too much, too soon?

How many sprint triathlons should one do before signing up for an Olympic length triathlon? Would it be a mistake to sign up for an Olympic the first year of doing triathlons? What would be a good gauge as to whether I am ready for the longer distance or not--both mentally and phycially?

I am thinking of doing a sprint in June and then an Olympic in July. Is this crazy? There is an Olympic in September that I was eying, too. Would it be best to do a few sprints early on and then do the Olympic at the end of the summer? Naturally, I don't want to burn myself out--either mentally and phycially. *One option I have for the July race is to do the Olympic Duathlon instead--that would give me the whole summer to work on my weakest link while still giving me the opportunity to do a longer distance on bike and foot.

It is one thing to walk on the edge of sanity, but another to step off...

You can do whatever you THINK you can do... and what you have trained for.

Half the battle of competing is in your head. If you think you can do it... you can.. and WILL.

Now, the other part is training. Are you training properly to compete in these events? Do you know you will be able to swim/bike/run the distances when the races come? Are you doing bricks? Can you bike 20 miles and run 20 minutes? Or more? Is it easy? Is it hard? Are you devoting 10+ hours a week to training?

There are so many questions one could ask... but it would hard for ANYONE to tell someone else what they can and can't do.

If you are properly trained and your heart is in it... I think you can do both races, no problem. In face, the sprint will be a training sessions basically.

Good luck! Keep us updated!