Jun
 
6

Meet World Golf Village Resident Winston Allen: An Inspirational Ironman

Posted by: Caryn Best in WGV Residents
 

winston allenLooking for some inspiration to get in shape, live healthier or just fight like heck to reach your goals in life?  Well read on about Glenmoor resident Winston Allen, a 29-year veteran of triathlons and Ironman competitions who still competes at 82 years old.  Even a full knee replacement doesn’t keep Winston down – he just completed another triathlon this past April in Marineland, Florida.

How long have you lived in Glenmoor?
My wife Carolyn and I have lived in Glenmoor, since November 2010. We are not new to the area since we moved to Glenmoor from The Legends, where we resided since November 2004. Prior to that, we lived in Muirfield Village in Dublin, OH., which is an area very similar to WGV.

41619_1215132587_1766_nTell us about your family.
My wife Carolyn and I have been blessed with a good life, successful children (son and daughter) and two grandchildren. Our granddaughter is a junior at Georgia Tech., majoring in Applied Mathematics. Our grandson, an accomplished musician, just graduated from high school and will be starting college in Texas this summer.

Why did you choose to make your home in World Golf Village?
We choose to live in WGV because we enjoy the non congestive ambience, clean air quality, light traffic, and easy access to I-95 with the option to go to Jacksonville or Saint Augustine in a matter of minutes. For example, we enjoy watching golf and went to the recent Player’s Championship in Ponte Vedra. We were in our seats at the 17th green in less than an hour. We like the convenience to the Mayo Clinic, and as a retired US Army officer, we use facilities at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station only 28 miles away.
 
Also as a triathlete, I find the conditions here are excellent for biking and running.  The area is conducive for safe bicycling with boulevard type roads and streets with very little traffic.

winston allen3Tell us about your triathlete career!
Well it has been a “career” beginning 29 years ago in 1983. Our son Greg had completed the Hawaii Ironman in 1982 and suggested I give triathlons a try. Since that time, I have been in nearly 200 triathlons, including completing 13 Hawaii Ironman World Championships, (Age Group) finishing in third place five times. While I have not won Ironman Hawaii, I did win my age group at Ironman Brazil in 2005. I have been on Team USA eight times traveling as far away as Gold Coast, Australia, winning two age group triathlon world championships, 2007 ITU Triathlon Long Distance World Championships, Lorient France, and 2011 ITU Triathlon Olympic Distance World Championships, Beijing, China.

After Beijing last year, I promised Carolyn, who has been completely supportive, I would cut back and go into semi-retirement as she is growing weary of the travel. I say semi-retirement as I would like to give the world championships one more go in 2015. In the meantime I just do local triathlons at Marineland and Mickler’s Landing.

winston allen2What’s your training schedule like?
Semi-retirement training starts at 5:00 am for me and involves one half hour of core exercises (stomach and back), lifting weights three times a week at home and using strength machines at Glenmoor’s fitness center, swimming a half mile five days a week in the beautiful Glenmoor lap pool, walking/jogging four miles three times a week, and biking 25 miles twice a week.

Proper diet is critical for optimum health so the day starts off with a fruit cup, containing at least five different fruits. This means Carolyn spends a lot of time at Publix, purchasing the fruit and then preparing it. Next comes cranberry juice, oatmeal, yogurt and half a bagel with fresh ground peanut butter. Lunch, is soup of choice, w/no fat saltines or pretzels and peanut butter and jelly sandwich or Boars Head chicken sandwich. Dinner, is a veggie burger, salmon or chicken breast, sweet potato, vegetable of choice and salad. Low fat frozen yogurt is dessert.

That’s impressive!  Any words of advice?
I think any success takes the same kinds of ingredients: mainly commitment coupled with perseverance. I have a favorite quote that has served me well: “Everyone is born to be a winner but not necessarily win. You have to plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win.”

 
 


One Response to “Meet World Golf Village Resident Winston Allen: An Inspirational Ironman”

  • Doug Duggan says:

    Winston is an inspiration for me. Any time I’m tempted to skip a day of training I think of him and get to work.

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