Newbie from PA

Hello all,

I have been way past due on getting back into shape. After dealing with my mother being diagnosed with cancer back in February I ended up going to the hospital with chest pains. Turned out to be stress related and was an eye opener. Then in August my dad died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack which really scared me. So at 40 and out of shape this former high school distance running decided it was time. So I joined the Y and I am currently on the fourth month of the 'Beginner Exercise Program' from this site. I have been using a spinning class 3 days a week for the cycling and have been swimming 1 day a week for about 6 weeks now. I was not too sure about the swimming at first as I have never really done that, but I am loving it. Actually this past Monday I was supposed to do a total of about 700 yards total on my swim. I got to the end and felt pretty good and I ended up swimming 1000 non stop with a pool buoy for a total of 1700. WOW that felt great and suprised me. Although I could feel it in my back and shoulders yesterday and today. I then decided to swim this morning before spinning to try and loosen up my muscles. I got in about 400 and then 45 minutes of spinning.

I am shooting for a sprint tri the first weekend in May and have been wondering if a Olympic would be feasible for the end of the year like September/October frame?

Also, any thoughts on me adding the additional swimming? Am I going to burn myself out? Should I stick with the beginner program? Not sure what is best? I was thinking about starting to swim the longer swim workout on Monday and then adding a short swim before spinning the other two days. Or even adding some eliptical or indoor cycle trainer workouts on a couple other days a week to maybe get up to 5 workouts a week instead of 3.

Any help would be appreciated. I think I am already getting addicted.