Chicago Noob with a new goal

Hello everyone.  35 yo guy from Chicago.
A little bit of background: I've never been much of an athlete, been on any sort of sports team (other than 7th grade basketball) or participated in any organized sports or fitness training program.  I'm 6'1" and have been 200+ lbs since was 17.  I've also had my share of YoYo dieting and home fitness attempts.  I spend a great portion of the day on my butt, either commuting or at my work desk. Last month I decided that that had to change.  I joined a 24 hour gym (to eliminate any scheduling excuses) and have dropped from 247lbs to 229lbs in the past 30 days.  I had originally planned to continue working out and eating right until I reached my goal of being UNDER 200lbs for the first time in 18 years. 
It was my wife that had suggested the idea (many times over the years)of joining a training program to do a marathon or half marathon.  My enthusiasm was always high, but my knees aren't 100% and I have always hated distance running. 
In order to stay away from the treadmill, I had been riding my mountain bike and swimming at the gym... that's when things finally clicked.
I'm on track to get under 200lbs by July... then I'll have nearly two months to focus exclusively on training for the Chicago Tri.  I'm not going to do the international distance, just the sprint for now. Thus far I've been able to complete the required distances in all three events, now all I need to do is complete them all back to back, under pressure, very quickly.


As for training, I'm currently on a very low fat, low calorie diet and spend about 2 hours a day (6 days a week) doing cardio, swimming and (a little)weight training.
I'm excited about being able to compete and really looking forward to finishing and actually being able to refer to myself as a triathlete... or any sort of athlete for that matter.