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I do sprint tri's as they are cheaper, and you don't need to train like a pro, and can turn up with an MTB on knobblies, and still post a reasonable time......

pop a set of slicks on the MTB and that's 5 mins off the lap time. Best feeling ever is slicing past one of the " all the gear, no Idea" brigade, ( eg £5k of carbon + lycra ) with my knobbly tyres howling away..... And I have the utter confidence that only fat, grippy tyres give, so I can brake later + harder than a road bike, and I really enjoy wet races days for some reason

The swimming is fun, and is cross training, cycling is for geting to+from work when I'm either needing more training, or just feel like it. which leads to much more confidence on the bike, as it's the same one used for race day.

The only real expense for me is entry fee, and petrol to get there ( think 15mpg.. )

I manage to get 2 races per year subsidised, so boils down to buy one, get one almost free. Ask around, and you may be able to find a subsidy scheme to suit you, I know this is very hard to do, and not open to everyone, as that sort of support is extremely limited, and I am lucky to get the support I do.

I also mix up my running, track/road/xc/mara..... and sprint tri's + parkruns....

So, maybe you need to adjust the idea of trying for a World Best time, and go for a realistic goal ? I've seen a shopping bikes used, with basket !, and at under £40 entry fee, it shouldn't need to cost too much to do a sprint tri ? I'm sure you could borrow a bike for the day.

Speaking the mind....

Hmmm, depends what's on the mind in the first place - if you were thinking about what to have for dinner, and the client asked for the carbon cost of your latest product, and the answer was sausages + chips...might not go down well.

Also depends on the audience - some types of people prefer the hard facts of life, other prefer a sugar coated pill.

eg " we've gone bust, you are all jobless now" would work with some people better than "we all have a new, challenging, oppertunity to find a more personally gainfull engagement with an alternative employer" - would also depend on the distance between the speaker and their getaway vehicle....

All of communication is about understanding your audience before you speak, and recognising the difference between those who require a sugary response to the hard truth. That way, you can speak your mind, just done differently + adapted to the situation. done very well, you don't even need to speak the same language.

Q1) how tall are you ? if 6 feet 13 inches tall, 17st isn't too big.... If 3 feet nothing, 17st is, errr, not good ?

Q2) are you podgy ? or just heavy ? eg are you 17stone of pure muscle, built like a brick outhouse ? or, errr, not ? if you be a 17st, 6foot, brick outhouse of a bloke, 17st may not be a problem....

Q3) are you the same as everyone else ? Your body may burn more, or less per hour than mine, or prefer different food groups, so, a visit to the GP may help a lot. - the scare factor works big time....

Don't do anything suddenly, if you find yourself passing out through lack of energy.... up a ladder.... being 17st might not be important anymore....

And don't forget pumping iron makes you stronger. Your "big guns" weigh more than the same volume of lard.... so weights may not be good idea for losing kg's. think swimming/walking/running/cycling instead.

I struggle to stay at 11 stone - ( 5feet6 , bmi of 25 ) yet run 20 miles a week, swim one mile a week, and walk around 7 miles a day at work... ( technician on a large site, 15 to 20kg toolbox, some 70kg lifting required ) yes I eat cakes, fruit, and veges, and normal foods. none of the bean+lentils nonsense,as I can't do the miles on beans+lentils. and I still have a "long range fuel tank" I'd like to shift.

Forget pasta... it's junk food, it's just calories. Don't go near the stuff, spuds are better, in every sense. before VLM last year, I had fish+chips. Felt great, sat amongst other runners, eating pasta, and I had fich+chips mmmmm tasty. ran well on it too

Great !

Well done, It's not as hard as it sounds. ( done 2 so far )

Easiest place to gain time/places is in transistion. sounds odd, but you could lose 3 or 4 minutes there if it goes wrong, or be DQ'd.... Or, you can shoot through in under 30 seconds, and overtake 5 or 6 people, leaving them with a 30second gap to make up ... Great fun

If you are mainly a runner, don't stress over the swim, or cycle - you'll make up the minutes in the run section, I swim like a housebrick.... use a mtb on slicks, so not fast there, and yet gain loads of places on the run section. Do train for the swim + cycle though, and link 2 sessions together, eg a cycle to the pool, or run there. 5km is a doddle most days, though after 20km on the bike, it can feel like the last 5k of a half mara...

Look at your half marathon pb ( minus a few mins ) in terms of effort / endurance requirements, and lap time. Follow marshalls instructions + race briefing, and get there early - to do the pre-race admin etc, get ready, and above all enjoy your first Tri

Got my 3rd Sprint tri in a few weeks, stil using the mtb... swim time around 10-12 mins as not got the hang of crawl yet, so using breaststroke... yeah, I'm a newbie too 

Ali, 

"Beauty magazines only make you feel ugly"

to quote a really good song.

dump the book somewhere quiet, ( unless it's borrowed )  and run to suit yourself - you were happy before, so dump the bloomin book + enjoy your running again.

( and lose the "jogging", you are running / are a runner. Think run, will run. )

and smile.