What a RUSH

Well.. better late than never. I did the RUSH Triathlon in Rexburg last Saturday and boy was that a spectacular race! The swim was at Rainbow Lake... the run up the hills and through some farmland along the east bench of Rexburg, and the run... ugh. More on the run later.

This tri offered a sprint or Olympic length course. I opted for the sprint. Here's how I figure it. I know that I can do an Olympic length race, but I guess I just don't always want to. I was a sprinter when I swam competitively. In fact, I was so strong at the 50 free but the 100 (quite honestly) bored me. So with that mentality, I'll stand by my decision to concentrate on the sprint tris. I like them. I don't get bored. And they're still challenging for me.

Going into this race, I knew I had some competition. There's this other Athena chick around here - a 29 year old - that wins all the time in the class, but she and I have never been in the same races... until now. Her times are always very close to what I'd estimate mine to be in those races... so I figured I'd have my work cut out for me.

I knew I'd have her in the swim, tho. And I did. I had a decent (not great) swim in Rainbow Lake. I was #8 out of the water (#2 female) and I thought my T1 was much improved over Pocatello. No... I didn't screw around on this one. I learned that lesson (cough cough thirty seconds cost me the win shit cough cough). Brent was out of the water just in front of me so we got to transition together. I beat him out of there tho by a good 30 seconds. I even chugged a vanilla Gu before taking off. Not bad! Definitely didn't get the vertigo feeling I got when I chugged the one in TF!

Because the course was hilly and because I'm still not feeling great on my tri bike, I decided to bring the Orbea. I like the feel of that bike on hills because it's so light. I also like the high hoods - which help me pull a lot. The bike course was pretty (minus the temple view) and once I got on top of the bench, the rest of the rolling hills were great. I averaged 17.5 on the bike.. not bad considering the first 5 miles was uphill.

I hurried through T2, too... felt pretty good... and started off and running UP into a neighborhood behind Madison HS. A pretty slow pace.. but I kept running.... until... I was forced to go off roading. Are you kidding me? Already I've been climbing... and NOW you expect me to climb THAT? I kid you not it was a single wide trail... 1.2 miles in length... up hill (steeeeeep in places)... rutted terrain... and HOT HOT HOT. Crap. I walked. And I walked. And I walked some more. Didn't feel bad about it either since everyone else was walking too. I eventually made it to the top, grabbed a water and a slice of orange at the aide station and then ran the hill (via the asphalt road through the neighborhood) and back to the finish line.

The other Athena? She was 150 yards back. 150 YARDS. Whew! That was close!

I won the Athena class... but I was even prouder to know that I was leading the womens overall going in to that run. Wow! I'm improving! But I still suck on the run! Hahahaha.

I really need to do some brick work over the winter. Brent thinks I'm crazy for wanting to do a half Ironman next May in Florida. But I think it'll keep me honest with my workouts over the winter. If not Florida, there's a rumor that Boise is getting one so maybe there. Kris and Karen are wanting to coach me.... so I'm all in on that one! I just want to keep improving. ANd with my competitive side really coming out, I want to keep winning, too.

Blacktail tri in 2 weeks. Pocatello Marathon 10K next week. Right now I'm headed downstairs to get on that Orbea to ride about 20 miles or so on the trainer.

Oh ya. I start my new gig at ISU tomorrow. Wow. A college professor. I'm finally there.