Wholistic Fitness

“…While my second {Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon} can be likened to…re-birth? uncomfortable, long, frustrating and then immensely liberating…” pic:  Padma at what looks to ilg like the Run/Ski transition…

Tsidool 2012 Bardo Training Race Report:
There’s a reason why EC has designated Tsidool as a Sacred Pilgrimage…
I completed the Pilgrimage last year, in a completely different state of mind, during a time where most physical pain paled in comparison to inner turmoil I was feeling. I knew going into this for round 2 that there would be times when I would wonder “how in the world did I do this before?!”
Perhaps my first Tsidool can be likened to a first lOve: tumultuous, unexpected, intense, magical…
While my second can be likened to…re-birth? uncomfortable, long, frustrating and then immensely liberating.
In some ways this time was more challenging because I had something to “beat.” Of course, I wanted to improve my times from last year, which then set me up to deal with disappointment when my watch told me I wasn’t.
I decided to ride as hard as I could just to see what would happen… So, I rode hard and got the same exact ride time as last year. I ran hard although based on my times it seems like I was walking. And it took me longer than last year. Unlike bRad, I felt tired pretty early on. I had my first “did I really do this before?” moment on the run up. I wanted to ask people to help me with the piano I was dragging but I didn’t have any extra breath—Hum SA was all I had room for. I skied uphill as hard as I could, and it took me the same time as last year. I tried to puke black blood on the snowshoe, and I made it to the top in 5 minutes less than last year.

“Hum Sah {the Sacred, Ancient Mantra used in HP PROP Workouts} was all I had room for…I tried to puke black blood on the snowshoe, and I made it to the top in 5 minutes less than last year.” Pic of Padma on the summit of Tsidool…Next year?  This could be you…if you are – like Padma – willing to “puke black blood” (an old WF phrase related to interval training)

Amazingly fit and strong men and women passed me, left and right, on all the legs up and all the legs down.  On the way down, I skied with my skins on. One hour and 7 minutes of ‘french fry pizza pie!’ I cut 20 minutes off my ski time, and I didn’t fall. However I was just plain baked/fried (to keep with the food analogy) for the run. I think I left part of a lung out there on mile 1 of the downhill run. All I could think was “just get me to my bike!” oh Precious Kavita, pony of my dreams, where are you?!??
Finally my bicycle, oh heaven on wheels! In my Dewachen we don’t have to run down mountains, we can ride carbon road bikes down cinder free winding roads. I did pass people here. Honestly, the only time I wasn’t pretty darn uncomfortable the entire 7 hours and 36 minutes it took me to finish last in my AG (7 out of 7 baby), the only part that felt like flying, well it was that ride into town. And fly we did, in fluid motion where the person and the bike and the road and the air are all the same. All nothing.

How a WF Master Student ‘actively recovers’ from a 75-kilometer winter quadrathlon;  Padma crankin’ some sweet 3+ Waterfall Ice in Utah the other day…

I did end up taking 36+ minutes off my overall time from last year, 16 minutes of it was in the downhill ride.
In my 31.8 years with this body, I’ve done some stuff…I’ve hiked alone in the rain at 18,000 feet in the Himalaya, put my own elbow back into socket, etc. Even in that context, I can say—Tsidool is one burly race. In the end, it doesn’t really matter that I was slow and uncomfortable. The few seconds of lightness on the bicycle, that brief feeling of “hey, I could ride farther,” well, that, like everything, counts.
See ya at Iron Horse*.
pahd

* Padma is only one event away from being the second only (bRad Tafoya being the first) ilg-trained student to successfully cOMplete the WF Sacred Sweat Trifecta;  racing in and finishing all 3 WF Sacred Sweat Pilgrimages in one year;   Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, Imogene Pass Race, and the mightiest of them all; the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon (solo)…. you up?   i lost count how many years i’ve cranked off the Trifecta…i’m gunning to do the Trifecta this calender year…my first time since 2009…i’m praying daily, practicing constantly, and visualizing that this broken-back yogi can do it!   i KNOW you can, c’mon!