A few pictures...post race!!

Me and Miss Carrie W.- she did her FIRST triathlon!!

me, my medal & free beer. It doesn't get much better than this folks!

Lonestar Triathlon Race Recap!!

5:52:30

I am back. Back from Galveston, TX where I had one of the best days of racing EVER!! Here it is, the race report you have been waiting for.....

The day starts, I get up and eat large. As I have learned from Jeff W., I am not eating enough before I race. I am going in already depleted, so this race was about trying new things nutritionally since it is not my 'A' race. I get up around 5 AM, eat around 1000 calories before I load up the bike and gear and head down to transition. Get my race packet (thanks Adam!!), continue drinking water, warm up on the run, make sure all gears are working on the bike and grab my wetsuit to head down for a warm-up swim. I get in the water, swim for about 8 minutes. Salt water is weird and tastes funny.

I finish my bottle of water, eat a banana and wait for my wave to be called.

We take off at 8:05 and here is what happened.

Swim: It was a deep water start so I used the tricks that Texas Iron taught me for Open Water swim....I get about 200 out and I relax into my stroke, feeling good and efficient with my TPR. As we hit the second bouy, the water becomes a bit choppy and I panic as I am being slapped in the face in each direction. After about 5 minutes of mayhem I talk myself into calming down. I was happy to reach the finish and I felt good about my swim. 44:16 was the final time (2 minutes off my last Half Iron) I was sad about this because it felt like my time should be better. However when I talked to Mo (coach from T3) he told me that the swim was long and my time would have been better.

Bike: My goal for the bike was to get the calories in and to watch ONLY cadence in order to save my legs for the run. We had a head wind going out, but it wasn't horrible. The first loop out it was about 10mph and the second looped it picked up to about 13 mph. Thankfully we had cloud cover and so you were not overheating going into the wind. You got a nice tail wind coming back into racesite, so that was nice. My bike time was 3:00:45. (4 minutes better than personal best) Average cadence was 94 rpm's, Average mph was 18.6. Not bad for either actually.

Run: Here is where I took the course and totally made it MINE!!!! I headed out onto the run course and ran the first 2 miles with a small bottle of water in hand (a tip Jamie Cleveland taught me so that you don't go out too fast) I used the first two miles to just get comfortable and to stretch my back out again. Being aero for 3 hours is more painful than I thought. As I finished the first half, I could feel that my legs had enough in them to really go so I picked up the pace for the second loop of the run. The last 2 miles were 8:05 and 8:10 miles for me....Making my run 2:03:25!!!!! (9:25 mile average) I took 18 minutes off my 13.1 mile best which makes me MORE than happy! I never walked in this race and stayed in it mentally the entire time!!

Final time- 5:52:30

I went under 6 hours which had never been done by Colleen Renee Wilson. Took 24 minutes off my Personal Best for Half Ironman and had such a great time during this race!

A shout out to Carrie W. and Amanda A. for finishing their FIRST Triathlon!! They are training for Wildflower Half but did the Olympic yesterday to get in the swing of it all and totally ROCKED it! And to the rest of the Austin crew...Shelley, Mama T, Amber R., Naomi, Barry & Ryan...thanks for making this a FUN trip!! It was great to see you back out there Jodi, nice work! Way to go Billy for taking 2nd in his Age Group in Olympic Distance!!

In Jack & Adam's most recent newsletter Jack writes, "It is not about where you finish, what type of bike you have, what you do for a living, where you are from or where you are going. It is about having fun and that is it. You can have many goals in our sport without forgetting this key element."

So very true. I had some serious fun yesterday and had a great race at the same time!!

1:58, 7:55....get ready.

Those numbers above are:

1:58 for my 100m this morning and I was not pushing it terribly.

7:55 for my 400m (@ 800m pace) Felt great when I finished.

This is the FIRST time in the history of 3 triathlon seasons that I am excited about entering the water. I feel like I will make a small dent in what has been my nemesis all along in this sport.

As Chrissie said this morning, "You will start a bit fast but then settle in that same rhythm and all will go well."

Folks. This is gonna be a good race.

Getting ready for Sunday!!!

This Sunday is my first big race of the season. NOT my 'A' race but being in Galveston this weekend will be like racing back in Florida, so I am excited to see where my time takes me!! Let's take a look at the work done since good old Longhorn Tri in November.

Swim: Took the T3 clinic and have been swimming 2-3 times per week since mid-January. (I know this doesn't sound like much but if you knew how much I had done before this and how much I used to hate the water, this is HUGE) I have taken about 26 seconds off my 100m since working with T3 and learning to become more efficient in the water.

Bike: I feel strong be it hills, wind, flatlands....and this is flat....out and back (twice)along the seawall. Yes I could have a head wind one way but I just need to stay in a good place mentally and know that as I turn, a tailwind will allow me to recover. I would love to go under 3 hours for this bike and I totally KNOW this is possible.

Run: I am certainly stronger since October on the run as proved in my time at the Austin Half. I would really love to go between 2:00 and 2:15. The trick is going to be keeping the high cadence on the bike so I can save my legs for the run.

I would love to have a PR and I think on this course it is more than possible with the things that are IN my control. We shall see.....

Stay tuned for the race report come Monday!

This is my 4th Half Iron and I feel really prepared due to T3(swim), Texas Iron (nutrition, bike and run) & Jeff Williams (the guy that rides his mountain bike way ahead of me when I am struggling up hills on my Tri bike & also the guy that has taught me to love my life and stay positive no matter what!!!)

Did I mention I love this sport?

A bit of climbing...Team Magleen

I am super excited. Maggie sent me an e-mail this morning about going to Ft. Davis in May and getting a good ride + brick in before our Ironman. Here is what she wrote...

"Just a thought. Quick training weekend out in fort davis may 16th? I don’t know how much work i can get off – if any, but we could ride, i.e. climb, Saturday and do a brick or run on Sunday. Maybe jeff can go too and school us! Am i sadistic – b/c that looks like fun! However, i just read on the velossimo site that it’s a lot more brutal than it looks."

My thoughts..."Sadistic...yes, but I love that! Brutal...is my middle name!!"

Mark your calendars folks cause this what Maggie and I will take on come May...

Run Colleen Run

Today was a SUPERB training day!!!

Had a 2700 swim, which felt awesome. (I know, i can't believe I am saying it either)

Off to work where I am diligently starting the carb loading for this weeks race per the nutrition discussion with Jeff at Texas Iron Camp.

Then left work and headed to Texas Iron Run Workout.

For those racing the Half Ironman this weekend...

we did 4 Half Mile repeats at Zilker. 2 minutes rest in between.

Here is how mine went.

3:38
3:39
3:35
3:40

Not bad friends.....and I felt good at the end of it all!!

I am loving this training right now!

Then after the run, I got good time with Miss Magzilla as we ate to our hearts content at Casa!! YUM!!!

Good times catching up with my friend and good, healthy food!

YEAH!!!

What the????

As I completed my last post, I glanced at the countdown and saw TWO months. YIKES!!! I mean...it is really closer to 3 months being that it is 2 months and 27 days. But to say 2 months....AND...oh my. Yowzers. Check please, must go train.