So, this is the question everyone wants to know and I am going to find out; How fast can you lose 15 pounds? After being a total slacker with training for the last 7 months,  I have finally decided it is time to get back into a consistent training schedule and kicking butt. Lately, I find myself on a consistent basis playing with my fat rolls and being totally disgusted with myself. I no longer enjoy looking at myself in the mirror and my kids love to put thier finger in my belly button and watch it disappear. This madness has got to stop.

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!

I ran the 7 mile SF Memorial Day course again after feeling deflated from last Thursday’s workout. I Felt great even though Mark pushed me along the first 3 miles. I love my night runs. They have always been the best.

Race Pace Run 7.03 miles in Spanish Fork Time:56:36 – Rate: 8.5 - Pace: 8:03…grrrr

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

I went for a 12 mile bike ride with Brandon but first had to repair both of my tires because they were flat from the Utah Half Ironman. It took about an hour to repair and then we were on our way. Not even a mile into the ride my front tire blew again! This makes 5 flat tires the last 3 times I have rode my bike. It is starting to get annoying not to mention expensive. After yet another flat tire fix we were on our way again and luckily no more flats for either of us.

Medium Pace Bike 11 miles up to Payson and back Time:35:10 – Cal: 469 – HR avg: 167 – HR max: 180- Rate: 8.5

Once I got back home I pulled some weeds and was also able to get Mark Monfredi to come running with me. We did an easy 5k on course 1.

Medium Run 5k on course 1. Time:24:37 – Cal: 371 – HR avg: 180 – HR max: 196 - Rate:7 Pace: 7:55

I woke up early on Saturday and drove to Scofield for the 2008 Scofield Triathlon. I had heard it was an awesome race so I pretty excited to see what everyone was raving about.

The swim started off perfect. Not too many racers which means I only got kicked in the head a couple of times and the water was amazing. I felt good throughout the mile swim even though I hadn’t swam laps in a month or so. The swim was a double loop around the buoys and I did my first lap (half mile) in just under 14 minutes. The second lap took about 15 minutes to finish so I ended up with around 29 minutes for the mile swim. I was pretty stoked because 29 minutes is a PR for me. I averaged 1:40 per 100 meters which is not too shabby for a mile swim.

The first transition was pretty slow because I couldn’t get my biking gloves on. I really need to work on my transitions. The bike started out great except about 3 miles into the course some guy drove up next to me and told me I was going the wrong way. I ended up going about 5.5 miles off course and decided to just try to convert it into 25 miles instead of biting the bullet and going 31 miles because of the mistake. Also, my leg was cramping up so I didn’t want to go the extra mileage. After telling a race judge I turned my bike around at almost the right point and actually ended up going a little bit longer than I needed to. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to place so I wasn’t too worried. The rest of the bike went great and I ended up with a 1:17 split time.

The run started pretty bad as it usually does. The worst part was the first 200 meters which had a crazy incline. My legs already felt like jello so it just made them feel even worse. The weird thing is that not only did they feel like jello but also big heavy stumps at the same time. It took about 2 miles for my legs to feel normal but after that I felt good. The last half of the 10k felt great even though I wasn’t going to fast. The funny thing is I always question in my head why I run these triathlons during the run portions. It always seems to hurt the most during the run so I just try to forget the pain and think about how good it will feel when it’s all over. I can only imagine how much it will hurt when I do my first full Ironman.

The last .2 miles of the 6.2 were probably the longest I have ever run. I swear it was an extra mile. I saw a lady biffed it hard right in front of me with only .1 miles to go. Her body just completely gave out and she landed pretty hard on the pavement. Thankfully there was a lot of people there to help her including some encouragement from us racers.

It felt so good to finally be done. I finished with an official time of 2:52:33 which is a PR for me. It would have been better if I hadn’t gone the wrong way on the bike but I was satisfied with my performance. I found out later that If I would of ran the sprint distance I would have ended up 2nd overall in my age group for sure with a good chance at taking first. Oh well, maybe next time I will be smart run the shorter distance. I also got to see my good friend Mike Merrell at the race which was a nice surprise. It was his first tri and he did awesome! I highly recommend the Scofield Triathlon for anyone that wants to race it.