Should I Consider A Super Sprint Triathlon?

I’m doing some research on upcoming triathlons in the Seattle area that I’ll be able to train for and race once I get settled in. I found one in nearby Kent and they have three distances: Olympic, Sprint, and Super Sprint.

I’m considering the Super Sprint distance — it’s only 1/4 mile open water swim, 15.8 mile bike, and a 5k. For the same price, though, I can race the Sprint distance.

Is it even worth putting on a wetsuit for a quater mile swim?! It takes me a long time to even get into it. Hmm…

Some pros about the Super Sprint:

• The swim is so short that I don’t have any excuses not to do it
• It’ll be a fun race to just get back into the tri swing of things
• I won’t feel as much pressure during the swim
• My chances of panicking in the water are considerably less
• I can work on speed and form, rather than worrying too much about beating an old PR or distance
• It’s pretty cheap!

I feel like I should opt for the Sprint, or even ideally the Olympic. I won’t have enough time to train for the Olympic (or at least I don’t gather that I’ll have enough energy to put into the time to train for the distance given the move and a new work situation).

On my run this morning I did the math in my head. (Thankfully it was pretty simple.)  I have about 5 months left to train for the half-Ironman if I still want to do it. I looked it up and it’s exactly 5 months and 10 days. 23 weeks. Seems pretty plausible if I still want to get serious about it. I wonder how I will be able to justify the time off to fly into AZ after 4 months of working there? Can I travel and recover quickly enough? Maybe I should tell HR just in case?

Oh, these carrots I like to dangle…At the end of the day I really just like working towards a goal, no matter how out of reach or impossible it feels.