How Come No One Ever Told Me I Was Spelling Triathlon Wrong?

Jun 122011
 

We have been writing on The Running Brothers for 6 months now and I am pretty sure that I have been spelling Triathlon wrong for the entire 6 months.  I was writing a post on it and noticed the red spell check line underneath the Triathalon which it never really corrected before.  I thought, “That’s weird.” So, I ran to my nearest Dictionary and ripped off the shelf.

Sure enough, I have been writing a blog for 6 months on being a Triathlete and have been spelling Triathalon wrong and no one told me.  I’m dissappointed in my heroes out there . . . but, I guess I can’t blame you.  Perhaps that’s why we were leading the Google Search rankings for our Triathalons . . . Haha.

Mystery Challenge #2

Apr 282011
 

Rocky issued me the first mystery challenge several months ago.  I had no idea what to expect and when my brother showed up on Super Bowl Sunday at some ungodly hour in the morning he displayed our new Running Brothers t-shirt and told me that I would be running a half-marathon in a couple of hours. 

With no preparation and never having ran a distance amounting to that much in my life, I thought I did pretty good under the circumstances.  I completed my first half-marathon running the entire way and it was a really cool experience.  My brother’s mystery challenge was a huge success and today, I am throwing down my mystery challenge for my brother. 

The mystery challenge is set to take place on Sunday May 22, 2011.  The date is negotiable, so Rocky, if you need to change the date, just let me know.  Another great thing about this mystery challenge is that anyone who lives in Southern California is invited to participate.  If you are interested in participating in Mystery Challenge #2 . . . a mystery for Rocky, call me or send us an email at runningbros@gmail.com and we can tell you what the mystery challenge is so that you can decide to participate in it with us. 

The great thing about it is that if you don’t want to run, or bike, or swim, you don’t have to and you can still have a great time with The Running Brothers and friends.

Ironman Training – Week #15

Apr 162011
 

Weekly Amount:

Running = 17.5 miles
Biking = 60 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 80 miles

Overall Amount:

Running = 203.5 miles (38.5 miles to Las Vegas)
Biking = 652 miles (321 miles to Seattle)
Swimming = 57,200 meters or 36.7 miles (.1 miles to Los Angeles)
Total = 892 miles (81 miles to Seattle)

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.

BANG!!!

Dec 052010
 

Today is the start of a journey.  A journey that will put two brothers to the ultimate test.  One brother will become an Iron Man, the other, a Marathoner.  The brothers hope to chronicle the adventures and mishaps that occur in the long process of training and competing. Both are starting with minimal training and hope this blog will document the transformations (physical and mental), while growing closer as brothers. Currently, we have one supporter, our sister, Lacey Welborn. Join her. Follow our escapades. Send us words of encouragement, praise, advice or mockery.

And now it begins… RunningBrothers.com. Join us on our journey. Watch us rise from the depths of endurance mediocrity to outright long distance fiends. Witness our pains and frustrations from 5k and 10k runs early in our training before we dominate those same distances without breaking a sweat. Observe the physical and mental metamorphosis that we shall surely go through. Join us on this long and difficult journey from start to finish. “Bang!” (That was the starter pistol.) We’re off and running!