i can barely grok the fact that today i climb into Bala - who'll be packed like a Grand Canyon Mule with skis, bike, snowshoes, and cold weather gear - and head east across my beloved sparse, high desert to contest the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon which has by now, become an ilg signature event. it's been a twenty year pilgrimage of mine. this event has become for me, a barometer of my self-healing from a broken spine and torn pelvis in 1981. my annual journey up and down Tsidool (the Sacred "Turquoise Peak" of the indigenous clans which still live atop and around the sandstone canyons and sagebrush arroyos at her base) remains a perfect remedy against my pedal-to-the-metal obsessive traits which i try so hard to bring into Wholeness through my professional and personal Pathway. Tsidool demands me to slow down my mind as i train each year for her. my fitness must reflect what i love most; versatility.
i feel as fit as this WF New Daddy can feel.
what is common about this year from last is my winter-fitness. i'll be confident as soon as i finish the Bike Up and Run Up and get to click into my cross country skis. i ready to torch the two snow events; the Ski and Snowshoe.
Ready to Do The Shoe -
- last year on the 1-mile, 600' Snowshoe Course
08 stats:
Shoe Up = 26:28
Shoe Down = 10:24
i've only done one Snowshoe Race this year and finished well, though off the podium. i'll again be going with my specially mounted Kahtoola Snowshoe. usually, by the time i reach the lofty air of the Snowshoe Section, which goes up to Tsidool's summit and back down, i'm usually so God-And-Kachina Spirit Intoxicated, i could care less how much pain i'm in. all i focus on is crushing the descent once my uphill events have been completed.
- 2007; on the 2-mile, 1,200' Ski Course
08 stats:
Ski Up = 39:00
Ski Down = 15:58
early this month i won a classic-style ski race and last evening, after pre-fatiguing my legs by alpine skiing in our fresh dump of 24", i returned to the Alpine Area this time to run a final threshold test for Mt. Taylor. the data came back great:
probably more a testimony to superior conditions, not so much my superior fitness
but i ripped my Roundtrip PR from Car to Car;
skinning from the lower parking lot (9,500') to the top of agassiz lift (11,500') and ripping off the skins and skiing back to the Car in 1:01:21...
a key to my new PR was that i only had to descend the uppermost third of the ski descent on ungroomed snow before picking up the silk tassel (great Canadian ice climb!) of 30-second old cord which then became my ribbon of speed as i made like Franz Klammer to the bottom, smashing my old record by nearly 3 minutes and that even included a Pranayam up at the top!
my threshold fitness is ready.
having survived a 42k, high-altitude nordic marathon last month that featured 5,000' of climbing, i figure my endurance will also be okay for the (hopefully less than) 5 hours i'll be out there, this Saturday.
my goals are three-fold:
1) crack the top 20 overall (22nd last year)
2) age group podium (5th in AG last year)
3) break 5 friggin' hours (5:01:14 last year, finishing my uphill events in:3:09:23
- last year; seeing God on the 5-mile, 1,200' Run Course
08 stats:
Run Up = 1:01
Run Down = 48:23
last year, i was 22nd overall. i lost three places because of having to stop 4 times
to vent the severe back/hip pain during the Run Up and Run Down. the concussion of those 10 miles of running mixed in with all the other disciplines just kills my back.
this year, i REALLY would love not to have to stop at all. however, that will be up to Vishnu.
i've picked my ski wax...shhhh; Swix HF 8 into FC 7. having the fastest ski descent at Mt. Taylor, i rarely miss the wax, yet that's what makes this GrandDaddy of all Winter MultiSport so special; you just never know what Race Day will bring in terms of weather. i've raced this event through hypothermic blizzards and sunny drought years where they've had to shovel in snow to keep the Ski Down Course intact.
- last year on the 13-mile, 5,000' Bike Course
08 stats:
Bike Up = 1:02
Bike Down = 37:07
my confidence tanks at the Bike.
i've not stepped into pedals for a month and before that? can't recall.
my Bike Fitness is what this New Daddy had to sacrifice. i'll rely on my experience.
and, perhaps just the novelty of being on a bike will help fire my tapas.
last year, i didn't ride too much and pretty much kept pace with the main chase group.
i'm visualizing repeating that for the Bike Up.
the Bike Down is going to be really windy this year...even moreso than the traditional hurricane gusts which typically plague the fatigued racers as we crank back to Grants and the Finish Line. fortunately, i've got a heaping helping of HP Yoga in my physical and spiritual quiver...and that's gonna keep my back flat, my position aero and my breath full of verve.
Mt. Taylor abides not standards of perfection.
What she extracts from anyone who dares to Solo this 4-sport, 75-kilometer race from desert cactus to her wind-whipped 11,311' summit is spiritual poise.
i could flat at two miles into this thing...i gotta be okay with that. as i've tried to Teach you all these years, "The way to win is to make it okay to lose." Just remember, i created that quote in the seventies, when extreme mountaineering and free soloing ice and rock climbs was my gig. i had to make it okay to lose my life, in order to free climb to the highest and most difficult summits. that's why i consider all other sports besides the Death Sport to be kindy-garten. so what if i flat at two miles into Mt. Taylor? if i was a mountaineer and 'flatted"...i'd be dead.
it has taken and will take an absolutely Herculean effort from me this year just to toe that Start Line before Tsidool's overlooked beauty.
all i know is that whenever i test my yoga within the throne of the Turquoise Mountain Gods, it affords the greatest natural, inner show i know.
sure would like to see more of my Students...YOU on that Start Line. when i first raced this thing back when the whole field was 60 athletes instead of 600, i figured by the time i was 40, i'd be doing this event with an entire Sangha around me, collectively taking pilgrimage. i'm forty six now, and i think only Noble HP Yogis Jut and Timari are signed up to help me represent WF. so, put this event on your Pilgrimage calendar and we'll share the Sacred Cold Sweat together, okay?
i'll update you as soon as i return.
from wherever you are,
send your ol' coach
a chi hit this Saturday...
i'll feel it...
all the way up, and
down
the Sacred Tsidool.
May you too, put it all in this weekend...
