Sigh, could really use a little support right now... (Page 3)

I agree with what everyone has said before.  When I announced to my wife around the end of February that I was thinking about doing a Tri, she laughed, and asked why.  It wasn't an unreasonable response from her though.  I had been thoroughly unmotivated for a few years, let my weight creep back up to 297, and only been going to the gym regularly for about 2 weeks.  She didn't tell me I was dumb for wanting to, or that I'd be terrible though.  She just thought it was funny that I was trying to be Mr Fitness® all of a sudden.

Since that point, I'm down about 35 lbs, I can jog a few miles at a time (up from 0) and I don't get out of breath walking up the stairs.  I'm really looking forward to my race this summer, and next year I plan to do more (my schedule is just nasty for being able to race, so I couldn't justify requesting a lot of vacation time before I did at least 1 race). 

But I also know where your brother is coming from.  Misery loves company.  It makes you feel bad when someone you're close to makes a positive change in their life, and you're still stuck not making the change.  As a football player (o and d line), I was always jealous of my skinny cousins being good at baseball and able to play basketball all day long.  I needed to take a lot of breaks because I couldn't keep up, and I got resentful towards them.  Maybe before you use his attitude as your motivation, you could ask him if he wants to race with you, and start training with you.  It's likely he'll say no if he's a jerk, but maybe he'll say yes, and you two can have some good times working out and hitting mile stones together.

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Good luck, and enjoy.

What do you call the person who finishes last at a triathlon?

A triathlete!

This site is filled with people that were, at one time, way out of shape and decided to turn their lives around. One thing you will learn from this site is that nothing is impossible and that you can do anything you set your mind to.

Sign up for the race, train smart, race hard and HAVE FUN!!

This is why we do tri's, too!

And...one more thing that should clinch it for you.

Go to youtube and search "Team Hoyt"

Then tell me you give two craps what your brother says.

Todd -  San Diego
btw= great thread!! 

What are you waiting for?! Get on with your trianing and your first tri, d00d!

I wanted to echo what a couple people have already said here - use the logs.  I will never win any races and will likely never do better than MOP in my age group.  However, I get the satisfaction from racing against myself and seeing the improvement in my own times.  By logging your workouts (at least time and distance) you will be able to see that today I ran faster than last week or cycled further. 

Good Luck!

I don't know if the OP saw the responses, but they certainly have been motivating for me!  I signed up for two sprint tri's this year (mainly to force myself into training), the first of which is on May 31st.  I'm 5'2", 240 lbs and slow as molasses.  My biggest concern is that I won't be allowed to finish because I will likely get back to the transition area well over an hour after the posted close time.  But I have two friends doing the same race and the run is mostly on a public road, so I figure if I have to drop my bike at the park entrance and time myself with my trusty lap watch, so be it.  I will still have "gone the distance". 

I've also gotten "the look" from some of my co-workers, who have been very supportive, but you can tell by the looks on their faces that they think I'm completely crazy for attempting this.  I'm using that as motivation to get out and do it.