Torpedo Swimtalk Podcast with Sharon Crisafi - From Wollongong To World Champion: Training, Tactics, And Tough Conditions

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.

Enjoyed the show? Follow or subscribe, leave a quick review, and share this episode with a swimmer who loves the ocean. Your support helps more athletes find Torpedo Swimtalk.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduced
• 1:08 Sharon’s Swimming Roots And Long Break
• 3:35 First Steps Back Into Open Water
• 5:30 Training Grounds And Reading Conditions
• 7:40 Weekly Routine And Long Swims
• 9:33 Targeting World Masters Singapore
• 12:48 Adapting To Extreme Heat
• 16:48 Race Format, Hydration, And Starts
• 19:45 Pacing, Drafting, And The Decisive Move
• 23:10 Currents, Waves, And Water Quality
• 25:05 Squad, Coach Lawrence, And Team Results
• 27:00 Pool Blocks, Race Pace, And Volume
• 30:05 Ocean Vs Pool Pace And Conditions
• 33:00 Seasickness And What Helps
• 35:12 Big Goal: 28K Local Marathon Swim
• 38:10 Budapest Ambitions And Freshwater Talk
• 40:05 Strength Work Tailored For Swimmers
• 43:10 Recovery, Sleep, And Workload Balance

Transcript

Danielle Spurling: 0:06

Hello swimmers and welcome to Torpedo Swim talk, the podcast celebrating swimmers at every stage from Masters Legends to Olympic champions. I'm your host, Danielle Spurling, and each week we dive into inspiring conversations from around the world about performance, resilience, and the pure love of swimming. Today I'm joined by an Australian Masters open water standout, Sharon Crisafi. Fresh off winning the 3km World Masters title in Singapore. Sharon quietly put together a brilliant prep across pool work, ocean sessions, and smart race strategy, and then she executed it perfectly on the day. We're going to unpack how she trained, how she handled those brutal Singapore conditions, and the key moments that shaped her world title swim. Let's hear from Sharon now. Hi Sharon, welcome to the podcast. Hi Danielle, thanks for having me on. You're really welcome. I wanted to um just start our chat today by um letting everyone know where are you based in Australia? So I'm in Wollongong, New South Wales. I want to talk about the swim in Singapore, but before I do that, I wanted to find out how you actually came to be such a wonderful open water swimmer. What's your background?

Sharon Crisafi: 1:31

So I swam a lot as a kid, but um concentrated more on pool swimming. So I I dabbled in a bit of surf club, but predominantly I was a pool swimmer up until about 17, 18. Got a job, um, didn't then have the time for training. So swimming went by the wayside.

Danielle Spurling: 1:52

And how long were you out of the water before you sort of got back in and started racing open water?

Sharon Crisafi: 1:57

Uh at least 30 years.

Danielle Spurling: 1:59

Wow.

Sharon Crisafi: 2:00

Okay. So got back into it because I decided that um, you know, I wanted to get a bit of fitness back in. Kids were getting a little bit older. Um, so yeah, I went from there.

Danielle Spurling: 2:14

And did you start by just some local meets around New South Wales or did you sort of start back in the pool? How did that all come about?

Sharon Crisafi: 2:22

So I started back in the pool um basically just a couple of days a week. Um, what was good was that one of the coaches was an open water coach at the time. Um I didn't have any inclination really about getting back into pool racing. I just I just wanted to get back into swimming itself. He basically encouraged me to come along to one of their training sessions on a Saturday. And I did my first ocean swim. So having done surf club, you know, 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 first time, very first time that I did swim with them. Um, I had to really get used to my surroundings, the environment. Uh very eye-opening when you're swimming quite shallow across a rocky reef and this humongous stingray goes under you. And I thought I was gonna have a Steve Irwin moment. So yeah, that's and I still live that down, that moment.

Danielle Spurling: 3:34

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 underneath you, don't they?

Sharon Crisafi: 3:45

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 most of your open water training? Uh, just around the Wollongong area, uh, different locations. Uh sometimes it can be in a harbour. It really comes down to the conditions. I personally can't read the conditions, but our coach has always picked places that, you know, depending on the wind, we might go somewhere else because it's more protected and things like that. So sometimes we'll go down to one of our rivers and you know swim against tides and stuff like that. Still salt water, but it's very challenging.

Danielle Spurling: 4:26

And so how many times a week are you swimming in the open water?

Sharon Crisafi: 4:30

Uh only twice a week, generally. So definitely always on the weekend, once a week. Um, and I I do currently what I'm doing at the moment is I just saw a casual easy swim on a Wednesday. Um, just a lot of what I would call a rollover, so to speak. And that's I prefer to do that in the pool, not uh in the ocean than the pool at the moment. And if you've got the access and conditions are good, way better than following a black line. Yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 4:57

And do you top up those two swims with some pool training as well?

Sharon Crisafi: 5:02

So basically, I'm currently training uh three days a week in the in the pool. And then I do what you'd call two rollovers. So Wednesdays and Fridays I do a rollover session, and Saturday is is a big swim.

Danielle Spurling: 5:18

Yeah. How far do you go in your big swim?

Sharon Crisafi: 5:20

Currently, we're up to about eight, 10, 12ks. Wow, okay. In one go. So yeah. Well, we're training for a much bigger swim later on. So yeah, that's the next goal that we can talk about later. So yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 5:35

Yeah, yeah, fantastic. So you competed in Singapore at the World Masters. Was that your first World Masters that you'd ever been to?

Sharon Crisafi: 5:42

Yeah, and to be honest, when I put my hand up and I said that this is what I'd like to do, I went over. I was thinking I was putting my hand up to um experience, never having been there before. My coach had been over the year before, and you know, the experience that he had was awesome, and it's something I wanted to experience, but I never first thought anywhere about possibly winning it until my coach said, Well, why are you going? And then I I had to think about and I said, Okay, I'll give it a crack. So committed to trying to win world championships. So yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 6:22

Yeah, well, you did, and and by a fair margin, I will say, as well. Um, so for the listeners who weren't there, the conditions in Singapore were extraordinarily hot, and the water was very, very hot as well. Can you describe the course layout for everyone listening and what the conditions were like on the day?

Sharon Crisafi: 6:42

So we basically um swung the same course as the elites, but because of the conditions, because of the air temperature and the water temperature, they made our course, it was because it's only 3K, they made it three 1k laps. Um, you know, what we we'd never experienced water that warm before, you know, 30, 30 degrees with very, very high humidity. Um, but to to give my coach credit, when we found out that the water temperature from the elites was as high as it was, we went indoors. We you know, we're we're training in winter. We we didn't have any warm water around us, so we had to go looking for it. So I had to call up every pool um and find out who had the warmest water, and it was a 25-meter pool, and then he threw at me and we're gonna wear wetsuits. So it was 28 degrees in a 25-meter pool with a wetsuit on, and I can tell you now that was the best preparation that we could have done because as warm as that water was in Singapore, I was hotter in the indoor pool in the wetsuit. So well prepared.

Danielle Spurling: 7:58

That's great. I I love the fact that you are climatized by doing that. How far out from the race did you move indoors and wear a wetsuit? Uh, the last basic the last four to five weeks.

Sharon Crisafi: 8:09

So the the last week and a bit, I said to Lawrence, my coach, that I I need to stay, I wanted to stay in warm water. Where we were training, it was 26, and that was probably the temperature, and it was outdoors. That was probably the temperature that we thought the water would be at, maybe a little bit warmer. But to be, you know, 30, 31, borderline to being cancelled because it was too hot, yeah. We we never thought it would be possible that it would be that warm.

Danielle Spurling: 8:39

Yeah, yeah, it was it was very warm. And then you mentioned they broke it down into three 1k laps. So did you stop on the way through to grab a drink or some gel or anything like that, or did you push right off?

Sharon Crisafi: 8:50

I I didn't, I didn't, but the there was the opportunity to have a a drink of water if you chose to. Um, but that yeah, that wasn't my plan. Not that I actually went into the race with a with a set plan, but um no, no, it's 3K and just off you go.

Danielle Spurling: 9:11

Yeah, in a normal 3K race, you wouldn't stop for a drink. But I just wondered being so hot and some other people I knew did it and really suffered badly with stomach cramps and um and some gastro and things afterwards. Did you have any of those um effects after the race?

Sharon Crisafi: 9:27

Not at all. Yeah, you was definitely, I'd say, 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 can afterwards. And yeah.

Danielle Spurling: 9:46

And did you dive off the plant, um the put platoon, the platoon, the platoon like the pontoon is what I'm searching for. Did you dive off the pontoon like the elites, or did you start in the water?

Sharon Crisafi: 9:58

No, we have to start in the water. Yeah. And I I guess that's catering for, 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 like the elites do, you know, and you're you're talking possibly about 85, 90-year-olds that may not be able to, so treat everyone the same.

Danielle Spurling: 10:23

So, how did you find the start? I know you just mentioned that you didn't really have a race plan per se, but how did you find the start with so many people clumped together? Did you get away or did you stay in a group?

Sharon Crisafi: 10:34

I I had a fantastic start. I was really happy with my start. My number one problem that I have is pacing. I'm terrible at it. So as soon as I was in in what you I was out in front, but not in front. There was like three or four of us. And I had to use a little bit of common sense, don't go out hard. I tucked in behind a couple of swimmers and I sat there for the first lap. Um, and then I just felt after that lap that the pace for me, it it felt like it was a little bit too easy, and you don't really know what's going on behind you. So I took the lead on the second lap. And every now and then I got these little tap tap on my feet. Um, and so I knew someone was there. How many were there? I had no idea. Getting through the second lap was okay. Um, the start of the third lap, the the lady behind me, um, she actually went, we we swam together for a little bit, and then by the time I got to the next boy, she she was taking off, and I knew then my pacing of that second lap, I probably should have hung back a little bit longer. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but like I said, I'm terrible with pacing, but it felt right at the time. If if I hung with them, would I've gotten the same result?

Danielle Spurling: 12:08

I don't know. I it's so you you took off on that third 1k. And could you see when you went round the the turning boys where you were then, or you just had 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 were with the 50 to 54s, so they had blue caps, I think, and we had white caps. So I knew when the lady went past me, she was in the younger age. And as I got halfway through that second lap and onto that third lap, it's like um I could feel that tiredness starting to set in. So I the way I kept working hard and hoping that that next cap, if one went past me, was a blue cap. And towards the end, I did have a blue cap past me. And it was like, that's okay, but we're gonna keep working. But as long as it's not a white cap, I was happy as long as it wasn't a white cap going past me.

Danielle Spurling: 13:11

So that gives you a real sinking feeling, doesn't it? When it's the same cap as your way.

Sharon Crisafi: 13:17

Yeah, yeah. And you know, like I said, hindsight was great. Yes, the pacing I went out on that 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 know what's happening behind you. And I know that from from what my coach said, he was he said it was emotionally draining because my teammates are watching the second place in my age group starting to close that gap. So for them, yeah, it was more of they knew what was going on. I had no idea what was going on.

Danielle Spurling: 13:54

Well, that's probably good, actually. And interesting that you really feel like you dug in on that second 1K, which obviously was what won you the race on the day. Because who knows, if you had held back, you mightn't have been able to get back into that stronger pace.

Sharon Crisafi: 14:10

That's and that that's very true. And that's why, you know, did I do the right thing? I think for the outcome, yeah, I obviously did the right thing. I just yeah, I don't know if if sitting back with them and and holding back that pace would I've gotten the same result. I I I don't know. That's it's a hard one to to answer.

Danielle Spurling: 14:31

Yes, yes. And what were the conditions like when you were swimming? Because it looked like on on TV when I watched the elites, there was a lot of boats going past 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 the shipping channel right alongside you. So if and okay, they're anchored far enough out, but if a ferry goes past or a speed goes, you you're copping the waves. There's also the current that you're dealing with. And I know I I found it okay. I know from um one of my training buddies who was there, he said that swimming next to the pontoon, he felt the current really, really strong there. Um, I can't say that I did. I was next to the pontoon, but yeah, from I think the guys had it that little bit tougher than us because the water was that little bit warmer. What was the water quality like? Yuck. Was it? Well, it's yeah, I yeah, you wouldn't want to drink it. It's not it's not like you know, you're getting your salts in if you drink our ocean water. That's right. And how many of your squad were over there? Because you sound like you had a bit of a crew. There, there was four of us. So my coach Lawrence, he's he swam, and then um there was another two guys, one of one of my other training squad buddies, if that's what you want to call him. He came out with a with a silver. 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. So he he runs Open Water Plus down here in Wollongong, North Rule. Um, I've been him, I've been with him since I started swimming. Um, I don't think I could do what I do without him. Yeah. I think it's for me, it's teamwork. He knows me, I know him. Um, I think he knows me a lot better 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 makeup of the kind of pool sessions that you do? Give us a bit of an insight into the the sessions and the the kind of distances you swim in the pool.

Sharon Crisafi: 16:45

So basically, the the the distances we're doing would have been about the four four cases session. So Mondays um it was with a different group, same pool, but that was more your aerobic workout. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays was centered more around um your your threshold sort of work. But when we started training, you know, setting um each we had blocks. So we'd start off with a block of work that was low aerobic, and then each block stepped up, so it just got harder and harder. Um towards the end, our training sessions were very much focused on race pace. So we were told to go and do your homework, find out what the winners have done over the last three or four years, look at the times, work out what race pace time you need to do. So then, you know, you're doing three 1000s in the pool and you're trying to hold the race pace that you're aiming for. Um, Saturdays was a little bit of a different story because even though I was training for Singapore, at the same time, uh, up until the middle of May, I was training for an endurance swim. It's not a race. Um it was a 10K, it's a 10K swim from Bondi to Watson's Bay outside the heads. So up until then, my Saturday training it wasn't focused on Singapore. It was basically the pool stuff.

Danielle Spurling: 18:18

That's interesting, isn't it? But that must have given you a really strong aerobic base that you were able to pull from.

Sharon Crisafi: 18:24

Yeah, I think so. I think you know that like I said, Lawrence had a had had a great plan for us. And as long as you did the work, 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 all freestyle 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 have any interest in doing off strokes at all. And do you use a lot of equipment? 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 water and you're you're training, you're using wetsuits up in Wollongong year-round?

Sharon Crisafi: 19:11

Um, well, I was hardly in up until May, that would have been the last time I was in the ocean this year. Everything else then was done in the pool. Um the year before that, I actually set myself a challenge to swim most of all of winter without a wetsuit. Um, and happened to manage that. But then, you know, that's 14, 15 degrees, nowhere near as cold as Melbourne temperatures, but set a goal. And yeah, to me, you need goals sometimes. And yeah, I I met that challenge. I was happy to have done that.

Danielle Spurling: 19:46

Yes, yeah. Yeah, it does get very cold down here in Melbourne in the water during winter, about eight degrees. 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're doing in the ocean when you're when you're doing your training sessions, is it a straight swim, or do you do sort of like a 1k and then you stop and you do pacing work in the ocean? How does that work? What kind of sessions do you do in there?

Sharon Crisafi: 20:15

Well, currently at the moment, we're we're not really working on on pacing as such. Um it's more about trying to get the K's in. So no, there's there's not a lot of pacing. If I was swimming, if I was training, there's a swim coming up in December, and I'll if I was training for that particular 10K swim, then it's about trying to trying to do the race pace that you would do for that 10K in the ocean. And the hardest part is what that race pace in the ocean feels like to pull to a pool, it can be chalk and cheese.

Danielle Spurling: 20:53

Yeah, absolutely. And and obviously the conditions on the day change as well. So you've got to be prepared for 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 the Bondi 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 quarter hours. So depending on currents, if you're sitting in that current for a long time, then it just makes 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 with seasickness, what are you doing beforehand to try and um negate that?

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, it doesn't work. I end up getting a K in and you've got absolutely nothing left. It just feels makes me feel extremely fatigued. So I I the um there is a medication that you've you can take. I can't remember what the name of it is, but it's prescription-based and it's supposed to help. I think it's something to do with um pregnant women with um really, really bad morning sickness. You can take that. I haven't actually taken that yet, but it's it's my next step because travel calm and the other stuff, it just it does not work. Unfortunately, I don't it doesn't take much for me to get seasick either. Did you experience that in Singapore at all? Not at all. No. Oh good, no, good, good. There wasn't there, yeah, no. Um, there was a little bit of wave and that sort of thing, and no, I three K's, I think I was I don't think the distance was long enough for me to get sick, and I the conditions weren't 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'm swing training for. Okay, what's that? So a training buddy and of mine, my coach said to me, You need you need a goal. You can't just come to training and flog yourself. You need a goal. So um a lot of these bigger swims, rottenest, English Channel, part, you know, Sydney to there's a couple in Sydney 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's from Stanwell Park to our local Wollongong Harbour. Okay. So at the moment, yeah, the longest swim we've done is 12k. This weekend we're going to a camp down at ginderbine, and the plan is to do a 16k swim down there.

Danielle Spurling: 23:37

Right. Wow. Sorry, gingerbine up at altitude.

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 the pool? No, we're hoping, we're hoping that the lake's not going to be too cold. Right. Um, you know, wetsuits and everything will go down there. Um, yeah, if we can, if it's not too cold and we can manage it, then we'll do our training down there. 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 long time since I've been down there, but yeah, I've had a look on the 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 of plans to try Rot Nest or English Channel or any of the other Ocean 7 swims?

Sharon Crisafi: 24:38

No, not not at the moment. It's just for for me for the English Channel, you you're booking five years in advance. Yeah. You know, and then and then you've got to have the boat all lined up and and everything else that goes with it. It's just I just I can't I don't think I could justify financially doing that. And that that and that's why I've targeted these a local swim. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to go and do rotteness, but if the king, you know, two years ago they're, you know, 10K's in and the and the race gets cancelled. Like same thing, you've got your airfares, you've got accommodation, all that sort of thing. And then if your race gets cancelled, you've done all that hard work. So yeah, I I just I don't think at the moment that there are things I'd love to do, but they're not on my radar.

Danielle Spurling: 25:34

Yeah, yeah. No, in interesting perspective. Hey Swim Talkers. If you love the show, consider becoming a Torpedo Swim Talk supporter. You'll get exclusive workouts, early episode drops, and a shout out on the pod. Join the Swim Talkers community, the links in the show notes or on our website at torpedoswimtalk.com. Would you would you um head towards another world championships like the next one in Budapest?

Sharon Crisafi: 26:12

When we found out it was going to be in Budapest, I just straight out said to my husband that I'll start saving now and 12 months out, we'll re-evaluate. But I look, I'd love to go. Um, I do expect it to be a lot tougher swimming-wise than you're going to the epicentre of of open water swimming. So it'll be a totally for me in my 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 um in North America, there's a lot more participants than there would be on our our side of the world. It'd be huge. Yes, yeah. So I went to Montreal, there was 12,000 athletes, and I think in Singapore there was six. That's across that's across everything, of course. But um, yeah, it was uh a lot busier in Montreal than it was in Singapore. Yeah, yeah. So interesting. And um, yeah, the sw do you know where the swim is going to be in Budapest for the open water, 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 in freshwater. It's the people that people that 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 so high in the water.

Danielle Spurling: 27:43

Yep. And how about strength strength work? Do you do any of that or do you do anything else on land? What tell us about what you do? So basically, I go to I go to the gym twice a week.

Sharon Crisafi: 27:56

Yep. Um, because we're doing this long swim, then the work that we're doing is basically endurance work in the gym. So lightening the weights a little bit, but um increasing the reps. So instead of doing three lots of 10, it's four lots of 15. So you end up doing more heavier weights. 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 you or 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 done the program. And most of the gym work that we do is basically swimming oriented. It's not it's not bulking up for 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 all the 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 looking at like internal, external rotations on a cable, um, lat pull downs, pec, there's a pec machine, the hardest one that I find. Um, Pete come up with it, you're lying on a bench. It's with cables, but you're doing freestyle cables. So you're doing uh 15 of those, and then you go straight into what you'd say uh they're double armed. So let's let's call it butterfly cables. So that one and that one is would be the hardest one that I do in the gym. So yeah, everything is swimming base, you know, anything that has anything to do with the catch, the pull down.

Danielle Spurling: 29:34

Yeah. And how about your recovery? Do you do you focus on that at all? And if you do, what kind of things do you do? I've I never used to, I'll be honest.

Sharon Crisafi: 29:46

Um, very old school that thought one had to train every day of the week, and every time you got in the pool, it had to be hard all the time. Volume hard. That's what I grew up with as a kid. Um, it's only, to be honest, since April, when we changed the way I trained, um, because up until April, I was swimming six days a week and going to the gym twice a week. Um, but from middle of April we changed it to the Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Wednesday is gym, Friday is gym, and I get to do a rollover in the pool and then a swim on Saturday. Um, and a lot of that, you know, being being older, obviously, but having changed jobs where I've gone from a mentally stressful job to a physical stress, stressful job has that impact. My boss, I've talked to my boss about it because he also swims, and he said, Sharon, by the time it's 12 o'clock, you've done a full hour, eight-hour day. Like I've only worked for four hours physically, but because you've trained, he equates that. And that's that's fantastic that he understands that having a bit of a swimming background as well. He understands where I'm coming from when I go in there. I go, Oh my god, I'm so tired. Yeah. Recovery is I like I love my Wednesdays and I love my Fridays because I know I'm gonna get a hard, really hard session Thursday, but I feel the body's more ready for it after having a lighter day today. Friday's another one, hard swim or a long swim on Saturday. And the only thing I do on Sunday is go for a long walk. I and with with that and saying that, walking, I used to walk really quick, but I've had to master the art for recovery-wise 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 eight o'clock.

Sharon Crisafi: 31:49

So I have being my age, unfortunately, I do have some really bad sleeps. Um, but yeah, uh generally I don't see much past 8 30. Um but then I'm up at quarter past 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. So if you know, to get up at that 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 your mindset as well. Do you have any cues or mantras that you use before you race that you tell yourself in your mind?

Sharon Crisafi: 32:31

No, not really. Um I I get extremely unnervous before race, and it doesn't matter what sort of what sort of race it is. It can be a local swim. Um, and and a lot of that comes back because because I've won the females for X amount of years, there's what I see is that there is an expectation for me to come out of that water first. I then put that expectation on myself because I that's and there was one there was ones from a couple of years ago, and a couple of the younger ones beat me, and so they should. But one of the parents came up to 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 the sort 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 the swim starts, obviously.

Sharon Crisafi: 33:32

Yes. I can they can start the night before and that will then interrupt a race. Now, if we go back to Singapore, there for me, there was no time. I didn't have the time to be stressed because I was stressed getting my speed suit on. For some reason, it was it was I've worn this speed suit four or five times, but for some reason on this particular day, I was struggling to get it on. So while everyone's getting changed and getting their numbers on, little old Sharon's struggling to get this speed suit on. So, in a way, even though that was a stressful period, it it also then took away from me sitting there ready thinking about the race. I didn't have time to be nervous 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 had it, 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 get this suit on first time. Did you have a spare suit with you in case it got a hole in it? I took two with me. I took my theraband with me because there's no warm-up for the masters. So my intention was to use the theraband and do some activation work. None of that could happen because 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 the elites. So we had a gentleman that Lawrence and some of the others knew, and he said, Oh, just come up, just come up to our hotel, 25-meter pool, and you can have a swim in there. So we 12, 1500 metres, and that that's all we could do. Like the race day was the first time that we've actually been in the water.

Danielle Spurling: 35:31

Wow. How long before the race day did you arrive in Singapore?

Sharon Crisafi: 35:35

Uh, I arrived the Wednesday. Yeah, we flew out the Wednesday, so I had Thursday, where we my husband and I did a little bit of was the only day I said to him that I've got available to do or I want to do any sort of um looking around. Uh Friday, we were supposed to go and do the training session, 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, my brother-in-law kept telling, oh, it's such a such an expensive place to go, and you know, and then Lawrence is taking us to Chinatown, 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 back anytime.

Danielle Spurling: 36:27

Yeah, I really liked it too. And um, yeah, those hawker markets 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 to now, 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 at the age I am, it's I I can't do a really hard session. I can't do two really hard sessions in a row. It just will not happen. So I I very much look forward to doing my recovery days now. Something that yeah, we didn't do as kids because it was just you had to go, well, mind you, no heated pools, but you you just went and yeah, you were flogged every day.

Danielle Spurling: 37:17

I think as a master's athlete, you have obviously a lot more ownership over what you're doing and choice in that. And also we know a lot more. Like I was just mentioning to someone at training this morning when when I trained as an age grouper, we weren't allowed to, we didn't have a water bottle on the side of the pool. Oh no, no, we were not allowed to 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 much frowned upon because you're and and you're very much frowned upon, and that unfortunately is still instilled in me. Like, I can't, and I had a conversation with a young man at training a couple of months ago, which was eye-opening for him, but I can't miss a lap because I see that as a weakness, where he may have at I need to have this rest, so it's it could be a good thing. But for me, getting out and going to the toilet for 10 minutes, that's just it's I can'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 and touch the pool. I can't I can't ever be one of those people that stops at the black line and just walks into the wall.

Sharon Crisafi: 38:24

No, no. I I I get it. There was a new girl in our lane um to start a couple of weeks ago. I said, Caitlin, you just you need 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's instilled 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 I did those very good, but yeah, no.

Danielle Spurling: 38:51

And how about your skills side of open water swimming, like your sighting and um, you know, you're you're porpoising out to when you can swim and you're running out of the water if if it's a a beach finish. Do you practice those skills much 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 we have 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're practicing siding, we're practicing, you know, a race start, lie on your tummy, kick until someone says go, um, and then practice coming back into the water. We got a lot of triathletes in our group as well. So everyone's needs to practice something. So there's always something that someone has to learn or someone, something that someone'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 waves and the conditions on the day?

Sharon Crisafi: 39:51

Uh normally every never every six. Um, I can I can cite to both sides, but I do. Prefer the one side. Yeah. I'm a bilateral breather as well. And I'll do that even when conditions make it hard for you to breathe. Because I just don't, I don't feel comfortable. And I know that it's something that needs to change, that if you can't breathe to one side, you don't breathe. You need to breathe to the other side. But I still get sucked in with that. I still, you know, I'll turn my head because that's what my brain's in tune to, and in comes a mouthful of water. Or you or you don't get a full breath in.

Danielle Spurling: 40:32

I was going to ask you too. If if someone came to you today and said that they want to try their fo first big sort of open water swimming race, what's the the the best piece of advice you could 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 be like, you need to be wearing a bright cap. You need to be learning how to sight. 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 the deep dive five. So it's just five five quick questions. Just give me the first answer that pops into your head. What's your favorite open water swimming location? Jervis Bay. Jervis Bay. And for those not in New South Wales, 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, below Wollongong. Well, it's closer to the ACT if you 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, even though I can buy them in Australia. Um what they are, I couldn't honestly tell you. I used to wear the View goggles and then they discontinued them. So I just had to try a couple of 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 on conditions. Yeah. Yeah. What's your favorite pre-race meal? Pasta. Pasta? What kind?

Sharon Crisafi: 42:14

Anything. It really um panty, basically. And to be honest, I try and avoid 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 in my 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 I think there was four lots of five, maybe. This is the set I'm remembering. 130, so you're getting like six, 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 50 meters?

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 you admire 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 what she'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 much for joining us on the podcast today. It's been lovely getting to hear about your swimming journey, and I'm sure everyone that's listening is going to be really inspired by the work that you put in to win that world championship in Singapore. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll catch you soon. All right, thank you. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to Torpedo Swim Talk, the podcast celebrating swimmers at every stage. If you enjoyed this chat, hit follow or subscribe on your favorite platform and give us a quick review because it goes a long way in helping more swimmers find the show. Until next time, happy swimming and bye for now.