OK, I have done 2 sprint triathlons now and survived them. I didn't win my age group (these 50-55 women kick rear, trust me), but I finished upright and smiling and not at the end of the pack. Both sprints had pool swims of 350 and 250 meters.  I had no real issues with the swims, but I am not the world's strongest or fastest swimmer by any means.

Now I'm signing up for a tri in April in my birthplace town of Galveston TX which offers sprint, Oly and 70.3 distances.  The swim is an open water swim in a semi protected bayou (which means no actual surf, but you will get wind, rain, current, and some small waves I am sure).  I really would like to move up to Oly distance and train for that--but honestly I'm not sure about doing an Oly distance swim as my first open water experience. I know I can do the bike and the run with training--but not sure about the swim part.

I grew up swimming in the ocean and bayous, so salt water doesn't offend me, but back then I wasn't, you know, swimming in a hurry with 300 people around me thrashing away. And between now and then I am probably not going to be able to do any sea swimming, because Dallas has very little oceanfront, although I may try to do at least one lake practice in late March with a rented wetsuit to get used both to the idea and the wetsuit (brrrr).

The sprint swim is .3 miles and the Oly swim is a 1.5 kilo which I think is .9 mile so it's a big difference. Plus the sprint is simply from one dock across to another--no real serious navigation--and the Oly is out to sea with four turns.

Should I just sign up for the sprint and try to improve my times in my age group, and save the Oly for when I a seasoned open water swimmer? Or should I bite the day and go for the big one?

Thanks for any advice.  Training starts in two weeks either way!

Terry