Wholistic Fitness

pic: the Rainbow All-Ways leads you to what is Most Important…Dewa quickly drew this during the  Awards Ceremony at my final Winter Race of this season which aptly included both Dewa and Joy Kilpatrick whose Noble Efforts took us to an Overall Title…

i went hard for the first 800 meters…

knew the Course…was a former Overall Solo Champion…wanted to break the herd from the Start Gun…

i did…

as i resolutely crammed my ski poles into the forgiving soft yet consolidated snow along my 10k Skate Ski first of 4 sports event; my finale to yet another remarkable winter racing season within which i’ve captured 3 Overall Titles at age 53?!?!    and…knowing that i’m gonna hand off my  ski/run/bike effort to my own 8 year-old daughter and my Parenting Partner to finish off the final Swim Leg!?!?

oh yeah,  ilg went hard from the start.

my Fischer skis upon which i waxed mindfully with my treasured and proven Swix sponsor?   were soooooooo fast!   OMG!!!  i could barely find my Balance Point upon each ski push as my Fischer skis floated upon the snows…felt sooo strong through the core,  running visualization of my Norwegian Nordic Heroes and Heroines of the Moment:   Sunby and Julag…i wanted to BURY this final 10k ski effort after a loooong season which included two fanatic podiums in two nordic marathons…

pic;  after decimating the field on the initial 10k Skate leg, former Overall Solo Champion, Steve Ilg embarks on the 5k Run leg, whereupon his own student, Alister Ratcliff would soon hunt and chase his elder Teacher down to win the Overall.  ilg would finish 2nd Overall and 1st in the Team Division, whereupon his Parenting Partner and his 8 year-old Daughter threw down in the Swim section to post the Team Victory only a few moments off of Alister’s time.     pic by another one of Coach Ilg’s students;  David Preston

SKI/RUN TRANSITION

i skated into the Ski/Run transition with a Herculean gap…and began to run up, up, up toward to and past Treasure Falls on the renowned Wolf Creek Pass…then,  i allowed at k 2.3 to look behind me;  AHHH…a shadowy figure dancing fast toward me!!!   AAARGH!!!  i skied sooo hard to have a cushion going into the Run and then the 22k Bike to tag off to my daughter for the Swim…yet,  like a Bigfoot within the nocturnal ethers of a Tuba City night?   this shadowy figure was closing my hard earned gap…before the Turn-Around it proved to be Alister R…my own bodywork and yoga student and my own Teammate from our Overall Mixed Pairs Championship a month before at Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon whom had chased me down and was now passing me…

“It’s not as hard as your Snowshoe Race!  C’mon, Coach!”  Alister yelled to my panting self referring to his Noble Effort at my www.WinterWarrior10k.com race in which he contested.

having hammered the 10k Skate in 26 minutes,  i felt that would have given me enough cushion to stay close to my student, Alister Ratcliff on the 5k Run, my Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon teammate last month when he and i took the Men’s Pair Overall Title…so, i KNEW my Student was fit in the run.  I ran sooo hard, yet,   Alister caught me with 2.5 k to go in the Run.  Here i am desperate to limit my damage toward him before the 22k Bicycle Time Trial to the Swim Leg….uh,  did i mention that Alister is a former Pro Road Cyclist with none other than Garmin/Sharp!??!   yeah,  for feeble ilg to bridge to Alister on the bike?   uh…

pic by David Preston

RUN/BIKE TRANSITION

1 minute, 30 seconds i was down to Alister.  now,  i don’t know if you know MUCH about racing bicycles,  but one THING you DO NOT WANT TO DO?   is to give up 1 minute and 30 seconds to a former Pro who rode stalwartly for Garmin/Sharp.

Never saw him again until….

racing through the muck and mire of Time Trialing alongside semi’s spewing all sorts of half-frozen filth onto your pedaling poor self with frozen fingers toward Pagosa Springs…

“Dang these young kids!” i thought to myself as i launched into the Bike Segment of the 2016 Pagosa Winter Quadrathlon,  one of the fiercest and funnest events on this Plane(t)!   After two events (10k skate ski and 5k run) i had lost 1 minute and 30 seconds to my own fitness/bodywork/yoga student; Alister Ratcliff going into the Bike Seqment…word of advice to all you young Guns…never, EVER give up a 1’30” gap to a former Pro Roadie,  cuz?   well,  you ain’t EVER gonna see him or her again until you’re popping Champagne on the Podium…as it was this morning…but wait, yet another chapter arises in this winter multi-sport event which….makes keeping Winter Multi-Sport events soooo important….like they do at www.PagosaNordic.com

BIKE/SWIM TRANSITION

…then,  frozen and shivering upon the bike,  i dismounted and trotted my slobbering, heaving self toward the hot springs swimming pool shouting out from iced lips,

pic:   with www.PagosaNordic.com leader:   James after Awards Ceremony pic by Joy Kilpatrick;  mother of Dewa and who co-drilled the Swim with Dewa…it was truly another ilgrim-pilgrim Victory

to cherish and benefit us until and through the Bardo!   PLEASE:  get your family and/or self out there;  Toe the Start Lines… it will Matter Most when it Counts Most!    THANK YOU PAGOSA NORDIC!!!

“DEWA!  MOMMY!  DADDY’s HERE>>>”

i could see my 8 year-0ld literally convulse in the water as she watched me open-mouthed, arm outstretched seeking hers…

“I HAVE TO TOUCH YOU…” i yelled before half-falling, sprawling across the Swim Deck to touch my Daughter’s equally outstretched arm…  “GO DEWA!!!”

oh…the Daughter Who Chose To Come Through Me went awl right…like some sort of a water-based missile…plunging into the healing waters free styling for over 30′ before coming up for air and stabbing her little arms again and endlessly again into the water before tagging off to her M(om who DRILLED her laps before tagging her daughter…so it went…those two Precious Ladies of my Life,  closing the Gap to my own Student Alister who sensed the RUSH of  ilgrim-pilgrim chi gathering…

My ladies did not quite catch Alister for the Overall Win, yet?  we finished 2nd Overall and 1st Team by a landslide…