walks intothe wall.
Sharon Crisafi (38:24):
No, no.
I I I get it.
There was a new girl in ourlane um to start a couple of
weeks ago.
I said, Caitlin, you just youneed to you need to move over.
I cannot.
I have to touch the wall.
That's I don't know.
I think it's that's that'sinstilled with you though as a
kid as well.
Danielle Spurling (38:41):
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
Sharon Crisafi (38:43):
A to B, practice your starts, practice your
finishes, but yeah, not that Idid those very good, but yeah,
no.
Danielle Spurling (38:51):
And how about your skills side of open water
swimming, like your sighting andum, you know, you're you're
porpoising out to when you canswim and you're running out of
the water if if it's a a beachfinish.
Do you practice those skillsmuch or are they just they're
just sort of by the by?
Sharon Crisafi (39:08):
No, no, no.
Uh on a Wednesday when we wehave a um, there's a harbour
swim that I don't do anymore,but it's yeah, that is exactly
what they're practicing.
Right.
They're practicing this, we'repracticing siding, we're
practicing, you know, a racestart, lie on your tummy, kick
until someone says go, um, andthen practice coming back into
(39:31):
the water.
We got a lot of triathletes inour group as well.
So everyone's needs to practicesomething.
So there's always somethingthat someone has to learn or
someone, something thatsomeone's not as good at.
So yeah, definitely.
Danielle Spurling (39:45):
Do you have a standard sighting pattern or do
you just depends on the wavesand the conditions on the day?
Sharon Crisafi (39:51):
Uh normally every never every six.
Um, I can I can cite to bothsides, but I do.
Prefer the one side.
Yeah.
I'm a bilateral breather aswell.
And I'll do that even whenconditions make it hard for you
to breathe.
Because I just don't, I don'tfeel comfortable.
(40:12):
And I know that it's somethingthat needs to change, that if
you can't breathe to one side,you don't breathe.
You need to breathe to theother side.
But I still get sucked in withthat.
I still, you know, I'll turn myhead because that's what my
brain's in tune to, and in comesa mouthful of water.
Or you or you don't get a fullbreath in.
Danielle Spurling (40:32):
I was going to ask you too.
If if someone came to you todayand said that they want to try
their fo first big sort of openwater swimming race, what's the
the the best piece of advice youcould give them?
Sharon Crisafi (40:44):
Going with Lawrence Stubbs.
Danielle Spurling (40:47):
But what if they don't live in Wollongong?
Sharon Crisafi (40:50):
Um, I look to be honest, I'm not sure, but
siding is definitely I'd belike, you need to be wearing a
bright cap.
You need to be learning how tosight.
Swimming straight is a tool.
If you can't swim straight,then you've got real problems.
Danielle Spurling (41:08):
Now, everyone that comes on the podcast,
Sharon, I like to ask them thedeep dive five.
So it's just five five quickquestions.
Just give me the first answerthat pops into your head.
What's your favorite open waterswimming location?
Jervis Bay.
Jervis Bay.
And for those not in New SouthWales, where where is that
located?
Sharon Crisafi (41:26):
That's a couple of hours down the coast.
Danielle Spurling (41:29):
So it's below Sydney?
Sharon Crisafi (41:31):
Yes.
So below Sydney, belowWollongong.
Well, it's closer to the ACT ifyou go inland on some of it.
Danielle Spurling (41:37):
And what's your goggle type and brand that
you wear in open water?
Sharon Crisafi (41:42):
Uh they're made by Tabata.
So they're Japanese, eventhough I can buy them in
Australia.
Um what they are, I couldn'thonestly tell you.
I used to wear the View gogglesand then they discontinued
them.
So I just had to try a coupleof new brands, and I've stuck
with the ones that I've got now.
Danielle Spurling (42:00):
Are they um mirrored or clear?
Both.
Yeah, so depending onconditions.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's your favorite pre-racemeal?
Pasta.
Pasta?
What kind?
Sharon Crisafi (42:14):
Anything.
It really um panty, basically.
And to be honest, I try andavoid meat the night before.
I don't know if it's fallacy,but I just don't want to eat
something that's that heavy inmy stomach.
Danielle Spurling (42:28):
How about your favorite trading set?
Sharon Crisafi (42:30):
We had to do a block of 100s on 130.
So you're lucky if you're Ithink there was four lots of
five, maybe.
This is the set I'mremembering.
130, so you're getting likesix, seven seconds if you're
lucky.
Rest.
Danielle Spurling (42:45):
And in sets of in sets of four or five, did
you get a bro?
Did you get a break in between?
Sharon Crisafi (42:49):
So yeah, you'd get a bit of a break, everyone
regroups, then we go again.
Danielle Spurling (42:54):
Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one.
In a 25-meter pool or 50meters?
Sharon Crisafi (42:57):
No, it's 50.
Danielle Spurling (42:58):
50.
Sharon Crisafi (42:59):
Yeah.
50 outdoors.
Danielle Spurling (43:01):
Yep.
Yeah.
It's great.
And who's the swimmer youadmire most?
It'd be Emma.
Emma McCann.
Yes.
A local.
Sharon Crisafi (43:10):
Mainly, and I I love the fact that she's so
humble.
Danielle Spurling (43:14):
She is so humble.
Sharon Crisafi (43:15):
Yep.
So, you know, like for for whatshe's achieved, she's amazing.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (43:22):
Yeah, she is a great, yeah, great, great
swimmer and a very humble,humble girl.
Sharon Crisafi (43:26):
I think the humble stands out.
Yes, she's won all the medals,but the fact for me is she's
humble.
Danielle Spurling (43:32):
Yes, yeah.
I agree with you there.
Well, Sharon, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely getting tohear about your swimming
journey, and I'm sure everyonethat's listening is going to be
really inspired by the work thatyou put in to win that world
championship in Singapore.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
Okay, we'll catch you soon.
(43:53):
All right, thank you.
Bye.
Thanks for tuning in to TorpedoSwim Talk, the podcast
celebrating swimmers at everystage.
If you enjoyed this chat, hitfollow or subscribe on your
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long way in helping moreswimmers find the show.
Until next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
Hello swimmers and welcome to Torpedo
Swim talk, the podcastcelebrating swimmers at every
stage from Masters Legends toOlympic champions.
I'm your host, DanielleSpurling, and each week we dive
into inspiring conversationsfrom around the world about
performance, resilience, and thepure love of swimming.
(00:27):
Today I'm joined by anAustralian Masters open water
standout, Sharon Crisafi.
Fresh off winning the 3km WorldMasters title in Singapore.
Sharon quietly put together abrilliant prep across pool work,
ocean sessions, and smart racestrategy, and then she executed
it perfectly on the day.
(00:48):
We're going to unpack how shetrained, how she handled those
brutal Singapore conditions, andthe key moments that shaped her
world title swim.
Let's hear from Sharon now.
Hi Sharon, welcome to thepodcast.
Hi Danielle, thanks for havingme on.
(01:08):
You're really welcome.
I wanted to um just start ourchat today by um letting
everyone know where are youbased in Australia?
So I'm in Wollongong, New SouthWales.
I want to talk about the swimin Singapore, but before I do
that, I wanted to find out howyou actually came to be such a
wonderful open water swimmer.
(01:29):
What's your background?
Sharon Crisafi (01:31):
So I swam a lot as a kid, but um concentrated
more on pool swimming.
So I I dabbled in a bit of surfclub, but predominantly I was a
pool swimmer up until about 17,18.
Got a job, um, didn't then havethe time for training.
So swimming went by thewayside.
Danielle Spurling (01:52):
And how long were you out of the water before
you sort of got back in andstarted racing open water?
Sharon Crisafi (01:57):
Uh at least 30 years.
Danielle Spurling (01:59):
Wow.
Sharon Crisafi (02:00):
Okay.
So got back into it because Idecided that um, you know, I
wanted to get a bit of fitnessback in.
Kids were getting a little bitolder.
Um, so yeah, I went from there.
Danielle Spurling (02:14):
And did you start by just some local meets
around New South Wales or didyou sort of start back in the
pool?
How did that all come about?
Sharon Crisafi (02:22):
So I started back in the pool um basically
just a couple of days a week.
Um, what was good was that oneof the coaches was an open water
coach at the time.
Um I didn't have anyinclination really about getting
back into pool racing.
I just I just wanted to getback into swimming itself.
(02:45):
He basically encouraged me tocome along to one of their
training sessions on a Saturday.
And I did my first ocean swim.
So having done surf club, youknow, I was aware of the ocean
and and and that sort of thing,but I've never really swum open
water as such.
So that was that was the firsttime, very first time that I did
(03:10):
swim with them.
Um, I had to really get used tomy surroundings, the
environment.
Uh very eye-opening when you'reswimming quite shallow across a
rocky reef and this humongousstingray goes under you.
And I thought I was gonna havea Steve Irwin moment.
So yeah, that's and I stilllive that down, that moment.
Danielle Spurling (03:34):
I think that most people swimming in
Australia in the open water,every time they see a stingray,
think of the Steve Irwin moment.
Yeah, absolutely.
They sort of glide underneathyou, don't they?
Sharon Crisafi (03:45):
Yes, they did, and and some of them are so big.
Like even in our local harbour,we can get some really big
ones.
So yeah.
Where do where do you do mostof your open water training?
Uh, just around the Wollongongarea, uh, different locations.
Uh sometimes it can be in aharbour.
It really comes down to theconditions.
I personally can't read theconditions, but our coach has
(04:08):
always picked places that, youknow, depending on the wind, we
might go somewhere else becauseit's more protected and things
like that.
So sometimes we'll go down toone of our rivers and you know
swim against tides and stufflike that.
Still salt water, but it's verychallenging.
Danielle Spurling (04:26):
And so how many times a week are you
swimming in the open water?
Sharon Crisafi (04:30):
Uh only twice a week, generally.
So definitely always on theweekend, once a week.
Um, and I I do currently whatI'm doing at the moment is I
just saw a casual easy swim on aWednesday.
Um, just a lot of what I wouldcall a rollover, so to speak.
And that's I prefer to do thatin the pool, not uh in the ocean
(04:50):
than the pool at the moment.
And if you've got the accessand conditions are good, way
better than following a blackline.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (04:57):
And do you top up those two swims with some
pool training as well?
Sharon Crisafi (05:02):
So basically, I'm currently training uh three
days a week in the in the pool.
And then I do what you'd calltwo rollovers.
So Wednesdays and Fridays I doa rollover session, and Saturday
is is a big swim.
Danielle Spurling (05:18):
Yeah.
How far do you go in your bigswim?
Sharon Crisafi (05:20):
Currently, we're up to about eight, 10, 12ks.
Wow, okay.
In one go.
So yeah.
Well, we're training for a muchbigger swim later on.
So yeah, that's the next goalthat we can talk about later.
So yeah.
Danielle Spurling (05:35):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
So you competed in Singapore atthe World Masters.
Was that your first WorldMasters that you'd ever been to?
Sharon Crisafi (05:42):
Yeah, and to be honest, when I put my hand up
and I said that this is what I'dlike to do, I went over.
I was thinking I was putting myhand up to um experience, never
having been there before.
My coach had been over the yearbefore, and you know, the
experience that he had wasawesome, and it's something I
wanted to experience, but Inever first thought anywhere
(06:07):
about possibly winning it untilmy coach said, Well, why are you
going?
And then I I had to think aboutand I said, Okay, I'll give it
a crack.
So committed to trying to winworld championships.
So yeah.
Danielle Spurling (06:22):
Yeah, well, you did, and and by a fair
margin, I will say, as well.
Um, so for the listeners whoweren't there, the conditions in
Singapore were extraordinarilyhot, and the water was very,
very hot as well.
Can you describe the courselayout for everyone listening
and what the conditions werelike on the day?
Sharon Crisafi (06:42):
So we basically um swung the same course as the
elites, but because of theconditions, because of the air
temperature and the watertemperature, they made our
course, it was because it's only3K, they made it three 1k laps.
Um, you know, what we we'dnever experienced water that
(07:03):
warm before, you know, 30, 30degrees with very, very high
humidity.
Um, but to to give my coachcredit, when we found out that
the water temperature from theelites was as high as it was, we
went indoors.
We you know, we're we'retraining in winter.
We we didn't have any warmwater around us, so we had to go
(07:25):
looking for it.
So I had to call up every poolum and find out who had the
warmest water, and it was a25-meter pool, and then he threw
at me and we're gonna wearwetsuits.
So it was 28 degrees in a25-meter pool with a wetsuit on,
and I can tell you now that wasthe best preparation that we
(07:48):
could have done because as warmas that water was in Singapore,
I was hotter in the indoor poolin the wetsuit.
So well prepared.
Danielle Spurling (07:58):
That's great.
I I love the fact that you areclimatized by doing that.
How far out from the race didyou move indoors and wear a
wetsuit?
Uh, the last basic the lastfour to five weeks.
Sharon Crisafi (08:09):
So the the last week and a bit, I said to
Lawrence, my coach, that I Ineed to stay, I wanted to stay
in warm water.
Where we were training, it was26, and that was probably the
temperature, and it wasoutdoors.
That was probably thetemperature that we thought the
water would be at, maybe alittle bit warmer.
But to be, you know, 30, 31,borderline to being cancelled
(08:33):
because it was too hot, yeah.
We we never thought it would bepossible that it would be that
warm.
Danielle Spurling (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, it was it was very warm.
And then you mentioned theybroke it down into three 1k
laps.
So did you stop on the waythrough to grab a drink or some
gel or anything like that, ordid you push right off?
Sharon Crisafi (08:50):
I I didn't, I didn't, but the there was the
opportunity to have a a drink ofwater if you chose to.
Um, but that yeah, that wasn'tmy plan.
Not that I actually went intothe race with a with a set plan,
but um no, no, it's 3K and justoff you go.
Danielle Spurling (09:11):
Yeah, in a normal 3K race, you wouldn't
stop for a drink.
But I just wondered being sohot and some other people I knew
did it and really sufferedbadly with stomach cramps and um
and some gastro and thingsafterwards.
Did you have any of those umeffects after the race?
Sharon Crisafi (09:27):
Not at all.
Yeah, you was definitely, I'dsay, struggled to rehydrate
afterwards.
Um, had electrolytes.
Did I use them?
No.
Um, should I have used them?
Definitely, but you know,you're just trying to get in as
much water as you canafterwards.
And yeah.
Danielle Spurling (09:46):
And did you dive off the plant, um the put
platoon, the platoon, theplatoon like the pontoon is what
I'm searching for.
Did you dive off the pontoonlike the elites, or did you
start in the water?
Sharon Crisafi (09:58):
No, we have to start in the water.
Yeah.
And I I guess that's cateringfor, you know, the people who
aren't comfortable in diving.
And there's quite, you know,there's quite a lot of you as
well, um, where the elites is,yeah, you're not you're not
going to get the numbers likethe elites do, you know, and
you're you're talking possiblyabout 85, 90-year-olds that may
(10:20):
not be able to, so treateveryone the same.
Danielle Spurling (10:23):
So, how did you find the start?
I know you just mentioned thatyou didn't really have a race
plan per se, but how did youfind the start with so many
people clumped together?
Did you get away or did youstay in a group?
Sharon Crisafi (10:34):
I I had a fantastic start.
I was really happy with mystart.
My number one problem that Ihave is pacing.
I'm terrible at it.
So as soon as I was in in whatyou I was out in front, but not
in front.
There was like three or four ofus.
(10:54):
And I had to use a little bitof common sense, don't go out
hard.
I tucked in behind a couple ofswimmers and I sat there for the
first lap.
Um, and then I just felt afterthat lap that the pace for me,
it it felt like it was a littlebit too easy, and you don't
really know what's going onbehind you.
(11:15):
So I took the lead on thesecond lap.
And every now and then I gotthese little tap tap on my feet.
Um, and so I knew someone wasthere.
How many were there?
I had no idea.
Getting through the second lapwas okay.
Um, the start of the third lap,the the lady behind me, um, she
(11:39):
actually went, we we swamtogether for a little bit, and
then by the time I got to thenext boy, she she was taking
off, and I knew then my pacingof that second lap, I probably
should have hung back a littlebit longer.
Hindsight's a wonderful thing,but like I said, I'm terrible
(12:00):
with pacing, but it felt rightat the time.
If if I hung with them, wouldI've gotten the same result?
Danielle Spurling (12:08):
I don't know.
I it's so you you took off onthat third 1k.
And could you see when you wentround the the turning boys
where you were then, or you justhad no no idea how close they
were behind?
Sharon Crisafi (12:21):
I had no idea how close they were behind until
I actually crossed the line.
Right, okay.
I knew like because we werewith the 50 to 54s, so they had
blue caps, I think, and we hadwhite caps.
So I knew when the lady wentpast me, she was in the younger
age.
(12:41):
And as I got halfway throughthat second lap and onto that
third lap, it's like um I couldfeel that tiredness starting to
set in.
So I the way I kept workinghard and hoping that that next
cap, if one went past me, was ablue cap.
And towards the end, I did havea blue cap past me.
(13:03):
And it was like, that's okay,but we're gonna keep working.
But as long as it's not a whitecap, I was happy as long as it
wasn't a white cap going pastme.
Danielle Spurling (13:11):
So that gives you a real sinking feeling,
doesn't it?
When it's the same cap as yourway.
Sharon Crisafi (13:17):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, like I said,hindsight was great.
Yes, the pacing I went out onthat second lap was too fast,
but I managed to hang on.
And yeah, but to be honest,until you touch that that finish
line, you don't you don't knowwhat's happening behind you.
And I know that from from whatmy coach said, he was he said it
(13:38):
was emotionally drainingbecause my teammates are
watching the second place in myage group starting to close that
gap.
So for them, yeah, it was moreof they knew what was going on.
I had no idea what was goingon.
Danielle Spurling (13:54):
Well, that's probably good, actually.
And interesting that you reallyfeel like you dug in on that
second 1K, which obviously waswhat won you the race on the
day.
Because who knows, if you hadheld back, you mightn't have
been able to get back into thatstronger pace.
Sharon Crisafi (14:10):
That's and that that's very true.
And that's why, you know, did Ido the right thing?
I think for the outcome, yeah,I obviously did the right thing.
I just yeah, I don't know if ifsitting back with them and and
holding back that pace wouldI've gotten the same result.
I I I don't know.
That's it's a hard one to toanswer.
Danielle Spurling (14:31):
Yes, yes.
And what were the conditionslike when you were swimming?
Because it looked like on on TVwhen I watched the elites,
there was a lot of boats goingpast or a lot of waves sort of
coming through.
Sharon Crisafi (14:40):
Well, there's definitely a lot of waves
because basically you've got theshipping channel right
alongside you.
So if and okay, they'reanchored far enough out, but if
a ferry goes past or a speedgoes, you you're copping the
waves.
There's also the current thatyou're dealing with.
And I know I I found it okay.
(15:01):
I know from um one of mytraining buddies who was there,
he said that swimming next tothe pontoon, he felt the current
really, really strong there.
Um, I can't say that I did.
I was next to the pontoon, butyeah, from I think the guys had
it that little bit tougher thanus because the water was that
little bit warmer.
(15:21):
What was the water qualitylike?
Yuck.
Was it?
Well, it's yeah, I yeah, youwouldn't want to drink it.
It's not it's not like youknow, you're getting your salts
in if you drink our ocean water.
That's right.
And how many of your squad wereover there?
Because you sound like you hada bit of a crew.
There, there was four of us.
(15:42):
So my coach Lawrence, he's heswam, and then um there was
another two guys, one of one ofmy other training squad buddies,
if that's what you want to callhim.
He came out with a with asilver.
So for you know, for my coach,I think he did fantastic.
Yeah, yeah.
What's his last name?
Lawrence's last name.
Stubbs, Lawrence Stubbs.
(16:03):
So he he runs Open Water Plusdown here in Wollongong, North
Rule.
Um, I've been him, I've beenwith him since I started
swimming.
Um, I don't think I could dowhat I do without him.
Yeah.
I think it's for me, it'steamwork.
He knows me, I know him.
(16:24):
Um, I think he knows me a lotbetter than a lot of people, but
you know, it's a partnership.
Danielle Spurling (16:30):
Well, he's obviously doing something right.
So let's dive deep into that.
What are the sort of the makeupof the kind of pool sessions
that you do?
Give us a bit of an insightinto the the sessions and the
the kind of distances you swimin the pool.
Sharon Crisafi (16:45):
So basically, the the the distances we're
doing would have been about thefour four cases session.
So Mondays um it was with adifferent group, same pool, but
that was more your aerobicworkout.
And then Tuesdays and Thursdayswas centered more around um
(17:05):
your your threshold sort ofwork.
But when we started training,you know, setting um each we had
blocks.
So we'd start off with a blockof work that was low aerobic,
and then each block stepped up,so it just got harder and
harder.
Um towards the end, ourtraining sessions were very much
(17:28):
focused on race pace.
So we were told to go and doyour homework, find out what the
winners have done over the lastthree or four years, look at
the times, work out what racepace time you need to do.
So then, you know, you're doingthree 1000s in the pool and
you're trying to hold the racepace that you're aiming for.
(17:50):
Um, Saturdays was a little bitof a different story because
even though I was training forSingapore, at the same time, uh,
up until the middle of May, Iwas training for an endurance
swim.
It's not a race.
Um it was a 10K, it's a 10Kswim from Bondi to Watson's Bay
outside the heads.
So up until then, my Saturdaytraining it wasn't focused on
(18:16):
Singapore.
It was basically the poolstuff.
Danielle Spurling (18:18):
That's interesting, isn't it?
But that must have given you areally strong aerobic base that
you were able to pull from.
Sharon Crisafi (18:24):
Yeah, I think so.
I think you know that like Isaid, Lawrence had a had had a
great plan for us.
And as long as you did thework, I think, you know, you can
get the results.
Danielle Spurling (18:34):
In the in the type of work that you do in the
pool, are you doing it allfreestyle or do you mix in other
strokes as well?
Oh, just freestyle.
Sharon Crisafi (18:41):
As a as a younger swimmer, I did a lot of
breaststroke, but I don't haveany interest in doing off
strokes at all.
And do you use a lot ofequipment?
Yeah, so basically, you know,you got your fins, you got your
snorkels, um, paddles, bands,all the normal equipment that
you would use.
Danielle Spurling (19:02):
And obviously, you mentioned the
training in the wetsuits.
When you swim in the open waterand you're you're training,
you're using wetsuits up inWollongong year-round?
Sharon Crisafi (19:11):
Um, well, I was hardly in up until May, that
would have been the last time Iwas in the ocean this year.
Everything else then was donein the pool.
Um the year before that, Iactually set myself a challenge
to swim most of all of winterwithout a wetsuit.
Um, and happened to managethat.
(19:32):
But then, you know, that's 14,15 degrees, nowhere near as cold
as Melbourne temperatures, butset a goal.
And yeah, to me, you need goalssometimes.
And yeah, I I met thatchallenge.
I was happy to have done that.
Danielle Spurling (19:46):
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, it does get very colddown here in Melbourne in the
water during winter, about eightdegrees.
Yeah, no, thanks.
Yeah, we did that during COVID,and I don't need to revisit
that ever again.
No Was terrible.
The kind of work that you'redoing in the ocean when you're
when you're doing your trainingsessions, is it a straight swim,
(20:07):
or do you do sort of like a 1kand then you stop and you do
pacing work in the ocean?
How does that work?
What kind of sessions do you doin there?
Sharon Crisafi (20:15):
Well, currently at the moment, we're we're not
really working on on pacing assuch.
Um it's more about trying toget the K's in.
So no, there's there's not alot of pacing.
If I was swimming, if I wastraining, there's a swim coming
up in December, and I'll if Iwas training for that particular
(20:36):
10K swim, then it's abouttrying to trying to do the race
pace that you would do for that10K in the ocean.
And the hardest part is whatthat race pace in the ocean
feels like to pull to a pool, itcan be chalk and cheese.
Danielle Spurling (20:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
And and obviously theconditions on the day change as
well.
So you've got to be preparedfor all those kind of outcomes.
Sharon Crisafi (21:00):
Well, yeah, and you can go to the same event.
Now, I'm talking about the theBondi to Watson's Bay swim.
Um, I've done it in it's 10,10, 11 Ks.
I've done it in two hours 20,I've done it in three and a
quarter three and three quarterhours.
So depending on currents, ifyou're sitting in that current
(21:22):
for a long time, then it justmakes that swim that much
harder, that much longer.
And then I get seasick.
Danielle Spurling (21:29):
So that's that's another thing.
So if you do have to deal withseasickness, what are you doing
beforehand to try and um negatethat?
Sharon Crisafi (21:38):
I've taken I've taken um travel calm and stuff
like that.
I don't, I just find for me, itdoesn't work.
I end up getting a K in andyou've got absolutely nothing
left.
It just feels makes me feelextremely fatigued.
So I I the um there is amedication that you've you can
(22:00):
take.
I can't remember what the nameof it is, but it's
prescription-based and it'ssupposed to help.
I think it's something to dowith um pregnant women with um
really, really bad morningsickness.
You can take that.
I haven't actually taken thatyet, but it's it's my next step
because travel calm and theother stuff, it just it does not
(22:21):
work.
Unfortunately, I don't itdoesn't take much for me to get
seasick either.
Did you experience that inSingapore at all?
Not at all.
No.
Oh good, no, good, good.
There wasn't there, yeah, no.
Um, there was a little bit ofwave and that sort of thing, and
no, I three K's, I think I wasI don't think the distance was
long enough for me to get sick,and I the conditions weren't
(22:42):
that bad.
Danielle Spurling (22:43):
And this 10K one that you're doing, what um
what's that leading into?
What's the swim?
Sharon Crisafi (22:48):
Well, I'm not actually doing it because I've
actually got a bigger swim I'mswing training for.
Okay, what's that?
So a training buddy and ofmine, my coach said to me, You
need you need a goal.
You can't just come to trainingand flog yourself.
You need a goal.
So um a lot of these biggerswims, rottenest, English
Channel, part, you know, Sydneyto there's a couple in Sydney
(23:12):
that are 28k.
They're so expensive.
So I picked a local one.
So we're going to swim.
It's 28 kilometers, and it'sfrom Stanwell Park to our local
Wollongong Harbour.
Okay.
So at the moment, yeah, thelongest swim we've done is 12k.
This weekend we're going to acamp down at ginderbine, and the
(23:34):
plan is to do a 16k swim downthere.
Danielle Spurling (23:37):
Right.
Wow.
Sorry, gingerbine up ataltitude.
Sharon Crisafi (23:41):
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (23:42):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So up.
Sharon Crisafi (23:44):
Well, it's currently snowing and really
cold.
Up at Threadbow.
Okay.
Yes, down there, yeah.
So are you doing that in thepool?
No, we're hoping, we're hopingthat the lake's not going to be
too cold.
Right.
Um, you know, wetsuits andeverything will go down there.
Um, yeah, if we can, if it'snot too cold and we can manage
it, then we'll do our trainingdown there.
(24:04):
Otherwise, yeah, unfortunately,we're going to be end up in
Threadbow Pool.
Danielle Spurling (24:08):
Yeah, that's a long way to go in that pool.
Sharon Crisafi (24:11):
It definitely is.
Danielle Spurling (24:13):
Except it's split, isn't it?
It's got 25 and 50.
Sharon Crisafi (24:17):
Yeah.
I haven't, it's been a longtime since I've been down there,
but yeah, I've had a look onthe web and yeah, 50 and four
lanes of each.
Danielle Spurling (24:26):
Yes, yeah, it looks it looks really good.
And do you have any any sort ofplans to try Rot Nest or
English Channel or any of theother Ocean 7 swims?
Sharon Crisafi (24:38):
No, not not at the moment.
It's just for for me for theEnglish Channel, you you're
booking five years in advance.
Yeah.
You know, and then and thenyou've got to have the boat all
lined up and and everything elsethat goes with it.
It's just I just I can't Idon't think I could justify
(24:59):
financially doing that.
And that that and that's whyI've targeted these a local
swim.
Yeah.
I mean, I'd love to go and dorotteness, but if the king, you
know, two years ago they're, youknow, 10K's in and the and the
race gets cancelled.
Like same thing, you've gotyour airfares, you've got
accommodation, all that sort ofthing.
(25:21):
And then if your race getscancelled, you've done all that
hard work.
So yeah, I I just I don't thinkat the moment that there are
things I'd love to do, butthey're not on my radar.
Danielle Spurling (25:34):
Yeah, yeah.
No, in interesting perspective.
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(25:56):
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Would you would you um headtowards another world
championships like the next onein Budapest?
Sharon Crisafi (26:12):
When we found out it was going to be in
Budapest, I just straight outsaid to my husband that I'll
start saving now and 12 monthsout, we'll re-evaluate.
But I look, I'd love to go.
Um, I do expect it to be a lottougher swimming-wise than
you're going to the epicentre ofof open water swimming.
(26:33):
So it'll be a totally for me inmy head, it's it's a totally
different ball game again.
Danielle Spurling (26:38):
Yeah, I think um anytime the the World
Masters are held in Europe or umin North America, there's a lot
more participants than therewould be on our our side of the
world.
It'd be huge.
Yes, yeah.
So I went to Montreal, therewas 12,000 athletes, and I think
in Singapore there was six.
That's across that's acrosseverything, of course.
(26:58):
But um, yeah, it was uh a lotbusier in Montreal than it was
in Singapore.
Yeah, yeah.
So interesting.
And um, yeah, the sw do youknow where the swim is going to
be in Budapest for the openwater, is in the river?
Sharon Crisafi (27:13):
Uh I've heard um Lawrence said that it it would
be most likely lake freshwater.
That's yes, yeah.
Other than that, no idea.
Are you a floater?
Danielle Spurling (27:26):
Uh I am a floater, yes.
Very much so.
So you can you can be fine infreshwater.
It's the people that peoplethat can't float that are not
good in freshwater.
No, no, no.
Sharon Crisafi (27:36):
I'm I've been told multiple times how envious
people are of because I sit sohigh in the water.
Danielle Spurling (27:43):
Yep.
And how about strength strengthwork?
Do you do any of that or do youdo anything else on land?
What tell us about what you do?
So basically, I go to I go tothe gym twice a week.
Sharon Crisafi (27:56):
Yep.
Um, because we're doing thislong swim, then the work that
we're doing is basicallyendurance work in the gym.
So lightening the weights alittle bit, but um increasing
the reps.
So instead of doing three lotsof 10, it's four lots of 15.
So you end up doing moreheavier weights.
(28:16):
I'm not sure how that works,but okay, I'll I'll go with that
one.
Danielle Spurling (28:20):
Yeah.
Do you have someone helping youor is that Lawrence again doing
that?
Sharon Crisafi (28:24):
No, I have another mate, Pete, and he was
also in Singapore and he's donethe program.
And most of the gym work thatwe do is basically swimming
oriented.
It's not it's not bulking upfor the sake of bulking up.
Danielle Spurling (28:40):
And what kind of exercises has he got you
doing in the gym?
Do you do pull-ups and and allthe traditional functionality?
I'm too old for that.
No, you're not.
Sharon Crisafi (28:51):
Um, no, there's no way I could do a pull-up.
Um, so basically you're lookingat like internal, external
rotations on a cable, um, latpull downs, pec, there's a pec
machine, the hardest one that Ifind.
Um, Pete come up with it,you're lying on a bench.
It's with cables, but you'redoing freestyle cables.
(29:13):
So you're doing uh 15 of those,and then you go straight into
what you'd say uh they're doublearmed.
So let's let's call itbutterfly cables.
So that one and that one iswould be the hardest one that I
do in the gym.
So yeah, everything is swimmingbase, you know, anything that
has anything to do with thecatch, the pull down.
Danielle Spurling (29:34):
Yeah.
And how about your recovery?
Do you do you focus on that atall?
And if you do, what kind ofthings do you do?
I've I never used to, I'll behonest.
Sharon Crisafi (29:46):
Um, very old school that thought one had to
train every day of the week, andevery time you got in the pool,
it had to be hard all the time.
Volume hard.
That's what I grew up with as akid.
Um, it's only, to be honest,since April, when we changed the
way I trained, um, because upuntil April, I was swimming six
(30:07):
days a week and going to the gymtwice a week.
Um, but from middle of April wechanged it to the Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday, and Wednesdayis gym, Friday is gym, and I
get to do a rollover in the pooland then a swim on Saturday.
Um, and a lot of that, youknow, being being older,
(30:29):
obviously, but having changedjobs where I've gone from a
mentally stressful job to aphysical stress, stressful job
has that impact.
My boss, I've talked to my bossabout it because he also swims,
and he said, Sharon, by thetime it's 12 o'clock, you've
done a full hour, eight-hourday.
Like I've only worked for fourhours physically, but because
(30:52):
you've trained, he equates that.
And that's that's fantasticthat he understands that having
a bit of a swimming backgroundas well.
He understands where I'm comingfrom when I go in there.
I go, Oh my god, I'm so tired.
Yeah.
Recovery is I like I love myWednesdays and I love my Fridays
because I know I'm gonna get ahard, really hard session
(31:16):
Thursday, but I feel the body'smore ready for it after having a
lighter day today.
Friday's another one, hard swimor a long swim on Saturday.
And the only thing I do onSunday is go for a long walk.
I and with with that and sayingthat, walking, I used to walk
really quick, but I've had tomaster the art for recovery-wise
(31:39):
walk slow.
Danielle Spurling (31:41):
Yeah, and how much would you how much average
sleep would you get per night?
Um, I can be in bed at eighto'clock.
Sharon Crisafi (31:49):
So I have being my age, unfortunately, I do have
some really bad sleeps.
Um, but yeah, uh generally Idon't see much past 8 30.
Um but then I'm up at quarterpast four the next morning as
well.
So yeah, that's that's early.
That's uh definitely early.
But you know, I I I enjoyed it.
(32:12):
So if you know, to get up atthat time of the morning, you
have to enjoy what you're doing.
Danielle Spurling (32:19):
You certainly do, yeah.
And let's just investigate yourmindset as well.
Do you have any cues or mantrasthat you use before you race
that you tell yourself in yourmind?
Sharon Crisafi (32:31):
No, not really.
Um I I get extremely unnervousbefore race, and it doesn't
matter what sort of what sort ofrace it is.
It can be a local swim.
Um, and and a lot of that comesback because because I've won
(32:52):
the females for X amount ofyears, there's what I see is
that there is an expectation forme to come out of that water
first.
I then put that expectation onmyself because I that's and
there was one there was onesfrom a couple of years ago, and
a couple of the younger onesbeat me, and so they should.
(33:13):
But one of the parents came upto me and said, I can't believe
you didn't win that.
It's like I'm 50 years old.
Like that, yeah, I that's thesort of expectation that I
carry.
Danielle Spurling (33:26):
And so how do you deal with those nerves?
They they go as as soon as theswim starts, obviously.
Sharon Crisafi (33:32):
Yes.
I can they can start the nightbefore and that will then
interrupt a race.
Now, if we go back toSingapore, there for me, there
was no time.
I didn't have the time to bestressed because I was stressed
getting my speed suit on.
For some reason, it was it wasI've worn this speed suit four
(33:53):
or five times, but for somereason on this particular day, I
was struggling to get it on.
So while everyone's gettingchanged and getting their
numbers on, little old Sharon'sstruggling to get this speed
suit on.
So, in a way, even though thatwas a stressful period, it it
also then took away from mesitting there ready thinking
(34:16):
about the race.
I didn't have time to benervous because I was too busy
trying to get this suit on.
So it sort of helped.
Danielle Spurling (34:25):
No, that's that's really good, isn't it?
I'm I'm glad that you you hadit, you had your mind elsewhere.
So obviously that that helped.
Sharon Crisafi (34:32):
Well, Lawrence, Lawrence had said to me, you've
got to expect the unexpected,and I certainly was not
expecting not to be able to getthis suit on first time.
Did you have a spare suit withyou in case it got a hole in it?
I took two with me.
I took my theraband with mebecause there's no warm-up for
the masters.
So my intention was to use thetheraband and do some activation
(34:55):
work.
None of that could happenbecause it just took me so long
to get this suit on.
Right.
Danielle Spurling (35:01):
So you didn't get to swim the course the day
before?
Sharon Crisafi (35:04):
No, because the day before it was cancelled due
to poor water water quality.
Oh, yes, that's right.
Same as same as with theelites.
So we had a gentleman thatLawrence and some of the others
knew, and he said, Oh, just comeup, just come up to our hotel,
25-meter pool, and you can havea swim in there.
So we 12, 1500 metres, and thatthat's all we could do.
(35:27):
Like the race day was the firsttime that we've actually been
in the water.
Danielle Spurling (35:31):
Wow.
How long before the race daydid you arrive in Singapore?
Sharon Crisafi (35:35):
Uh, I arrived the Wednesday.
Yeah, we flew out theWednesday, so I had Thursday,
where we my husband and I did alittle bit of was the only day I
said to him that I've gotavailable to do or I want to do
any sort of um looking around.
Uh Friday, we were supposed togo and do the training session,
(35:57):
and then we raced Saturday,watched the teammates swim
Sunday, we flew out Monday.
Danielle Spurling (36:04):
And how did you find Singapore in general?
Did you enjoy it?
Sharon Crisafi (36:07):
I I loved it.
Like we, you know, mybrother-in-law kept telling, oh,
it's such a such an expensiveplace to go, and you know, and
then Lawrence is taking us toChinatown, and we're having tea
for six dollars.
Like, okay, I can I could,yeah, beautiful place, and I'd
be more than happy to go backanytime.
Danielle Spurling (36:27):
Yeah, I really liked it too.
And um, yeah, those hawkermarkets are fantastic, aren't
they?
Oh, brilliant.
Sharon Crisafi (36:34):
Well, well worth going because yeah, there's
nowhere else you'd want to eat.
Danielle Spurling (36:38):
When you look back at your swimming that you
did when you were a teenager tonow, what's the your different
perspective that you've got?
Sharon Crisafi (36:45):
Well, because well, back then everything was
flog, flog, flog.
Where now, you know, being atthe age I am, it's I I can't do
a really hard session.
I can't do two really hardsessions in a row.
It just will not happen.
So I I very much look forwardto doing my recovery days now.
(37:05):
Something that yeah, we didn'tdo as kids because it was just
you had to go, well, mind you,no heated pools, but you you
just went and yeah, you wereflogged every day.
Danielle Spurling (37:17):
I think as a master's athlete, you have
obviously a lot more ownershipover what you're doing and
choice in that.
And also we know a lot more.
Like I was just mentioning tosomeone at training this morning
when when I trained as an agegrouper, we weren't allowed to,
we didn't have a water bottle onthe side of the pool.
Oh no, no, we were not allowedto get out to even go and get a
drink of water.
Sharon Crisafi (37:37):
Well, even getting out and going to the
toilet was like very muchfrowned upon because you're and
and you're very much frownedupon, and that unfortunately is
still instilled in me.
Like, I can't, and I had aconversation with a young man at
training a couple of monthsago, which was eye-opening for
him, but I can't miss a lapbecause I see that as a
(38:00):
weakness, where he may have at Ineed to have this rest, so it's
it could be a good thing.
But for me, getting out andgoing to the toilet for 10
minutes, that's just it's Ican't do it.
Danielle Spurling (38:14):
Yeah, it's like you've you've also got to
go to the end of the pool andtouch the pool.
I can't I can't ever be one ofthose people that stops at the
black line and just walks intothe wall.
Sharon Crisafi (38:24):
No, no.
I I I get it.
There was a new girl in ourlane um to start a couple of
weeks ago.
I said, Caitlin, you just youneed to you need to move over.
I cannot.
I have to touch the wall.
That's I don't know.
I think it's that's that'sinstilled with you though as a
kid as well.
Danielle Spurling (38:41):
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
Sharon Crisafi (38:43):
A to B, practice your starts, practice your
finishes, but yeah, not that Idid those very good, but yeah,
no.
Danielle Spurling (38:51):
And how about your skills side of open water
swimming, like your sighting andum, you know, you're you're
porpoising out to when you canswim and you're running out of
the water if if it's a a beachfinish.
Do you practice those skillsmuch or are they just they're
just sort of by the by?
Sharon Crisafi (39:08):
No, no, no.
Uh on a Wednesday when we wehave a um, there's a harbour
swim that I don't do anymore,but it's yeah, that is exactly
what they're practicing.
Right.
They're practicing this, we'repracticing siding, we're
practicing, you know, a racestart, lie on your tummy, kick
until someone says go, um, andthen practice coming back into
(39:31):
the water.
We got a lot of triathletes inour group as well.
So everyone's needs to practicesomething.
So there's always somethingthat someone has to learn or
someone, something thatsomeone's not as good at.
So yeah, definitely.
Danielle Spurling (39:45):
Do you have a standard sighting pattern or do
you just depends on the wavesand the conditions on the day?
Sharon Crisafi (39:51):
Uh normally every never every six.
Um, I can I can cite to bothsides, but I do.
Prefer the one side.
Yeah.
I'm a bilateral breather aswell.
And I'll do that even whenconditions make it hard for you
to breathe.
Because I just don't, I don'tfeel comfortable.
(40:12):
And I know that it's somethingthat needs to change, that if
you can't breathe to one side,you don't breathe.
You need to breathe to theother side.
But I still get sucked in withthat.
I still, you know, I'll turn myhead because that's what my
brain's in tune to, and in comesa mouthful of water.
Or you or you don't get a fullbreath in.
Danielle Spurling (40:32):
I was going to ask you too.
If if someone came to you todayand said that they want to try
their fo first big sort of openwater swimming race, what's the
the the best piece of advice youcould give them?
Sharon Crisafi (40:44):
Going with Lawrence Stubbs.
Danielle Spurling (40:47):
But what if they don't live in Wollongong?
Sharon Crisafi (40:50):
Um, I look to be honest, I'm not sure, but
siding is definitely I'd belike, you need to be wearing a
bright cap.
You need to be learning how tosight.
Swimming straight is a tool.
If you can't swim straight,then you've got real problems.
Danielle Spurling (41:08):
Now, everyone that comes on the podcast,
Sharon, I like to ask them thedeep dive five.
So it's just five five quickquestions.
Just give me the first answerthat pops into your head.
What's your favorite open waterswimming location?
Jervis Bay.
Jervis Bay.
And for those not in New SouthWales, where where is that
located?
Sharon Crisafi (41:26):
That's a couple of hours down the coast.
Danielle Spurling (41:29):
So it's below Sydney?
Sharon Crisafi (41:31):
Yes.
So below Sydney, belowWollongong.
Well, it's closer to the ACT ifyou go inland on some of it.
Danielle Spurling (41:37):
And what's your goggle type and brand that
you wear in open water?
Sharon Crisafi (41:42):
Uh they're made by Tabata.
So they're Japanese, eventhough I can buy them in
Australia.
Um what they are, I couldn'thonestly tell you.
I used to wear the View gogglesand then they discontinued
them.
So I just had to try a coupleof new brands, and I've stuck
with the ones that I've got now.
Danielle Spurling (42:00):
Are they um mirrored or clear?
Both.
Yeah, so depending onconditions.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's your favorite pre-racemeal?
Pasta.
Pasta?
What kind?
Sharon Crisafi (42:14):
Anything.
It really um panty, basically.
And to be honest, I try andavoid meat the night before.
I don't know if it's fallacy,but I just don't want to eat
something that's that heavy inmy stomach.
Danielle Spurling (42:28):
How about your favorite trading set?
Sharon Crisafi (42:30):
We had to do a block of 100s on 130.
So you're lucky if you're Ithink there was four lots of
five, maybe.
This is the set I'mremembering.
130, so you're getting likesix, seven seconds if you're
lucky.
Rest.
Danielle Spurling (42:45):
And in sets of in sets of four or five, did
you get a bro?
Did you get a break in between?
Sharon Crisafi (42:49):
So yeah, you'd get a bit of a break, everyone
regroups, then we go again.
Danielle Spurling (42:54):
Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one.
In a 25-meter pool or 50meters?
Sharon Crisafi (42:57):
No, it's 50.
Danielle Spurling (42:58):
50.
Sharon Crisafi (42:59):
Yeah.
50 outdoors.
Danielle Spurling (43:01):
Yep.
Yeah.
It's great.
And who's the swimmer youadmire most?
It'd be Emma.
Emma McCann.
Yes.
A local.
Sharon Crisafi (43:10):
Mainly, and I I love the fact that she's so
humble.
Danielle Spurling (43:14):
She is so humble.
Sharon Crisafi (43:15):
Yep.
So, you know, like for for whatshe's achieved, she's amazing.
Yeah.
Danielle Spurling (43:22):
Yeah, she is a great, yeah, great, great
swimmer and a very humble,humble girl.
Sharon Crisafi (43:26):
I think the humble stands out.
Yes, she's won all the medals,but the fact for me is she's
humble.
Danielle Spurling (43:32):
Yes, yeah.
I agree with you there.
Well, Sharon, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast
today.
It's been lovely getting tohear about your swimming
journey, and I'm sure everyonethat's listening is going to be
really inspired by the work thatyou put in to win that world
championship in Singapore.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
Okay, we'll catch you soon.
(43:53):
All right, thank you.
Bye.
Thanks for tuning in to TorpedoSwim Talk, the podcast
celebrating swimmers at everystage.
If you enjoyed this chat, hitfollow or subscribe on your
favorite platform and give us aquick review because it goes a
long way in helping moreswimmers find the show.
Until next time, happy swimmingand bye for now.
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