Let’s rewind a bit and head back to where this all started. About 3 years ago in February 2007 my wife said I was looking fat. Now, to be honest I was looking pretty chubby at the time and I was thinking the same thing about myself but for some reason something finally snapped inside. At that moment I decided that I would do what I always had wanted to do and to race in a triathlon. That night I signed up for the TimpTriClub Triathlon which was a little more than three weeks away and set out to get ready for the race. My training wasn’t anything special and three weeks later I proceeded to finish what would start now become one of the loves of my life, Triathlons. I have since raced in over 25 triathlons and more than 30 running races and have lost most of the fat that my wife quipped about that one special night …  and I am so glad she did say something.

Let me get this out of the way if you didn’t already know it. I love triathlons! I love everything about them, the training, the anticipation, the traveling, the competition both personal and with others, the feeling you get after finishing one. I just love everything that has to do about triathlons. After leaving football  I needed something to compete in and motivate me and triathlon has taken it’s rightful place.

Even though I have done a bunch of triathlons over the last 3 years, including a couple Half-Ironmans, I have yet to conquer the biggest of them all, the full Ironman triathlon. 2.4 miles of full-contact swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running to top it all off … in the same day! The Ironman is the  Everest of the endurance sports world. After watching the 2009 Ironman World Championship I hastily decided and registered, just like 3 years before, for the Ironman Coeur d’Alene (In Idaho) on June 27th 2010.

Fast-forward now to the present and I am 3 weeks into my official training schedule. Things are going well as I decided after much research to follow the 24 week  training plan from Multisports.com and also available from the book  Start to Finish Ironman Training 24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon by Paul Huddle and Roch Frey. One thing I have realized is that Ironman training takes a lot of time and requires a lot of help and understanding from family, friends and neighbors. Slow days require about 2 hours of training and heavier days can get up to 4+ hours worth of training. It is time consuming but my family and I believe it is worth it.

So if you see me running or biking on the streets make sure to honk. If you feel like I have checked out and haven’t seen me for a while now you know where I am at. If you really need me you could probably find me running or riding around Spanish Fork  somewhere.

The only failure in life is the failure to try,  right now is the time to achieve your goals and become great.

Watch these gospel-centered videos and feel free to share them with family, friends and anyone else you think might be interested.

You might think I am joking but I am being totally serious. Since the Spudman Triathlon on July 25th, 2008  I have not ran more than 4 times a month. This is pretty sad … and dangerous considering the fact I raced in a half ironman, a  marathon and 2 sprint triathlons during those seven months. Not to mention being totally embarrassed considering my finishing times in each.

I now weigh 185 pounds, which is not bad considering it is my normal weight, but it  is 17 pounds heavier than I was on July 25th,2008. I want to get back down to 170 pounds as soon as possible for training purposes and I am going to find out how long it takes to lose all those extra pounds I picked up from Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald’s & Burger King. If I can lose the weight quickly I might just write a blog post every so often telling everybody what I am doing to lose the blubber. To lose the weight I will be training consistently and watching my diet,  sometimes. I will not be using any Super Duper weight loss pills or magical elixir formulas. 

So tell me what you guys think, how fast do you think I can lose the excess blubber hanging around my belly and butt?  Comment to this post and the person that comes the closest will win a FREE bakers dozen from Krispy Kreme Donuts! Seriously!

Bennett Family

We took this picture a couple of weeks ago at Payson Lakes on the Nebo Loop. I love it.

We had a great time at the Provo Veterans Memorial pool today. We took in some sun and had tons of fun on the water slide. Tammy, the kiddos, Tammy’s parents and her Grandma where all there. Broc loved the water slide while Bailey went down once and that was enough for her. I succumbed to the food stand and bought a piece of pizza, nachos and a pretzel. I wish I had more will power but the food was calling me by name.

For my workout I did a 7.03 mile run on the SF Memorial Day course. It was a little tougher than normal. I felt pretty slow and after looking at my times I was about 30 seconds slower than normal. I really need to get back on my training schedule.

Race Pace Run 7.03 miles in Spanish Fork Time:59:51 – Cal: 913 – HR avg: 181 – HR max: 199- Rate: 8.0 - Pace: 8:30

Tammy and Merri (our Neighbor) have decided that they want to qualify for the 2009 Boston Marathon. The great thing is that with their current times in smaller runs they would both qualify with time to spare… given they can keep up their current pace.

So, I have decided that I would also like to qualify for and run in the Boston Marathon. My problem is that with my current times I would need to improve a lot to make it. The qualifying times for women are significantly longer than the mens. For example, Tammy and Merri would need to finish with a 3:40 or under to qualify. In contrast I would need to finish with a 3:10 marathon or better.

So, I am making a goal right now that I will qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon. For more information about qualifying you can go to the actual site at http://www.bostonmarathon.org/BostonMarathon/Qualifying.asp

Below is what I would need to be able to run to qualify and my current best times. Looks like I really need to up the intensity!

We had a big group run the Spanish Fork Memorial Day 5k. It was a ton of fun. Tammy, my Mom, Merri Hacket, Karen Grant, Brandon Carter and myself all ran the 5k. Broc ran the 1 mile fun run. Everyone did awesome and we cleaned up with medals.

Merri came in first in our group, 4th girl overall and second in her age group with a 20:23
I came in second in our group and 2nd overall in my age group with a 21:55
Tammy came in 3rd in our group, 7th girl overall and 4th in her age group with a 22:25
Brandon Carter came in 4th in our group and second overall in his age group with a 22:35
Karen Grant kicked butt, came in 7th overall in her age group with a 2 something
My mom came in second overall in her age group with a 29:43

The big story is that Broc ran his first mile. He finished in 10:19. He is four years old and ran a 10 minute mile! He is destined for super-stardom!

Mile 1: 6:26 Mile 2: 14:56 (8:30) Mile 3: 21:22 (6:26) Mile 3.1: 21:55 (33 Seconds)

Race Pace Run 3.1 Time:21:55 – Cal: 355 – HR avg: 188 – HR max: 201- Rate: 10 - Pace: 7:04

Top 3 hardest so far

1) California Ironman 70.3 – March 2008
2) Xterra Mountain Sport – August 2007
3) 2008 St. George Olympic Triathlon – May 2008

It was pretty windy in the morning but I did not expect it to affect the race that much. I had never had a windy triathlon before so I didn’t know what to expect.

SWIM: The swim started off like normal: freezing waters, fighting for a spot and getting knocked around in the mean time. Once I finally got into a rhythm I had to turn on the buoy and bam!, we had to start swimming against the waves. Holy cow was that tough. We had 2 to 3 foot waves that we had to swim into and it didn’t get any easier the rest of the swim. I think I drank at least a gallon of the water and thats no joke. Everytime I would come up for a breath I would get a mouthful of water. It seemed like a never ending swim. I actually thought one of the buoys had blown away because I could never get to it. I ended up about 6 – 8 minutes off what I should of got on the swim. I found out later that after we finished they canceled the swim for the people that did the sprint tri because the waves were just too big.

BIKE: The bike was like the swim. We had to fight against the crazy wind about 3/4 of the ride. At times I was tilted sideways just to keep me from being thrown off the bike. One time the wind was so bad that I was going 12 miles an hour on a downhill that I would normally go about 30 miles an hour. Even though the wind was tough I felt pretty strong most of the way. The hill wasn’t that bad at all especially compared to the hill at the California Ironman. I started feeling real good at about mile 13 and came up with a decent time considering.

RUN: I was not a happy camper during the run. For those of you that don’t know about the St George triathlon, what makes it “special” is that the run is basically in sand dunes most of the way with a big hill that you have to basically climb (2 times in the Olympic distance). With the wind, the sand dunes, my burning calves and a poor attitude I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. The first 3 miles was brutal but I finally pulled out of it after that. The last 3 miles was definitely not a “breeze” but it was somewhat enjoyable.

I ended up finishing with a total time of 3:18:24. Who knows how much better I would have done if wasn’t sick. I figured that everyone was about ±10% slower overall because of the wind so my adjusted time would have been 2:58:04 which beat my goal of under 3 hours. Too bad it doesn’t count.

Dave also ran his first Olympic triathlon with a time of 3:30:51 and adjusted time of 3:09:01 which is pretty darn awesome. Tammy, the kids and my mom where also there to cheer us on. Thanks you guys, It really does help us when you are there to slap our butts and tell us, “Good Job!” We love you for it!

All in all it was a good day. No one died, Dave and I both finished and the St. George Triathlon lived up to it’s history of being one of the best if not the best triathlon to do in the state of Utah. Good job Brogg, you Rock!