Another (LONG) should I sign up for this race?

[CallingAllAngels]

I did a super-sprint tri last year and had a great time.   I set a goal to do a true sprint triathlon in 2014.  Until this week, I haven't really been able to find one that jives with my schedule.  I just stumbled across a small race about 20 minutes from me that is in September, but I don't know if it's a good idea. 

As of right now, my faces for the rest of the year are:
June 1 - super sprint tri (200 yard pool swim, 8 mile bike, 2 mile run)
July 20 - super sprint tri (250 yard pool swim, 10 mile bike, 2.5 mile run)
August 23 - 10K - would really like to PR. 
October 19 - Half marathon (A race, working toward a big PR)
November 15 - Half marathon (hilly course, running for fun)
December 13 - Half marathon

The sprint tri that I want to do is September 20.  It's a 750 yard swim, 14 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run.  No big deal, compared to you Ironmen, right?

My biggest reservation that it is 4 weeks before my A-race.  I am still pretty new to all this crazy stuff, and I have a more aggressive training plan for my half than I have ever run before.  Trying to keep up with everything is going to be a challenge.  Right now, I am swimming two days a week, usually about 1200 yards each day.  I am biking a couple days a week - a 10-miler and a 20-miler.  I am running three days a week - about 15 miles total.  After June 1, I am planning to start running 4 days a week again.  I could make the December half (Kiawah!) my A-race and not increase my mileage too much until October but I am worried I'll get burned out by then.  This would mean I would be doing pretty intense training (for me) from now until December. 

Also, there's the whole open water swim thing.  The local masters group does a weekly OWS in my town.  I could make it a priority to get one or two of those workouts in prior to the race.  How much harder is it to swim in open water vs a pool?  The lake where the masters group swims is constantly in the news for sewage spills, so that's gross. 

Finally, I'm slow.  The race has a cut-off of 2 hours 30 minutes.  I expect to the swim to take about 15 minutes, the bike 70 and the run 33-34.  The best case scenario, without anything going wrong, would have me finishing around 2 hours, which according to last year's results will be very back of the pack in a small race. 

The pros?  I really want to do it.  I enjoy swimming and biking more than I do running.  I feel like I'm not terribly good at anything, so I might as well do what I enjoy.  I bought a new bike this year.  It was fairly inexpensive as far as bikes go, but it was still a nice chunk of change and this will keep me on it through September at least. 

Yes, I'm overthinking this.  I think I could go out and complete the distance now with no/few problems.  I'm just worried about keeping up with biking and swimming as my running mileage increases.  

Any great insights? 

[runaways]

Disclaimer: not a triathlete. But I think that 4 weeks out should be plenty of time for you to recover and then taper down a bit for your half. I wouldn't let that stop me, personally. I don't really know about your other questions but I'm sure someone does!

[coconutbug]

You're already running, swimming, and biking farther than the legs of the tri, so you should be fine. And you've already calculated that you'll come in before the cut-off, so don't worry about the time. I say go for it!

But yes, OWS is very different than swimming in a pool. It would be a really good idea to get in some OWS if you can, to get some practice sighting, swimming in a straight line, dealing with people possibly running into you, etc.

[clseale]

May 21, 2014 16:06:53 GMT -5 runaways said:

Disclaimer: not a triathlete. But I think that 4 weeks out should be plenty of time for you to recover and then taper down a bit for your half. I wouldn't let that stop me, personally. I don't really know about your other questions but I'm sure someone does!

I started to respond, but I was basically just typing this. Ditto all that up there ^^^.

[CallingAllAngels]

Thanks, y'all. I feel like it's short enough that I could fake it if I need to. I really want to do it.

I need to talk to H and see if he is okay with me running 4-5x per week + swimming 2x and biking 2x. That sounds like a lot. I also need to figure out how much he is going to be traveling this summer.

@vtcupcake, I'm totally guessing on my swim time. I may be way off. Maybe open water will be a lot slower? In the pool, I swim 100 yards in 1:50-2:00. Thinking about it more, I bet I can do closer to 60 minutes on the bike. The group that I ride with rides very casually and takes it pretty slow.