My first Oly (3 weeks to go)

My first Oly will be in Carlyle IL May 22nd.  I heard today that the beach is under 10 feet of water so my second race of the year might be a duathlon as well. Coming off of training for my first HIM, I'm in pretty decent shape (for me). It has been interesting how my attitude towards this distance has changed as I've become a triathlete. When training for my first tri, I figured I would do a couple Sprint triathlons then jump to Olympic distance races for the rest of the year. After my second tri on a very hot day (at the same sight that my Oly will be at), I realized there is a big difference between an hour and change race vs. a three hour race and I reset my expectations. I changed my plan to do a late season Oly last year then had an injury that forced me to post pone that distance.  Now that I've trained for a HIM (and completed 69.1 miles of it), I'm confident in my ability to hammer the bike portion and still be able to run at my normally slow pace.

We've had a lot of rain the last month but I've managed to pick up where I left off after some recovery time.  The last two Sundays I have ended up riding outside and not beating the rain.  Here are a few pics from the ride Sunday before the rain hit.

miles and

miles and

miles and

miles of trails and open space.

 
I'm lucky to have so many miles of trails that run right past my house.  I'm a little tired of the same old thing but it sure beats worrying about people texting and driving.

Funny reason for a tattoo.  My wife said I should get a tattoo on my arm so it's easier to tell me apart from all the other middle aged, MOP (middle of the pack) triathletes in spandex running down the finish line chute :-).  I guess it was stressful standing at the finish line in NOLA trying not to miss me running by.

Random easy recipe.  Take a bag of red potatoes and boil them in shrimp/crab boil seasoning.  Easy and delicious.