Wholistic Fitness

See that Cheshire Grin on my face again?
wanna know why?

CUZ, I JUST BEAT THE LOCALS IN TELLURIDE ON THEIR OWN MOUNTAIN!

i got what matters most among mountain athletes; BRAGGIN’ RIGHTS in the pubs! FREE DRINKS all year baby!

THANK YOU, Brahman for WF! 45 years young and still kickin’ it!

LOVE IT! only one year after a decade of sucking smog in LA to regain TOP FORM in these brutal high altitude endurance sports!

i am sorry, you will just HAVE to put up with me for a second cuz i am still just pinchin’ myself:

let’s revisit what WF produced this winter for your ol’ coach who now can train you ever better than ever;

1st Place: Flagstaff Winter Triathlon
2nd Place: Arizona State Nordic Championships
4th Place: Langlauf 30 kilometer Freestyle
Overall Pairs Championship; Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
Fastest Ski Descent; Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
Overall Classic Champion; TopatenK – The World’s Highest Nordic Ski Race
38 ski days out of 90.

Wholistic Fitness.
The Mt. Everest of Personal Training.

It was my allegiance to training in her subdisciplines that produced these results: Strength, Cardio, HP Yoga, Meditation, and the bombproof immune producing nutrition of SUNRIDER herbs and BioBuilde amino acids and of course my Race Day jet fuel of PowerBars and PowerGels.

Thank you, WF!
i bow to the Gods that delivered Her Message to me as young as 16 years old.
i am now 45 and have been on top of inner and outer podiums for 30 years thanks to this amazingly humble, divinely spiritual Path of Mountain Yogis.

okay,

c’mon, i’ll treat you to a few glimpses of what will endlessly Dance in my fibers as a Most Sacred Weekend…this Weekend of all Weekends has Shifted my vibrational fitness to yet another, higher inner realm. and it’s THAT INNER SHIFT that matters most, not the braggin’ rights or brews bought for me.

although, those latter two, very human conditions, are very, very fun!

so, how do we get to the Start Line of the World’s Highest Nordic Ski Race?
well,
let’s load up on Chair 10 up at Telluride Ski Resort; perhaps the most beautiful spot on Turtle Island…

i don’t often get to ride UP THE MOUNTAIN in a chairlift with my Race Skis on!
i am usually skiing UP ski runs! what a GIFT to ride up! kinda felt guilty!

during the ride up to the Start Line, i looked down saw my skis as Dharma Swords.
i visualized and felt all those workouts i did back h(om)e on the Sacred Peak above Flagstaff.
i KNEW i had go(o)d fitness; i KNEW had go(o)d merit; i must have recited 10,000 x 10,000 rounds of the Sacred Mantra during all my intense, high altitude ski workouts on the Sacred Peak. coming into a Race Day, an athlete usually FEELS
whether or not they are gonna tear the legs and lungs out of the competition. i had that Sense. i knew that i was fit enough to put a significant hurt on my peers or at least hang tough. i was thrilled to hear that the Race Course featured jawdroppingly steep descents and spirit-crushing uphills. dat’s ilg terrain! confidence borne from consistent practice; THAT is the most vital component that an athlete can bring to the Start Line. especially the Bardo Start Line. let us not forget why we Race in the first place!

so, here is where we are going:

the TopatenK Race Course dances in and out of the left tree line.
high, ain’t it? yup; the Start Line was at 11,191′.
The Course featured about 700′ of climbing and descending over 10 kilometers of world-class groomed track by veteran Nordic God himself; Tony Forrest…the Grandfather Instructor of All Nordic Ski Instructors! i had the great opportunity to hang out and sip some brews with Tony and the Inner Circle of T-Ride’s Nordic Studs in the TeePee after the race. Nothing gets you being ushered into the Top Circle of your Heroes faster and with more respect than if you can kick their butts in a race! Instant Spiritual Family Granted by Shared, Sacred, Cold Sweat!
in fact, Tony and Local Nordic Ski Instructor Bill DeAlva totally asked me to help them do a Skate Ski DVD idea that they are working on. they asked if i would be interested in doing the Dryland Conditioning part of the DVD. Uh, did i hesitate? NO! this was TREMENDOUS HONOR to be asked by this foremost Elder of my Beloved Sport! i am truly Blessed!

here is the TeePee i was talking about.
The Start Line was located just right of it.
you can kinda get an idea of how high we are.
the town of Telluride – which is at 8,750′ – lies, hidden out of view, at the base of these mountains, nearly 2,500′ LOWER than the Start Line!

oops, i gotta git ready for my race! i’m gonna do my warm up. here, i want to introduce you to my new friend i met at the Race:

This is Mr. BallyBaHooza. He is a River Otter Being. i love him. I got to hold him and love him…well, i tried to! Mr. B is VERY SLICKERY! Trying to hold onto him is like trying to hold onto a giant furry Slinky gone crazy! he is sooooo cute! HE PURRS like a kitten! i fell in love with River Otters when i lived in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. i would cross country ski out to special section of Piedra Creek where a beautiful frozen waterfall emerged each winter from a sandstone cliff and intersected with the frozen creek. there would be several open water holes along the frozen, snow covered creek. i would yogi squat on my skis and watch, entranced for hours, by the fun-loving antics of a family of River Otters. they would high speed glide and slide into the icy water, then later, skyrocket up and out of the watery holes and onto the snow; glissading and sliding into their brothers and sisters! oh such Horseplay for Otters! Otter Medicine is Female Medicine. Otter teaches us to free our inner child and stop worrying so much about the Outer World’s constant gripping and grasping. PLAY! This auspicious meeting of this Otter Teacher (om so ti!) was PRECISELY what i needed to RELEASE INTO THE FUN of my UPCOMING EFFORT!

please be patient with Mr. B’s call of my great race…he is new at this!

NARRATOR (Played by Mr. BallyBaHooza):
wow, everybody is lined up on the Start Line! GO!
Both Classic (kick-and-glide) Ski Racers and Skate Ski Racers are going off at the same time!
up the first hill and into the trees they go!
coming into the first downhill it is Coach LEADING THE RACE; even in front of the Skate Skiers!
he is BLASTING DOWN THE HILL! looks like, yes! he is in a full Yogi Squat ON HIS SKIS; his butt is nearly
scraping the snow and he is holding both arms out in front of him to cut the wind!
okay, on the second uphill the faster skate skiers are passing him yet his Otter Like descent has produced a
20 second gap between him and second place…
okay, into the huge downhill toward the ghost town of Alta; coach is holding a tuck like Bode Miller and just
screaming down the technical turns! YIPPPEEEE that looks like FUN!!!!!!!!! i wanna race Coach; i could beat him
i bet!

in fact, i’m getting bored with this race calling business…i am going go play…
after all, this IS Telluride
and i AM an Otter…
i don’t know any ‘OTTER WAY’ than to say, GREAT JOB COACH!

(forty three minutes and a Hellish Heaven of an Effort later…)

COACH (Playing Himself, wheezing yet deeply happy having led the Classic Ski division from wire to wire and winning
by nearly 5 minutes over second place):
oh, uh, geez.
thanks for the Race Call, Mr. B.
you’re right; who cares about spectating Mr. Otter!
LIFE IS ABOUT BEING THE DO!!!!

May my effort (and Mr. B’s antics) upon this Sacred Mountain inspire your own Practice today.

i wish to thank the Race Directors, volunteers, the Telluride Nordic Association, and my Beloved, Pregnant Partner Ananda who had to stay at h(om)e due to the high altitudes of this race and her current condition. This One is for US! If, by chance, i am not able to have the time or money to train myself into this type of fitness again because of my new Podium of a Baby,
then,
at least,
i have in my Heart and Soul
this amazing Race,
during this amazing Winter
one
of
so Blessed Many…

May All Beings EVERYWHERE feel a fraction of the Sacred Fitness and Divine Appreciation that coursed through my cells
while i raced this race
and won it
wire-to-friggin-wire baby!

life is go(o)d.

WF is great stuff.

thanks for reading and…

om so ti,

the mountain yogi

***

COMING UP NEXT IN DL:
TAKE A GUIDED EXTREME SKI DAY WITH ME!

just
in case you have never tele-skied (or boarded, or alpine skied) Extreme Terrain, c’mon, let’s drop in together!
coming up next from the Coach Who Still Does!

thanks for reading and subscribing! i swear to Lord Buddha i’m only still doing this crazy shit for you!
well,
okay,
maybe not, but it sounded good.

😉