Wholistic Fitness

Namaste Noble Sangha!

when a Warrior (like you) does Intervals,  he or she Realizes that intense pain comes…it also goes.  we learn, through intervals, not to be Attached to either…

boyce lake this afternoon; Durango Nordic Center

hypothermic, yet sacred soooo happy…just back from a four-hour ski puja;  a WF classic;  nordic skate skiing (including intervals, see below for my precise, arm, leg, and lung withering workout at 9,000′) directly into alpine skiing for 2 hours on high speed Super G cord into packed power black diamond/double black diamonds.  let me say this much…that final run down Lower Hades (Most Difficult) was nothing purty…in fact, it was classic WF ugly!  if we know ANYthing in this Precious Path…it’s world-class Pre Fatigue!  say,  YEAH BABY!!!!

midway through my Lynx Loop intervals…that foggy, goofy grin is due to my head spinning from 6  (read it again: 6) three-minute intervals around a kilometer technical loop…known as…

Lynx Loop…that’s Spud Mountain in the background. If you lived here now? You could be suffering in this beauty as well! Appropriately enough,  skiing out to my lonely interval loop, 1.5″ of snow had covered the groomed track…only one other skier (Travis Brown, National MTB Champion) had first tracks before myself and an evidently HUGE lynx, whose fresh tracks and scat had spread Lynx Medicine all over the place.  WF Test Challenge:  What is LYNX MEDICINE?  First Warrior to answer gets a complimentary copy of my upcoming “Angel Wing Shoulder/Hip Opener” HP Yoga™ DVD!   . email me: steve@wholisticfitness.com

i did my puke-inviting intervals in each direction; both clockwise and counter-clockwise.  doing so categorically shifts the kinesthetic and physiologic demands.  jot that down, Noble One;  cuz it’s really important.  when Race Day comes, you NEVER KNOW what type of changes arise..terrain, weather, timing, etc.   this type of training for the unknown is precisely what i needed before the 10k Skate race this weekend.  remember, Noble Ones,  i am less than 4 weeks into a severely sprained knee injury…i needed this sport-specific high intensity before this weekend’s race.  if you wish to contribute to my Winter Racing,  please consider a Temple Tithe at this time…cuz, trust me,  i am up against it in terms of fitness and expenses to even come close to my stellar past few years…

then it was to the Alpine Hill:  Durango Mountain Resort…yet all ways known as PURGATORY to homie natives like ilg…i found that – less than 4 weeks after severely spraining my knee – riding a chairlift with the heavy alpine ski equipment dangling from my injured knee functioned as a veritable and profoundly healing ‘traction’ for my knee connective tissue.  once again, that hauntingly effective quote from Sri Pattabi Jois immediately arises in my mind:  “Just do your Practice…all will be cOMing.”

can i just say that skate skiing for 2 hours into alpine skiing for another 2 is like the most delicious form of high mountain suffering a true yogi can ever pray to experience?  after breaking a considerable sweat on my 2-hour nordic ski skating workout (which including the 6×3-minute intervals) directly into sitting my now hypothermic and lactic acid filled butt onto a chairlift in below freezing temps?   hate to tell you, however,  my Teutonic Barbarian genetic samskara’s rose to the front of my Amitabha mantra recitations and i REALLY wanted to sucker punch the sniffling, Red Bull sucking, iPod clad snowboarder punk next to me on the squished ‘six-pack’ chairlift ride up.  i mean, it wasn’t THAT long ago that people used to actually CONVERSE with each other on chairlift rides.  it used to be part of the sacred charm of going skiing.

wish me luck;

this Saturday;  my second race in the Coke Nordic Ski Race Series.  i am currently 3rd place in my AG.

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