In retrospect, I agree with you the belt had too much weight in it and I will follow the advice of you and others to spread around my weight. Per my original post, I was diving with a full body 5mm wetsuit with gloves and hood. For my physical size, I am 5'8, 190lbs. I am not a gym rat, but I run 8 minute miles.
Thanks,
Joe
I am quite sure you are very over-weighted. I am 6'0 210lbs and in a 5mm wetsuit I would wear about 3kg of weight (on top of my 2.5kg backplate). However, if you are going to start reducing the weight you are carrying, I suggest you do it gradually.
Also, while not sure what my actual time would be for running a mile, it would definitely be more than 8 minutes