Preparation for the San Luis Obispo Triathlon

Aug 112011
 

I had the best of intentions.  I set my goal 30 days before the San Luis Obispo Triathlon to run 30 Sprint Triathlons in 30 days to prepare myself for the event. 

I did it twice.

If you read my previous post, you’ll understand why I only was able to do it twice.  A great business opportunity got in the way of my traning.  My two Sprint Triathlons were completed in the gym and I did both of them in 1 hour and 40 minutes approximately three weeks before the SLO Triathlon. 

I was not in peak shape, and as far as I knew, my brother hadn’t done any training either.  The San Luis Obispo Triathlon was going to be interesting . . . to say the least.

Zeb’s Been on Hiatus and has Returned

Aug 092011
 

It’s been almost a month since my last post which is utterly amazing, considering that I had been writing nearly a post a day since the beginning of the year.  Many of you have been fortunate enough to see Rocky’s posts and his adventures in San Luis Obispo. 

In the upcoming weeks, I hope to fill you in on my side of the story and share with you what I have been up to the past month.  It has been a wild ride and I am extremely optimistic about what the future has in store for me and The Running Brothers.

My posts have dissipated because my sister and I recently started our own social media company, appropriately titled Welborn Social Media.  Our company began as a reslut of the countless hours that my sister and I had put into The Tutoring Solution, a tutoring company I own in Chino Hills and The Running Brothers.  Many local businesses really liked what we were doing with our Facebook and Twitter pages and some even requested that we work for them. 

Welborn Social Media has kept me very busy this last giving presentations to a variety of different companies and setting up Facebook, Twitter, Blog, LinkedIn, and YouTube pages for several businesses.  Currently, we are working with a Scrapbooking company, a local Golf Course, and a Computer Company. 

As a result, I have not had much time to train, but plan on getting back into it in the near future. 

If you’re interested in my tutoring company, visit The Tutoring Solution website at www.thecatutoringsolution.com.

If you’re interested in the work we are doing in Social Media, please visit –

Zeb’s Race on the Base Swim

Mar 302011
 

I hustled my way over to the pool to perform my 200 Meter swim.  And I had been practicing for months and really thought that I was going to demolish my swimming time from the year before.  I jumped in the pool and immediately began to pass people, until I got behind some idiot who was doing the breast stroke. 

Everyone was swimming at his pace and there was no way that I could get past the guy because his legs were continually spreading out like you would imagine a frog would in the pool of water.  I kept trying to get past him and that really sapped my energy. 

Zeb Race on the Base Swim

The pool that I had been training in was half the size of the pool that I competed in.  I did not think it would make that much of a difference, but it did.  Each lap felt so much longer than the laps I had been used to and when I sprinted the last 50 Meters in the pool, it just seemed like the end was never coming.  But, eventually I made it, completed the swim and ran into my Dad, Mom, sister and Dusty.  They congratulated me on a job well done, but man . . . was I tired. 

Now, it was time to wait for my brother . . . who I had not seen since I pushed him at the beginning of the race.

Zeb’s Race on the Base Bike Ride

Mar 292011
 

After reaching the staging area, I was in good shape and rushed out with my bike and took off . . . but that didn’t last long as bicyclists began to pass me left and right.  I do remember passing one bicyclist who looked like he was either drunk or had never ridden a bike before . . . as he riding a mountain bike which was wobbling all over the road.  Had the police been following him, they would have made him perform a sobriety test for sure.

Overall, people were passing me pretty consistently on the bike, but they were not flying past me like they had the year before.  I’m still not quite sure why I was getting passed though.  I’m not sure if it was because of my bike or because I am not riding my bike using the proper technique.  Either way, I know that my legs were working faster than many of the other riders. 

After evaluating my results for the race, I saw an interesting statistic for the race.  Almost everyone who finished ahead of me had a better bike time, while my times in the run and the swim were in the middle of the pack compared to those who performed better than me overall.  So, it appears to me that my bicycling skills need to improve if I’m going to be able to compete at a higher level in these triathalon events.

I knew that a lot of people had passed me by the time I made it to the staging area for the second time.  But, I had a feeling that I was still outperforming myself from the year before and made my way to the pool.

Zeb’s Race on the Base Run

Mar 222011
 

My brother and I only had a few minutes to spare when we made it to the starting line.  My parents, sister and good friend, Dusty Edwards were there for support.  They got in positions with their cameras and my brother and I pretended to stretch prior to the race.  The starting pistol went off and the race was underway.  I immediately pushed my brother to knock him off-balance so that I could have a clear path ahead.  From that point on, I never looked back. 

I felt like I was keeping a really good pace, passing people left and right.  Although, I began to tire after about the second mile and the last mile was a bit of a struggle as people began passing me telling me to keep going . . . I guess I looked like I was about to keel over or something. 

I made it into the staging area and was well ahead of most of the runners, I quickly gathered my bike and sped off in my brand new Cannondale bicycle.

Reviving a Classic

Jan 122011
 

RockyThis past weekend my brother said he wanted to start the middle leg of his IronMan training, the Bike. When I think about the IronMan the swim scares me cause I swim like an anchor but the bike is what I would fear the most, for no reason than my rear can not handle 112 miles. But none the less we need to get Zeb turning those pedals as part of his training.

A few years ago, when I was a struggling college student I really wanted to start cycling but couldn’t afford a decent bike and on my way to work I saw a garage sale which had a road bike siting out. I immediatly pulled over and asked about it. It had flat tires, no seat, no brakes, a rusty chain, rusty sprokets, rusty handle bars, rusty….. rusty…… you get the picture. AND SHE ONLY WANTED $2. SCORE!!!

Back then I started my project to restore the bike to brand new condition. $80 later and several hours of taking it appart and scrubbing away rust I had a very nice bike. It was a little small for 6 foot guy but it did the job.

Now, several years later the bike has been sitting for a long time and bike has regrown its rust and lost all the air in its tires but its time to get it back. It’s behind a none working lawn mower and covered in spider webs but my brother and I can still see its speed. We wheel it out, clean it up and start checking how it works. We try to turn the pedals and it doesn’t turn but that won’t detour us. So we align up the chain and lube everything up. EUREKA!!! its turning.  we put air in the tires and Zeb gives it a ride

It still needs some work but it gets my brother started on the middle leg of his Ironman. Good Luck Bro.