Wholistic Fitness

“The Fire is the Kundalini.  Just as fire becomes bigger when fanned by the wind, so when the Prana and Apana are united, this starts to fan the Kundalini.  It becomes brighter.  This is not physical heat; it is psychic heat, and you can see the radiations.  It is said that a true yogi’s body will shine even in advanced age.  There will be no wrinkles.”  –  Swami Vishnu-devananda 
pic by Dewachen Ilg (11) of her daddy racing on Saturday to a 3rd Place Overall in a 20k Skiathlon at age 56.

ilg willingly let this race sneak gloriously upon ilg.  didn’t think or feel much about it.  opening race of the Southwest Nordic Race Series…of which ironically enough?  ilg is again the Poster Boy:

hadn’t skied on any gro(om)med track since last paltry year.  didn’t care.  ilg’s wholistic training upon the high, sacred snows and matched up by ilg’s High Performance Yoga® teaching/practice felt dialed in enough to deal with the high technicality of nordic ski racing, besides, what drives a Wholistic Fitness® athlete like feeble ilg?  is the novelty of racing raw…we never specialize, so we may be at a distinct disadvantage specifically, yet?  racing – c(om)peting?  is ultimately about guts.  Chi Force.

so, yeah… all the legions of sport specifics may keep us WF  Warrior/ess’s at bay in THEIR particular sport?   we don’t care.  we care about WHOLENESS; VERSATILITY ACROSS THE ENTIRE HUMAN PHYSIOLOGIC CAPACITIES!

at the Start Line, we were given instructions.   ilg’s daughter, the Rinpoche Dewachen who by s(om)e Godly Way chose old feeble ilg to be Her Dad this time around,  was taking pics and vids.   Her work can be seen on ilg’s Facebook and Instagram sites.   Surreal.

“You’ll ski a 5k Classic figure 8 loop twice, hit the transition and then ski another 10ks on the same course on your skate skis,” were the directions from the RD (Race Director).

knew ilg had to crush the Classic 10k to buy ilg time going into ilg’s weaker discipline, the skate.   if you have been following ilg on FB/IG, you’ll know well the confidence ilg has in classic, just a more technical version of skimo.   fr(om) the start,  ilg got the hole shot and began double poling like a Dineh Banshee uphill into the South Loop…only had minimal kick wax on and ran up the slight uphills Klaebo-like for about 15 seconds before more double poling.

by Kilometer 3 only National Class Triathlete and Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon Champion,  Molly Hummel (to wh(0m) ilg helped introduce nordic skiing), stuck to ilg’s rapid fire double poling pace.   felt confident in the core strength fr(om) all ilg’s High Performance Yoga® teaching/practice and just hammered.  Mantra was solid.

Kilometer 8 on a 5% uphill ilg threw in a harsh 30-seconds rapidity double pole to shake off Molly.

manufactured a 3-meter gap which she shut down on the ensuring downhill.

crap.

ilg knew that Molly could outski Skate Ski ilg.  she was employing perfect tactics;  stick like glue to ilg’s Classic pace then,  demolish ilg in the Skate 10k.

precisely what she did.

ilg bows.

skiing into the skate transition;

“Daddy, you are doing AMAZING!!! what do you need?’

“sip of water,”  GASPING,   “a couple of gummies,”  MORE GASPING as ilg switches fr(om) Classic Skis to Skate Skis…

“Go DADDY!  you GOT THIS!!!” were the final words ilg heard outta the Transition and into ilg’s Mission of staying ahead of a national triathlete a quarter century younger than ilg…

sadnesss.

ilg was skating out of T1  (Transition One) and attempting to get into ski poles and ilg’s fatigue totally messed up ski pole entry… fumbling on the first uphill,  could hear another skier on ilg’s tails… pulled over as ilg attempted to fix ski pole management snafu… the skier behind ilg, was Molly, who had bridged ilg’s faster Classic/Transition and now came through…eventually?  ilg got the ski poles tethered optimally, yet,  Molly had jumped like a Lynx onto ilg’s fumblings and had spurted to a 20-second lead.

heart deep,  ilg knew ilg was NOT gonna bridge to Molly.   needed to manage ilg’s Second Overall. looking back after the first sweeping 180-degree turn,  ilg saw 3rd place within 15-seconds and KNEW ilg had to THROW DOWN NOW while still ‘fresh’ at 39-minutes…put in a no-look-back-solid 8-minute interval at high Zone 3 and smashed the small downhill into the Transition area;

“You got this, Daddy!”  was all ilg heard… Molly was nearly out of sight upon entering the Stadium Area…  ilg bore down and V2’d the entire 500 meters uphill into the North Loop…

3rd place was now 30-seconds off ilg’s pace…

“now,,. just hold this pace, and if 3rd bridges?  take care of business in the final sprint.”

more suffering.

entering final 500-meters before Finish;  ilg rages and crushes the final 500-meters to the Finish, stoked to get a 2nd Overall!!!

“NO!!!”  came a shout from a Race Marshall; “you’ve got to do a SHORT LOOP!”

ilg’s heart rate is nearly 200 bpm at this point after surging to the Finish Line.

yet? the Finish Line had (insert more sadnesss) moved without ANY prior Notice!

dazed, confused in ilg’s lactic acid and anaerobic high?    ilg re-gathered thoughts and said to ilgself, “Okay, Okay… i can do this,  i must do this… must stay ahead of 3rd!”

the long, gradual uphill out of Stadium seemed an eternity… skied past the first Race Marshall who SHOULD HAVE marshalled ilg onto the finishing straight, and began skiing uphill onto the North Loop again,  could see out of ilg’s periphery that 3rd Place was c(om)ing at ilg less than 30 seconds…

hammering a V1 technique up the first hill of the North Course a Race Marshall yelled at ilg:

“YOU’VE ALREADY SKIED THIS LOOP,  YOU JUST NEED TO TURN AROUND AND SKI THE SHORT INNER LOOP TO FINISH!”

slobbering like a rabid dog gone bad,  ilg manically looked at the Marshall as if to say,

“REALLY!??! SERIOUSLY?!??!?!”

turning around and skating downhill back into the Stadium,  ilg see two images that shall remain embedded within the deepest fiber of ilg’s consciousness filaments until Bardo Entry:

Image 1:   Dewachen (11) running in Her snowboots on the groomed track 800-meters fr(om) the Finish Line,  “DADDY!!! TURN AROUND!!!   YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!”    dazed, confused,  ilg skis past Her precious face and body toward the Finish Line… whereupon ilg see’s 3rd Place skiing toward the Finish Line… right in front of ilg…

Image 2:  that image of 3rd place skiing toward Finish and just Doubling Up ilg’s Tempo and chasing a slower moving 3rd place toward the Finish Line…

if ilg had another 300 meters to work with?  woulda caught 3rd.

no such luck today.

so,  ilg lead the first 10k full throttle.   fell to 2nd during the Skate.   then?   due to no fault of ilg’s own?
popped from 2nd to finish 3rd overall due to faulty Race Marshalling.

This entire story is definitely a First World Problem.

Wanna Thank, Dewachen for the incredible pics and Her Noble Attempt to save Her daddy’s race by running out onto the Course to coach ilg…

it takes a Village to raise such a feeble warrior as ilg…

so?

thank you!

and if you wish to help ilg continue racing this winter season, could REALLY USE your financial support….

PAY ME VIA PAYPAL LINK:

https://www.paypal.me/SteveIlgDURANGO

head bowed,

spirit vowed,

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