Wholistic Fitness

Riding the glide, baby!  if you woulda asked me 20, 30 years ago if i’d be still be winning Overall victories at age 48?  I probably woulda replied with youthful chi-fire in my eyes, “Hell Yeah!”  and dat’s precisely what is still happening!  THANK YOU, Wholistic Fitness™ for imparting such longevity to national class fitness across the physiological spectrum!  photo of ilg during last weekend’s 10k Freestyle Pursuit courtesy; Durango Nordic Club

Each time the pain grew more intense,  i literally forced myself to relax into it…

It happened because of my yoga and meditation practice.

Each time the Voices in my head screamed to ‘back off,’  i saw your face (yes, YOU!)  and ventured deeper into the Voices until the Voices lost their voice and i found myself in a Higher Realm…

Saturday, February 26th;  10 kilometer Nordic Freestyle Pursuit, Durango Nordic Center.  Elevation; 8,800′.

A nordic Pursuit is kinda like a cycling Time Trial in the sense that you start alone, fight alone, and either win or lose alone.  You’re naked.  Your result is the cause of your conditioning.  Pecking my ski poles into the snow at the Start Line and listening to the Timer countdown; “Racer ready…10 seconds…5..4…3…” you know what ilg was thinking?  I was thinking, “I wonder if the Bardo Entry is gonna this Clear Cut?”  i mean, does Green Tara suddenly appear in the mists of our egoic pandemonium sure to ensue after we cannot take another breath to calmly count out the measure to the First of Forty-Nine Stages of Bardo Intensity; “(Human) Racer Ready…10 seconds until Consciousness Filaments dissolve…5…4…3…”

I took off like the Challenger, determined to exquisitely dance that fine line between Anaerobic Hell and Top End Aerobic Threshold up the first hill…i knew the Course better than i do the back of my hands.  I also knew that in less than 30 seconds several guys that had beaten me over the year would soon be chasing me down;  i could NOT let them…not today…today was a go(o)d day to die out on the battlefield of what is arguably the world’s toughest endurance sport;  Nordic ski racing.

We had to race 4x (count ’em 4) around a 2.5 kilometer loop that featured everything you do not want to see in a 2.5 kilometer nordic racing loop;  high altitude, soft snow, and every conceivable hellish nightmare of a hill, corner, descent, and unwaxable conditions.   In other words,  things had shifted into ilg’s favor;  versatility of fitness and skills would win today.

Working the Blessed Mantra through what endurance racers know as a “bad patch” during a limb, lung, and ego withering Third Lap,  i recovered well and felt vaulted chi flowing through me during the last lap…i put the hammer down and skied on the rivet of my pain and ventilatory threshold to finish in 35:46…less than 1 minute behind Andrew Ferguson who is usually several minutes in front of me and good enough for 4th place Age Group and 5th place Overall…

going into Sunday’s 10k Classic Pursuit…

I left the race venue with that indescribably luscious sense that – once again – things were Shifting toward the favor of a Wholistically Trained racer…all i had to do was recover well, eat appropriately,  wake up tomorrow,  do my Early Morning Ritual,  show up,  suffer, and do my Noble Best Effort…let the chips fall where they may.

Performance is the result from the cause of one’s conditioning.  Condition thyself well,  and you can Trust in the result.  This is what ilg was ruminating upon as i lay my head down to sleep, so content in the knowledge that come tomorrow…all i had to do was suffer in a way that Yogi Christ would appreciate and devote my luxurious suffering to Him so that possibly, any Merit earned may become the cause of my Enlightenment.

My eyelids heavy,  final conscious thought…“Would my Bardo Entry be as simply looked forward to as, ‘all i have to do is suffer  in a Way that Yogi Christ would appreciate?'”

This, to ilg, is why toeing Start Lines is so important;  doing so spurs Spiritual Training for the Bardo…(Human) Racer ready…set…

PART TWO COMING SOON!