Wholistic Fitness

this morning at Cedaredge Motel (ele; “6230′) gazing up at the race venue on Grand Mesa (ele; 11,237′)…

pondering yet another great perhaps if ilg could hold onto my 1st Place AG position with 2 more races left in the Series.

Day After Valentine’s, 2026…

Cedaredge, Colorado…

Since this is the first “winter”(*1) racing without Dewachen at side (or tbh in front of Daddy) ilg is totally relearning what an unc(om)mon joy it is to just train and prep for high intensity hurt races without the majority of energy going towards being a Daddy.  it’s weird transitioning for real.

A few changes during this (ahem) winter (ahem) racing season;  instead of training with high speed intervals on snow,  because there has been no snow ilg has done a ton of k’s at Don’s Gym (aka; Fitness 24/7) on the Ski Erg;  perhaps the worlds most excruciatingly difficult mind/body/spirit training device created and known by Two-Leggeds.   yeah, do your h(om)ework and google “what is a Ski Erg”… you kidz these days…you have zero idea of what true ‘research’ was before the internet…have you ever smelled a Card Catalog?  if so, c(om)ment below.

Besides not doing any real intervals on groomed snow (cuz, there hasn’t been any)…ilg has relied on long, steady ski mountaineering workouts up and down non technical terrain wherever ilg can find the snow to do so, cuz,  if you know ilg?  a high carbon footprint just to train is NOT highly prioritized.

The 3.5 hour drive to Grand Mesa thankfully requires ilg to drive through ilgs Big Backyard… which imo?  remains the most treasured mountain range in the continental Estados Unidos (formerly known as “Turtle Island” before we stole it from the Indigenous People by rape, murder, and broken treaties… yeah, if we wanna to MAGA?  let’s collectively agree us white people fucked up within a short time and just say, we’re sorry, and return Turtle Island back to the Natives…ilg is ready to accept their terms and my partner is Full Blood Navajo, so ilg is ready to gleefully herd Sheep Beings as penance).

Along the drive upon what the Media parlays as “Americas Most Dangerous Highway” for what was prob ilgs 3,568th time through all sorts of conditions without incident save for occasional glimpses of Spiritual Awakening via the conduit of Gratitude?   reflected upon the joy of seeing yet another peculiarly sacred situation of both Dewa and her daddy leading their Age Groups in this demanding Race Series so high in the sky… note:   Dewa has only been able to race ONE RACE since She nows lives at Luther College as a scholarship runner…

The only reason why ilg is leading this Race Series is because the Race Director Board of Grand Mesa have bravely done what nearly all other Race Series Directors across Turtle Island refuse to do:   include CLASSIC (kick-and-glide) races into their Series instead of relying on the way more popular and modern Skate Skiing (which requires far less technique and waxing skills).   Well, ilg knew my main competitor, Peter, had little arrows in his quiver to beat ilg in Classic (CL) style, so, ilg knew my only chance to at least stay on the podium was to shadow him during this 15k Freestyle (FS) to limit my placing loss.  Peter – a super strong Skate Skier like so many – trains each week, multiple times on this Course… he hires a pro ski technician to wax his skis for him (note;  this raises questions cuz?  a Flourinated ski is an unfair and illegal on the WC Circuit besides being a horrid environmental issue).   Anyway,  Peter basically had waaaay faster skis than feeble ilg going up Scales Road for the first mile of 9… Scales resides like a Brown Trout;  in the heavy north shade, at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the race course.  Imagine hammering up a mile long uphill on your skis trying to stay with the only guy that can rip your title away from you on your own waxed, archaic equipment and at a heart rate of 180bpm be able to do nothing about it.

its mentally

its spiritually

its emotionally

dismantling.

That, my young friends?

Is called Nordic Ski Racing;  it requires the UTMOST of you;  it will gut you,  fillet you, and offer your every organ and brain cell up to the Nordic Gods who will just simply ask?
Have you ever Nordic Ski Raced before?
GO BEYOND YOUR PAIN then FURTHER and FURTHER and?

Still Further.

All that happens within – like today – within the first 2 miles of a 9+ mile race

especially at 11,00′ where EVERY action burns yet another candle of effort where not many candles – perhaps a few – reside within even the best skiers at this altitude.

pic this morning:  
Tree Beings being.  
we are called Human Beings.
yet, especially now?  
we should probably be called Human Doings
b/c our addicted minds to doing instead of being Here Now
is literally an insane manifestation of Two Legged “evolution”

***

After being dropped by Peter, ilg shifted from attention to technique to a more Taoist mode…ilg began repeating what remains perhaps ilg’s most favorite Sanskrit quote since being assigned by Rinpoche Trungpa at Naropa University to prepare to debate it:

“All Skillfulness, all effort, all intention is contrary to ease.
Practice 1,000x and it becomes difficult.
Practice 1,000 x 1,000 and it becomes easy. 
Practice 1,000 x 1,000 x a thousand?
and IT is no longer Thou that doeth it
yet rather IT that doeth Itself THROUGH Thee…
not until then is that which is done,

well done.” 

When locked into the Nordic Pain Cave and you’ve self elected to throw out the key?

There’s nowhere to hide… you just keep crushing at your highest work productively no matter how many people pass you (thankfully, no one passed ilg)
You instead rely on playbacks on how hard you’ve trained,  you reflect on your treasured training m(om)ents – perhaps with your daughter running 14,000′ peaks or caregiving for over a decade for your mom dying of dementia when all your siblings and others gave up and you have to live with all the arm clenching, wiping poop out of her wrinkled butthole,  her clinging onto you with dread of you leaving her… #familycaregiver)

Today?
your feeble teacher of no-thing did not give up.
no matter what…

and that one sound fact (5),
my young friends will matter most (7)
when we cannot breathe (5) 

pics:  hard to do the math rn,  yet?  by ilgs noble effort today,
kinda TAF that ilg will be TIED FOR FIRST PLACE AG going into
the final Mesa Meltdown;  a 20k FS on March 15th…
Venmo ilg to support my race efforts at: @Steve-Ilg

Blessed Be Thy Practice…

revamping and revamping Wholistic Fitness® over the months ahead in the Highest of Ways over the next several months;  lmk if YOU want to be a part of Team Wholistic Fitness®… we have a LOT of Sacred Sweat Medicine to impart to the hurting masses… looking for those motivated to earn a high inc(om)e dharmically… it’s rarely done, yet ilg has a Way…

since 1981…

head bowed, spirit vowed,

coach ilg

*1 – ilg put winter in quotation marks is because, seriously?  we here in Durango – once the hallowed Snow Capital of the Southwest – is nothing but dry, hurting Mother Earth… thankfully, Father Sky graced us with a few precious inches, yet?  this deep into Feb?  native Durangatang ilg has seen nothing this paltry… good thing, according to someones President (not ilgs) this insane climate warming (not change) is all a “hoax”… phew!!!